Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1895-11-14
THE SILENT MAN

hands Of some brutes who disgraced the
blue they wOro, and Mundy's companion
WAS butchered. Swearing vengeance Mum
dy left his command and entered upon the
life OF partisan to take revenge for the
death Of his friend Mundy's real name
which he boro N Company d, was .Jeroms
Clark. Another character of the COMPANY
was The Silent Man" He was crack
shot, lad in years, being about 8. but
standing 6 feet 3. The snnalist says that
nj home he was n mothers boy" driving
mp the COWS, milking, and tending the ba-
by, but tell you in fight he was every
inch man and a very tall one at that. 3"
He would never shoot unless he could
draw bead upon an enemy and then would
take deliberate aim and fire and load as
cool)y as though shooting at squirrels.
This company also had Waterloo vet
, eran in its ranks Hugh McVey, an Irish
man over 20 years old. At Shiloh the first
day he was hit, but refused to leave the
ranks. Next day he received bleeding
wound in tho head and crimson stream
streaked his white beard, arousing the
pity Of his comrades, who begged him to
90 to the rear. But he refused. declaring
that he had sworn to die on that field
Soon afterwartl the lines were closely en-
gagged and the old man went to worl: say
agely, loading and firing rapidly and
cheering on the men until he was killed
70 return to the "Orphans' at Stone
River. Hanson led them IL the terrible as
/ sault of Jan. 2. Tho brigade had the ad-
vance, and in the rush for the key to the
, Union position came to close quarters. The
Sixth Confederate and the Eighth Union
. regiments OF kentuckians crossed bayonets
over the guns. All was going well for the
. sOutherners, led by breckenridge. when
the other noted Kentuckian on the field,
{ Thomas i. Crittenden. entered the lists
! He had placed 90 cannon in position to
! meet the attack and suddenly let loose
their awful power. The Kentucky brigade
was caught in the hurricane of missiles.
Hanson was killed, and when the brigade
marched its shattered ranks past Breckin-
ridge he gave them the name they bore
ever after, "Orphans."
General Ben Hardin Helm i.lnan whom
Lincoln declared would be worth moro to
he Union cause than the whole state of
Kentucky, stepped into Hanson's place Us
leader of the Orphan brigade" In the
next battle he followed him to glory. He
FELL at Chicakmauga, leading charge up
on Beatty's Union brigade, which included
the fighting Fifteenth kentucky. Helm s
Fourth Kentucky grapplcd with their
kinsmen Of the Fifteenth in struggle
over Bridges battery. Tho Kcntuckians
In gray shot down the battery leader and
all his cannoneers and horses, but tho gal
liant Helm went down also, killed by Tn.
ion kentucky rifles.
The Orphans were reduced to "a hand
full by the time the armies confronted each
other at Atlanta. The corps badge of tho
Fifteenth Kentucky was tho acorn, and
one day the regiment and the "Orphans"
faced onco more. 1t was on the picket line,
and General Lewis, speaking for the "Or-
phans," called out In answer to some
chatting, IAN right; we'll hull your acorns
for you some day soon" At Jonesboro
most of the Orphans" we're captured by
tho acorn corps, and the Kentucklans in
blue and gray fraternized in the prison bly-
uuao, greeting old friends. The leader u
the Orphans" grasped the hand OF Colo
mel Taylor OF the Fifteenth, and referring
70 tho past encounters on the field said
with smile, Well colonel, we have
come Ffer to hull those acorns. ="
GEORGE l. KILMER