The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-05-19
FELL WOUNDED AND UNCONSCIOUS.


sharpshooters along the bluffs were firing
upon the helpless seamen struggling for
life in the river and also upon boats sent
out to their relief by the St. Louis. Word
was passed along the Indianian's ranks to
pay special attention to those sharpshoot-
ers and drive for the battery at double
quick. The regiment moved up on front
and flank and took the four gun battery
with dash. Capt. Fry meanwhile had
left his post to consult Huntington. and
Williams. Returning, he met the enemy
advancing, and rallied his handful for
final stand at Dunnington's position. There
he soon fell, wounded and unconscious and
was made prisoner.
The st. Louis succeeded in hooking onto
the disabled Mound City and towing her
ashore She had been deserted by all heI
ablebodied men. Out of 173 officers, men
and boys only % were fit for duty. In the
casemate where the missile struck SO were
killed either by Confederate fire or the
scalding steam. OF those who jumped
from the vessel ~ were drowned, and %
wounded were taken from the ship and
the water. 1t was an awful shot ana
might have won the fight to the Confeder-
ates but for Col. Fitch's ready good sense
and courage. Capt. Kilty's bold dash
upon the batteries with all his vessels had
dumfounded the enemy to such an extent
that they lost their heads at the very mo-
ment when Dunnington's craftsmanship
virtually put the gunboats out of the fight.
AS it was, Fitch carried everything, and
the bluffs were passed as far as the town
within an hour. Nelson's Texans were at
hand, actually within sound of the firing,
and an hours delay on the part of Fitch
might have been disastrous.
Capt. Kitty was seriously scald6 and
lost an arm. He afterward arose to the
rank of commodore. Col. Fitch was a
volunteer officer, unframed to arms. He
left the service soon after on account of
disabilities.
Capt. Fry's later career was an exciting
one He drifted east after his exchange
and commanded the famous blockade run
ner Eugene, which always sailed under
the Confederate flag. One day he attempt
ed to carry a cargo of powder to Fort
Fisher, North Carolina, while the Union
hlockading fleet was treating that work to
a lively cannonading Signals were sen.
him from his superiors on shore to save his
crew and scuttle the ship; but he refused
port. When the war closed Fry settled in
the north, and in 1873 became commander
of the i'll starred Virginius, of Cuban revo-
luton fame. He was taken by the Spanish
authorities and, with So of his crew. was
summarily put to death, although protest
ing his right to trial as United States
citizen.
During the war and at the time of the
Virginius episode, it was asserted that
Fry personally ordered his men TO fire
upon Capt. kilty's unfortunate sailors
who jumped from the Mound City to save
themselves by swimming ashore. On the
other hand, Capt. Williams, in an official
report made four days afGer the fight, de-
clared that he gave the order to his sharp
shooters to shoot the struggling victims.
Lieut.. Huntington reported that when the
Mound City drifted to shore she was hailed
to lower her flag, and this failing to come
down, his men were directed to fire upon
those in the water. Apologists of Fry
state that he was not near the scene at the
moment the firing began and could not
have been responsible. In fact, such bar
barous impulses rarely throb under the
same jacket with the truly martial spirit
that Fry On all occasions. displayed.
GEORGE l.. kILMER