Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-05-14
A FIGHTING elBl
Her Terrible Battle with po,..

termined soldiers. 'l De
As our brigade advance
pasture land, sweeping througb , ,l's
and fording creek which see,aa '' s.;
all turns and elbows, a man shou, T
feet from me ON the left dronnsS ,s s 90
MY company was on the extremo ~ W.
the line, you see, and the man -, ~. u
hanker. He had been shot troa =
window of humble LOOKING - IN, ne
which stock in open ground abep+ s siai
shot away. D' me
i Sergeant, take ten men and H..
those bushwhackers out and hr. IA. az
housed" was the order got from 'N'
captain, and minute later ~
squad marching away.
There had been more or less s,.a.
over this same ground all the tors1oa.t
and the artillery and musketrv sre t.,
been pretty hot. We were now dri,i..
the line, and as we advanced wa ,or.s
many of the dead still lying whers ~.
fell. 1t wasn't lawful warfare q.
bushwhacker to hide away in fam
house and shoot soldier in The b,,s
Even If a battle was raging such a d,a
smacked of murder. If he could ~,
it was his business to be in the lima.
posed to us. Then If his bullets fam,
human target it was the chances !,
war, and il he happened to be cautur.i
by us he would be treated as a prison,
If war.
We marched straight for the lions,
expecting that the bushwhaeker III
ded as soon as he fired the shot. but y.
aad not covered over half the distaD,.
when rife cracked and one Of nv me-,
dropped with bullet in his heart III.
nearest cover to the house was stoD.
fence hundred feet in from,
of it and shed-barn abwi
the same distance from the bach
door. Dividing my squad and no.
adopting all the precautions we could
all of us finally gained the shelteBmsu.
toned. 1t was log cabin, story and
q half high, with two windows in front
one on each side, and one in the rear
The two doors were front and back
How many men were in the house We
could not say, but as soon as in position
we opened fire on the doors and win
dows. Not shot was fired in return
for three or four minutes Then one Of
my men at the wall, who had exposed
himself, got a bullet in the shoulder
and crawled away to hide under bank
of earth. Our bullets soon riddled doors
and windows, and must have searched
every part of the house. We expected
TO see three or four men dash out and
make a run for it, or a white flag to b
displayed in token of surrender. but all
was grimly silent. About ten minutes
after my man had been shot one Of the
men at the shed got his head out tOoir
while shooting and received bulle. IN
return. Ii didn't kill him, but carried
away the right half Of his upper lip and
mustache, passed through his cheek
carried away four teeth and split his
ear, and after term in the hospital be
was discharged and sent home.
That was two killed and two wound
ed, and all apparently by the same vea
pom. We knew it to be an ordinary
rifle by the whip-like crack Of its re
port, but there might be three or -four
men in the house for all we could de-
termine. We kept blazing away at
doors and windows on the chance Of hit
ting some one, and from the silence Of
the next ten minutes felt confident
that we had disabled them. Then
gave the signal for a rush at the house
All of us were up and half way there
when rifle barrel was poked through
a broken pane and fash followed
The ball grazed my cheek and struck
the man behind me in the forehead and
dropped him dead. Next moment We
were at the doors, front and back, and
they were banged open with crash
This is what saw: "a boy soldier
living dead on the floor with an arm
torn off by a fragment of she'll ontn'
bed was gray-haired woman VIM
bullet wound in her face. Standlngm
the corner of the room, proud and de
faint, with the unloaded rife IN nI
hands, was a girl of sixteen-a regular
country belle in grace and beauty.
Il can do no more. Shoot us Il yOu
willir she said as she confronted Us
''Ayel shootl added the mo'n'I
"There lies my only boy, killed BY your
guns this morning. lie here wounasa
and my gal jim has dropped four or Nv
of you to get even. One gal TO oOi'-
soldiers. Come and finish your wOfA'
But we simply took the rife awayau.
left them with their dead, and we pIsi'.
them even as we smarted with the sen''