Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-03-08
"CRIPPLINe IHE ENsMY."
zone of the NIOst SGASessful Raids of tl
 Wars

War;
 Mount Fall inl Right dress! Roll calll By fours right wheel Marrhp' and away we go over tho rough road, with sabers jingling and horses steaming in tho frosty air as rcvoille sounds to arouse the tens of thousands of sleepcrs to roll call and another day-to tho soI.h until the last tent is passed, to tho south until the last broken down wagon is left behind, to tho south until the $50 horses plunge down tho bank and into tho icy waters and take a sip now and then as thoy pick their way across, with bits of Ice swirling against the saddle flaps and patches of icy foam touching the troop CTS heels in spite of their elevation. It is Racooon ford. On tho south bank, shivering with cold as they bend their cars to tho north to listen to tho clattor of the moving column, arc the enemy's vedettes. In the woods in rear of them, still finger ing in their blankets or building up the slumboring camp1res to prepare for break fast. Is tho reserve picket. We camo upon them suddenly. Thero is a pop, pop, pop of carbines and muskets; two or three troopers in blue rocl in their saddles and fall into the waters to go floating down as corpses always float; a cheer, a rush, and it Is over. We sit in our saddles and look down upon flve dead men, upon flve great blood blotchoS on the white snow, upon five human beings sacrificed without pity and unpitied as they lie. There wero 40 others, but they rushed into tho woods and escaped, Only five dead. That was a cheap offering to tho god of war. Not a gravo for ono of the dead, not look be- frNl [ NhN hal 4NN Nh., south. The rush and the excitement have warmed up tho blood of tho troopers, and they light their brier roots and laugh and joke as they ridc on.
 A mile away tho smoke Is ascending from farmhouse chimney, and tho noise of firing at tho ford has called a gray haired old man down to his gate Behind the pa per window curtain, as we ride up, We catch sight of the snow white hair and mothorly faco of tho wife. Tho mcanest thug in a great city would hesitate to rob and destroy after seeing tho gray hairs and wrinkles of ago. War has loss conscience than thug. Thcro is a well filled barn opposite tho house whoso contents have cOmforted tho enemy and may again if we do not destroy 1t. A word of command; tho striking of match; we hear the flames roar and orackle behind us us we rido on. Tho old man holds up his hands as if appealing to heaven; the aged wife opens tho door as if sho would got a clearer sight of mon who could do such things; our rear guard wave their hats and laugh as tho flames burst through the roof,
 Down tho hill on tho other side. through a bit of woods with tho dead leaves Hut tering as they fall, and we como to a crock spanned by a covered bridge. Tho chatter of tho iron shOd hoofs of the $50 horses on h., hnl mile away liko tho noise of n sumnier cyclone as 1t strikes into n prairie hamlet and ronds and tHars and rOars and leaves wreck and ruin on every hand. Tho last horso Is scarcely over tho bridge before the torch is applied. It is a bridge in the on cmy's country, something to aid and as sist our foes in making war, and we shall return another way.
 At high noon the passions of war have been aroused. Every house belongs to an enemy. The fundamental rule of war Is to cripple your enemy. His forces must find neither shelter nor food nor forage as they march over this road. We come up on horses and cattle and sheep and hogs, and we shoot them down or drivo them ahead of us, and in applying the torch to barn or stack no one cares if the gray old homesteads arc also licked up by tho flames.
 More barns, moro stacks, moro cribs, moro bridges It Is burn! burnl burnl On tho creeks we hear the hum of tho big water wheels as they grind the grists and we rush in, apply the torch and leave a pillar of flame and smoke behind.
 We head to tho south for Il miles, thence to tho west for 10, thence back to the north for Is, n ride of 40 miles in l7 hours Wounds, death, destruction and desola- tionl We found peace, and we brought war. We found comfort, and wo left pow erty watching our rear guard out of sight | Wo found old men and young children | with words of kindness on their lips; we | left them with such bitterness of heart | that death alone could efface it A gIgan- | tic serpent, a serpent with eyes of steel | and tongue of fro, had dragged itself | over 10 miles of the enemy's country, and | he who rode after must have prayed God that war might never come again.
 As the sun boeins to drop like ball, | and tho clouds to bank up, and tho snow flakes to whirl about tho onemy stretches | across our path. This is good Tho torch is thrown away for tho saber; the jest Is silonccd by tho blasts of bugles We are | yet almost $50; tho enomy fully as strong. Down go the fences, companies deploy | right and left, our battery comes gallop- ing to tho front to open fra. In five min l utes thcrc is hot work. In flvo more we get the orders: "Trut! Gallopl ChargeI' 1 This Is not house and barn burning; this
 is not jeering at hclploss women and chill drcn; this is not sweeping the farm of its | 1.-Two stock. Nul This Is fighting. Here on
 tho bruath fields 1, TOO men shoot, cut, slash and kill sYou can hear tho horses scream
 out as the bullets burn them, the shrieks
 of men as they thruw up their hands and | tumble to earth. Round and round, back
 and foyth, death holds high carnival foI
 half an hour. Then the enemy falls back
 and leaves tho road open, and we push
 past him. Re-enforcemonts arc coming uI | to him, and we must escape while he is
 binding up his wounds. On the frozen
 grass of the meadows lie 200 dead and
 wounded mon. The wounded call to us as
 we ride past, but they cannot be taken
 away. When wc have gone the enemy
 will do as he secs fit with those who veal
 our uniform. Wounded horses follow us
 however, and more than ono trooper who
 can sit his saddle feels the hot blood trio
 kle down his leg or of his fingers It Il
 trail of blood-a hundred trails in onG which the wolves would howl over a;
 they followed. Now and then as WI
 push ahead in the grinness of night some
 wounded man Is overtaken by death ana
 falls beneath the feet of the horses. They l step over him, and their riders may won
 der who 1t is. but there is no halt. CamI
 and the finish at last, and within a few
 hours there Is oxultation over the report:
 "Bridges destroyed. 10 miles of country
 laid waste, the enemy beaten of with So
 vere loss One of the most successful raid.
 of tho wal" NJ. QUAn.