Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1899-09-13
MUSKET AND SWORD.
A TERRIFIC FIGHT THAT WAS DECID-
ED BY ACCIDENT.


II do not get pension" said the vet
eran, who had trotted his first heat at
Bull Run, breaking into a wild gallop be-
fore he passed under the wire at Wash
ington and finally stopped to retire from
the turf at Appomattox, NOR do want
one, though l suppose il / were not In
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 a scratch, and didn't lose day on
account Of sickness, but l am flying the
track. think you said you wanted that
story about the man who killed himself
trying to kill me.
ut was in one of those innumerable
small fights that were happening in Vir-
ginia all the year round and was so little
that it did not even get a name. l was
in an infantry regiment, and a detach-
ment of $50 Of us had been sent to the
front of the skirmish line to feel around
and see what we might find that we did
not want to fnd-namely, some part OF
the enemy's advance. In a clump Of
trees we found it in the shape Of hun
dred or so cavalry, wearing the gray uni
form we had seen good deal of in that
neighborhood. 1t meant business, Of
course, and in a very few minutes there
was a mixing of contending forces which
was, to say the least, extremely demo-
cratic.
1.-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 sabers 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 dozen of
us like lot of young butchers out for
picnic. At the same time we were not
entirely idle or neglected. of such oppor-
tunities as might be presented, and l
may say that the general result Of the
meeting to the eye of the casual OBJ
server was real hot stuff if may use
bit of modern language.
II had had very little experience in
military affairs of any kind, and up to
that time Bull Run had been the only
real battle in which l had taken an ac-
tive part, the activity on that occasion
not having been of the kind, you may
remember, which gives a soldier a wide
experience in fighting, notwithstanding
there was enough experience in conduct
ing a retreat to last lifetime. Gee,
how we did run that day! 1t makes me
warm to think about it even now" and
the veteran smiled at the thought and
pulled mildly in Renaissance of his run.
"As / was saying, being inexperienced
in fighting, l didn't know just what to
do, as is the way with most new soldiers,
so 1 kind Of ducked my head and went
into it on the blind luck style, trusting in
Providence and keeping my powder dry.
In such a 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,
a throatful Of nasty sulphur smoke, pos
sibly bee sting in body or limb, a fall
in the leaves or dust or mud, sense Of
something, one scarcely knows what,
and the end has come either to the fight
or the fighter.
II had reached the slap and the bang
period and was feeling pretty good, see
ing that / had knocked 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 l tried to shoot
him off his horse, for / 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 l could only use my gun as
guard to keep off the fierce onslaughts
of his slashes. l made several efforts to
swing around so / could shoot, but he
saw what 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.
II put up the best defense could, try
ing to punch him with my bayonet, but
the young fellow evidently had some mil
itary training, in sword exercise at least,
for he knocked my gun around pretty
much as he pleased Indeed he had such
success that he was wearing me out fast,
and l felt that if something didn't hap
pen for my side very soon there would be
one more bluecoat grave to dig on the
morrow. He saw his advantage. too.
and with a yell he came at me again.
swinging that big saber of his so high
and strong that it seemed to me to be
the sword of Michael or of some other Of
those picture people l remembered to
have seen in my books, and ] made up
my mind to give him one more poke with
my bayonet for luck and let him have
my scalp il he wanted it.
"But he would not give me a chance to
do even this much. He 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 / began to sing from exhaustion
he reached around with terrific blow to
settle me once for all. | had sunk down
half to my knees, with the musket fallen
forward. and as he let the sword fall il
struck the hammer of the gun instead of
the barrel. and with crack that | could
distinguish in all the row and the rum
pus my old musket went off with a con-
cussion that threw il 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