Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1893-06-08
champion fighter when he had to


Well, air, when that man came
to my tent, just before the battle Of
the Wilderness, he seemed to be in
a tremor, ard really not enough
self-possessed to answer my cursory
questions about our former friends.
lie was simply man scared ont Of
his wits.
Ignoring my questions altogether
be said to me: General, IL 60
into a battle I'll be killed. know
| will, and ! have come to you to
implore you TO find something else
that ] eaa DO. dan's care what
the service is. j willev hold
horses, drive wagon, anything. for
l just know that Iwill be killed the
first fire.
Il laughed at him and joked him
for his superstition, but frankly
told him that he must 60 to the
front, for We needed 10 times more
men than we could get. ! told him
that we should probably have 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 through with it.
MY friend knew A. p. Hill, and
at his request | went with him to
Hills tent. To my chargrin he
repeated his request to Hill to
spare him the crucial test Of battle.
Hill really seemed to be amused,
and iestingly said: i expect you
to kill at least 10 Yankees to-mor-
row, and then | will see to it that
you are raised to captaincy for
bravery on the field. Go right a
long and win your spurs, for it
looks now as il we were TO have a
great battle
early next day he went into that
horrible death camp. My friend
stayed in my tent that night, but !
doubt very much whether he slept
a wink. / know he did not take
any breakfast except pretentiously
to drink some very inferior coffee
that my cook served hastily while
our horses were being saddled.
/ we hurried into line and my man
seemed eager TO get into the fight.
But, sir, my conscripted friend
seemed to have lost the power Of
speech. lis automatically followed
me, and when / told him that il 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.
we were pushed right into the
hottest of the fight at once, and,
strange as it may sound, | do be-
lieye that the first bullet aimed at
us from the Federal lines struck
, my friend squarely in the forehead
and he .oppled of his horse corpse.
His premonition Of sudden death
had come tragically true, and al
that day / was depressed with The
~oht that might possibly have
"an's life.
- before he wa
tho"e tool
saved that ,..
'The next mOrnIhA,
buried in the long trencn,
from his pocket daguerreotype OF
his wife and his two children, a son
and a daughter, and afterward sent
tito his wife. 1t would be cruel TO
give that mans name; but his
daughter, now dead, became the
wife Of a Congressman, and was a
belle in her day. The son is q tai
ented lawyer in the West, and,
singular enough, has had his affair
of honor, and at Is PAGES wounded
his man, tut not seriously.
Yes, sir; there are some men who
Will fight in crowd and then there
are men who won't.
Quite a contrary case to this
continued the General, was one
which i heard General Braxton
Bragg tell the last time saw him
here in New York a year or two
before be dropped dead on the street
in Galveston, Tex. He said that
the thing happened in the Mexican
War, and If | recolIect Alright, at
the Battle of Buena Vista. The
soldier he referred to was Georgian,
and General Bragg said that per-
sonally he was the most abject cow
ard be 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 per-
sonal coward said General Bragg,
'immortalized himself on the his
toric field Of Buena Vista. The
color bearer Of my regiment was
shot down, and to my surprise.
having witnessed the face slapping
Of day or two before, saw this
man, who did not have grit to de-