The National tribune., 1893-09-07
IN A PANIC.
A Bit of Story which Instances How Men
Lose Their "Grit."

| Lose Their Grit"
"Say, Corporal, yon was in the war and
did your share of retreatiDg, guess. Did
| you ever see panic?D
"Well," said the Corporal, dryly, "I al
ways managed the line of retreat so I never
| got taken prisoner. Did I ever see panic ?
| You know when Banks went up the Red
River in 81? His boys had a picnic from
| the time they left Franklin, middle o.
| March, till they got to Natchitoches-Mack-
intosh, the darkies call it. There was good
| foraging every day, and big sugar-houses
| every few miles. Did You ever drink any
sugar-house rum? Well, you don't want to.
after we left Natchitoches we got into
the piney woods; wasn't but one road
through the hull State, guess, and that was
narrow ust about room for two teams to
pass.
"Well, Banks had his hull army, about
10000 men-they'd make line more'n three
miles long-an' l don't know how many bat
teries of artillery, an about 10 miles O.
wagons-had them along to fetch back the
cotton he expected to get-all stretched out
on this one road. But the wagons and the
troops didn't get along together first-rate
and some how or other the wagons got most
ahead of the army. The regiment belong
ed to was on wagOn-train guard one day
twas the 9Th of April an long in the after
noon we heard firing ahead. Us fellows in
the ranks didn't know there war q reb
around. Banks didn't nuther, guess.
swell, we kept on moving up the road
kind o. slow, an doubling up the wagons
thick till the hull road was chock full. We
couldn't go ahead and couldn't turn out to
get by, cause of the heavy woods on both
Al. CT, IL n,.l 4 nG ,,I,k
ing was getting hotter in front every min
ute. No use guarding the wagons any more
they couldn't get away nobody couldn't get
'em: so we marched off toward the front.
"Jest fore dark we come to a little clear
ing, and formed line of battle on the right
of the road. There wasn't no fighting after
dark, buttwe laid on our arms all night, an
could hear troops marching and wagons roll
ing the hull night long, though we didn't
know what it meant.
'Soon's it came daylight we got orders
to move. There wasn't any troops in sight
nor nary wagon. We started along back
down the road we had come up the day be-
FORE scairt, expecting every minute the rebs
would take us in the rear; but they didn't,
an after we'd marched two or three miles we
got careless again, an things seemed just as
they had all the time.
"'Bout o'clock, when we got most back
to Pleasant Hill, we heard a big noise behind
u.s. squad Of cavalry came flying down
the'road, turning in their saddles and firing
behind lem fast as they could with their
seyen-shooting carbines. They rode right
into us, shooting and holleriDg The rebel
cavalry is coming! Git out of the way'
Fore we could realize what it all meant
they had passed US an gone on to the front
Then the was volley in the rear, and the
bullets sung around our heads lively, an
then we skedaddled. Less'n two winks the
wasn't man in the road. Every one of 'em
took to the woods. The underbrush WAS so
thick you couldn't see rod, an the bushes
tripped us up, and every man that went
down left everything behind him that
wasn't fast to him. Then we begun to strip
down to business. Guns were pitched away,
then knapsacks, an overcoats, an haver-
sacks an canteens, an belts, an straps.
"Well, we jest cleaned ourselves, an how
we did run. We run for about mile till
we got to Pleasant Hill, where there was
clearin' There we found our brigade in
line o. battle. We went on to the rear of
them, but = took us more'n an hour to git |
our wind and to gather our wits enough |
to know whether we was regiment of sol !
diers, or jest lot o. scairt Yankees"