The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1895-11-07

u0Auo WV GVAA0ES oOn Aot hOOu army
come across They are our soldierd,
but they are starving, and have notha
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 at deaths
door. All depends now on quiet and
good care. If another hungry army
comes stamping through the grounds
the very noise will kill him. / am 10
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. I'll 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. galloped
down the driveway to meet them.
'Hushl no noise. Come backp said,
and led them to the road. Hood Is
upon us, forty thousand strong. What
shall we do9' cried Maj. Upham. DO?
Hold the fort and keep Hood backl'
said I. And those were the words
me SO much fame. Nobody knew the
real reason that had changed me in
minute and made me 30 brave; for It
was a bold thing to do The ford was
a quarter Of mile long and rather
shallow, and we had nothing but q
belt of woods to shield u.s. 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 cane in
sight we had our light battery in po-
sition to sweep the river, and had Q
good sheltered place for every man
with plenty of ammunition at his side.
It was toward the close of the war, and
we were armed with repeating rifles.
My six hundred men made as much
noise as five thousand ordinary troops
would do, and that helped greatly.
Across the river was q high noun
tain. Its shadow gave the ford name,
for up 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
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 we'll protected. Next
they sent their cavalry upstream, who
swan the stream and charged us two
thousand five hundred strong. We am.
bushed them with our battery, and
drove them back with fearful loss. Ny
blood was up now and I was every.
where up stream and down stream,
sending out scouts and slxirmishers,
and directing the fire of our troops. On
my rounds got q 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. He set the woods afre 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.
~ disappeared, and we found they had
made pontoon bridge eight miles be-.
low and crossed. They would have
annihilated 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 q failure.
"And that's the secret behind my
great reputation, Ben. 1t was not so
much that was resolute and fearless,
as that l tried to please the woman
who looked so like mother.
"And it goes back Of that even, to
the time when ran away from home
the morning mother told me to saw up
the maple boughs and said: i won'tl'
the first and last time l ever spoke
SO to her in my life. did not go to
school at all. Had q streak of sin that
day, and it all came Of Hod Durkee.
who had been urging me to run off to
sea. But when Joe and Hod and I
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 gone on a
bit: Well never sec that sight any
more! and thought of mother alone
on the place with the cows to tend and
the wood to cut and the calves to feed
and the lantern to fill and the butter to
make, all alone with her own hands,
said: I'm going backr and never
stopped running till knelt 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 lived;
never, till we buried her in the old
churchyard, with a bunch of daisies in
her poor hands, just like thesel
"And it goes back of that even, to
the time when ! was little fellow and
my father told me to do all could for
my mother always, because she was
the incest and the best. SO held 1t
right to do all could for that poor
southern woman. IN her heartsore
strait who loOlxod an m rrh lilo INV Ouuu