The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-03
THE VETERANS STORY.
The absolutely True Tale OF How the Sergeant
Sent the News to the General.

The Absolutely True Tale OF How the Sergeant
Sent the News to the General.
The veteran, in the dingy uniform that might
have been gray.or blue, WINS perhaps u shade in
definite as to where he had experienced the
stories he was telling, but he was an Interest,"
ing old fellow, and his listeners had been read.
ing too many war tales sent by special mes
songcrs to newspapers to worry about the de-
tails so long as the results were good. So
they filed up tho narrator's beer mug and set
him going again.
''One of the oldest things he said, with the
calm confidence of truth, that 1 can remember
happened to my brother and me, both of us bo-
ing members of n battery. On one occasion we
had been watching the enemy for a week, try
ing to keep him from crossing a river until our
endorsements had got up, but the rains had
set in and men couldn't move. and we were
pretty sure that the enemy was .up to some
dodge or other that was going to wipe us of
the face of the earth, for he had ten times as
many men and guns as we had to meet him
with. Of course. that made the commanding
officers dead blue, and they offered all sorts of
Inducements Or some OF our fellows to 20 over
or more went, to ten times that many who vol
unteered to go, but none came back, and we
wasn't any better off than we We're before.
Zone morning l told the General that my
brother and me had a scheme to get the infor-
nation he wanted, and if he would agree to
promote us both if we got it, we'd try for it. He
mighty near agreed TO make Brigadicrs OF us,
but we compromised, on sergeants, and my
brother left for the other side, after telling me
Eood-by., For, two, days we did not hear from
him.. and on the third the enemy got Il I2pound
gun into a position the battery | was with had
been lighting him away from for a week, and
| got n blast from The Major. but | never said a
word. Neither did the General; and my Door
~brother-nobody knew where he was.
Strange to say, our battery didn't open up
on the enemy, either, in his new position. and the
from tho General in Ommand About 10
O'Clock in the morning the encmy's gun let
shell that looked to me TO be as big as a barrel
come flying across the river and hit IN a sand pile
In the rear of our battery, In n minute l had
broke for that sand pile and was scratching like
n dog az a rabbit, hole. and pretty soon l come
out with the shell in my arms and was cutting
across lots for the Generals tent.
II never stopped to ask any questions of the
folks at our battery, but got to the General as
soon as could. and rushing right into his tent,
l dropped that hot shell into a bucket of water
and put again; and let into the vent of it with "A
tMe ! sido me H. TO t make a long story short: on
usually is WAS n communication from my
brother signed Sergeant John smith. giving
crazy to git hold of, and it fixed him SO that he
knocked the enemy galley west in no time. My
wasn't such a great secret over there what hey
was going TODD. The only trouble was we hadn't
@ Ssan a oRer a ,2 81 It, BAG" * TI5h 1T g when nn, our II r mGn
though; by loading it into the shell and fri ,g it
from the gun in the position he had got for it,
when, the enemy couldn't have done it in n
month. That was the scheme we worked, and
my brother. being II fine gunner, had no trouble
getting in with the artillery company, especially
when, he went TO the officers with n story about
how no could get the gun in the position that
they had been irving so long to get and
couldn't, owing to our battery on the other bank
OF the river. He was a great stratcgist, was
in this war.
No" sighed the veteran, "hc never got his pro.
motion, though | did mine. as the General said
l should. My brother was killed at the bat.
terry he fired The shell from, and by the guns OF
his own, friends. just as like as not | done it
myself, but that is war"