The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-19

Our teeth weFek ellaS taI'iTfEs exNith stae cold
and we We're soaked to the skin, but the
order warmed US a; bit and we started up
the hill
We knew that we could not advance
much further ,wsthouts9be being, challenged
and it was true, for we had not made
more than ten yafds of the hundred when
we had to cross before it e came. Old
Macs reply was TO fire his pistol straight
at the point from which the voice came
for he wanted to draw the fire. Then
he jumped forward .witiF.a yell.
We spread out so that there was a doz-
en- or more feet Between US and started
up the hill at a trot, firing as we ran.
Nobody expected to hit anything but
the dark, but we succeeded, for we
hadn't covered ten feet more before there
was a roar in front of US, and the air
was filed with bullets and shells and
grapeshot, and / tell you they sang a
mighty weird song when they flew over
our heads, which most of them did.
Then in the ,m9mentaEy lulI that fol-
lowed I heard right in front of me-and
l was close Behind the ~captafn@1 heard
the major.
''Bow-wow- woW-WoW!'
That was all that he said, but it was
like an electric shock to US all, from the
captain down. Lots OF stories have been
told about how strains of music from the
band will cheer strains Of music from
the band will cheer Tailoring troops on
to renewed effort, but nothing ever hap
pened within my memory which had to
much effect upon soldiers as did tie
barking OF THAT dog, happening just
when it did. We forgot that we were
only seven, including the captain; we
might have been 1900 at that moment,
the way we started anew up that hill;
and all the while in front of us inter-
spersed between the booming of cannon
and the rattle of musket balls we could
hear that 'Bow-woW-W boW-WoW!
and it seemed to say, Come on, boys
I'm leading this squad! Bow-woW- Give
it to EN-! WoWWoW-WoW! Spike their
guns, boysl Bow-wow wow! 1 m with you
and I'll take you through! Come on! Bow
wow-wOw!"
Nobody remembers much about the
worst fight that he was ever in, and, to
tell the ruth, I don't remember much
about that one, only that 1 was through
the breach fight behind the captain with
that Bow wow-wow!' singing in front
of me- 1 didn't know whether the other
boys were behind us or not, and / don
think 1 cared-just then.
The other squads obeyed orders to the
letter, and that was why we We're victorl-
GUS The enemy thought that we num-
bered thousand, at least that was what
the men whom we captured that night
told us afterward and I never blamed
them for it. You see, we struck them
from eevry side at once,t and they never
thought that we would attack with only
six men in each command. think it was
the only time that such thing was ever
done during the Rebellion.
But I'm getting ahead of my story.
When l jumped through the breach
threw my cal bine, stock ii st, plump at an
officer who opposed me. 1t caught him
under the chin, and he went down, as
though he was shot 1 didn't have a
weapon left except the hammer that l
told you about, but L managed to catch
another man on the side Of the head with
that, and then I felt for a spike.
[ got the point Of it into the thumb
hole somehow, and struck it one blow
with the hammer, and then something
hit me. Somebody grabbed the hammer
out Of my hand and drive the spike home,
and then l went craZy,-or- get dazed, or
something, for l do not remember a thing
after that until I woke up with the sun
Singing in my face and saw the dog,
Major, standing over me He was licking
lie side of my head and whining like a
baby, and looking as human as any man
you ever saw.
L.,
for that was the side of me that hes was
on, but I couldn't raise it to save my
life. Then I tried it with the left one,
and that worked. Major seemed pleased.
He stopped whining and grabbed hold OF
my collar with his teeth. Pretty soon he
let go and began licking my face again.
and after he had kept that up for few
minutes he took hold of the collar again
1t sort of brought me to, and after a
while I tried TO roll over s0o
Wen, when the dog saw that he put his
mouth down close to my ear and gave
just one little whining bark, so low that
you couldn't have heard it ten yards
away, and then he left me.
l could see him as he hobbIad away.
sort Of dragging his hind quarters after
him, as if they weren't of much use and
l noticed that he was covered with blood
but, to tell the truth, I didn't give It
much thought then I lust wondered
where I was and tried to remember what
had happened, but for the life Of me 7
couldn't.
1t might have been five minutes. or It
might have been five hours, after the Ma
Jor left me before he returned, but he
dld come back, and when he came he
was leading a horse by the long end Of
a bride rein, which had been cut near
the blt on the other side by a bullet or
a fragment of shell
Somehow-Tll never tel Won how
/ got hold of the stirrup and nuIIad nv
self up so that 1 succeeded in CLIMBING.
across the back OF the horse Then 7
must have tainted away, because tha
next thing l knew I was Iyiag on the
ground with a group of men in fa++arad
gray uniforms standing around ne and
the dog was licking my face ana whin-
ing. go ~ LII
They told me that the dog had led the
horse with me lying belly down across
its back into their lines: and then tbev
told me that the dog was shot through
the loins and couldn't live I cried like
a baby when they told me shat.
one Of the men was a colonol-T saw
that on his shoulders, and I begged him
to take out flag and return the dog to
the Third New York cavalry.
Well, it wasn't army regulations and
It wasn't exactly what I expected. Inf
tney took the dog and rue both down
the nil and waited, and, somehow or
other-I never did know exactlv how
they made arrangements so that I was
eXehanged for one Of their own men.
and l and Major were sent into ,9rnn
That is almost all the story. Old Mac
told me the rest, and it was Ike This.
The rebs were Sc touched hy the devotion
of the dog and the fact that [ had one
mimic ball through my hips and another
through my lungs, and couldn't possibly
get well, as they thought, that they Just
decided that they would change off me
and dog for an able-bodted soldier of
their own and cali it a fair trade Both
of us were as good as dead.
We fooled them, for both of us recov-
cred | fought in many skirmish after
mat for wasn't half as badly hurt as
lheE supposed | was. And Major? Well
he didn't have any use of his hinder,
afteT-ward, but there wasn't man in the
Third who wouldn't volunteer to carry
him anywhere he wanted to go
. Ills bow wow-wow that night won the
hill. Every man in that sortfe heard if
and IT affected all of them lust as it did
me; and he bOw-wowed for eveTv one