The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-08-20
TWO KINDS OF couRASE.
Some Mem VIII Fight Brapely in Sim
glo Combat, but Not in Battle.

generalship at Gettysburg, to wri-
ter for the New York Times. ITO
me the most painful illustration OF
the fact was in the course of the
first days fight at the battle of the
Wilderness. / had two Mississippi
regiments in my command, and,
being native of that state, | knew
quite a number of soldiers person
ally. One man / had known for
years as well-to-do planter in the
Delta. For the first two years of
the war he hired a substitute, but he
was free with his abundant means
in contributing to the scant ex-
chequer of the Confederacy. Under
the general conscription act he was
forced into line. When he arrived
at the camp he came straight to
my tent.
II was glad to see him, for ! knew
him personally to be man of un-
questioned courage. He and my
brother had been at college together,
and afterward, during a political
|contest, in which he was a .candi-
date for the state senate, he had
fought duel with his whig oppo-
nent and my brother was his second.
He was one of those men who gave
no insult and brooked none, and
so successfully had he come out of
three or four unprovoked personal
encounters that in his county he
was looked upon as a champion
fighter when he had to fight.
We'll, sir, when that man came
to my tent, just before the battle of
the Wilderness, he seemed to be in
a tremor. and really not enough
self-possessed to answer my cursory
questions about our former friends.
He was simply a man scared out
Of his wits.
Ignoring my questions altogeth-
er, he said to me: General, if 60
into battle I'll be killed. / know
[ will, and I have come to you to
implore you to find something else
that / can do. / don't care what
the service is. I will even hold
horses, drive a wagon, anything,
for / just know that l will be killed
the first fire.
II laughed at him and joked him
for his superstition, but l frankly
told him that he must 60 to the
front, for we needed ten times more
men than we could get. I told him
that we should probablyhave bat
tie the next day; that | had been in
every battle since the first Manassas
and had not been touched by ball or
powder, and that he should go along
with me, and of course that meant
he had to fight. AS it turned out,
it was fight at close quarters be-
fore got throug with it.
MY friend knew A. P. Hill, and
at his request l went with him to
Hills tent. To my chagrin he re-
peated his requst to Hill to spare
him the Crucial test of a battle.
Hill really seemed to be amused,
and jestingly said: Il expect you
to kill at least ten Yankees to-mor-
row, and then I will see to it that
you are raised to a captaincy for
bravery on the field. Go right along
and win your spurs, for it looks now
as if we were to have great battl.
Early next day he went into
that horrible death camp. My friend
stayed in my tent that night, but l
doubt very much whether he slept
q wink. l know he did not take
any breakfast except pretentiously |
70 drink some very inferior coffee
that my cook served hastily while
our horses were being saddled.
1--WE hurried into line and my
men seemed eager to get into the
Eight. But, sir, my conscriLted
friend seemed to have lost the power
IF speech. He automatically fol-
lowed me, and when | told him
hat if we made a charge on the
enemy he must be careful not to let
his horse throw him be shuddered
and tears rolled down his cheeks.
1--WE were pushed right, into the
hottest of the fight At once, and,
strange as it may sound, | do be-
ieve that the first bullet aimed at
IS from the Federal lines struck my
'riend squarely in the forehead, and
ne toppIed off his horse a corpse.
His premonition of sudden
Teeth had come tragically true, and
Ill that day | was depressed with
he thought that might possibly
rave saved that mans life.
@'The next morning, before he was
,uried nsthe long trench, took
rom his pocket . daguerFeotype of
lis wife and his two children, q son
md daughter, and afterward sent
{ to his wife. It would be cruel
o give that mans name; but bis
laughter, now married, became the
rife of 4 congressman, and was
,elle in her day. The son is q tai +
nted lawyer in the West, and, sin
.ular enough, has had his affair Of
lonor, and at Is PAGES wounded his
nan, but not seriously.
hYes, sir; there are some men
rho will fight in q crowd and then