The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-23
FUN WHERE BULLETS FLEW
ARMY HUMoRIsTS VINO COULD
LAUGH As WELL As HIT

Ger. siocuui and tho Old Grenndrer at Ruli Run
Grim Humor on the Rattienela-The Ceb-
bier at Pcterssurr-A shanghaied Recruit
IRON Canada ana Hts way . Meeting square.
"Here's to the comrades who made me laugh"
raid the Colonel at q campfire symposium where
the topic had been the quarrels of the nations
and the breeding ground Of tho best soldiers.
"My fighting days arc over, and wars and
rumors Of wars don't rufiie me-. Lot Turk aud
Greek and Spaniard and Cuban fight 1t out; but
II ever ireland calls for allies while 1 live. she
can count on me-for onehirod substitute.
III it hadn't been for the exiles Of Erin scat
tered through the army, both officers and mon,
think moro victims would have died Of melan-
choly and mental stagnation than from Con-
tederato bullets. One Of tho FIRST recruits to
ioin my company Of volunteers, In 1851, was an
Irishman named o'Gorman, who said that he
was an ex.grenadior Of the British army; and
probably he spoke the truth thus far. for he was
acamp model In soldierly appearance, conduct,
and discipline. His military salute would have
done credit to n member Of the Queens Own,
and. as we had everything to learn about sol.
diering, I naturally supposed that I had cap.
tured n prize in Grenadicr o'Gorman. His tales
Of the part he had taken in the Crimea, at
Alma. Inkerman and the Sebastopol redoubts
raised the question among us noviccs whether
this doughty Irish private or Col. Slocum, the
nAl0tu NcSb bIhtCE "hOm VIC uhu bSltCItu 10
lead US, would cut the wider swath through the
Southern Confederacy. The odds were heavy on
the man with the musket. OF course 1 bot on my
man. the pride Of Company G. When the make
up polish In which he presented himself at the
recruiting rendezvous got rubbed of by life in
camp, O'Gorman proved to be far beyond mill
tary age. In fact, he was over 80. Still our
faith in his prowcss was unshaken.
Bull Run came. and our regiment advanced
IA
noi,rc the field. In a short time occasional bull
lets began whizzing over the line of battle from
some point in the rear of a wooded knoll q few
rods behind us. Without raising an alarm.
Col. Slocum strolled back in the direction
whence the shots came. and, to his surprise.
there stood the veteran Of Inkerman, sheltered
behind a tree and zcalously firing away bullets,
with his rife held at an angle Of about 40 de-
grees, so as to bulk the missiles over the crest
OF the knoll. As soon as he could suppress the
desire to u laugh and properly control his voice,
the Colonel gently hailed our model slaughteror.
what are you doing here. o'Gorman Z said
he in a manner, as it proved, much too familiar
for the battlefield.
The veteran took no notice Of the intrusion,
but loaded and fired another shot without q
turn of the head. The question was repeated
only TO be again ignored. After seeing the third
bullet sent on it's useless mission skyward, Col.
Slocum saw that It was time to drop the role of
an amused comrade and take up that of q
stern commander. Tapping the eager srenadier
smartly on the shoulder. he called out in his
most martial tones:
Private O'Gorman, cease firing and report
results to your superiorr
still. without turning his head. but with q
shrug that told Of outraged dignity, O'Gorman
Strengthened himself, brought his piece to o
carry with q resolute bang, not forgetting his
81. James's salute. and answered spiritedly:
"'Twinty rounds. sir. I'm afther firing; and,
arrah, Colonel, didn't I gov thin Seceders fts T.
well, Company @ and its commander never
heard the last Of the Irish grenadier at Bull
Run, and soon afterward, by the order of tho
Colonel. our ideal warrior was placed on perma.
nent detail at the regimental stables. and served
his time out standing guard over horsehesh,
horse equipage, and forage.
Tho boys missed the fun they had with
0Gorman In tho company bivouacs. until an
other Lrishmnn took his place. This was q
plebeian without the o. to his name. He was
plain Mat German. Mats idea of war was that
1t gave . chance for fun as we'll as fighting, and
there couldn't be too much of either for his
liking. He was in every scrape In the company
and regiment, and even the brigade. Soldiers
are not saints, and the men I commanded were
10 exception to the rule. There was many a
raiding expedition and foraging foray in the
course of which various kinds of property belong
ing to friend or foe got into the wrong hands. CIV
ing work to the patrol to detect the offenders IL
they could. and find and restore the lost prop
erty anyway. This last they could often do after
a long search when it had been taken from
friends as a practical joke. Mat had a
cousin in one of the regular batteries
attached 10 our brigade. D. Fifth United States
Artillery. He spent a good deal of his leisure
time with his cousin, and became a well-known
character to the men of .Badthery D. as he
called it. Whenever the patrol came through
was always in evidence. looking on at the
scar,h. He kept a straight face. and after
lost, As " soo% t as the piEun @Sa w ~n" des R4f sSS Se
P Pifh5 on SSs h. IN nl 5sst5 sssSyt' r. s. rd MsSi siyJP #. r; IL
70 the guilty ones, with whom he generally stood
ID H. ana the missing property was transferred
were somehow transferred to those OF Battery b,
Mat served his time out with me, reenlisted.
ana h N got caught a by BY the b Johnnies and
He sank lower and lower. until no could no
longer stand up. One day a comrade from the
went to see him, expecting that 1t was a good-by
cal. Mat could not lift his head. and spoke but
Its all right, me bye, We'll get out O. here
some day, and when we are back in old Bingin-
,um well Just have one long spree to make up
1t took him thirty years to drown the mem
CRY Of Andersonyille. and then he died.
There was fun around headquarters, too,
when there was an Irishman in the military
family. Gen: Slocum, after he became COM
mander OF a division, had upon his stan an Irish
Captain whose very brogue when excited was
enough to ~convulse a funeral gathering. He
was a good-natured. fun-loving fellow. a Mat
German OF a higher type. for he had graduated
az dublin College. and . Bayard or a Roland in
tie OF Antietam, Gen. slocum took charge Of
The picket lines. which were in close contact
with the enemy. 1t was a solemn hour. I
often heard the General say that in all
~ experience in war he never knew a
time when the most hardened soldiers
were SO affected by the scenes Of slaughter, as
on that field. The officers barely spoke except
when necessary. and then in subdued tones.
Hundreds OF the bravest and noblest OF their
comrades and thousands Of their gallant soldiers
were lying upon the field 30 thickly that one
could barely ind a path between the corpses.
frequently that night there were outbursts of
prlng along the front line, and Gen. Slocum sent
ms aides in all directions to SEQ IL anything Sc
Eous was afOot. One by ono they came in and
made their rap0rta Among the laaf NJ thA