The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1895-08-03

come across They are our soldiers,
but they are starving. and / have moth
ing more TO give them And In
that wing room lies the only boy
have left from this dreadful war, sick
from typhoid fever and 1T deaths
door. All depends now ON quiet and
good care. II another hungry army
comes stamping through the grounds
the very noise will kill him / am SO
thankful you have kept your men
away. And o. sir, do not let Hoods
army come over. or my boy, my only
boy. will die In the uproar.'
II went right TO her and took her
hand In both of mine. III do any
thing In the world for you. They
shall not cross said. Then heard
the trampling hoofs and the major
and his comrades came tearing In.
They had heard the tidings. gailoped
down the driveway 70 meet them.
and led them to the road Hood is
upon us, forty thousand strong. What
shall we do?' cried Maj. Upham. DO?
Hold the fort and keep Hood baclxr
said l. And those were the words
that went round the world and gave
me SO much fame. Nobody knew the
real reason that had changed me In
minute and made me so brave; for ID
was a bold thing TO do. The ford was
quarter Of mile long and rather
shallow, and we had nothing but
belt OF woods to shield as. The fortu-
nate feature was that Hoods artillery
horses gave out from long marching,
and he could not bring up his cannon
promptly, or he might have shelled US
out. When his advance guard came Ia
sight we had our light battery In POI
sition TO sweep the river, and had
good sheltered place for every man
with plenty of ammunition at his side.
1t was toward the close of the war, and
we were armed with repeating rifles
Ny six hundred men made as much
..oise as FIVE thousand ordinary troops
would do. and that helped greatly.
Across the river was high noun
tain. Its shadow gave the ford name,
for mp stream and down stream the
water lay bright and shining in the
sun, while here it ran swift and black.
The advance guard plunged In, three
thousand of them, and tried to force a
passage. We moved them down In
terrible numbers. Then they detailed
sharpshooters to climb the trees and
the mountain and try to dislodge us,
but we were too well protected. Next
they sent their cavalry upstream, who
swan the stream and charged us two
Thousand five hundred strong. We am
pushed them with our battery, and
drove them back with fearful loss Ny
blood was up now and was every
where up stream and down stream,
sending out scouts and slSirmishers,
and directing the fire Of our troops. On
my rounds got a bullet In the thigh
which finally put me ON the invalid
list
"About one o'clock next morning
Hood got his artillery up and shelled
us. lie set the woods attire in many
places, destroyed the baggage wagons
and most of our horses, and killed
many of our men. BUT we stuck to
the position, and still were able TO
sweep the river with our bullets
"At nine o'clock the enemy sudden
ly disappeared, and we found they had
made a pontoon bridge eight miles be-
low and crossed. They would havc
annihilatcd us had they turned back,
for we were too worn and demoralized
TO escape; but instead they swept on
south, too late to do us any harm
there. We had delayed them until the
intended raid was failure.
'And that's the secret behind my
great reputation. Ben. 1t was not SO
much that / was resolute and fearless,
as that / tried TO please the woman
who looked so like mother.
"And IL goes back of that even, to
the time when ran away from home
with Joe Cory and even Hold Durlee--
the morning mother told mo to saw up
the maple boughs and said: 4 won'tF
the first and last time ever spoke
so to her in my life. / did not go to
school at all. Had streak of sin that
day, and 1t all came of Hold Durlfee.
who had been urging me to run off to
sea. But when Joe and Hold and |
turned on top of the hill and took our
last view of the church spire, and the
shops, the cemetery where father lay,
and the shining creek beyond, and
when Joe said, after we had Como on
bit: Wen never see that sight any
morer and thought of mother alone
on the place with the cows to tend and
the wood TO cut and tho calves TO feed
and the lantern to fiji and the butter TO
make. all alone with her own hands, !
said: I'm going baclfr and never
stopped running till / lsnelt and put
my face in her lap. ! never forgot the
gentle talk she gave me, and never
swerved from the good resolutions
made then-not so long as she livedi
never, till we buried her In the old
churchyard, with a bunch of daisies In
her poor hands, just like thesei
"And II goes back of that even, TO
the time when WINS little fellow and
my father told me 10 do all could for
my mother always, because she was
the incest and the best. SO held IL
.t.-E& a. ~ ....ll -. that t,f,stt.