The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-02-13
STORY OF A CANNONEER.
CONTINUED from LIST page.)
DESPERATE, REsoLUTE AND FIERCE

| other In less time than 1T takes to artiCulate
the words Il surrender" Tho whole affair,
| which have taken hours to describe in de-
tail, did not last over 30 seconds.
| While this was going on Hunt had had q
similar encounter with the other infantryman
who came on with the Lieutenant. As he de-
| scribed IL to me that night, Hunt whirled to
meet this iniantryman Just as shot at the Lieu
| tenant, and the man plunged his bayonet at
him. striking him at the left side just above the
| ends of the short-ribs, and the point of the
| bayonet glanced off the ribs and ran round in
| the skin and flesh, making furrow four or
| five inches long. AS Pat felt the cold steel in
| his side, he grabbed the musk ct by the barrel
with his left hand and jerkedsihe rebel toward
| him, and gave it to him with his revolver right
| in the face and eyesi
lie lay there on his face, with his arms all
| sprawlng out and his hands grasping dead
leaves and gravel-stones when we retook the
| position in the afternoon Pats bullet had
| struck him exactly in the left eye, destroying
! that member, passing through his head and
| going out just back of the right ear The fash
of Pats powder had burned his eyebrows aud
| bIackened his face all over He never knew
what hurt him. | asked Pat if he didn't
! think his time had como when he felt the cold
| steel in his ribs?
mo, be -" replied the invincible Irish
man; ! thought that rebels time had come,
the bosthoon!" Urish for block head.) Pats
| courage was Of that peculiar kind which al
| ways leads man to believe that his opponent
| has no show at all.
The one that tried to bayonet me was lying
| also on his face where he fell. Examining his
body found that Serg't Aldrchs bullet had
struck him in the left side about three inches
below the arm pit, passed through in a slightly
downward direction, and came out at the end
of the upper shOrt-rib on the right side. His
red shirt was scorched and blackened on tho
side where the bullet went in, the muzzle Of
Aldrieh's Springfield having been within three
feet Of his side when the Sergeant pulled his
fatal trigger.
The Lieutenant whom had hit in the head
and stunned was not there, but in a few minutes
| one of tho men found him down in the ravine.
He had encountered hard luck. Lying there
stunned FOR some time after we had left the posi-
ton, he came to his senses and got up mmedi-
ately, intending TO join their main line. which
had then inst begun to advance to its third and
last position but he said he had hardly gotten
on his feet when he was hit in the knee by a
canister-shot (evidently from Stevens's 5th Me-.
which had just come into action on the ridge
To tho right of Warmers Brigade, and began to
enfilade the line of the Confederate advauce).
This shot dislocateG his knee-cap and para-
yzed his leg, but he cfawed down into the ra-
vine TO escape Stevcns's canister. which he said
was sweeping the ground there like broom !"
He was left behind by the enemy when they
fell back, as were quite n number of other
wounded who had also crawled into the ravine,
and we had TO take care of them. / was very
glad TO find this Lieutenant alive. / had no.
ticed the - fur 1y" from his hat when shot.
aud had been Of the opinion that / had killed
him, particularly as hc was completed"
stunned that he fell and lay perfectly still.
During tho few minutes that we remained
there in our final advance, did all could for
him, but could not give him anything but
water, as / bad left my haversack tn the te It
" mi IL in. Hp
morning, and hadn't a morsel to eat for my
own use.
The wreck Of the battery-dead, wounded
men, killed and crippled horses, etc-where
Baldwin had attempted % timber up was the
worst / had ever seen. The left section bad
suffered most in our first position; but three
or four of its drivers had been hit in9he at
tempt to Timber up the remaining (No. l. gun
OF that section in the second position. In our
right and center sections 90 or 80 men had
been killed, wounded or taken, besides Lieut..
Baldwin; though most Of the wounded aud
prisoners, and all the captured guns re-
taken later in the evening. The Lieutenant
was among them. He had been shot down,
but tried to get up, and was both shot again
and bayoncted; though some of the wounded
rebels who lay in the position averFed that
their men were not 10 blame for woundnR
Baldwin the second time. because they said he
refused TO surrender, and was in the act of cock
taken back TO tho hospital at Winchester
where he died from his wounds in a few days
after the battle. He was fine, generous otii-
Ger, and much liked by all the men.
There was always "a difference of opinion
among the men about the euemy's treatment
of Baldwin Some of the boys who went to
see him In the hospital at Winchester, where he
was slowly dying. said that he corroborated the
statement of the rebels about his having re-
fused 90 surrender. But Capt McKnigh. used
10 say that If Baldwin did refuse to surrender
it WAS because he thought il would not do him
any good II he did, il was known that he
had already killed one of their infantrymen
and wounded another with his revolvers. when
they first struck u.s. and rs he was in front of
the guns they no doubt sought vengeance on
him. However though in camp one OF the
kindest Of officers and gentlest of men. Bald
win was so constituted that the sight of blood
or the saltPeter getting up his nose always
turned him into regular Bengal tiger. and
so 10 is probable that he owed his untimely
death to his courage getting the better of his
discretion. Capt. Mcknight and all the men
mourned him as il he had been our brother
Peace TO the ashes of Henry NJ. Baldwin,
comrades, mainly subscribing themselves rs vet
Grams OF various Infantry cavalry regiments,
lnquring how an enlisted man ia the artillery. ii
lac was nt his gun attending To his duties could see
and know SO much about the operations of other
troops as The Cnnnoneer' seems TO have
aud known" Most of these comrades politely say
they do not question the substantial accuracy of
my statements, but thoy want To- know how IL
could be So" In explanation have 10 say that
from the time Joined the battery February 1861
To the end of the war battery, like hil others
was never attached to- or operating with tncti-
cal smaller unit than division aud we frequently
received our orders aud had our movements regu-
lated directly from corps headquarters-o oen by the
corps commanders In person-Reynolds or Double
day in the First Corps. Warren in the Filth; or,
when was i'll Battery Nj, up in the Valley. Wright,
of the Sixth
Under these circumstances ight artillery soldier
II he had perception Mt all, would be likely to
see and note what was going not only in his
immediate vicinity. but To considerable distance
on both his fanks. Often he would hear division
orders given We would hear the battery ordered
To take such and such position to clear such aud
such n front, aud that they would be supported by
such aud such brigade, and would hear The object
explained
For example, Gen. Doubleday himself put Stew
nTt into position at the Gettysburg Railroad Cut To
hold the position To the last" II would have
been very dull soldier who could not have under
stood what that implied. Gen. Warren in person
put us into position at Spotsylva To- silence the
rebel batteries on Laurel Hill, Mays. Gen. Griffin
IN person ordered Stewart to silence the rebel
battery at Bethesda Church. Gen. Griffin also
put our battery aud Philiips's 9th Mass and Rich
ardson's lst n. Y IN position when tho great as
snhll was made on the Petersburg lines, June Is.
lie made Stewart Acting Chief of Artillery of the
divsion on that occasion, by ordering him To com
mand the artillery line Of the three batteries and
stewart put them the skirmsil- line in front of
the Avery house and kept them there NIL day.
At the battle of the Wilderness we were put in
battery by Gen .Wndz zworth in person. At GFnVelly
Run the old battery, then commanded by John