The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1898-06-16

mouth when the man in the tree fred
again, and his bullet struck down
lieutenant within five feet Of the brig
adler. ssi s
"You idiot, but why didn't yol
shoot ?" shouted the indignant general,
| as he stepped forward. f
cit is cold blood, sir-cold blood!"
whispered Davis, who trembled in
every limb and was as pale-faced as
dead man. Ill
"You poltroon- coward" ragged
the general. Here, you man-cut the
stripes from his sleeves, and you, cap
tain, see that he is reduced to the ranks
on the company rolls! He ought to be
army in disgrace!"
\ soldier stepped forward, and With
his pocket-knife cut the chevrons from
the corpora's sleeves, and poor Davis
skunk away in disgrace. Here was
strange thing. A soldier who did not
hesitate to put himself in position to
be killed could not be induced to fire
were such that he had been taken out
of the ranks, and yet he refused to
carry out soldiers first duty-to kill.
We could not call him a coward-no
man is coward who will face DEATH
but we called him strange and won
dered what was back of it all. The men
of the company fell away from him,
and in few days he stood almost
alone. When we followed up the enemy
after Yorktown there was some heavy
skirmishing with the rear guard. Am
brose Davis was with his company, and
upon one occasion, when the hunderd
charged and captured gun, he led us
all in the rush, and was the first man to
put hand on it. After that we said
it was a case of nerves." or that he
had hereditary fear of shedding blood,
and he was looked upon more favorably.
We saw nothing more of the
strangeness" Of Ambrose Davis until
the battle which drove Mcclellan to
make a change of base. For half day
our regiment stood in battle line, wait
ing to attack or be attacked, and dur
ing this interval our company lost two
men killed and three wounded. 1t re-
|
up to stand there and be shot at with
out firing a shot in return, but Davis
showed no more nervousness than any
of the rest. When at length we moved
by the left flank for a quarter of mile
: and then dropped down to open fire and
: hold our ground, Davis was the man
on my left, and as loaded my musket
I noticed that he was firing high. Five
minutes later a lieutenant came creep
ing along in rear of US and warning
; each man to aim low. l heard him
cursing Davis, and twice after that, ere
we fell back, / saw the man firing into
, the tree tops.
The enemy crowded us back day by
/ day and mile by mile, and there was
) fighting over every foot of the high
) ways. We had a fierce grapple at Fair
| Oaks, and again at Savage Station, blu:
all 1 knew of Davis was that he was
with us. It was only when we turned
at bay at Malvern Hill that I found
: myself beside him again. He had been
5 three times grazed by bullets, and that
was proof that he had stood up to a
soldiers work. Our regiment was sta
toned at the base of the hill, strung
: along in the bed of dry creek, and the
, banks gave us protection and rest for
our muskets. AS the enemy came
, swarming across the open every man
was a fair target. I had fired three OF
four times when my musket fouled, and
, as waited to clear it I watched Davis
. He was firing over the heads of the
r enemy by 80 feet. Our position was
! one which could not be carried. The
p enemy realized this at last, and the
I battle began to die away. On our from
I we had only dead and wounded men, a!
+ far as we could see, and all firing hac
ceased, when man suddenly rose W
: from the ground about a pistol shor
away and stood staring at us. A thou
T sand men shouted at him to come anc
, surrender, but after moment hi
turned his back and began moving
] away. I do not know why any of tn,
G. hundreds of men who had him in rang,
a did not fire, but they did not. Som
were even cheering the man, when al
- officer Of artillery jumped down amon<
= us and shouted:
''shoot hin,-shoot him-why dom
some of you bring him DOWN."
q His words were heard by so men
but not gun was raised. The office
was storming at us when Davis sud
- denly lifted his musket and fired, ant
the retreating man flung up his arms
,, whirled about and sank down. Curses
and groans followed, and Davis threy
down his gun and hid his face in hi
hands and sobbed.
"A splendid shot!" cried the officer
land if I were your captain you woult
be corporal tomorrow"
Davis had done a strange thing. W
looked at him and wondered over it
) The heat of the battle was vet stron.
upon us, but the killing of the maj
t seemed little short of cold FLOODED mur
e der.
y "Did kill-kill him p asked Davis o
: man beside him when he could con
l. troll himself.
} eyes, you shot him dead, the poo
II devil. Why didn't you let him ge
|. away?"
Il "You have all been down on me be
+ cause I wouldn't kill" moaned tn
q shooter, as he hid his face again.
That night we fell back to the Jane
e river. In the darkness and confusio,
+ commands were mixed up, and it wa
L night again before the company rol
n was called. Private Davis was anon,