The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1892-09-24

| l kMk.1 xNW SeneralSnlp at Iel-
ESN RSNSxtysburg. ITO me the
FsTZEENASmost painful illus
| tration of this fact
was in the course of the first days fight
at the Battle of the Wilderness. | had
two Mississippi regiments in my COM
mand, and, being native of that
State, l knew quite a number of the
soldiers personally. One man l had
known for years as a wellto-do planter
in the Delta For the first two years
of the war he hired substitute, but he
was free with his abundant means in
contributing to the scant exchequer of
the Confederacy. Under the general
CONSUMPTION act he was forced into
line. When he arrived at the camp he
came straight to my tent.
Il was glad to see him, for | knew
him personally to be man of unques-
toned courage. He and my brother
had been at college together, and after
ward, during political contest, in
which he was candidate for the State
Senate, he had fought duel with his
Wing opponent, and my brother was
his second. The men fought at ten
PAGES and he shot the Wing down,
though not fatally. He was one Of
those men who gave no insult and
brooked none, and SO successfully had
he come ont of three or four unpro-
voked personal encounters that in his
county he was looked upon as the
champion fighter when he had to fight
well, sir, when that man came to
my tent, just before the battle of the
| Wilderness, he seemed to be in a
tremor, and not enough self-possessed
to answer my curso-y questions about
our former friends. He was simply a
man scared out of his wits.
Ignoring my questions altogether
he said to me: General, if | go into
a battle, I'll be killed. / know l WILL
and | have come to you to implore you
to find something else that l can do. l
| don't care what the service is. / will
even hold horses, drive a wagon-any
thing, but l cannot go into a battle to
be shot at, for / just know that ! will
be killed at the first fire.
Il laughed at him and joked him for
his superstition, but | frankly told him
that he must 90 to the front, for we
needed ten times more men than we
could get. l told him that we should
probably have a battle 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, il was fight at close quar-
ters before | got through with it.
MY friend knew A. 2. Hill and at
his request l went with him to Hills
tent. To my chagrin he repeated his
request to Hill to spare him the crucial
test of battle. Hill really seemed to
be amused, and lestingly said: i ex
| psct YOU to Kill at least ten Yankees
tomorrow, and .hen will see to it that
You are raised to Captaincy for
| bravery on the field. Go right along
and win Your spurs, for it looks now
as if we were to have 9 great battle.
Early next day we went into that
horrible death camp. Ny friend staid
in my tent that night, but l doubt very
much whether he slept wink know
he did not take any breakfast, except
pretentiously to drink some very infer
Tor coffee that my cook served hastily
while our horses We're being saddled.
We hurried into line, and my men
| seemed eager to get INTO the fight.
But, sir, my conscripted friend seemed
to have lost the power of speech. He
automatically followed me, and when |
told him that if we made a charge on
the enemy he must be careful not to
let his horse throw him, he shuddered,
and the tears rolled down his cheeks.
I'VE were pushed right into the hot
test of the fight at once, and strange
as it may sound, | do believe that the
first bullet aimed at us from the Fed
eral lines struck my friend squarely in
the forehead, and lie toppled off his
horse corpse.
His premonition of sudden death
had come tragicallv true, and all that
day / was depressed with the thought
that l might possibly have saved that
mans life.
"The next morning, before he was
buried in the long trench, / took from
his pocket daguerreotype of his wife
and his two children, a son and a
daughter, and afterward sent it to his
wife. 1t would be cruel to give that
mans name; but his daughter, now
dead, became the wife of Congress-
man. and was belle in her day The
son is a talented lawyer in the West,
and, singular enough, has had his af-
fair of honor, and at fifteen PAGES
wounded his man, but not seriously
"1es, sir; there are some men who
will fight in a crowd, and then there
| are men who won't.
Quite contrary case to this, con
tinued the General. was one which |
heard Gen. Braxton Bragg tell the
last time ! saw him here in New York
Ii year OF two before he dropped dead
Oh the street in Galveston, Texas He
said that the thing happened in the
Mexican war, and if / recollect Alright,
in the battle of Buena Vista. The sol
der he referred to was Georgian, and
Gen. Bragg said that personally he
was the most ablect coward he had
ever known.
He said that only few days before
the battle he saw another soldier slap
this fellows face and the blows were
not resented.
But that same man, that personal
coward said Gen. Bragg. immortal
lied himself on the historic field of
Buena Vista The color bearer of nv
regiment was shot down. and to nv
surprise. having witnessed the face
slapping of day or two before, / saw
this man, who did not have the grit to
defend himself, rush forward, snatch
up the colors. and, dashing to the
front. call on the men to follow him.
And that same man was promoted
for bravery on the battlefield New
York Times.
Zoilicoffer's Ieath.