Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-07-21

o.
and now and then as the firing died
away little her heart stood still at the
thought that Kenton and his comrade
had been captured by those who thirsted
for their lives. She could only weep and
pray as the hours dragged away. Hope
came to her only when she heard the
clatter of iron hoofs on the frozen road
and looked out TO behold the two COM
panies of Federal cavalry sweeping up
the highway to the 1escue. Uncle Ben
had been in time, and she murmured,
God bless hint as she reaIized what
it meant The dead guerrillas lay in
plain sight as the troopers pushed on.
and she shuddered as she realized what
might have been. The dead were for
gotten for Il moment in her anxiety for
the living. There had been no firing for
the last 10 minutes. Had the camp been
captureds Had help come too late? She
stood in the open door and held herself
on her feet while she listened. A sud-
den crash of musketry told her what she
was yearning to know. The Federal
troopers had attacked, and they were
strong enough to beat off or annihilatc
the besiegers. Half an hour later she
was crying and sobbing and saying to
the men who bore the litter:
Carefully nowi Bring him right in
this way! lam SO glad! l was afraid
that he was Geadi"
The prisoners were confined in the
barn. OF the entire force not one had
escaped except Ike Baxter, and that
only because he was absent. There were
a dozen or more dead men to bury, and
after awhile detail was sent back to
perform the work. A dozen dead, but
no wounded. If you were in the valley
that winter, you will recall the bitter
ness existing between the irregulais, "
who were practically bushwhackers and
guerrillas, and the Federal cavalry. No
prisoners were taken on either side. If
Federal detachment was cut off, never
a man returned to his lines If a cou-
rier was captured, he was shot In his
tracks or hung to the limb of ii roadside
tree. There was no more mercy shown
on the other side. The capture of an
armed man in citizens dress or half
uniform meant that he had only / 8 min
utes to live at the furthest. If he
claimed to belong to Mosby's band, he
courted death the sooner. Men who fell
In fight went down TO lie buried there.
Custer with his troopers found Uncle
Ben eagerly awaiting them. The old
man was given seat in an ambulance,
and within a few minutes the general
had heard his story. The order was
given to pnsh on at q faster pace, and the
command reached Rest Haven just as
the prisoners had been placed under
guard. A surgeon accompanied the col
umn. and while be was busy dressing
Kenton S wounds General Custer was
holding an interview with Marian Per-
cy. The result of this was an order that
the dead woman and the wounded man
should be taken back to the Federal
lines-the one for burial. the other for
proper medical treatment, Whatever
Marian wished to take away would be
transported for her, and the place would
be abandoned.
Steve Brayton had come out of the
affair greater hero than be had ever
hoped to be. Although frankly acknowl-
edging himself an escaped prisoner and
now again captured by the enemies of
his cause, every Federal who understood
how be had fortified the camp and da~
Tended it to save wounded and almost
helpless fellow Confederate insisted on
taking him by the hand and rendering
him hearty congratulations. Even
General Custer himself did not withhold
a word Of praise after learning from
Marian and Kenton Of Brayton s bray-