Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-12-04

rely, merely looking at one another,
each waiting for some other to speak.
May 1 ask what this regiment is do
! ing" he repeated, but in a louder
voice, and then he continued: as this
the regiment that ! commended after
Princeton in the presence of the whole
army for extraordinary gallantry in
the face of the enemy? Is this the reg
iment that showed even greater BRAY
cry at Germantown"
There was cry In the rear of our
huddled crowd. The fire Of the enemy
had grown hotter and had come closer.
1t was scorching terribly, and the regi-
ment by an abrupt convulsive move
I ment heaved forward directly toward
! the general. The fight was about to
continue in spite of him.
/ But he rode suddenly toward us, his
face red with wrath, and he shouted in
q voice that rose far above the crash of
the British musketry: where is your
/ colonel? Where is Colonel Carruth-
| ers?''
"The colonel is killed. He fell early
( In the attack" replied some one.
"And his body-where is IS? What
have you done with it?" shouted the
/ general.
ut is back yonder," replied, "among
/ the bushes on the hillside. He was left
where he fell"
DO you mean to say that you have
abandoned your colonel's body to the
enemy?" shouted the general to the
| whole regiment rather than to me.
Does any American regiment abandon
! its officers dead or alive in such a
manner? A retreat before superior
| numbers can be pardoned, but not that.
So great disgrace cannot be endured.
Go back and bring away your colonel's
body!"
His voice was large, like everything
else about him, and It's tones rolled
among us like thunder The men wav-
| cred and turned feeting glances to-
I ward the enemy. They thought of the
body of our beloved colonel lying back
! there among the bushes and in the
! hands of the foe. He was not alone
| the colonel, but the father of the regi-
ment, and it would be repeated by
| long as any of us lived that we had
| abandoned him.
! They still hesitated, and Captain
Hunter, running among them. shouted,
For Gods sake. men. turn back and
bring off the colonel's body" Their we
| junior officers. inspired again by his
example. took up the cry. and presently
the soldiers themselves began to shout
it. 1t swelled among us like refrain,
Save the colonels bodyn
Come. Gordon!" shouted Captain
Hunter to me. THE way is not there,
but here. This road takes us to the
colonel's body" And turning about he
ran toward the British. | followed
! him. and suddenly our men. wheeling,
too ran upon the British vanguard,
still shouting that refrain: Save the
colonel's body! Save the colonels
body"
There is something terrible in the
wrath of men who have been thrown
into a panic terror and then. under the
influence of a sudden and great emo
ton. recover completely from it. They
have so much to atone for that the nat
ural courage in them burns like fire.
Our turn was so quick. our rush so
fierce. that the British were as much
surprised as we had been. Their van
guard was crushed in an instant, swept
entirely from the field, and then, CIV
ing their main force our second volley.
we drove at it with the bayonet, and
always above the crackle of the rifles
and muskets and the clash of steel rose
that somber battlecry: Save the colo
nel's body! Save the coloners body!"
We had fed full mile, and the colo
mel lay somewhere near the beginning
of the rout. That was our objective
point now, and we rushed back upon
our own path, fighting as our regiment.
| famous in the whole army, had never
fought before, pressing heavily and
! more heavily upon the British and
driving them before us. think that
no troops in the world could have held
us back then, and, shouting our battle
/ cry, we pressed on and on toward that
| fatal spot on the hillside where our be-
loved colonels body lay. The,smo Of
the firing blew in our faces. the ene-
fell, but only the dead, the wounded
| fighting like the unwounded, and we
still drove straight for that spot among
the bushes ON the hillside.
| The British recoiled before such a
shock, and we swept on faster than
ever. Then we began to climb the hill
side, and the men shouted: Here is
where he fell! Here is where he fellw
But the colonel himself, pale and
bloody, rose up among the bushes and
said in voice weak. but heard clearly
by US: 81 knew that my brave lads
would come back for mel l knew that
they would not leave me to the enemy!
On. lads, and sweep them from the
| hillsv'
He led us himself, wounded as he
was. and we hurled ourselves directly
upon the whole British army, while we
heard to left and right the long, rolling
fire of our own army as it pressed for
ward to the battle which we had been