Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-02-07

reach the PIKE. your 1fooPS olS oii INC "<S
to Fortress Monroe. Go with speed and you
will overtake them. Oh! Harry, Harry,
why do you linger soF'
And thus they parted.
CHAPTER TX
CUSTER.
Grant himself was come to take COM
mand of the Union army in Virginia. His
very presence sent thrill of enthusiasm
through the troops, who had now lain q
time at Fortress Monroe to recuperate.
After crossing the Rapidan. the Federal
forces plunged once more into the Wider
ness.
Suddenly they drew near to the old bat
tle-ground IF Charlottesville, where just
year before they had fought so tiercely, and
here they struck the enemy.
No eve saw the carnage that ensued. The
dense forest forbade all strategy. The
ranks simply dashed into the woods, fought,
fell or retired only to form once more and
charge into those gloomy shades. Neither
side was victorious, but it was generally
supposed that Grant would retire across
the Rapidan, though he thought differently,
and pushed his army by the Confederate
right flank straight towards Spottsylvanla
Courthouse. Lee hurried forward q
division to head him Off, SO it happened that.
when the Fcdcrals reached the spot, they
found the Confederate forces planted right
across the road.
For time it was duel between sharp
shooters, who sheltered themselves behind
trees and picked off officers on either side.
Then the storm broke in fury. With wild
cry, Hancock and his gallant corps, hidden
by dense fog, charged into the Confed-
crate lines, broke the abattis, surrounded
division, and captured four thousand prls-
oners and two Generals.
Again and again Harry Winthrop's brave
fellows threw themselves upon the foe. Ho
never finched in the charge, but though
his comrades fell on all sides of him, he
came after each encounter scathless from
the fight
Not so the gallant Sedgwick. Brave ever
to the verge of reckless daring, he had
Just chided a gunner for lodging a ball,
with the light remark: 'Pooh! man, they
could not hit an elephant at that distance"
when a shot crashed through his cody, and
he fell lifeless to the earth.
Thus with various successes the battle
ragged.
But the Prince Rupert of the Union lines
was Custer, that beau ideal of q cavalry
leader-a man to whom fear was unknown,
one who never turned his back on an enemy
nor his face from friend, and chivalrous
to the verge of Quixotism. Caution he
blow, but the blow always came first.
And this man was Harry Winthrop's COM
handing officer. So when one day towards
the end of May the regiment got the order
to set out on q raid under Clusters personal
leadership, untrammeled by the counsel of
cooler brains, Winthrop and his comrades
knew that hot work was before them. Nor
were they disappointed. The point of at
tack was Trevellyan Station, on the Char
Oh,
fell upon the foe, capturing a big train Ct
stores, burning the buildings and making
prisoners. 1t was sharp, brief, glorious
dash to victory! But--aye, these "buts,"
they spoil the best stories that ever were
tobias the victors rode out of the railway
cutting, they found themselves surrounded
by the enemy. Even Custer was appalled,,
but with fine strategy he got his men into
an open space with room to fight. Again
and again he charged now on this side, now
on that.
ssFor Gods sake, SIR" said Surgeon Weir,
tive must have a field-hoSpital, tell me
which is the rear.''
1.-THE front is all around us, )" Custer cried,
waving his sword. $50, doctor, you can take
your pick"
More perilous grew the position every
moment. Custer formed his men for one
grand charge to break through the opposing
ranks.
Hardly had the command escaped his lips,
than his color-sergeant, Canadian, fell
MORALLY wounded, grasping the flag he
loved so dearly in his death-stiffened hands;
and even at that supreme moment of peril
Custer tried to snatch it from his grasp, but,
with the tension of wise, the fingers of the
corpse chung to the flagstaff. In vain he
pulled-then, quick as flash, he tore the
silk flag from its pole, pushed it into his
bosom, and dashed forward to the charge.
And they got free They rode right
through the ranks Of the enemy, crushing
by the very impetus of their mad career
the lines that stood in serried ranks before
them. It was glorious feat, but, as the
Frenchman said of Balaklava, it was not
war; and, moreover, had it not been for his
success, Custer would have had to pay the
reckoning of his recklessness; for he had
rivals in high places, who would have been
BY no means sorry to catch him tripping.
That month Harry Winthrop was gazetted
as Major.
He saw nothing, however, of the bloody
fight in the swamp at Cold Harbor, where
Grant beleaguered Lee, and when, Losing
asserts, ten thousand Union men were
killed or wounded in the brief space of
twenty minutes. He was doing outpost
duty on the banks of the Chickahominy
river; and, while thus engaged, met with
another adventure which wOve few more
links in the chain of my story.
They had camped on the left bank of the
river under shelter of small wood, which
stretched from the uplands to the edge Of
the stream. Suddenly there was great
commotion among the men.
SIT is a spy, sir, they have caught" said
one of his troopers, by way of explanation,
"and the boys I'm afraid are like to handle
him little roughly
Buckling his sword on, Harry ran to the
scene of the disturbance.
81 caught him, Major, sneaking behind
the brush yonder." cried one brawny fell
low, whose gnarled fingers clutched the
collar of the trembling wretch
"rve seen him more than once hanging
around, an knew be was after no good"
claimed another.
"Shoot himr'
"No, hang him! Shooting's too good for
such 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 rot at first recognize in the
dilapidated scare-crow before him the
Adonis- like figure of his would-be rival,
Alphonse Lecroix. But the Canadians
bright eyes cleaned with hope as he saw
his former friend
"Mr. Winthropr' he cried, appealingly
"for the love of God save me! Tell these
men who am. What! you do not speak!
Will you see me torn to pieces before your
eyess''
"Do you know him, Major:" asked the man
1rho hold him