The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-07-27
SOLDIERS BUDGET.
Army Horse Under Fire.

We had in our company young
German named Schultz. His horse
was his especial pride. Sometimes
Schultz went to sleep without rations,
but his horse never. No matter how
scarce or how hard it was to get forage,
the young Germans horse always had
an evening feed, a thorough rubbing
down, loving pat, and goodnight,
Frank in two languages - broken
English and German. Many time
have l seen Schultz skirmish for a
lunch for his horse when we halted to
make coffee instead of preparing his
own lunch, While the rest Of us stayed
in our tents and read and played cards,
Schultz would keep Franks company
for hours, sometimes talking German
to him and sometimes English. Some
of our horses showed lack of care
Franks was always in good order; in
camp he glistened like a new plug hat,
and seemed as fond of his master as
his master of him. When the Atlanta
campaign opened, in May, 1864, there
was not a prouder soldier or prettier
horse than Schultz and Frank in the
1st.
Our first fight of note in that cam
paign was at Varnell's station, May 8.
Somebody-never mind who-made a
mess of It. Our little brigade, the I'd
of the LIST cavalry division, consisting
of the I'd and 4th Indiana and the 1st
Wisconsin, commanded by Col. o. H.
LAGRANGE, was thrown against Gen.
Joe Wheeler's entire command, and
we fought it all day. We started to
charge, but were halted in piece of
woods and were ordered to fight on
foot. We were already under fire and
in considerable confusion, and only a
portion of the command heard The Or
der, 80 it happened that some of us
fought as cavalry and some as infantry.
Schultz remained mounted and did he
roic service. Early in the fight his pet
acaS shot. AS the animal made but lit
tie fuss over it and steadied down
quickly bis rider thought it was only
slight wound and remained in battle all
day, having travelled many miles in the
performance of important and danger
Gus tasks, the wonderful animal SEEM
ing to enter into the spirit of the work
as completely as his master. That
night at nine O'Clock the brigade
camped.
The moment Frank was unsaddled
he lay down. Schultz thought it was
because the horse like himself was
tired, and after patting him and telling
him in both languages what a splendid
fellow he had been that day, and thank
ing him for carrying him safely through
one of the hottest battles, he busted
himself with supper getting. In the
forage bag was several extra ears of
corn. After his own repast of black
coffee, crackers and uncooked white
pork, such banquet as many soldier
has been more thankful for than he
was for the feast of last Thanksgiving,
Schultz shelled the corn and took it to
Frank. The horse did not welcome
him as usual, did not rest his head on
the masters shoulder and look, if he
did not speak, thanks for such a mas
ter. He didn't hear Schultz announce
in German that he was coming with a
double ration. Frank Was dead and
stiffening, showing that soon after ly-
ing down life had departed.
When Schultz realized that his pet
was dead he threw the corn down,
dropped by the side of the animal, ten
derby laid one hand on his neck and
with the other gently rubbed his head,
as he had done many times before, and
sobbed like child. In talking about
his loss the next day he said: My poor
Frank couldn't tell me he was badly
hurt and ask to 60 to the hospital, as l
would have uone had been shot. He
carried me all day as if he thought it ,oas
his duty, and that things would go
wrong if he didn't, and when the bat
tie was over and l was getting supper
he lay down and died.
"That horse was a better soldier
than l am-than any man in the regi-
ment. Not one of US would have
fought all day with such a hurt as that.
No one would have expected 1t Of US,
yet l expected it of Frank, and he did
not fail me-" With this outburst the
poor fellow broke down again, and
none of his comrades made light of the
young Germans sorrow. They knew
it was sincere.-ChicagO Times. Herald