Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-08-05

division, and captured four thousand pris.
 oners and two Generals
 Again and again Harry Winthrop's brave
 fellows threw themselves upon the foe He
 never dinched in the charge, but though
 his comrades fell on nll sides of him, he came after each encounter scathlcss from
 the fight.
 Not so the gallant Sedgwick. Brave ever
 to the verge of reckless daring, he had l just chided Q gunner for lodging a ball
 with the light remark: "Pooh! man, they
 could not hit an elephant at that distance" i"
 when shot crashed through his Dody, and
 he fell lifeless to the earth.
 Thus with various successes tho battle ragged.
 1 But the Prince Rupert of the Union lines
 was Custer, that beau ideal of cavalry leader-a man to whom fear was unknown,
 one who never turned his back on an enemy
 nor his face from q friend, and chivalrous
 knew not; 1t was with hlm ever word and
 blow, but the blow always came first And this man was Harry Winthrop's com 1 manding officer. So when one day towards
 the end of May the regiment got the order
 to set out on raid under Custer's personal
 leadership, untrammelcd by tho counsel of
 cooler brains, Winthrop and his comrades
 knew that hot work was before them. Nor | were they disappointed. Tho polnt of at-
 tack was Trevellyan Station, on the Char
 lottesville railroad. With a rush Custer
 fell upon tho foe, capturing big train of
 stores, burning tho buildings and making prisoners. It was a sharp brief, glorious
 dash to victory! But-ayc, these "buts," !" l they spoil the best stories that ever were | told-as tho victors rode out of the railway cutting, they found themselves surrounded
 by tho enemy. Even Custer was appalled,,
 but with fine strategy he got his men into
 an open space with room to fight Again
 and again hc charged now on this side, now | on that.
 | "For Gods sallc, sir," said Surgeon Weir,
 tive must have q fold hospital, tell mo ! which is tho rear'' ''Thc front is all around us," Custer cried, l waving hls sword. "So, doctor you can tdhe your pick"
 l More perilous grew tho position every | moment. Custer formed his men for one | grand charge to break through the opposing | ranks.
 1 Hardly had the command escaped his lips, | than his color-sergcant, a Canadian, fell | mortally wounded, grasping the flag he ! loved so dearly in his death-stiffened hands !: ! and oven at that supreme moment of peril Custer tried to snatch it from his grasp, but, with the tension of a wise, the fingers of the | corpse chung to the flagstaff. In vain he | pulled-then, quick as flash, he tOro tho l silk flag from its pole pushed 1t into his bosom, and dashed forward to the charge. And they got free. They roao right | through the ranks of tho enemy, crushing by tho very impetus of their mad career the lines that stood in scrricd ranks before | them. It was glorious feat, but, as tho l Frenchman said of Balaklava, 1t was not ! war; and, moreover, had it not been for his | success, Custer would havo had to pay the ! reckoning of his recklessness; for he had | rivals i'll high places, who would have been by no means sorry to catch him tripping That month Harry Winthrop was gazetted as Major.
 lie saw nothing, however, of tho bloody l fight in the swamp at Cold Harbor, where Grant belcaguercd Lee, and when, Lossin9 asserts, ten thousand Union men were killed or wounded in the brief space of twenty minutes. He was doing outpost duty on tho banks of tho Chickahominy river; and, while thus engaged, met with another adventure which wove flow moro links in the chain of my story They had camped on the left bank of tho river under shelter of a small wood, which stretched from the uplands to tho edge of the stream. Suddenly there was 8 great commotion among tho mon. 1t is a spy, sir, they have caught" said one of his troopers, by way of explanation and the boys I'm afraid arc like to handlo him a little roughly" Buckling his sword on, Harry ran to the scene of the disturbance.
 "I caught him, Major, sneal1ing behind the brush yonder," cried one brawny fel- low, whose gnarled fingers clutchcd the collar of the trembling wretch. "l've seen him moro than onco hanging around, an knew he was after no good" claimed another.
 "Shoot him!''
 "No, hang himl Shooting's too good for such a villain," were the cries that resound- ed on all sides.
 The victim of this clamor had been dragged through the mud of creek, and with disheveled hair, torn clothes and bruised features, it was no wonder that Winthrop did not at first recognize in the dllapidatcd scare-croW before him tho Adonis-likc figure of his would-be rival, Alphonse Lecroix. But tho Canadian's bright eyes gleamed with hope as ho saw his formor friend
 "Mr. Winthropw ho cried, appcalingly, " for the love of God save me! Toll these men who am. What! you do not speaki Will you sec mo torn to pieces before your eyes"
 "Do you know him, Maiors" asked the man
 
 "Aye, know him, boys," Harry said, re- luctantly, for he was by no means pleased at the role he was compelled by circum- stances to assume.
 "If we had known he was Q friend of yours, Major" began ono, with rough at tempt at apology, but Harry cut him short.
 "There, loose him. will be responsible for his doing no harm," he said. "Now, sir, follow mo to my tent"
 Like a beaten hound tho Canadian slunk at Harry's heels. Already his active brain was concocting the lie that would betray the man who had saved him.
 "Well, sir" asked Winthrop, slernly. am waiting for the explanation of your presence here."
 "I came only to servo you, and | think am on fools errand," was the dogged re- ply, spoken with a well-assumed air of in- jured innocence.
 "To serve mel"
 "Yes, to servo you; but not for tho sake of any love bear you."
 Harry liked him better in this defiant mood.
 "Well, please explain" ho asked, moro oourteously.
 Miss Frobisham-''
 "What!" Winthrop cried, the very men,