Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-06-23
BETWEEN THE LINES.
AN OLD DARKEY'S ExPER-
FENCE I'M A BATTLE.
Jake stone at Resaca-The Bullets Came
From Both Directions and Very
Naturally Jake Forgot
About the Dinner.

tenth Michigan infantry, lay st
McMinnvllle, Tenn, Jake Stone, who
had been slave in that vicinity,
came into camp and wanted to Lime
de Yankees. After some question
ings he was duly enlisted and I'm
stalled as cook OF Company +. In
the spring of 1864 we broke camp,
and started across the mountains in
the direction of Chattanooga, where
Sherman's forces wore gathering for
the movement on Atlanta. No par
ticular opposition was encountered
In our immediate front till we APP
preached the little hamlet of Resaca,
Georgia, in front of which we found
the gentlemen in gray quite strongly
ensrenched, and holding a little
earthwork which stood right in the
way OF further progress So one fine
Sunday morning, bright and earlys
our regiment, which formed a part OF
the storming force was moved into
position by battalion front to the
right of the road, where they Gun
slNng knapsacks."
Our brave old colonel, H. c. Gill
bert of Coldwater, sat firmly in the
saddle, and with drawn saber turned
the head of his faithful cd "clay-
bank" Cream colored horse) in the
direction of the coveted fort and by
his direction the bugler sounded the
forward. The regiment sprang
forward as one man, and cleared tho
intervening ground in less time than
! hn 4 nj
their colors upon the captured re-
doubt. The colonel, several line of
ficers and men went down under the
! fire.
The next morning after the long
| line of.dead, in blue and gray, that
had been taken out of the hospital
and laid side by side for burial, had
been as decently inferred rs haste
would admit, we saw the most for
lorn looking darkey it was possible
to conceive of coming across the
field. AS he came closer we saw it
was Jake" and, it being the first we
had seen of his ebony highness since
the fight, some of the boys began to
chat him about his lack of bravery,
writes NJ. Duffie in the Inter Ocean.
"Whar's | been? o, out yandah in
de bresh, sab! Ise JUS mighty nigh
done out, dat l is! Whar was |
yest'day? Well, was long you all
till bout noon, reckon. rite long
18th de raigament! You knows dat
Ise de cook fob cunpany +. an was
goin' to stay right 18th 'em all the
time. How'd | come to leave, huh?
Why yoh see hit was little miscal-
kerlashun on my part. Yoh see cal
kerlated dat you all was goin' up on
dat hill fob to go into camp, an !
knowd mighty we'll all you sogers'd
be powerful hungry like. so | done
scraped up armfu' o. dry brush to
maze fab to bile you alls coffee
and fry de poak. Course / didn't
know there was goin'to be no scrim-
mage! No, Dress you'll soles, hunyl
IF had I'd not been such a ole fool
to get up dab so fun, long o. you all!
De fust ting dat l knowed sumfn
went boo-oozh! bling! woo-shh, boo
DOM! swoo-oosh! right a-pas' my ears,
en-, en-did | run! Why, chile you
mus a knowed did! | drapped d.t
dry brush | was totin'. an ! tore
down froo dem woods like a harry
cane. / ruined so fast dat gathered
de dry leaves right up undah my
coat-tails! Yes, l did, sab! Why,
Dress yo' hearts, run ovah saplins
as big as my arm, an bent EN- right
double! Aftah I'd ruined myself out
of breff | sot down on an ole log an
lent back agin a saplin' to rest an
get bref y air. Yes, sir, / was
a-joyin' myself den, tell We, an dat
| was at las our o. danjah. Did /
have to move away from dahl You
ought to seen me! 1t wasn't noah
dan no time befoah something came
tarin froo dose woods like
one o. dose runaway 'tillery
wagons, bouncin' agin de trees
an splodin' der shells Den
sumfin' struck de log dat | was sittin''
on, seemed like right atween my feet,
glancin' up an cuttin' off dat saplin'
bout quatah of an inch dis side o.
my head Did run agin! Didn't Ip
Why chile, l got new sperrits dat
minnit! / jumped up from darI tell
ye! De whole woods looked like dey
was afiah; and wifi my ole hat In my
ham, ! ruined as | nevah wanter run
agin: run l 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 de udder way too. AS suah as
you lives de rebel scalvery had got
around dar an was a fghtin' ow' rah
guard j 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 roadl
Didn't hug dat bank, doughl Ef !
hadn't ben mos starved. so | could
spread out fat dey would got me-
suahl Dey mos did as it wasl De
groun' was all dug up roun me like
it was dun plowcd"
Jake was a thoroughly oemoralized
"pusson," no mistake, and il he is
living to-day. aud you should run
across him, and should speak TO him
about it, see how he will show his
worries and roll up the whites OF his
eyes as he tells you the story in his