Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1897-04-24
A SOLDIER OF TRUTH.
A VETERANS VALUABLE ADDITION
TO WAR LITERATURE.

How An odd Signal Agreed Upon BY
Brothers. who Were on Opposite sides.
was Finally Used-A Mystery the Old
Soldier Didn't Try to Explain.
As the reporter was rapidly hurrying
past the door Of saloon he was met by
an old soldier, who suggestively tipped
/ his hat
IF you will tell me story, = re-
marked the reporter, accepting the tip,
I'm pay for the rotations. | have a
thirst for story; you have thirst for
drink. Let us exchange !"
The veteran was quick to respond. as
the parched soil responds TO the grateful
rain, and, opening the door, he bowed
the reporter in and escorted him to a Ia
BILE in a quiet corner, where presently
the potables were served.
~ don't think could have earned
what l am now so greatly aud CRATE
fully enjoying, said the veteran, with
glowing cheek, as he set down his
glass, after long swallow, "had it not
been that today met an old comrade
from Kentucky. state, you will re-
member, which had soldiers in both
armies, and good soldiers, / may add.
This man, who is now merchant and
comes to New York to buy goods every
year, was in the Federal army, and he
had nephew in the same regiment
with himself and another i'll the Confed-
crate army The young chaps We're
brothers, and they We're mighty fond of
each other, but they were fonder of their
principles or patriotism or politics, or
whatever you may call it, so they agreed
to disagree, and each one go to the side
he thought was the right side.
1T was sad parting for they had
been closer together than most brothers,
and before they separated they fixed up
a kind of signal to identify themselves
by, SO that if one was wounded and left
on the field he could notify the other if
it happened they were on the opposite
sides in that particular fight 1t was a
boyish kind of lottery chance of one
in million, but it suited them, and
that's all they cared for The signal ar
rangement was to be light chain with
a note fastened to it, and the whole
thing was to be fastened to the bullet
and dropped into the old muskets they
had in those days. This was to be fired
at random up into the air to fall among
the soldiers of the opposite side to be
picked up Us it might and taken to the
man whose address was in the note,
| along with other instructions to be fol
! lowed out by the brother who might be
| in condition to do it. You can see how
childish and almost impossible it was,
but there was just that chance in it that
made it attractive to the boys, and they
told each other goodby and went their
ways, the one to the north, the other to
the south, each bearing with him his
chain and note of identification attached
to the bit of lead that some day might
bear on its wings the message of death. =
The veteran was becoming poetic and
pathetic, and the reporter suggested q
refilling of the glasses, and the sugges-
ton met with immediate and pleased
approval
For the first two years, " continued
the veteran, the boys hadn any occa-
sion to use their signals, for they had
gone through unscathed, and, besides,
they were serving i'll sections of the
country widely separated, but in 1868.
in the fall, they were with the armies
| fighting through Tennessee, though they
had lost track of each other except in
general way.
Just what they knew of each others
whereabouts don't know, but one night
in November there was skirmish some
where in the neighborhood Of Knoxville,
| in which 500 or 600 men on a side were
engaged, without result and both sides
had settled down, for the night to wait
and fight it out by daylight There
were lot of wounded men, and dead
ones, too, for that matter, scattered
through the woods, where most of the
fighting had been. There was cornfield
about quarter of a mile wide separat-
ing the woods, and there had been some
scrapping in this open ground, though
most of the fighting had been done from
cover as these small slkirmish line fights
generally are.
II was corporal of the guard that
night, and by 6 O'Clock there was only
an occasional shot, as if each side was
quitting reluctantly and by inches. ]
am not positive, but it seems TO me that
heard the last two shots before still
ness settled over all What the details
of the romance, or the tragedy, or what
ever you want to call it, are / don't
know | know, though, that during the
night we had re-enforcements, and when
we began to cautiously peep around, as
soon as the day began to break, we dis
covered that the enemy had by some
hook or crook taken alarm and departed
in the night leaving their dead ON the
field, and among them, when we sent
out our burying party, we found one Of
those boys with bullet through his
lung and another, bearing a chain and
note, buried in his brain. On our side
we found the other nephew with both
legs broken by a ball and bullet
through his heart, with chain and
note attached to it. "
The reporter threw up his hands in
amazenent not to say doubo.
II don'ttry to explain it, the veter-
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