The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-05-14
AN EPISODE OF WILSON'S CREEK.
Dramatic Event Recalled by an Ap-
 preaching Army Reunion.

Dramatic Event Recalled by an Ap-
 preaching Army Reunion.
 Major J. w. Eldridge, chairman of the Wilson's creek battlefield reunion committee, is arranging for a spectacu- lar demonstration at the coming en- campment here on the 10th of August, which he says will re-enact one of the most singular and romantic episodes of the war. After much effort to locate and identify the surviving actors in this dramatic adventure of the Union and the Confederate forces on the Ozark plateau, the reunion manager has at last found the two principal characters needed for his encampment play, and these gentlemen, now gray with years and each wearing high civic honors, in addition to the distinctions of a soldier, have promised to come to Wilson's creek next August and tell their re- markable stories. These two interest ing survivors of the Wilson's creek bat tie are General Powell Clayton of Ar kansas, just appointed minister to Mex ico, and Colonel M. w. Buster, now mayor of Weatherford, Tex.
 While the storm of battle ragged furi- ously along the ridge west of the creek and the Confederate forces were press ing the Union line at It's strongest point, Totten's battery, supported by the detachment of the Kansas regi- ment, continued to sweep the southern slope of the hill with those deadly, shrieking shells which had early in the morning startled the rebel camp. In iho a ha1 had hpnY1 advanced up north of the ford of the creek, and was now firing at close range into the Union line. One of Ly- on's staff rode up to Totten's battery and, pointing out the enemy's guns, asked the Kansas captain if he could not capture them. The detachment which had been supporting Totten's guns at once rushed down toward the rebel line to execute the command. The two armies by this time had got some what entangled, as the Louisiana troops and Sigels men had done early in the morning at the rear of the Confederate camp, and the Kansas companies charging the battery approached reg iment which they mistook for Union soldiers. The federal captain called to the colonel of the approaching regiment and asked the officer what troops he commanded The officer replied, giving the number of his regiment and using the then rather unfamiliar letters "C. g. A." to designate the Confederate army. But few of the Union soldiers understood what the colonel meant, and the commander of the Kansas troops, seeing his men were thought to be rebels, determined to resort to a stratagem to escape the peril of the sit- uatlon. Asking the Confederate colonel for permission to attach his men to the regiment, he was assigned position in the column and the Kansas companies immediately aboutfaced and moved forward toward the Union line. At the first opportunity the federal captain ad- vanced his men in front of the Confede rate column and was rapidly pushing them forward toward the shelter of Ly- on's guns, when a rebel major galloped up and demanded an explanation of this conduct Concealment was no longer possible. The Kansas officer knew that in 8 moment his men would be targets for southern shotguns and muskets Seizing the Confederate off, cer by the sword belt, the Union cap tain unhorsed the major in an instant, and, calling for the assistance of com rade, the prisoner was dragged on to- ward the federal line, the rebel soldiers being warned not to fire. A fixed bayo- net was pointed at the side of the cap- tive to urge him onward, and also to execute the threat of the federal com mander if the rebels should fire.
 For a few seconds the astonished Con federates did not shoot, and the Kansas men, with their stupefied prisoner, ran on toward the Union forces. Then some of the rebel soldiers fred and sev- eral of the Kansas men fell. The threatening bayonet pierced the side of the rebel major and the wounded Dris- oner sank to the ground. The Union captain ran forward with his men, talk ing with him the sword of the rebel of ficer, and escaped unhurt. He carried the sword on to Springfield in the after noon of that day, then took it to Rolla when the fragment of Lyons army re- treated to that point. and kept the weapon through the war as a souvenir of Wilson's creek. This Kansas soldier reached the rank of major general be- fore he left the service. He supposed that the rebel major was buried at Wilson's creek, and never knew other wise till long after the war.
 One day this veteran of the Union army was showing an ex-rebel the cap tured sword and telling it's strange his tory, when the southern man informed him that the Confederate major did not die. The bayonet thrust had made a ghastly wound, but the rebel officer was picked up in a moment by his own men and sent at once to a battlefield hospit- al. After recovering from this wound the major resumed service Tn the regi- ment, and was finally promoted to the rank of colonel.
 When Major Eldridge heard this TO- mantle story he began to correspond with the parties in order to secure their presence at the coming Wilson's Creek reunion. He now has promise from both of the men that they will be there on the anniversary of the battle and play their allotted parts in the encamp- ment drama, in which the Union vete- rans will participates Springfield (Mo) Correspondence of the St. Louis Globe Democrat.
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