The Forrest City times., 1893-07-28
SAVED BY A BOMB.
How a Civil War Court Martial
 Was Suspended.


 It was duringthe siege of Petersburg in the summer of 1864. A torrid sun sent it's rays pouring down unmerciful- ly. 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 fiery furnace. It was hot as the breath of cannon and heavy with powdered soil and whitening vapors. It was the Oppressive, almost intolerable atmos- phere of a 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 ax of the engineer and quarter master was welcome source of occa- sional relief. Sheltered by hill or ris- ing knoll sufficient to protect from the death tempest that swirled above, it be- came veritable paradise to those priv ileged to bask in its comparative cool It 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 breathing spell. Here they were wont to indulge in that seductive and fascinating game, devoid of moral turpitude in the army, draw poker. It was in such comparative safe shelter, too, that the frequent courts-martial and councils of officers were held.
 It IS court-martlal incident this story relates. Courts-martial in the terrible days of the war were as ire auent 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 a 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 cow ard was even poor food for powder. A deserter should suffer more disgraceful execution. but shooting him like coy ote saved the time and trouble of hang ing. No one who has had the experi- ence will asseverate that officers de- tailed for 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 percmptory action, when the ut most exactions of discipline were requi- site to preserve the morals of the army, the victims of the grim auxiliary courts often experienced injustice-sometimes suffered death undeservediy.
 It happened at the place and time mentioned. The writer. a 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 He'll 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 blow up and gather the tons of lead that in those days turned the red fields in the vicinity of the siege works into 9 vast bank of lead.