Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-08-08

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 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 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. 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. l galloped
down the driveway to meet them.
(! Hush! no noise. Come backr said,
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 back!'
. said /. 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 a
minute and made me so brave; for it
was a bold thing to do. The ford was
| quarter of a mile long and rather
shallow, and we had nothing but a
belt of woods to shield us. 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 in
sight we had our light battery in POI
sition to sweep the river, and had a
| 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
| 4oise 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 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 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. My
| blood was up now and was every
| where up stream and down stream,
| sending out scouts and skirmishers,
| and directing the fire of our troops. On
my rounds got bullet in the thigh
| which finally put me on the invalid
| list. s.,es
about one o'clock next morning
Hood got his artillery up and shelled
| us. He set the woods afire 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.
cat nine o'clock the enemy sudden
| ly 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 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 it goes back of that even, to
the time when / ran away from home
with Joe Cory and even Hold Durkee-
the morning mother told me to saw up
the maple boughs and said: L won'tr
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 it all came of Hold Durkee,
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 gone on a
bit: Well never see that sight any
morep 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, l
said: I'm going backp and never
stopped running till l 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 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 it
right to do all could for that poor
southern woman in her heartsore
strait, who looked so much like my own
motherl"
The general was holding the daisies
tight in his stiff fingers, and the tears
streamed down his cheeks so fast that
| Clint was frightened and began to cry.