Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-01-24

in front of her, was to realize that
Louisiana was not the only party to
the war who was being ''conciliated. "
Every regiment had some officer,
generally a young Lieutenant, whose
ability, appearance and spirits COM
PEELED his comrades to pronounce him
the flower of the flock. Ours was
VIII Glennie. The natives approved
our choice of their own accord. and we
accepted their dictum without bit of
jealousy, fearing only that the young
ster might cause some fruitless heart
aches. But he didn't He was officer
of the first picket line we threw out,
and SO Impressed was he with the de-
fensive possibilities of the place, that
we were glad to have him relieve us
of some responsibility by taking
charge of the slight earthworks it
seemed advisable to erect. He spent
a full half Of every day outside the
lines, looking for additional points of
vantage, and as no enemy had been in
the vicinity for weeks. he never cared
for a guard.
Time passed so delightfully."- for q
fortnight that there was little but roll
calls and picket duty to remind US that
we were soldiers Every thing was
too pleasant to last, so one day rattle
of musketry warned us that there was
trouble on the picket line. BY the time
our buglcs had recalled us from our
hospitable Longing place, and hurried
us toward the front, soldier with a
broken arm came in and reported that
some cavalry had tried to force their
way into town by the western road,
and, being repulsed. had dismounted,
and were disagreeinr i'm the usual mil
itary manner, with te pickets, who
had fallen back to Ilennie's breast
works.
Bless Glennie for the breastworks!"
exclaimed our Major in command,
after he had shouted: "Double quick,
march,
The resistance made by our entire
force seemed to disgust the enemy,
for In a couple of hours they ceased
firing. A special roll call showed that
none of our men had been killed, and
only two or three wounded, but a
Captain approached the Major and
sail that Lieutenant Glennie was miss
ing. He had gone nearly mile to
the 'front.', to a little elevation where
he had thought howitzer might adj
vantageously be posted, gone two or
three hours before the enemy ap-
peared.
Captured, then, of course"
groaned the Major. "Confound it,
gentlemen, for the good of the service
I'd rather have been captured myself"
Most of us felt the same way, and
We were too dismal for the remainder
of the day even to rejoice at having re-
pulsed tfe enemy. The entire force
went out as skirmishers for a mile or
two, asking questions at every planta-
ton house and cabin, but no one could
tell whether or no the enemy. as they
galloped away, had Union officer with
them.
We felt so ugly at our loss that we
feared to face the natives when we re-
turned to town. What would they
think of us, as soldiers, when they
learned that the officer whom we all
cheerfully acknowledged was the
ablest soldier among us had fallen
into the enemy's hands? Tho Major
was so amazed that he actually bit off
the mouthpiece of his pipe-stem in a
fit of anger; but this severe action did
not return to US the flower of the reg
iment.
just before sunset sentry on the
road startled all of us, as we lay be-
hind the works, by shouting:
Officer of the guard! Flag of truce
coming!"
We all sprang upon the parapet. and
saw emerging from the forest, nearly
half a mile away, a horse. rider and
a tiny white rag. The Major raised
his glasses, peered through them a
moment, dropped them and exclaimed:
"Well, I've heard that the Confed-
eracy had robbed the cradle and the
grave. but didn't imagine they'd been
recruiting Amazons. That flag is car
ried by a woman"
Then all of us wished we had glasses.
The rider advanced slowly until we
could see that she was not armed; then
that she had a good seat and fine fig
ure, and finally that she was young
and pretty.
wants protection for her property,
1 suppose" growled the Major.
Those raiders are probably cleaning
out the family's barn and smoke
house. there being nobody at home
but women and children. What do
they suppose few infantry can do
against nobody knows how many cav
alry?"