The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-08-25
MUSKET AND SWORD.
A TERRIFIC FIGHT THAT WAS DECD
ED 81 ACCIDENT.

: Tho Unexpected Climax That At
! tended an Exciting Episode Of the
Civil E.-ar--A Sabcr Smashing That
One Man VIII Never Forget.
Il do not get II pension" said the vet
I Gran, who had trott1d his first heat at
| Bull Run, breaking intsp wild gallop be
| fore he passed under tie wire ut Wash
iugton and finally stopped TO setire from
the turf at AppomattoX, NOR do want
| one, though | suppose if | were not Ill
| comfortable circumstances | might try
for it, and still | had about as much of
the scrap as anybody know of, for be-
| gan early and quit late. Luck Is with
some people, though, for came out with
out scratch, and l didn't lose day on
account of sickness, but | ain flying the
| track. | think you said you wanted that
story about the man who killed himself
trying to kill me.
lit was in one Of those inrumcrable
| small fights that were happening III \ir-
| g;nia all the year round and was so little
| that it did not even get Il name. was
| in IN infantry regiment, and detach-
| ment of 15U of us had been sent to the
| front of the skirmsh line to feel around
| and see what we might find that we did
not want to tind-namely, some part of
| the encmy'S advance. In Il clump of
| trees we found it in the shape of Il hun
| dred or so cavalry, wearing the gray uni
| form we had seen Il good deal of i'll that
| neighborhuuA. 1t meant business, of
| course, and in a very few minutes there
| was mixing of contending forces which
was, to say the least, extremely demo-
| cratic.
The troop of cavalry was composed of
| hot headed young southerners who had
no idea Of anything but rushing right
| into the midst of us, yelling and swing
ing their sahers around their heads as if
| they were riding in a tournament at one
of their county fairs. They seemed to be
| utterly regardless of our feelings, too,
| and before we could say scat they had
| slaShed the scalps off of half a dozen of
| us like Il lot of young butchers out for
| picnic. At tie same time we were not
| entirely Idle ur neglcCtful of such oppor-
tunties as might be presented, and
may say that the general result of the
meeting to the eye of the casual OBJ
server was real hot stuff if | may use
u bit OF modern language.
Il had had very little experience in
| military affairs of any kind, and up to
|
real battle in which | had taken an ac
tive part. the activity on that occasion
| not having been Of the kind, you may
remember, which gives soldier wide
| experience in fighting, notwithstanding
| there was enough experience in conduct
| ing q retreat to last lifetime. Gee.
! how we did run that day! 1t makes me
| warm to think about il even now" and
| the veteran smiled at the thought and
| puffed mildly in rcminisccnCe of his run.
as | was saying. being inexperienced
| in fighting, | didn't know just what to
! do, as is the way with most new soldiers,
| 50 | kind of duckcd my head and went
! into il on the blind luck style, trusting in
| Providence and keeping my powder dry.
| In such Il scramble nobody ever knows
| what is going on or how best to DO the
| things he has to do. 1t is slap, bang,
| shout, shoot, slash, jab-a rush and roar,
| Il throatful of nasty sulphur smoke, pos
sibly Il bee sting i'll body or limb, Il fall
| in the leaves or dUst or mud, Il sense of
| something, one scarcely knows what.
| and the end has come either to the fight
| or the fighter.
Il had reached the slap and the bang
| period and was feeling pretty good, see
ing that | had knocked Il man or two
| over and hadn't been knocked over my
self, and was getting into the spirit Of
| it in fine fettle when | found myself
| hand to hand or musket to saber with a
/ young lieutenant about my own age and
| build. He came straight at me, cutting
| with intent to kill, and | tried to shoot
him off his horse, for l had somehow
| got load in my musket and was ready
| for that kind of business, but he was SO
| close that shooting was out of the ques-
ton. and | could only use my gun as
| guard to keep off the fierce onsiaughts
| of his slashcs. | made several efforts to
, swing around so l could shoot, but he
saw what l was after and kept it so hot
for me that did not dare to take away
| my guard long enough to use it on him
| instead of on myself.
Il put up the best defense l could, try
| ing to punch him with my bayonet, but
| the young fellow evidently had some mil
| itary training. i'll sword exercise at least,
| for he Knocked my gun around pretty
much as lie pleased. Indeed he had such
| success that he was wearing me out fast,
| and / felt that if something didn't hap
| pen for my side very soon there would be
| one more hluecoat grave to dig on the
| morrow. He saw his advantage, too,
| and with yell he came Mt me again,
| swinging that big saber of his so high
| and strong chat it seemed to me to be
| the sword of Michael or of some other of
| those picture people ! remembered to
| have seen in my books, and l made up
| my mind TO give him one more poke with
| MY bayOnct for luck and let him have
| mT scalp if he wanted it.
But he would not give me n chance to
| do even this much. lie banged that con-
| founded sword around my head until |
| could only hold my gun up and try to
| save my face so that my friends would
have something to identify me by after
| the battle was over. He rained his
| blows SO thick that | weakened fast, and
| just as l began to sing from exhaustion
| he reached around with terrific blow to
| settle me once for all. had sunk down
| half to my Enees. with the musket fallen
forward, and us he let the sword fall it
| struck the hammer of the gun instead of
| the barrel, and with Il crack that ] could
| distinguish in all the row and the rum
| puS my old muskpt went off with a con-
| cussion that threw it clear out of my
hands and sent the entire charge square
into the face Of my foe.
Even under the exciting circum-
stances | realized that something out of
the ordinary had happened, though l
could not tell what it was, and cast my
eyes up as | stumbled forward. The
face Of the lieutenant was not there. 1t
| had been blown off by the discharge of
the gun, so close in the fight we were,
and we went down together, both cover
cd with bood-his blood, but only one of
us got up again. New York Sun.
Happy Guess.
Little Jamic-Papa, what is the true
poetic fire?
Papa-i guess that must he the fire the
poet gets when the editor happens to be