Sunday morning globe., 1901-11-17

the private soldier in the trenches Of
Vicksburg, ragged and dirty and I'm no
sense looking like a hero, who rising
his blackened tin cup Of coffee he was
heating, found himself face to face
with a party Of officers of high rank,
who had just come around an angle of
the works, as a Kissing grenade fell
at their feet Among lie officers we're
men whose names are synonyms for
bravery, but they stood transtixed
when that ragged hero picked up the
shell, and blowing on the fuse to make
sure Of its being in working order,
threw It back over the breastworks.
yelling to the Confederates, Keep It
yerselves; we don't want it, and turn
ing to his coffee as the thing exploded,
just out Of reach, with a force that a
moment sooner would have blown them
all to atoms.
Another case will illustrate the valor
Of man through a sense of duty. He
was a lieutenant in an Ohio regiment
in its first battle. The command was
lying down, sheltered by a depression.
in front of which was an open field
with a Confederate earthwork a couple
of hundred yards ahead. Over this
open place rihe-balls were singing and
fine stuff from the field-pieces was
whistling. The colonel of the regi-
ment turning from his brigadier in
| the rear, was on the point of going
/ out to view the ground over which
| the regiment was to cnarge presently.
/ In answer to a lieutenant's question
/ he said he had to know whether "a
ravine on the left extended up into
/ the ground i'm front. The lieutenant
pulled him down gently to where all
were crouching, and said calmly, Let
me go. There's only one colonel to
/ the regiment, but there's a lot Of us
/ lieutenants." Five minutes later, as
/ he bandaged a badly shattered leg ha
had dragged back, he described the
| ground accurately to the colonel
/ This done, without a word Of comment
he started back to the rear to get his
| leg fixed by the doctor"
Occasionally a regiment got an eX-
| ceptionally good name, but rarely did
one get a bad reputation for want OF
steadiness under FIRE. At one Of the
earlier engagements Of the war, in
/ Western Virginia a green Indiav regi
ment was taunted by the Confederate
from their breastworks with the cry
Of "Buena VISTA" There was story
current that regiment from Indiana
had hinched at the battle of Buena
. Vista in Mexico The taunt cost the
Confederates dearly, for within a few
minutes the Indianians proved beoynd
doubt that any question as to their
willingness to fight at close quarters
was a matter of past history.
In the long run the higher princi.
\ pled men made the higher mark. One
thing which raised the tone OF the
whole army was the chance for pro
motion. Death. designations, and pro
motions out of the regiment made
plenty of vacancies, and every ambit
ious young fellow knew that his pro
motion depended more on himself than
on any one else. One gallant young
fellow of twenty-siX years fell In
north Georgia in 1863 as colonel of his
regiment, having filed every grad.
from private soldier upward, not omit
ting those Of sergeant-majOr and ad
irtant. He had been a minor clerk IN
/, a provision store in his native towr
b when the war broke out. Until after
the first year Of the war brigadier
generals were the least qualified fol
their posts of all who wore buttons
But later on, when they were made
by promtion instead Of political pre-
ferment, all this was changed for tho
better