The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-13
SAVED BY A BOMB.
How a Civil War Court-Martial
Was Suspended

How a Civil War Court Martial
Was Suspended
It was duringthe siege of Petersburg
, in the summer of 1864. A torrid sun
sent its rays pouring down unmerciful-
~. The red Virginia soil behind the
union line defenses had been pulverized
by transportation teams, light artillery,
siege trains and the feet of the soldiers
so that wherever one went it was wad-
ing through foot or more of veritable
brick dust The temperature of the
gopher holes, bomb proofs, covered
ways and trenches where the multi
tude of armed men lay to escape the
sheet of lead and iron hail continually
passing over them, was the air of q
fiery furnace. It was hot as the breath
of cannon and heavy with powdered
soil and whitening vapors. 1t was the
oppressive, almost intolerable atmos-
phere of siege that only those who
experienced and endured can under
stand. The shade OF the few isolated
pines that had here and there escaped
the AK of the engineer and quarter
sional relief. Sheltered by hill or ris-
ing knoll sufficient to protect from the
death tempest that swirled above, it be-
came a verita bic paradise to those priv
LEGGED to bask in its comparative cool.
1t was to such retired spots that the
boys in blue repaired whenever they
received permission, in small groups, to
leave the trenches to refresh them
selves by a breathing spell Here they
were wont to indulge in that seductive
and fascinating game, devoid of moral
turpitude in the army, draw poker. 1t
was in such comparative safe shelter,
| too, that the frequent courts-martial
| and councils Of officers were held.
1t is a court-nartlal incident this
story relates. Courts-martial in the
terrible days of the war were as fire.
quent as casualties and dire as the ele-
ments of destruction. They were of the
drumhead variety and their decisive
findings were often made known to the
| army only by the smothered report of
half dozen rifles from some sunken
gulch on an isolated declivity. This
simultaneous detonation carried its
own significant import, dire and yet
without dread, so calloused had the
stern discipline of war made the true
and patriotic soldiery. To them a cow
ard was even poor food for powder. A
deserter should suffer more disgracefui
execution, but shooting him like coy
ote saved the time and trouble of hang
ing. No one who has had the expert
boz 40
tailed for a drumhead court-martial
ever forgot the dictates of humanity,
the responsibility that rested upon
them or the gravity of the occasion.
Yet, doubtless, in those days of sharp
and peremptory action, when the ut
most exactions of discipline We're requi-
site to preserve the morals of the army,
the victims of the grim auxiliary courts
often experienced injustice-sometimes
suffered death undeservedly.
1t happened at the place and time
mentioned. The writer, mounted
officer of the line, had just ridden to
that point of the earthworks that coiled
about st. Petersburg like the folds of
a shining anaconda and was designated
as Fort Hell His errand was with
general officer, whom he found sur
rounded by his staff directing the de-
tails of his command behind the COM
parative security of a redoubt. Over
their heads swept and whizzed the mis-
siles of the enemy whirling clouds of
dust mile beyond on the lower plains,
where they fell harmless. To this day
natives in the neighborhood find it
profitable to plow up and gather the
tons of lead that in those days turned
the red fields in the vicinity Of the
siege works into a vast bank of lead.
While engaged in conversation every
once in awhile one of those incendiary
projectiles ksown as mortar shells
would drop down from the clouds in I'M
pleasant proximity to this group of OIL
GERS One might shield himself behind I
breastworks against muskct shot, can
non balls aud shell, but only the recess (
of a gopher hole or a heavily covered /
bomb-proof was assurance against the /
penetration of these deadly intruders. /
Resting securely, as might seem, in /
the depths of a valley, even be- !
yond reach of the whiz and [
whirr of shot and shell, the blue sky /
above scarcely visible through the 1
mirky air, ones complacent revery was 4
liable to be rudely disturbed by one Of /
these tremendous bombs falling from +
the serenity above without the least /
prenonition- If he escaped to tell OF 4
the incident Il was related as mere,
ordinary, everyday affair, that was all 4
What NAV seem to the civilian strange +
and extravagant narration, to the vet 4
cram is commonplace, without novelty 4
or interest That is why, perhaps, old I
soldiers who love 20 talk Of the war 20 i
their comrades find no enjoyment IN re-
lating their experience 10 such as are
devoid Of the credulity begotten OF ex-
perience, who are apt 10 manifest their
apprehension that the narrator draws
the long bow with reckless disregard
The can.een had Just passed around
For an instan: there was one Of those
H1omentous lulIs that everyone remeE-
bers who has experienced the operations
OF n siege or a battle The soldiers
raised their heads 70 glance along the
trenches aud take q survey az the silent +
camps far IN tna distance 10 the rear
Men and Offers nloTei hithc- and
thither secure for the moment IN tire
silence. Death n the ar reste1 -
catch lis breath Then from gzish AZ
some distance came da1- rufsiea ex-
-