The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-04-30
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ooPYRiohI BY AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION. 1884
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I,onI BY AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION. ,ss.

ing six pieces. Custer's guns could
reach the gray horsemen as they deploy,
but every piece is silent. A charge by
half his command across that snow COW
cred plain would have swept the field at
first and crushed the Confederates back
into the narrow highway to become
panic stricken mob. No charge was or
dered. The man whose name was to be-
come household word before the end
of the war and whose life was to be
spared on 90 fields of battle that it
might go ont with the shouts of Indian
demons ringing in his ears sat his horse
and watched and waited. He had come
to the brigade of stalwart Michiganders
few months previously fresh from
West Point. He had been called boy,
and men and officers had taken no pains
to conceal their sarcasm and distrust.
Two or three times he had led them in
a dash there, but little fighting resulted.
He would test them now, and they
should weigh him in the balance.
Boom! Boom! Boomi The Confeder-
ate battery is the first to open FIRE, and
II is promptly responded to. The very
first missile Is a percussion shell, and it
drives its way into the house so lately
occupied by the living and the dead, and
in its explosion brings wreck and ruin.
Twelve guns arc belching their death
missiles across tho open space when
sudden cry rises to the lips of thou
sand men. From the western edge Of
the plain, where the pines grow thick,
a woman suddenly appears to view.
She is bareheaded, and her hair is fly
ing about her shoulders. She has neither
shawl nor cloak, and her dress is rag
ged and torn. She has stick in her
hand, and she waves it as il it were a
sword in the hand of a man and starts
at wild run for the eastern edge of
the plain, right across the front of the
lines drawn up In battle array. The
cry Of astonishment which greeted her
appearance becomes shout of warning,
but she does not heed it. Enyeloped by
the smoke Of their guns, the artillerists
do not see her. Their hearing deadened
by the loud reports, they do not catch
the shouts uttered by Federal and Con-
federate alike. Round shot and shell go
whizzing and shrieking over the snow,
and men waiting for battle shudder at
the woman's danger.
Who's thut2 Haiti Haiti He can
never do 1t! He's sure to be killedl'
So cried 500 Federals as Steve Bray
ton, mounted ON the horse of trooper
he had been asked to hold for a moment,
dashed straight out into the plain to
head the woman off. He knew her the
moment she stepped out of the woods.
l. H. i L..
with Mrs. Baxter on the highway. He
had flung her down the bank with tre-
mendous force, and as he came back
over tho road with Clusters men he ex-
pected to find her lying there dead.
Nothing was to be seen of her, however,
and his mind was greatly relieved. In
her fall, as was afterward known. the
woman's head struck a stone, and the
skull was fractured. When sho strug-
gled up, she was no longer sane. She
had been wandering through tho forest
for hours before she appeared on the
battlefield, but sho encountered no one
and found no shelter. Never was there
more gallant deed than that performed
by stove Brayton, and never was hero
more heartily applauded by friend and
foe. He galloped his horse straight at
tho woman, and as he came up to her
he leaned over in the saddle, caught hGr
with both hands, and next instant she
was on the saddle before him, and the
horse was flying back to tho Federal
lines. The woman fought and screamed,
and fragments of bursting shell whiZzed
and whirred around and above horses
and riders, but they dashed into the
lines unhurt, and the gallant rescuer
was directed to continue down tho road
until the woman could be ccl beyond
danger.
Turn quick to the southl You Will
never see grander spectacle than this.
The Confederate command, divided into
three divisions, with double lines dressed
as If on parade. has received the order
to advance. They had waited for Custer
TO charge, but the chevalier was also
st1ategist. His artillery, being better
served, was creating tho most havoc,
and he could afford to delay. Look!
Lookl As the gray horsemen begin to
move Clusters guns, which have been
grouped in front of his center, timber
up and movo ut gallop-four of them
two to the right and two to tho left.
In three minutes they are on his fanks
and loaded with grapeshot and canister.
Tho Confederate battery does not follow
the example, aud as the horsemen move
forward the guns are useless.
Troll Gallop! Charged"
You hear the bugles sound the order,
and You see 1900 sabers flash in the
sunset as 1000 horsemen thunder over
the plain. Give them credit for bravery
even to recklessness. Before the horses
arc off a-trot the murderous grapeshot
are knocking them down by dozens, and
as the artillerists change to canister
1900 Federal carbines also open FIRE.
'Rallyl Re-forml Forward'
Above the roar of cannon and mus-
kerry you can catch the notes of the
bugles, and as the smoke lifts here and
there in spots the eye can detect the
gray horsemen seeking to obey the calls.
They do rally. They do reform. They
do push forward under that terrible fire,
but only to be broken up and swept
aside. Tho Federal artillerists get the
order to cease firing. the cracklo of mus
kerry dies away, and five minutes later
the smoke has drifted off, and the eye
can scan the plain. Beaten, broken.
slaughtered, and yet the gray horsemen
arc trying to rally againl
Now is tho moment, and Custer has
waited for It, Only the dead and
wounded are left behind as he moves
out, as his entire command sweeps
straight across the plain and falls upon
the broken and disorganized enemy.
They rally here and there by the score
and meet the shock They fight singly
and by twos and threes. Men wait and
die rather than run away. Brave men,
all OF them-men whose deeds will be
! spoken of around our camptires for years
to come. Tho only criticism will be
tl.s.L H.. :. ! !.