Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-05-26
and that In the next Hebt thew m,ot

woods. The fight began far above us.
That meant waiting, and it is the waiting
that makes towards of brave men. Down
the lines of the Fourth, Seventh and
Twelfth went tho company officers, and
when they reached a white faced private
whose musket 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 hi 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 lis with their
bluff1ng, 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 were
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 other 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
Seventeenth the full thousand men broke
back like u flock Of frightened sheep. A
second shell completed the business, and
there was a stampede which carried them
a mile to the rear. 4. 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 hrOl1nht nj or1 ,s,o cnx,, M - -
the Seventeenth until next day. Then the
on1cers oil the regiment were paraded and
the major general said to them:
II know the history of the Seventeenth
since its first skirmish. You are a dis
grace to your state, to the army and to
yourselves. l shall recommend that the
regiment be wiped out of existencep'
On the morning that the order of dis
bandment 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 %headquar-
tiers, ten miles away, when a Confederate
column which had out loose and marched
by night through field and forest, burst
out OF the woods upon tho camps of the
detacbments along the river. The sur.
prise was complete, and without a check
the enemy swept along down the stream.
At the first sounds 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 towards. A few had already start
ed to move off when, there came the thun-
der Of hoofs from the west and a woman
rode into camp. No man of the Seven
tenth had ever seen her before, and to
this day her identity has not been estab-
lished. She must have been the wife Of
some officer in camp above, but what his
rank or name has never been made known.
She was hardly above 30 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 POUR col
onel9"
"We have none"
what regiment is thisp"
1.-THE cowardly Seventeenth"
"Then Gcd help them up therel I 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! Well gol Fall in! Fall inl"
was shouted and echoed all over camp,
and five minutes later every man had his
musket and cartridge box and every COM
pany was formed.
"This way, this way-oome onl" called
the woman, and as she turned her horse
the companies fell into column and fol-
lowed after, swinging their caps ands1
cheering as they marched.
Up the road crowded with white faced |
fugitives, and yet never q man Of the Sew |
enteenth fell out. The guns doomed and
%thundered and the musketry volleyed, but
never a man Of the Seventeenth Jagged. 1
Presently they met wounded men crawl
ing behind trees and logs, and dead men
with eyes looking up at the hot sun, but
the orderly sergeants shouted: Forward
Forward And the men shut their teeth
hard 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
filed the air with ~splinters, but she did
not turn her head. The bullets came
thicker and thicker, but she held her wal
till y line of blue suddenly came into view
and then waved her hand and said:
Right down there, comrades, is where
need you, and after today no man
will call the Seventeenth q regiment Of
oowardsl'
Hip, hip, hurrahl" And a swinging
If cous nus1 a duph fovuavd ard kho 1;ro |