The times., 1898-10-09
THE BRAVEST.
4 Veteran Tells of "a Man Who Car
ried N Fling
(From the Detroit Free Press.)

(From the Detroit Free Press.)
In some way the conversation had turn
ed on discussion of personal bravery.
The colonel was speaking
You may talk about brave men; you
may tell of friends who have walked
into the cannon's mouth. as much as you
please said he, as he removed his pipe
from his lips. "but I knew the bravest
man in the war of the rebellion. When
ever | speak of his work I cali him the
bravest man that ever carried a gun.
only he carried a flag"
What about hirn?" asked the little fell
low on the diyan.
Tell us the story" said the major.
ITS no story" the colonel went on
Its merely an incident. 1t was the day
before the battle of Shiloh In my COM
mand was a sergeant OF whom L had
doubts. He was young chap. with a
kind, nice, home training you know
hardly the fellow one would expect great
deeds from Well, the afternoon of that
day | sent him with half a company to
take a bridge on our extreme left. L
heard from time TO time sharp firing from
that direction and after about an hour L
rode over to see how the boys were get
ting along. Would you believe it, the
men were going it alone. | found that
sergeant lying behind a log as white as
death and with every muscle in his body
quivering. l got off my horse without
him seeing me and going up behind him
kicked him. He was merely scared half
out of his senses, that was all.
Il told him that il ! reported him he
would be court-martialed ard shot before
night, and the way he took on was pitia-
bic. He fell down TO his knees and beg
ged me not 10 report him, and asked me
I. IL,
he would show himself more worthy the
next time. The fellows pleading moved
me. and l told him that it would be as
he desired, that l would give him another
chance. So the next day to test him |
made him color sergeant. l took him
right up TO the firing line with me in
that awful battle of Shiloh. The bullets
were as thick as hail, but no matter
where 1 went that color sergeant was by
my side. Once in a while / half turned
to look at him. His face was livid and
his lips were purple. The hand that
clutched the flag staff lookd as though 1t
were made of plaster of paris. Wherever
the bullets were raining the hardest, that
color sergeant followed me, and / felt
that he had redeemed himself half a doz-
en- times over. Finally after the engage
ment was nearly over / fell with a bullet
through my hip. They didn't pick me
up until evening. They carried me back
to the field hospital, and the first thing 1
did was to ask about that color sergeant.
What do you suppose they told me? That
he had been picked up not ten feet from
the spot where 1 lay. I had not known
it, and could have rendered him no assist
ance if | had. for l could not move.
asked if he was badly wounded. They
| told me that when found he was stone
| dead. And, gentlemen, an examination
showed that there was not wound on
him. He simply died of fright. Seeing
me fall was too much for him, and he
had given up. Still I call him the BRAY
est man / ever knew"
Major Smith. of the Second United
States Infantry, the regiment that did
such splendid work in the Cuban cam
paign, tells a good story of an Irish SER
geant of his who was with him at E
Caney. 1t seems that the Irishman, q
seasoned Indian fighter, had but little re.
spect for the fighting qualities of the
| Spaniards, and was always talking abour
the ''uselessness of sich sojers.'
It was the evening before the fight anC
| the regiment was lying around indiscrimi
nately, the men smoking, telling storie:
and prophesying the outcome of this
| next days engagement.
The old sergeant didn't say much a
| first. He went down in his haversaci
| and took out an old black clay pipe will
| half the stem gone. He had smoked tha
| pipe for years. He carefully loaded 4
with tobacco. Samson-like in its strength
| and lighted it. Then he sat on stumi
| and broke into the conversation of tht
| other men around him. "Ut's no us,
| ia kim" he said, 9TH lice O. sindin' u!
| down there t fight these dom dagoes Il
| little less than murther. They're no good
] There amt wan o. thin as kin sight
| gun. Why, b'ys, we'll sail inty thin
dagoes an clane 'em out widout ha'
thryin, They'll pint their goons in tn
! air an let 'em go wanst, an that'D in,
| ut. They couldn't hit balloon
The old sergeant had hardly got tn
! word "balloon'' out of his mouth when
Mauser bullet, fired from the gun of som
| sharpshooter, knocked that clay pipe ou
of his mouth. 1t completely obliterate,
/ the bowl and the short stem fell to TIL
| ground. The other soldiers jumped, bu
| the old sergeant only picked up the shat
j tered stem and said coolly. "Thayre
wat did 1 tell ye? Thot wuz jist loik
wan O. thin dom Spaniards. Thot was til
| most oncivil thrick / ivir had played o.
me- 1t is not OWN T. tn fact that tho
bullet came so dom close t me an misse
me that 1 call it oncivil, but bekase tho
was tn only pipe had"