Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1894-01-18

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1--WE CAN HOLD Them"
it? Because we may need to pass a
brigade over it to strike the enemy's
left flank and double il back on his
center. A gully with banks not fifteen
feet high-a small creek across which
men can jump--a rude bridge from
bank TO bank scarcely wider than
wagon, and yet this may be the key OF
the right flank
Ia thirty minutes we are sheltered by
breastwork at our end of the bridge,
and every man is down behind it and
waiting Poor old Company q. Disease,
death and furloughs had reduced its
strength to sixty men. We should have
had a thousand muskets there. backed
by battery, but they could not be de-
tached from the right wing. We have
no reserves to-day. Such of the wound
cd as can hobble or crawl must go TO
the rear unaided. Men who cannot
help themselves must lie as they fall and
weep and groan and call in vain. Be
yond us. on the meadow, Clusters cav
airy is drawn up and in waiting They
will have their hands full without
minding us.
Hold the bridge. Hold II against a
company, a regiment, a brigade, "A divi-
nion-hold IL until the last man of you
is wiped out!''
Sixty men against-what? The for
est on the far side is dark and heavy.
We peer into it over the breastwork,
but nothing can be seen Listen to the
tide of battle. The enemy attacked on
our left flank, to be repulsed. He at
tackled on our left center with the same
result He massed two divisions as
wedge to pierce our center, but shot
and shell and bullet left thousand
dead and wounded in the forest. He is
hustling for weak spot ON our right
flank The wave is slowly rolling down
towards us
Ready, men-fire at will"
A mob of men suddenly appear in
view, bursting out of the dense under
growth into the narrow highway as if
in flight. Il is a company which has
been rushed through the woods as we
were rushed and with the same object
in view, but it has arrived too late. The.
mob has disappeared as the smoke lifts,
and for the next ten minutes only the
dead and wounded are in sight.
Hank! "Yil VII Yir 1t is Stuart's
cavalry rushing down upon Custer. II
the Michigan brigade does not hold its
own to-day, good-by to our right flank
We are listening to the yells and
shouts ON our right when the head of
column of infantry suddenly appears at
the far end of the bridge. There are
no skirmishers. They are coming in a
solid column to crush us by sheer
weight.
STEADY, men-we can hold them
shoot to kill"
We heap the sod with their dead and
wounded. Above the noise of the fight
we can hear the shouts of the men and.
officers. Two-three = four times al
score of men leap forward and dash at
the bridge, but as the bullets strike
them they throw up their arms and
sink down on the rough planks or stag
ger about and plunge into the creek be-
low. The road is too narrow for the.
enemy to form in, and the dead and
wounded are in his way. He deploys
right and left into the woods. He can
concentrate the fire Of thousand mus
kets on our poor little breastwork. but
he cannot eniilade us. We hold our
fire and keep sheltered. For ten min
utes there is a blaze Of musketry and a
hailstorm of bullets which seem to
sweep away the forest behind us, and
then comes a sudden lull For thirty
seconds we listen to the rattle of Gus
ter's carbines, and the defiant shouts of
his men, and then we turn to the
bridge. The enemy is determined to
possess it. Possession is worth the
hives of five hundred men TO him. a
regiment has massed in the highway
beyond the turn. They raise a shout as
they lower their heads and come with
rush. Our FIRE does not seem to me to
be as heavy as before. but it checks
them. A single man reaches our end Of
the bridge, but only to fall dead with a
cheer on his lips
They will come again That wave of
living men IS strong enough to roll the
dead before it for a moving breast
work. Our musket-barrels burn our
hands as we reload. To the right and
left Of me. behind our shelter, there are
dead men in plenty. There is hull
again. Six thousand horsemen are
charging and counter-charging on the
broad meadow. We can even hear the
horses cry out when wounded