The Bessemer indicator., 1893-06-24
BETWEEN THE LINES.
AN OLD pARKeY's ExPER-
fEN0s IN a BATTLE.
Jake Stone at Resaoa-The Bullets Cansc
From Both Directions and Very
=. Naturally Jake Forgot
About the Dinner.


WhilS our regiment. tho NIno-
teenth Michigan infantry. lay at
McMinnvllle. Tenn. Jake Stone. who
had been slave in that vicinity.
came into camp and wanted to "jine
de Yankees" After some question
ings he was duly enlisted and in
stalled as cook OF Company +. In
the spring OF 1864 we broke camp,
and started across the tri6nn.ains in
tfe direction OF Chattanooga. where
Sherman'z .orees were gathering for
the movement on Atlantis. No par.
ticular opposition was enc0artore4
3Fo"chod the little hamlet OF Resaca,
Georgia. in fion,t Of which we found
the gentlemen in gray quite strongly
entrenched, and holding n little
earthwork which stood right in the
way OF further progress So one fine
sunduy morning. bright and early.
our regiment, which formed part OF
the storminG ior6S. was moved into
position by battalion front 20 the
right of the road, where they 'un-
slung knapsacks."
Our brave old colonel, H. C. GIL
bert of Coldwatcr, Bat firmly in the
saddle, and. with drawn saber burned
the head OF his faithful cd clay
| bank" (cream-c -colored horse) in the
| direction of the coveted fort, and by
his direction thc bugler sounded the
forward. The regiment sprang
| forward as one man. and cleared the
Intervening ground in less tins than
it takes to describe 1t. and planted
their coiors upon the captured re-
doubt The colonel, several line of
licers and men went down under the
| fire.
The next morning after the long
line OF dead, in blue and gray, that
had been takeIi ou. Of tho hospital
and laid side by side for burial. had
been us decently inferred as haste
would admit, we saw the most for.
lorn looking darlsey it was possible
to conceive of coming across thu
field. As lie came closer We saw il
was Jake, and, ii being the first we
had seen of his ebony highness since
the fight. some of tho boys began to
chatf him about his lack of bravery,
writes NJ. Duiiic in the Inter Ocean.
"Whar's | been? O, out yandah in
dc brcsh. sah! lsc jus mighty nigh
done out, dat ! is! Whar was |
yest'day? Well, | was long you all
till bout noon, reckon, rite long
'ith de raigamcnt You knows dat
lse de cook foh cu'npany +. an | was
goin' to stay right ith EN- all the
time. How'd | come to leave, huh
Why yoh see hit was Il little miscal-
kcrlashun on my part Yoh see cal
lSerlated dat you all was goin' up on
dat hill foh to go into camp, an
! knoWd mighty we'll all you sogers'd
be powerful hungry like, so | done
scraped up armfu' O dry british to
maze a tinh to bile you a.ls coffee
and fry de poak. Course l didn't
know there was goin'to be no scrim-
mage! No, brcss youh solcs. huny!
Ef | had I'd not been such u OLE fool
to get up dah so fuh, long o. you all!
De fust ting dat | knowed sumfin
went boo-oozh' bing! woo-shh, boo
oom! swoo-oosh! right a-ras' my ears,
en-. en-did l run! Why. chile you
mus knowed l did. l drapped dat
dry british | was totin. an / tore
down froo dem woods like harry
cane. runned so fast dat | gathered
de dry leaves right up undah my
| coat-tails! Yes, | did, sab! Why,
bress yo' hearts, run ovah saplins
as big as my arm, an bent en- right
Il 81 Tn, a &.
of breif | sot down on an ole log an
lent back agin saplin' to rest an
get n breif o air Yes, sir, | was
a-joyin' myself den, l tell ye, an dat
| was at las ouu O danjah. Did
have to move away from dah' You
ought to seen me! 1t wasn't noah
dan no time befoah someting came
tarin froo dose woods like
one o. dose runaway 'tillery
wagons, bouncin' agin de trees
an splodin' der shells, Den
sumfin' struck dc log dat | was sittin'
on, seemed like right atween my feet,
glancin' up an cuttin' of dat saplin'
bout quatah of an inch dis side o.
my headl Did l run agin! Didn't Il
Why chile, l got new sperrits dat
minnit! l jumped up from dar tell
ye! DE whole woods looked like dey
was afiah; and wifi my ole hat IN my
han, | runned as ! nevah wanter run
agin: run | reckon nigh about two
miles, an jus' when was nigh about
beat out, an couldn't run no noah,
foun' de bullets an balls comm
frum do udder way too AS suah as
you lives de rebel scalvery had got
around dar an was u iightin' ow' rah
guard! ] thought dat was no place
fob pooh ole niggah like me. an
gun to crawl long on my face toa lit
tie ole branch down cross de road,
Didn't hug dat bank. dough, Ef
hadn't a ben mos starved, so l could
spread out Hat dey would got me.
suah! pey mos did rs it was! De
groun' was all dug up roun' mo like
it was dun plowed
Jake was thoroughly oemoralized
"pusson," no mistake, and If he is
living to-day, and you should run
across him, and should speak to him
about it, see low he will show his
ivories and roll up the whites of his
eyes as he tells you tho story in his
own words
scrln- Hirdt VITA Bells.