The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-07-10
A WAR STORY.

OF the capitol, remarked MIR. Savers,
chairman Of the appropriations com
mittee Of the last house, to a Star writer
II day, 1.-The last time l saw him. 1t
was not long before the old generals
death, and the occasion, if I remember
correctly, was some appearance he had
to make before the supreme court in the
case OF the Chicago anarchists. AS l
shook the old mans hand my memory
travelled back to a time when Buffers
name was the one l liked the least and
Buffers hands the last ones into which
] cared to fall.
Il was rather young, a mere boy, in
Texas when the war broke like q storm.
Naturally, with my geography, 1 went
with the Confederacy. / was in the ar
tillery. One day we captured a battery
of three brass guns. 1t was given to me
to command, and the day I got that bat
terry was the proudest day in my life.
Then as I look back it still seems to me
that those six brass field guns were the
most beautiful things that I ever saw.
"Of course / was full of ardor. l
burned to do something with my bat
terry. Such was my anxiety to get into
trouble with those guns that ! dragged
q couple over to the Mississippi-we
We're in Louisiana at the time-and
pulled OF a fight with a stray gunboat
belonging to the Yankees which I found
providing around. We had a sharp, spit
fire time OF it for a few moments, when
a lucky shot from one of my guns tore a
, hole in her in such a fashion that it let
the river in, and she filled and sank. l
was excessively proud of the achieve
ment.
Butler had New Orleans at the time,
and, among other things, vas running
the papers. Later l read an account Of
my brush with the gunboat in one of
Buffers journals. 1t could not be called
an unbiased statement. 1t reviled me as
a most abandoned and bloodthirsty char
acter and declared that even after the
gunboat surrendered l kept on pouring
shot into her as if my one purpose in
life was wholesale murder. OF course
this was not SO. Iwouldn't have fired Oh
anybody after he had hauled his flag
down, and besides that I didn't have the
ammunition to waste.
After l rejoined the rest Of my bat
terry following the exploit Of the gun
boat l hunted trouble with the Yankees
more ~zealously than ever. One day l
was fully gratified. We were still in
Louisiana. The sun came up n morn
ing and found some 10, 900 of us facing
a largely superior force of Yankees. We
couldn't nave crawled out of a fight even
were we SO disposed, but no one suggest
ed any retreat. The fact was we felt
quite cocky and were full of a belief
that we could whip the invaders. The
fight began, and l soon had my hearts
wish. l was i'll a peck of trouble with
the Yankees, l and my battery. I had
succeeded in attracting the attention and
getting a hearing, as it We're, from three
Yankee batteries all at once. They were
a reasonably brisk outfit, and it didn't
TAX them a minute to get my range.
Then 1t began to rain sorrow and hail
despair for my battery.
ITO show You how hot those Yankees
made it one only need to say that they
wounded or killed 40 of my 66 men and
dismounted two of my brass beauties in
30 minutes. You might have planted
corn where my battery stood when they
got through, it was SO plowed and har-
rowed by the Yankee fire.
Il wa in the thick of the battle. l
was standing neal the No. l gun. A
man Of the name of Thompson was
CtnrrIn~, <r--, .-..l II. =: -
hands to load. Without a word or cry he
suddenly fell forward on the gun and
then slipped to the ground, limp as a
wet towel. A cannon ball had torn
through his chest.
Il ordered a man to his place. Before
he was there a moment a fragment of
shell from ont of the sky struck him on
top OF his head, and he fell dead by the
side OF Thompson. 1t was such a whirl
OF smoke and roar that I couldn't tell
what was going OF at the other u
much less in other parts of the field. l
had been ordered to hold my position
and had made up my mind to hold it
while a gun and a man Of my battery
held together. l ordered another to take
the place Of the second lying dead under
the gun This man got there just in
time to receive a rife bullet in his
mouth. 1t came out under his ear. This
man, however, didn't die. / met him
years after the war.
Three men were all that were avail.
able for this especial duty. They were
dead and wounded and gone, and 1 tool
the post myself. don't know how Ions
it was-whether one minute or ten
when, without the slightest feeling OF
pain or warning, l was hurt, my leg,
gave way, and l sank to the ground. A
the same instant an explosion like A
batteries all uniting in one discharp'
broke loose just to the rear of me. 4
column Of fire and smoke shot towar,
the sky, as if a volcano had been loose,
by the general jar and din Of battle.
was my ammunition wagon. l ha
1000 rounds Of ammunition in q bi
army wagon 1t had been placed abou
80 yards TO the rear of my battery
When we opened the fight, I had mad