Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-06-06
tMUSICW ONTHEFIGHT

step again, and TX We can CHtch ROOt
swing from whatever bnnd we got tomor
row we'll show tho way for you old fellow
lin great shape"
"Yes; a great deal depends upon thu
band" said tho colonel, reaching down tt
a drawer In his desk and bringing up from
Its depths box Of cigars "A good band
can put lifo into tho lamest column, and
I've even known band to put life into O
dead man. Factl But here-light up.
Wen make short session Of 1t tonight,
for tomorrow calls us out early, but there's
plenty of time for cigar all round.
ut waFl--let mo 5000 years and some
odd moffhs ngo," continued tho colonel.
'''The old regiment was down in Virginia
then, as / have said, and merry time VIC
were having Of II too. There had been
about two days lot up In tho general I'M
pleasantness though, aud wo were begin
ming to wonder II tho other side had emil
grated. Thoy hadn t-oh, mol At this
timo were all by our Alone Oft on II sort OF
side track, watching road that came from
nowhere in particular, but which was
thought to be worth watching just tho
same. Our position was beauty, ana II
was lucky for US that 1t was. tell you,
boys, It's about tho 8amo In war as In bill
liards-'postion' 3 everything Tho road
wo were watching ran almost exhctly
north and south. 10 tho east Of us, on our
loft, was dense patch OF woods and ON
our right was another with tho added foa-
turo Of good sized swamp. In our front
tho ground was open for u distance OF
nbout 500 yards, and beyond that tho I'M
broken woods began again. Tho clearing
before lla was Of almost the oxnct shape or
n fan, and wo wore at tho point where tho
lines that would represent tho sticks con
yorgod, so that I'm limo of battle wo stretch
cd completely across from the woods on
ono funk TO those on tho other Some 200
yards to our roar u road oaino into tho ono
TINT we were guarding, from northwest
orly direction, and at tho intersection of
tho two was II forlorn group Of tum blo
down houses, which collectively won't by
tho namo of shford Four Corners, appnr
emily for no earthly reason, for there cor
tainly woro not four corners thero
"To toll tho honest truth wo didn't OK
peot we woro 80 far to ono Rido of active
operations that wo should 500 or hear from
tho enemy, 20 long M wo wore lucky
enough to DO allowed to remain whore wo
were. But wo had boon in tho business
too long to tako any chances, and 80 we
put In days work with tho NIX and
shovel and laid out n very tidy line OF
bronstworks across our front,
awe had picket limo In tho woods be-
yond tho clearing" no continued, and
felt pretty comfortable and safe, ind 80 wo
went to work to nmuso ourselves M bost
.wo could | nm FREQ to say Tint most Of
us found our best amusement In going to
sleep for wo had had II hard drive of 10
during the ton days previous, and 1t would
have taken mighty lively surroundings to
rouse much sporting blood In M. Wo had
fornginR parties out, of course, but what
they found wouldn't have filled II hnver
sack, and 80 wo had to DO content with
what our fow wagons Ind brought along.
ut wns our second night In that posi-
tion. l had boon officer of tho guard on
tho night before, and M u result l was
sleeping In u worry determined and bust
nossiko way. hut IL didn't tako any
alarm clock tn bring mo out of my hlan
kots whom n shot came cracking out from
tho woods where our piokots woro, and
whom another sounded, and thon two or
throo together | began routing out my
mon mighty promptly. VOL, our drum
mers thumpcd out tho long roll anu tho
rogimont foil In, and presently baGk camo
tho pickots with tho report that tho enemy
was In our front and, SO far as they could
judge, In force, Tho night was pretty
we'll used up thon, and the first ha2y light
of tho new day was just coming. But
thorn wasn't enough of IL to show what
was going on across tho clearing, and so
we throw out skirmishcrs into tho woods
on either side of us and waited for tho
other fellow to show his hand Apparently
no, too, was u bit doubtful ns TO what
might DO In his front, and No As wc stood
behind our brenstworks n half hour went
by without our hoing nhlo to detect u
movement on his part. But all this tlmo
tho light had boon growing brighton, and
Just as we could begin To mako out OBJ
joots u skirmish limo camo out OF tho op.
posito woods and began tn make Its way
slowly across tho open. On they came for
perhaps couple Of hundred yards, and
then, seeing clearly for tho first limo our
works, they halted, not seeming to have
any great ambition to obtain a closer
Wow, for you must know that ny this timo
both tho Confederatos and We Ind learned
that IL was well To think twice about In.
truding upon force we'll intronchod
However, these fellows didn't got much
time To consider the situation, for wo Ravo
thom volloy that left hero and thern n
vacancy In thoir ltnC, and hack thoy went
to the cover Of tho woods, firing ms they
foil hnck. But this littlo exchange OF
compliments was emily curtain raiser To
tho real performance, for In about ten
minutes regiment oamo out into tho
open, changed direction to tho right and
formed line Of battle. Another followed
IL and formed line to tho loft of tho road
and battery camo into position In tho
interval between thom and unlimhercd
We didn't caro- particularly for tho two
regiments, but the battery looked ominous,
and tho conviction was forced upon us
that Ashford -Four Corners was destined
TO become Confederate territory In mighty
short order unless n heavier force than
we could muster were placed between II
and tho gray limo In front OF us.
but old Colonel Burleigh didn't scnm
to be- much worried mt the outlook, though
he did seem n trtle in earnest when hc
turned to tho quartermaster and snld:
'Woodside, take my horse and get back to
the brigade AS fast ns tho Lord will let
you'll Tell tho general that we've got
brigade to handle, and nobody knows how
much besides. Toll him III try to amuse