Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1900-11-08
NERVY UNDER FIRE.
DRESS PARADES IN THE FACE OF THE
ENEMY.
Incidents of Great Goodness and
Bravery on the Part of Soldiers
That Were Observed During the
War of the States.

Bravery on the Part of Soldiers
That Were Observed During the
War of the States.
Il never knew" said the colonel, "of
but one case of dress parade under fire,
and that was at the crossing of Swift
creek in the Petersburg campaign. The
Eighty-frst New York, under command
of Colonel Join D. Raulston of Oswego,
was under orders to cross to the Peters
burg side of the creek. The enemy kept
up a constant fire, and Colonel Raulston
moved his companies in a way to attract
the attention of General Butler, who sat
on his horse some distance to the rear,
watching the movements Of his own men
as well as those of the enemy.
AFTER the first company crossed 1t
formed in line as a guard for the second
company. When the second company
was across, it took the place of the first,
which moved forward half company dis
tance, and SO on, with the precision Of
parade drill until all were across. Cen
eral Butler was so pleased with the bear
| ing of the men, with their coolness and
discipline, that he sent message to Colo
| mel Raulston, presenting his compliments
and saying in effect that a regiment
| which could do Sc well under trying cir
cumstances would find it easy to go
| through the evolutions of dress parade
| under fire. The colonel accepted this as
an order and formed his men as if for
| dress parade. At least for the space Of
several minutes the Eighty-irst New
York stood in line, with guns at parade
rest, and then moved forward as if pass
ing in review before the colonel"
Il saw a case like that" said the cap
| tain, but it was an accident. Our colo
| mel was given to sort Of mechanical use
of the orders, Shoulder arms Order
arms and Parade rest The boys often
| thought he used these phrases absent
mindedly, but whether he did or did not
the regiment was brought to a parade
rest half a dozen times on every dress
| parade. On one occasion, when the regi-
ment was formed as a part Of a long
line Of battle, it was reported that the
! enemy was about to charge, and the
men, who had been resting at will, form
ed quickly in line.
"The colonePs voice rang out the or
der: Attention. Shoulder arms! Then,
to the amazement of the men, came the
order: Order arms! Parade rest! The
regiments to the right and left were
standing at a ready. The men of our
regiment were looking steadily to the
front at a parade rest. The colonel aft
erward admitted that he never meant to
give the order, that it was in his mind
to order the men to get ready to fire,
but instead came out the phrase, Parade
rest! and he took advantage Of the un-
| expected to compliment his men for their
coolness in the face of the enemy"
"We came nearer to a dress parade
than that at Shiloh" said the sergeant.
Our regiment and, / think, the Sixth
Ohio were the first of Buell's army to
cross the Tennessee river ON the even
ing of the first days battle. General
Nelson, our division commander, was SO
anxious to get the men across that he
ordered that no horses be taken with
the first boatloads. So it happened that
our own regimental officers were not
present when we formed in line. One OF
the senior captains took command and
was forming q line on strict parade
principles when a large officer, taking
short breaths, said: That's right cap
tain; straight as a rule-straight as a
| rule, men,
"The officer was General William Nell
| son. WHO Udu cTOSSeu WIFI Tue uTsL DOdI-
load leaving his horse behind. Not one
man in the regiment had ever seen him
on foot before, although all of them were
familiar with his appearance on horse
back He seemed so different on what
the boys called his sea legs and was SO
different in manner that at first lac was
not recognized He took command of
the regiment as soon as formed and
| n, h. I.,,o h.
inspecting officer He was the hardest
swearCr in the army, and yet that even
ing he swore not once. The men, used to
his clustering manners, were surprised
at the look of anxiety and appeal ON his
/ face. He said in low, soft tones as he
moved along the line: Now, gen tlemen,
remember what you have come to do, and
do it like soldiers. Make your line as
straight as a rule, and when you go for
ward let the line Of bayonets be as
! straight as il you were on dress parade.
This will show the enemy that you are
not afraid and it will give confidence to
| our own men who have been fighting all
day. And that night and the next morn
ing the men of Nelson's division went
forward with lines as straight, with step
as regular as though they were on dress
parade"
1.-The greatest dress parade under fire
that ] ever saw" said the old eX-Confed-
| crate, "was when the army of the Cum
berland formed to move forward against
Missionary Ridge. Some Of us who were
watching that day saw the finest military
! display OF our lives. Perched on the
heights of Missionary Ridge, we looked
| down into a great amphitheater into
| ah boI Q far do md
view nearly 100 regiments. We could
not measure the strength of the divisions,
but we counted the flags. and we knew
that in the mass there were at least 80
regimental organizations. My count was
93, but the boys insisted that | saw
double.
eve had no uneasiness at first, and we
laughed at the idea of an army which we
believed was at our mercy holding a
grand review. We were interested all the
same, and when the line so perfectly
formed swept forward on our outposts,
carrying everything with it, we were
startled out of our boots. l verify believe
that that orderly parade Of the army OF
the Cumberland, within the range Of our
sharpshooters, and the visible testimony
of IS regimental flags carried toward US
at double quick, did more to demoralize
Bragg's army than any other incident of
the campaign. When that same line
swept up Missionary Ridge, Bragg's vet
erans scampered away, having in their
minds visions of the precision and disci-
pline which they had witnessed day or
two before."-Chicago Inter Ocean.
| Words Failed.
A party of Midland wheelmen lately