The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-01
drunken sodger.

ing SO name as a drunken sodger. 1
deSDiSe EN- meSelf.'
L did not get that properly through
my brain until he had escaped. nor did
| report him, as he made no trouble
later.
troops. where officers and men are alike
new to the business, generally brings
a good deal of solemn feeling until the
boys get warmed up and realize that ev
cry one is not going to be killed or even
hit Immediately, and l think green troops
are more engaged in thinking each of
himself than of anything else. Probably
a good many uneXDreSSed prayers and
resolutions to do better in the future, if
any future is mercifully left. might be
discovered by mind reader, but even
in those moments the reckless Irish
humor comes out. Many man beside
the chaplain was shocked and then had
to laugh as an Irish regiment in Sep
TENDER, 1861, ordered to go in for the
blatant railway brakeman voice call out
from the ranks. Passengers for h
this wayr'
Are any of you able to remember the
with his honest head afiame with inju-
dicious libations? The monograph was
not invented soon enough. The talk of
such q man on battle subjects should
have been preserved.
What was - a sarjint. An av We
known anything O throops ye'd know
comes to fightin' than a company Of
ficer. The officers is all very we'll in
camp an on parade. but it's mostly sar-
jints takes charge o. the fightin'-that is.
next to the ginerals. l remember very
well Gineral Rosecrans comm up to me
at the battle o. Perryville an wipin' the
forehead of him, as he seq: Clancy. I'm
afraid it's all uD wild us; the boys is
mostly out o kyartridges an the rebs
is firm wickeder than liver. What will
we do. Clancy. SEE he. an seq to him.
don't lose heart. The boys isn't licked
yet. SeZ /, but aV We lave thin stop
pin secession bullets an maxim no re-
turn. SEE l. they'll soon be out o heart
intirely,' seq l. I'm take me oath we're
right SEE he but / don't know how TO
cure it,. seq he, thin rebels is Just
knockin' the dandruff out ov us livery
way SeZ he. Well. Gineral RosecranS.'
Wud just ordher a charge seZ /, be
way av divarshion.
so wild that in we wint. an in five
minutes more We could hear mouse
squeak. so quiet it was, an the inimy
dhrove moiles from the field av kvar-
mage. Jeff Davis said himself that
charge was, what, tuck all the marrow
And yet had all the truth been known.
that same silly fellow. with his out
rageous romancing, had perhaps really
had he served prince instead of a
people he might have fairly won a
medal for gallant conduct.
I wonder if the incident recorded of
an Illinois Irish infantryman at Shiloh
was adapted from an ancient tale o.
was really based on an approximate
fact? As given over camp fires. it ran
that the soldier, in the mad Scurry of |
firing at will. at close range, got sec
ond cartridge rammed down his enfield !
the first having missed fire, and in the
smoke and excitement went on ram 1
ming down another after each unsuc-
cessful attempt TO fire the piece. His
lieutenant. seeing that he was in trouble !
angriy took the rife and with better
success discharged it himself with an
explosion like that of a 24-pounder. The
private. from behind the tree he had
jumped to as the officer raised the gun.
yelled out as the lieutenant went over
Backward: For the love o. heaven.
lieutenant. how'd her sthrong; there's
foive more loads to come out
However this may be. l have known
soldiers. not necessarily. but probably
Irish. to load up even more dangerously
by filing their rifle barrels with stolen
whisky. putting a tiny plug in the nip
pie and with muzzle tomDioned, carry
ing the weapon so carefully on the march
as to confirm suspicious created by a
strong smell of villainous whisky. The
of this is not realized until
one considers that in campaigning a sol
dier's life might easily hang on his ability
to use his rifle promptly.
With all it's rollicking deviltry, the
Irish regiment was a model in its rela-
were usually priests who held their lives
cheaper than dirt when duty called. and
who apart from their clerical influence
with the soldiers. were looked up to as
men of courage, education and great good
They led better lives than
their fellow officers, but when it came
to personal risks, sneers were turned to
praise.
It was a touching sight to see such
service as a priest would hold perhaps
on an open hillside. barren of all the
pomp of the usual Catholic service. the !
bronzed faced. riotous devils of the ranks |
hushed and docile as the priests words !
broke the silence and even the most UNI
ruly as little children listening to loved |
and wise teacher.
At Vicksburg sisters of charity came |
among us. 1t made one think better of our |
rough common soldiers-Protestant and |
Catholic alike-to see them hush their |
curses and stand uncovered to let these |
holy women pass through the muddy |
Ines. There may have been men bold |
enough to say disrespectful word, but |
had such one appeared it would have
been difficult a moment later to describe
what he had looked like when alive. and |
there needn't have been any Catholics
around. either.