The Opelousas courier., 1897-04-10
Fort Donelson and It's Hero.
TARGET FOR 10000 BULLETS.

AS time passes the history OF war will
become more and more interesting, and
in addition to the narrative OF great
battles and Eiegcs, instances of lndivid-
ual tIerOlsm will be eagerly sought after
and read.
Many sucl, witnessed at Fort Donel-
son, Chlckamauga, and upon other bat
tIe-iiclds of the war, but ono in palticu-
lar, at Fort Doncison, impressed itself
upon my memory us au Instance of un
surpassed !'erosfD, and SD wonderful
that II part0nl, uf the miraculous. TO
those like myself who witnessed it, it
really seemed as il the day Of miracles
had returned
The hero of this almost incredible in-
cident was Geu. George Norman, the
present Adjutant General of the United
Confederate Veterans. and Gen. Cor
den's Chief OF Staff. He and myself
wero both aids upon the staff of Geu. b,
K. johnson, who was in command of our
left in that great battle.
The attack of the 18th upon Col. Hell
mans position was Il fierce and memOr-
able onslaught, and it appeared at one
time us If The Fedorals would succeed
IN forcing OUT cen'c:. A supreme effort
was being matte TO effect this, Schwartz,
TayiuI's, Dresstrs, McAl!ister's, and
other batteries had been brought uD aud
placed by the Fede'als upon the crest of
the hills overlooking our r'iie-pits, and
supported by immense colums of in
fantry. Outside of our riile-pits timber
had been fel'ed and iaterlapped, which
made ba!is. This, and tie tiuiber
stauding back Of it was all filled with
Federal sharpshOOters; they were even
W the tops of many OF tue uees.
Col. Iieiman's position can best lie
stated by his own official report us fol-
lows: "* The ground | occupied IN
the line of defense was Il bin somewhat
in the shape Of IL V, with the apex at the
angie, which was the advance point as
well as the center Of my command, and
nearly the center Of tie whole line of
defeuse. From this point the ground
descended abruptly on each side to n
valley. ~
Immediately back Of Col. Hciman' IS
position and halfway up the hli' opuo-
site was an open space about eighty
yards wide, surrounded in The rear with
timber. 10 this ODen space not IL sign
of lie could he seen, as il received the
concentrated fire of the Federals from
all arouhd lile Vslaped bill they occu-
pied; el4 IN /. head ,atsed above our rife
pits wa4iDstantIy shot OFT. ADD SO thick
were " missiles Of :!esitb flying that
az, ding as small ~ 4 ra,nrou raised
above the Sifle- pits was instantly shot
away. Every Dartiale OF this space was
covere,hWith buli'. as could be seen by
the flying P1 g2iients OF snow and ice
where they struck, and no communica
ton was had across this open space,
only by crawling along The rifle pits, o.
10y the iouger way towards Dover usopud
through the timber.
AS the Federaio advanced, the lire Of
their Infantry, artillery and sharp
shooters, bu.b iii troDl and eDii!ade, Was
all concentrated upon this open space,
to prevent rcinfo, ceneuts, which the
contovmatioil OF the bills unfortunately
ma.!e easy.
AS they We're advancing and n'lns
rapidly, Gen. JDb,isOn saw !hat bis thus
line could not withstand the terrific
charge, neither could he expect help
f.om any other part of the lines. AT
this moment IL courier arrived from
around through the timber, aud sulut-
ing Gen. JnhpsoD said: "Col. Qua,ies
viii, the Forty SECOND Tennessee RcgI
ineul is III ste rear III Cot Heinliu' :
position, awaiting o,de,s." "Gu back"
said he Geneial, land tell Col. Quaries
to move bis command nnuer cover Of
the ridge into the wife pits, and report
to Col. Heiuau Tor orders"
But The lapid onward movement Of
,he Teterals world uoi admit OF any
delay, and seeing that the sunieme mo-
.nent had arrived, Gen. johnson said,
I'll will take the courier some tlme 10
reach Col. Quaries. L want one OF my
staff to reach Col. Qual'es immediately,
il possible, auu ortici him 10 move up
rapidly TO Cot. Heiman's support aud
tuning to Lieut.. Mootnan he SAID, do
YOU think YOU could reach Col. GOA, les
across tue ie!d"!' He replied Il 30 not,
General, but ii YOU think it actually
necessary l will w." He LETT his horse
with US at our headquarters in the tim
Der, about halfway up the hill, opposite
Col. Heiman's position, from where he
started 10 carry this famous order
through veritab!e Valley OF The
Shadow of DEATH.
We watched him as he cleared the
woods at the first few bounds, never ex-
pecting to see him alive again. AS he
stepped cut from the shelter OF the trees
into the open space, thousands of SYM
pathetic ewes watched the intrepid
young soldier, apparently moving Oh to
certain death. 1t was IL war picture:
this handsome soldier. not yet of age, of
splendid physique, six feet tall, stand
ing out in his bright new uniform IN full
view of those splendid marksmen, as a
target for thousands of the enemy's
guns, willing to sacrifice himself il nec-
essary for Our Cause. The enemy's
sharpshooters from far and near made
him the target of their aim and th0us-
ands Of bullets and cannon balls were
blowing up the snow and ice at every
step he took. AS he reached the frozen
branch in the valley. he fell. Every
heart sank, thinking he was pierced by
hundreds of balls, but in a moment he
was on his feet (his sword had tripped
him) started up the hill and moved di-
agonally across the open space and
reached the timber upharmed and
untouched Except many bullet holes
Regiment was awaiting orders. A short
time after, the Federal commander was
wounded, the enemy fell back to gather
strength for another attack.
Many thousands of gallant soldiers
have stood in the face of terrible dan
gers, mounted parapeta, and performed
soldier in our war, on either side. had an
lous. Less heroism has made many a
soldier immortal.
The enemy, not less than 1900 or 5000
strong, must have loaded and fred at
least three or four times, besides the
sharpshooters, and the artillery kept up
an jncessant fire at him, so that it is
highly probable that more than 10000
shots must have been concentrated in
that space during the time he was pass
ing over it; and il is highly probable
that more shots were fred at him, under