The sun., 1898-02-20
q rroxEn. oorAnD .AxD ntao.
me chssre Thnt was vyrouEht - . Rsy Ehen
ne gsa csu,peiled te raee HIPe.

ne was Csmpeiled ts Face Rire.
ct was in command Of Fort Lamkin. mortar
ear.hwork In rear OF Gen. Bushrod Johnson's
lines at Petersburg in 1864" says George Cary
Egglcston in his book OF Southern soldier stories
that will be issued by the Macmillans In fcw
days. 1.-THE fort was named for our immediate
commander from whose command wo had been
detached for this service.
"One day Lamkin himself camo TO mo when
was Mt his headquarters. Ho was In trouble.
"'This boy. 81 Tucker ho said, 'is tho son of
one OF the best friends ever had in the world
The boy Is n coward. lie literally lives In rat
hole. Ihave repeatedly pulled him out BY the
legs, only to have him crawl back again tho
moment let go OF his ankles. / don't know
what TO do. It's my duty. OF course, to prefer
charges OF cowardico against him; and II do
he will certainly be shot, and his father is my
best friend
"He paused. and then said with eagerness In
his voice: Why can't you take himf
"I agreed Mt once. l told him would take
the boy with me to my pits and make either a
soldier or a stiff out Of him within the next
twenty -four hours. was under no obligations
to his father; had never even met any of his
relatives. and had seen too many years OF
service to have much patience with cowardicc.
THE boy was sent for and ordered to GO with
me. We walked down toward BlaAdford Church.
At the proper point wo turned out Of the Jerusa-
lem plankroad across tho fields toward Fort
Lamkln. Half way there. and on top Of . little
hill. which was especially exposed to the gaze
of the shnrpshooters, made 81 Tucker ait down
by my side There we came to an under
standing. l told him he had been assigned to
me to be shot out of hand, or to be cocrt-mar-
tailed for cowardice, which, at that particular
juncturo OF the war. meant very much the Same
thing. explained to him that he was about to
Join detachment com posed exclusively OF men
specially selected for their courage-every one
pecuiiarly dangerous % service. expained tI fur =
ther that | should require him to do bis duty as
You have managed to mako for YOURSELF
said. the reputation of q coward. You have
now one last chance to redeem yourself. You
must do that or you must die.
The sharpshooters were meantime picking
at us most uncomfortably as we sat there. My
experience as an old soldier strongly suggested
to me that we ought to move The position was
Of that kind that military. men call untenable
Nevertheless. thought il best to keep 81 Tucker
tiou il nothing else.
80 At our pits / said, we have one uniform
gins the men go to their guns. take my stand
on top Of the magazine mound TO watch tho
and that
pits call out the pit number and the men run
Into the bombproof until the explosion is over
order is given. You must do as the rest do II
you run to q bombproof before have given the
then and there; re ana shall Certainly disehnyrHo yGo
that duty. Do you fully understand that, 81 T.
He thought he did. and as the sh,rpshooters
were by this time becoming pestilently personal
in their attentions. we resun med our walk. Half
an hour after our arrival at Fort Lamkin a
that boy; distinctly preferred to make SOL
dier rather than stiff out OF him; So. IN.
Of eaS the Sa
pit to which 81 Fucker had been Assigned. I M taxing
bombproof. / spoke to him as passed.
80 Remember what told you. Ifyou forget
:" He remembered. For nearly two hours he
stood there. quaking and quiverng put not dar-
Ing I5 to seek safety BY retreat 70 bomoproof.
Tucker had learned his first lesson in war He
had learned to realize that man may endure
alive. A few hours later. when the guns were at
work again, 81 was steady enough in his nerves
10 carry shells to the guns. The next day he was
even able. during bonn ba rdment, to cut fuses
Within two or three days he had become as good
cally picked for their unflinching courage.
"Whsn the great mine explosion occurred
Tucker for fault quite unrelated to cowardice.
We had been ordered to go with our mortars as
linuai rain Of shells among the thousands OF
helpless fellows in that awful pit. 1t was cruel.
wGrS But And poet has
ones sad and he knew. a War Va Il i ali fR hell 'fm'A
" We were within sixty yards OF the crater.
Each one OF our mortars was beching from three
to five shells a minute into that hole; but 81
fuckers enthusiasm WAS not satisfied. Having
no personal duty to do at the moment. he began
plugging shells with long fuses, lighting them,
running with them TO the margin or the pit. and
tossing them in hand grenades. He was
greeted by a tremendous voliey OF musketry at
each repetition OF this performance; but he did
1t three times before we could stop bin.
That evening, near the cleaning. he did an
other thing. The lines had by that time been
restored. The men in tho crater-those of them
who had not been killed-had hecn driven back
to the Federal side. We became aware of the
fact that a poor fellow OF our own was lying
grievously wounded near the Federal side OF
the fifty yards that separated our works from
the enemys. He had been lying there through
all that long. fierce summer day. The explosion
at daylight had cas-: him there. His gronns and
his cries for help and for water were piteous in
the extreme. We listened TO them heart broken.
but helpless-all hut 81 Tucker.
81 began stripping off his clothes; we thought
he had gone mad. But when we asked him why
he was stripping himself he replied; Never you
leaped over the works ducked his head low.
and ran through that hailstorm of bullets to
where the wounded man lay. Grasping him
quickly. he slunE him upon his back like bag
of meal and Fan back with all his might. As he
crossed the works he fell headlong. The sur
geon found three bullets in his body. Nobody in
the battery ever remembered after that that 81
Tucker had once been coward After all. 1t is,
perhaps mainly q question of nerves"