The National tribune., 1901-02-14

marched to the place. The officers and
men, tired of ..masterly Inactivity" had
been "spoiling for a tght,p and clamoring
to be led to some CORY held. Some had
surmised that the General led them to the
front of that seemingly iIhpregnable
fortress" to satisfy their thirst for blood.
As soon as | saw it L was satisfied. |
hoped Gen. Marshall would be sensible
and not attempt to charge the eihights.
Calling Il council of war lit the head of
the column, there in the retd the General
SAID: Gentlemen, there " the enemy; If
you want 10 go up there, win lead you
In that supreme moment every mother $
son of them remembered that discretion
is the better part of valor. Nobody init
mated u desire TO go mp there" Thus
this march resembled that of the King of
france, who marched up the hill and then
marched down again. With grim smne,
Gen. Marshall marched us back to Nlr-
glnia, the enemy making no attempt to fol-
low. We were much annoyed, however,
by bushwackers, Il number of whom we
captured and lost"
Gen. Marshall now resigned his commits
sion and was elected by the kentuCklanS
to represent them i'll the Confederate Con
gress.
/ neglected to mention in the proper
place that while on the march to Louisa
a piece of our artillery was "bowda cious-
ly" stolen by an audacious mountaineer at
the dead hour of night, when the cannon
GERS were not sleeping on their guns.
Attached to the brigade was Il unique
little battery" commanded by Capt. j. j..
Schoolteld. The gun was invented by a
man named Williams, of Coyington, KY,
who went to Elchmond early i'll the war
and induced the Government to cast bat
terry of SIX guns. | do not think there was
any other battery of the kind i'll the army.
The gun was Il small breech-loading af-
fair, the brcech being thrown out by a
spring, when the gun was discharged,
thereby permitting q current of air to pass
through the long barrel, which had ten
dency to keep it cool while being actively
worked. 1t carried a one-pound solid bail,
but upon occasion it did effective service,
at short range, when loaded with buck
shot and haif-ounce ball cartridges. BY
turning a crank the gun could be fired
about 40 times q minute, and, being mount
ed upon a light carriage, could be run from
point to point by hand. The little bat
terry" frequently did much execution, and
the Federals were puzzled to know the
character of artillery they were fighting.
On the Louisa trip Col. Tom johnson
had one of the guns with his battalion. AS
intimated above, a noted Union partisan,
named Patrick, entered the camp at night
and stole the gun away. len years after
the war | met Patrick on steamboat,
and he gave me the details of his nocturnal
raid. he said, however, that he was like
the man who drew the elephant-that he
did not know what to do with the ''artil-
lery" after he had captured it.
The incident was the occasion of much
amusement to both Federals and COnfed-
crates. Some months afterward, while the
little battery" was encampsd in Virginia,
Col. Tom johnson, riding by, could not re-
sist the temptation to say something
funny" and sarcastic about the little
guns. Accosting one of the cannoneers, he
said: You had better keep your eyes on
those guns, or some woman may slip into
noneer, not recognizing the Colonel, re-
piled: "Oh, we are not uneasy! The only
man in the army who would permit such
thing is Old Tom johnson, and he is not
in command here" e-H
TO be continued)