The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-22
THE COWARDLY 18th REGIMENT.
Story Illustrating the Influence of Officers Over the Men
Under Them.

nrSt. He called his officers together and
said they must give the men double
drill. and that in the next fight they
might shoot down any man who tried
to make bolt of it. And the captains
got their respective companies out on
the parade ground and looked Sc age
and swelled out their chests and shout
ed:
You are a laughing stock of this
brigade! You have had two or three
chances to win glory, but you have run
away like beaten ours. In our next fight
viii shoot the man who even turns
pale"
And every private in every company
remembered that when he ran away he
followed his three officers and was not
able to overtake them. 4 month later,
at o'clock one summer morning, the
Second brigade swung into battle line
on the left center. 1t stretched across
a cotton field, with its right and left
connecting in the woods. The fight be-
gan far above US. That meant waiting,
and it is the waiting that makes cow
ards of brave men. Down the lines of
the Fourth, Seventh and Twelfth went
the company officers. and when they
reached a white faced private whose
nusket was trembling in his grasp and
whose chin was a-quiver, they laid.'a
hand on his shoulder and whispered in
his ear:
Come. Tom, but you want to brace
UP. That's a hill of a racket up there.
but it's mostly all noise. Well have
the enemy in front Of US pretty soon,
and We'll go for him heavy. Can't scare
us with their bluffing. old man. I'll bet
dollars to cents you'll win the stripes
of a corporal in this fight
Those few words braced Tom and the
other men UP like a drink of brandy,
and pretty soon they began joking and
We're all right. Over in the Seventeenth
it was different, however. The officers
were at the regulation distance in rear
of the lines, and the men had nobody
to brace them up. To talk to each 9TH
er made matters worse. We were quite
prepared for what happened. OF a
sudden the enemy opened fire on our
front with artillery, and as the first
shell exploded in the ranks of the Sew
enteenth the full thousand men broke
back like flock of frightened sheep
A second shell completed the business,
and there was a stampede which car
ried them a mile to the rear. A few
of the officers tried to stop the rush.
but most of them went with the men
We heightened our lines to fill the gap
until another regiment was brought up
and we saw no more of the Seven
tenth until the next day. Then the
officers of the regiment were paraded
and the major general said to them:
Il know the history of the Seven
teenth since its first skirmish. You are
a disgrace to your state to the army
and to yourselves. 1 shall recommend
that the regiment be wiped out of ex-
istence!'
On the morning that the order of
disarmament arrived the officers were
ordered to report at headquarters for
instructions. The Seventeenth was in
charge of a senior captain, and some
of the companies had no higher officer
than a second lieutenant. All except
two or three were at headquarters 10
miles away. when a Confederate COL
umn which had cut loose and marched
by night through field and forest, burst
out of the woods upon the camps of
the detachmentS along the river. The
surprise was complete, and without
check the enemy swept along down the
stream. At the first sound of battle
the men of the Seventeenth turned out
of their tents. There were no officers
to give them orders. They had always
run away. They were a pack of cow
ards. A few had already started to
move off when there came the thunder
of hoofs from the west and a woman
rode into camp. No man of the Sew
enteenth had ever seen her before, and
to this day her identity has not been
wife of some officer in camp above, but
what his rank or name has never been
made known. She was hardly above
20 years old, fair haired and handsome.
and every man thrilled as she pulled
up her horse and cried out:
"They are making a stand up there
by the creek. and if you will join them
the enemy can be checked! Where is
your column?
owe have DOne'
What regiment is this?"
1.-The cowardly Seventeenth
Then God help them up therei 1
had hoped to find men here. Don't you
hear them? They are fighting for life.
oh. if they had but another regiment
We'll go. Wen go! Fall in! Fall
inr' was shouted and echoed all over
camp, and minutes later every man
had his musl1et and cartridge box and
every company was formed
This way, this way-come onr'
called the woman, and as she turned
her horse the companies fell into col
umn and followed after, swinging their
caps and cheering as they marched.
Up the road, crowded with white
faced fugitives, and yet never man
of the Seventeenth fell out. The guns
doomed and Numbered and the mus
kerry volleyed, but never a man of
the Seventeenth Jagged. Presently they
met wounded men crawling behind
trees and logs, and dead men with eyes
looking up at the hot sun, but the or
derby sergeants shouted, Forward.
Forward and the men shut their
teeth and smiled grimly. Ahead of
them, but turning every moment to
look back and smile and beckon. rode
the unknown woman. A round shot
plowed up the dirt near by, but she
gave no heed. A shell burst against
a tree a few yards away and filled the
air with splinters, but she did not turn
her head. The bullets came thicker
and thicker but she held her way till
q line Of blue suddenly came into view, |