The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-01-20

Hero tho ex.assistant secretary smiled
another smile and pulled cloud of smoke
into the air. When II had floated away,
he started again.
at might have been left to the discre-
ton of an army packhorse as we'll as to
my Judgment, for was In an awful state
Orwell, what the boys nowadays call the
rattles. I took a brace, however, for
thought Of my reputation, and gave the
necessary orders We were under way half
an hour later, and, following directions,
marched due west, outside the camp lines
and the pickets. looked at my watch by
the glare of the last fire. 1t was 1890
O'Clock. In a few hours 1t would be dawn,
but then 1t was all pitch dark. The road
was broad, gray streak, bordered by
black blotohes which as we passed resolved
themselves into clumps of trees and be-
came blotches again. The country was
hilly, and the uneyenness of the road did
not improve the condition of my mind.
had never smelled powder fired In BATTLE
l had never seen soldiers in action. Iwon-
dored what / should do II we were attacked.
l tried to s9member the orders, and fool
ishly swore because l had forgotten my
Textbook.
"The men marched along silently and
spectrally. A sudden halt in front sent
my breath into my throat, but 1t was only
q stump which had deceived Sergeant Sim
mons. We went forward, ever forward, in
the darkness. An hour passed, then an
other. We must have gone ton miles. The
east began to tighten. Soon the trees took
limb and leaf The fences looked cold.
The sky became leadon and then silver.
Some of the men began to eat hard tack.
Ahead was a ridge where the road rose and
seemed to end. / halted my company, let
the men close up and moved forward
again. was still in high state of nerv-
Gus tension, and still little ratified as
you say nowadays. l kept wondering what
l should do II there was hand to hand
fighting. felt for my sword, and even
for my revolver and when found them
safe / was ashamed and looked to see il
the men had seen mo We had come to the
bottom of the slope. What l should have
done was to have sent scouts to the top to
look over, but instead l marched my COM
pany right up the road to the brow of the
hill, never thinking OF the vast possibili-
ties of the other side.
NOW, it has always been mystery to
mo why the rebel general who commanded
the brigade and half never posted pickets.
He didn't, for when we got to the brow Of
. tho hill we saw only the road stretching
down the hill, fanked on both sides by
woods | ordered the men to take to the
fields and 60 through the woods on the
right. The men all debouched together,
rs of thom. was In the center of the col
ump. Mover shall forget the sight that
met my eyes. Below us, at the bottom of
q green field, half q milo away, without a
fence intervening, little village of white
tents with the smoke rising from the
camp1res, spread out They covered three
acres. 1t seemed. There were men in gray,
the first rebels we'd SEEN My heart actu-
ally stopped beating for second l saw
my men standing with their mouths open,
lingering their guns nervously. They
looked toward me inquiringly, like a lot of
children. A tangled idea took form in
my mind that we should retreat
4 r.
~ opened my mouth and yelled. The
next moment with cry, l found myself
rushing down the field with my blue coated
soldiers against brigade and half of
Confederates tried to reason 1t out as l
ran. Over me came wild desire for ac-
ton, slashing, blood. pulled ont my
sword as l ran, yelling like boy on
holiday saw the tents and scurrying
crowd of the gray men, which grew larger,
and then broke and ran in every direction,
thousands of them. When we got to camp,
not one remained. But we found three
battleilags and rifles and camp baggage
and truck without end. After l got my
breath l sat down and tried to reason it
out Then dim thought took possession
of me that If We staid there VIC should
probably be captured and killed, and l
was about to order spirited retreat when
from out the woods broke a crowd of blue
coats, and more and more. Thoy stopped
stock still when they saw the tents.
waved my hand and shouted My men
waved their hats and shouted too
"Wol, when the colonel came up, he
looked at me and looked at him. Then
he shook my hand and said he'd take me
to Major General -. He would at once,
sir. Yes, sir A man who's bravo enough
to attack and capture place like this, sir,
should BIO known, sir. But, colonel, said
/. Not word, sir, said he, mot u word,
sir, and kept silent, but did a lot of
thinking"
My friend paused again, He looked to-
ward n sword and pair of captains Shout
der straps which hung on the wall over
the bookcase.
"Welln lie continued "the colonel told
the major general, and he asked to be intro
duced to me- and he publicly compliment
ed me on my bravery. The whole corps
knew it, and was an object of pride and
adulation. The rs who went with me told
their envious comrades how Id never hest
tated, but cried, Forward, charged when
I'd seen the enemy. Then l realized how
it had happened. In my attack of prostra-
ton I'd thought one order and spoken an
other, and tho men, being green, had
obeyed If they had been veterans, they
would never have done it.
'Thsre isn't much more to tell" my
friend continued. AFTER the Gettysburg
campaign had ended General Meade met
me and said he was proud to know the man
who had made the way for the -th corps
to advance unhindered. My major general
knew some of the people in Washington,
and there in two months l was introduced
to the president and after a little delay
he gave me the place which caused SO much
comment. l didn't want to take 1t, for
had gotten taste for campaigning and
rather fancied it. At last, however, ac-
copied, but before did l went to Presi-
dent Lincoln and, with no prelude, said:
President Lincoln, before accept the
place | want to DO honest with you, sir.
I've been troubled about it all along, for
my friends have been too preoipitate with
this thing. Mr. Lincoln, all that talk
about my bravery is nonsense. When
saw those tents, sir, and those rebels at
the bottom of that hill, was SO ID
scared that meant to yell run for your
lives = and instead cried, "ChargeP' And
that's the truth.
Lincoln squared his big, lank frame
and looked at me with his broad mouth
twitching. Then he strobe up to me and
shook my hand. My boy, he said, what
you've just told me makes me sure that it
was your right self which gave the wrong
order
And that's why I've always said that
you should never judge mans merit by
his position In life. New York Tribune
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