The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1901-05-02
MY CAPTIVE.
Continued from sixth page

cheer from more than a thousand
throSts, and then the British rushed
upon uz The brass feldpieces on their
TANKS opened with the thunder that be-
tokens the artillery, and mingled with
their roar were the rattle of the small
arms, the throb of the drums and the
clamorous hoof beats of their numerous
cavalry
The face of their red line blazed with
fire, their red uniforms glowing through
it like bloody CLEAN, while the pol
ished bayonets flashed in front.
"They are firing too soon and coming
too fast" said Colonel Washington.
"By God, look at those militiamen
They are standing like the Massachu-
setts farmers at Bunker Hill"
TWAS SO. The raw line of plowboys
never wavered 1t bent nowhere and
was still as straight and strong as an
iron bar. The plowboys knelt down.
and, as the British cheer rose and the
red line flaming in front swept nearer,
up went the long barreled border rifles
fancied that could hear Pickens'
command to fire, but l did not, and
then all the rifles along line sixth
or q mile long were fred so close to-
gether that the discharge was like the
explosion of the greatest cannon in all
the world
The smoke rose in a thick black cloud,
which moment later f1oated dozen
feet above the earth and revealed the
British squares, shattered and stopped,
the ground in front of them red with
the fallen, the officers shouting and re-
forming their lines, while our own plow
lads, still as steady as the hills, were
reloading their rifles with swift and
steady hands
We cavalrymen raised great shout
of approval, which the regulars on the
rise IN front Of us took up and repeated
second volley was all that we had
asked from the militiamen, and it was
sure now. Even as our cheer was echo
Ing 1t was delivered with all the cool
ness and deadly precision of the first
Again the British line reeled and stop
ped, but they were veterans, led by the
fery Tarleton, and they came on third
time, only to meet the third of those
deadly volleys, which swept down their
front lines and blocked the way with
their own dead and dying
The battle is won already, " shouted
Colonel Washington, land it's the
farmer boys of South Carolina and
Georgia who have won iti''
Never did veteran troops show more
gallantry and tenacity than those same
farmer boys on that day Two vollevs
were all that were asked of them. vet
not merely once or twice, but many
times, they poured in their deadly vol |
ieys at close range, again and again
hurting back the British veterans. who
doubled them in number and were SIM
ported by artillery and many cavalry,
wnlie we old soldiers in the two lines
peh1nd stood silent, not a gun or a sa-
Der raised, and watched their valor
They retired at last. not broken, but
IA perfect order and at the command of
Pickens, that we who stood behind them
might have the chance to do our mart of
The days work.
Inc smoke hung low in clouds and
half hid either army, British and Amer
can A brilliant sun above pierced
'nrough 1t In places and cleaned ON
,iumps OF men, some fallen, some still
lghtlng. Shrieks and groans strove for
place with the curses and shouts.
Again rose the British cheer from
he threats OF all those who stood. for.
he militiamen retiring before them.
hey thought it was a battle won. and
hey charged with fresh courage and
igor pouring forward in a red ava
anche But the regulars, the steady
"a Continentals, who now confronted
hem. received them with another vol
". and more infantrymen fell down in
ne wlthered grass, more riderless horses
alloped away.
Ihe battle had rolled a step nearer TO
$, but we cavalrymen, who formed the ,
ira line, were still silent and sat with
ght relns, while directly in front of us I
use huge bank of fame and smoke in
hlch friend and enemy struggled and {
ught Even Old Put, with his iron +
'ryes, fretted and pulled on the reins '
Inc long line of the British oyerlan- a
"a the Continentals whom thew ont t
three to one, and the general +
nose gigantic figure could see a
rough the haze of smoke, ordered them n
retreat lest they should be thanked Il