The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1900-07-26
A POSITIVE CURE.

aLeS. by y q CLOCK IN the morning you
must have authentic news of Lee"
The brigadier had sacrificed 600 men
that day, and he could not believe the
Confederate loss to be over 80 There
was but one way to reach them on the
morrow-over that stone wall. He
would drive them or die with the last
man. There was no jollity in the Fed
eral camp that night Men will sing
or joke as they swing into battle line in
the open, but these men peered into
the darkness of the gap and thought
of the dead in front of the stone wall
and spoke to each other in whispers.
1t was brave sight to see them swing
into line as the sun gifded the tree tops.
Every face had it's pallor. and every
eye looked into the midst of death, but
there was no tagging or faltering. You
saw them Tightening their belts and
setting their jaws as they waited, and
you held your breath for the signal
which was to send them to death.
On the other side of the stone wall
there was no exultation. The dead
and the wounded were comparatively
few, but every hour would add to the
number, and only one day Of the three
had passed. The colonel knew what
was coming and prepared for it. When
the blue lines, ten deep, came dashing
forward, they met with such hail of
iron and lead that the first three or
four were blotted off the face of the
earth. Then, under the smoke cloud,
some of them wounded and all desper-
ate. the other lines crept forward, and
the. wall9Jwas reached. It was hand
to hand fight now, and every man was
Il devil, and after quarter OF an hour
of bloody fighting the Federals held
the position The dead lay three deep
below the veil, but the living stood
upon its crest and cheered and cheered
again. But the cheering soon died
away in growls and oaths. A quarter
of a mile above, at bend of the ra-
vine, there was another stone wall, and
the Confederates had simply with
drawn to the new position. They had
lost 100 men, but the Federal brigade
was no longer a brigade. 1t lacked q
full regiment. That night the briga-
dier had another wound, and again
there were orders from the major gen.
erai:
I'VE must have news of Lee at every
hazard. Unless you break through
at once your resignation will be accept
ed''
A dark and narrow ravine, up which
only eight men abreast could make
their way at once; at the turn a stone
wall, defended by two guns; behind
the guns the muskets of the infantry.
"You must break through" repeated
the brigadier over and over again. He
knew that he could not do it. He knew
that the best he could do was to pile
up more dead in the dark ravine.
When morning came, he stood on a
knoll and looked down upon the sun
bronzed and waiting veterans, and it
was like knife in his heart to give the
order to attack. A single bugle call,
and the column dashed forward. There
was never cheer nor shout. Men
who feel that they are going to certain
death do not cheer. They draw long
breath, choke back the gasp in the
throat and rush forward with heads
down. In ten minutes it was all over.
The wall had been reached and fought
over, but it could not be held. AS the
..ast few living Federals came limping
back the br:gadier sat down and wept.
Orders, orders, orders! And yet he
felt himself a murderer. More Confed-
crates had fallen. but the force was yet
strong enough to. hold the gap. If he
could not carry it, he would be dis
graced. Like the brave man he was,
he took the one way out of it. At high
noon the column was formed again,
and the brigadier put himself at the
head of it. officers groaned and pri-
Yates murmured to see him there, but
he was firm. He led in the dark-he
was the first to reach the wall-he
mounted it and cheered his men in the
fight which won it. But when it was
won he lay among the dead, and the
Confederates retired less than half a
mile to third wall. Two days had
passed, and yet the Federals had not
broken through. Then another brigade
came marching up, and there was an
other brigadier to take command. He
saw the situation as the dead general
had seen 1t, but he had less feeling.
Column after column was formed up
and dashed against that third wall and
driven back, but In the end he won. 1t
was 90 lives for one every, time, but
under his orders he could have doubled
the sacrifice. ag .at ksi
At dnsk on the evening Of the third