Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1891-04-04

STORIES OF THE WAR.
"OE Days" Which Every Brave Man Has
Experienced Mt Times.

"OE Days" Which Every Brave Man Has
Experienced Mt Times.
Not long since, at social gathering
at which number of middle nged and
elderly men were present, party com
posed of some four or five, gathered in
a convenient corner of the room. and be-
gan the discussion of the physical cour-
age of some of KentUcky's prominent
men of the early part of this century,
brought about by narrative which had
been read in their hearing Among this
party were to be found more than one
man who had personal knowledge of
the late war; and all were more or less
interested in the subject. One distin-
guished soldier, and probably as brave
a man in action as could be found in the
confederate army, and whose expert
ences and opportunities for observation
were numerous, embracing some of the
most dashing and arduous cavalry serv-
ice ever performed by any body of
mounted troops, took occasion to ex-
press himself in about these words: "In
my experience with men / have seen
many things tending to convince me
that every man, no matter how brave,
has his off day. l mean by that that
there are times when the best men
men whom you know to be absolutely
fearless as rule-will quail in the
presence of danger"
This expression of opinion from one
SO well qualified to judge, and whose
personal courage was undaunted, nat
| urally caused his listeners to assume
| an expectant attitude, as they were as
hot !, fAl1n,,, I'll
with an illustration. This he did. Con-
tlnuing he told of an incident which
came under his own observation. He
gave no names, although he did men
tion the places at which the events he
narrated had occurred. These will not
be located. as it is not wished to identi-
| fly the unfortunate victim of "a day off"
| in any manner.
81 remember the circumstances per-
fectly WELL" said the veteran. MY
! command had been fighting superior
force for some time, and the fellows on
the other side were making it very hot
for us. / think my regiment lost about
125 men in n short time. While the
| fight was going on, I had occasion to
pass short distance to the rear, and
y
| lieutenant who had left his post and
sought shelter behind tree. had my
pistol in my hand and raised it and
pointed it at him, ordering him at the
same time to go to his post. He obeyed
without a word, and during the re-
mainder "of the fight he was all right.
knew he had always been trustworthy
and could not account for his conduct,
except on the idea have just given
that every man has his off day. But this
was not all of it. l did not want to have
the man cashiered; knew that would
ruin him forever; but l was at loss as
to what to do. l could not, however
pass it over. l reported the case to
Gen. Breckenridge few days later
without giving the lieutenant's name
and asked what l ought to do about it
The general was pretty cross thai
morning and at once said: Have hin
cashiered.' Well, l went back to my
command, but / still hesitated to prefer
charges. In the meantime we were sem
off to another place and engaged the
enemy at point near where there was
long covered bridge, across which VIZ
supposed they had retreated, but of tina
we were not sure. 1t was necessary t.
find out and took some men and wen
down the bank of the stream-unde
the bank, which was highland kept OF
until we got beneath the bridge. AL
was still. We could tell nothing abou
the situation. Col -, the licutenan
and number of others were with me
consulted with the colonel, win
agreed with me that it would not b
right to order any man to go into tn
bridge ON an e-rand which was sure t
result in his death. / did not know
what to do. certainly did not want :
go into that bridge myself, and di