The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-10-19
The harpshooters Duel.

| = ( - $ - +.
At Lincoln. Neb., lives II. Masterman
aged zelghty-eight He is one. of the few,
possibly the very last, survivor of the
pody OF men who acted as the guard OF
! Ionof3 at the marriage of the late Queen
Victoria. As British soldier he reached
America in~fS50, soon after bought his
dlscharge and became a, citizen of the
United States. AT the outbreak of the
civil War he. enlisted IN the Union army
| III the same company with Mis- son and
served to the close.
His mature Judgment and unerring
| craftsmanship brought him under the no
t1ce of his colonel, who asked him to
volunteer for sharpshooting DUTY On
account OF the extreme danger attend
ant upon this class of work, men were
not ordered to perform it, but volunteers
We're called for. Masterman promptly
offered his services and became a YUnion
! sharpshooter
Inc peculiar nature of the case, makes
| II necessary that a gsha@pshooter be lln.
der less physical restraint than proba bly
any oIher man ia the army, with the
! exception of the spy. While on duty his
| life is in constant danger, and its pres,
| erVation depends entirely upon his own
discretion His time is by no means oc-
cupled in picking off important officers
IRON among the enemy, but more often
! III duels With sharpshocters on the other
side, who are his equal in cunning and
skill
| IL was While the war, was raging along
| the southern boundary of Tennessee that
the Wing of the army in which Master
man. belonged was sorely beset by thu
/ enemy,s ssharpshooters Most of these
confederate r1fiemen were we'll known Nv
| liie uIllon Soldiers. There was some pes
| tul1afity IN mode Of operation or SOUND
OF the gun which distinguished one from
the other, and as time went aIonr
g1'mpses of them We're caught. so that
| even the rank and file Of the federal
,otulefs had a good idea Of what these
dangerous men were like
| Z. one of the was dubbed "Srredeatl,
| ana there was good reason for eiyjne
| MIN the name. He was the prince Of Con-
| ledefate sharpshooters AT anyEhour Of
! tile daytime. clear. crack Of his rifle naighr
4 sound, and the men always looked to see
| woo the Victim was, for there was ALWAYS
olle' eltnef Killed outright or mortaIlv
! wounded. When the battle was on he
tlred his fatal shots at none but officers
! put between whites common dough
| boy made him a good target. The yam
! KEGS soon had SO high an opinion Of this
mans ability that when any Important
o1acer fell the loss was fortmwjth
/ charged "Suredeath.,'
one evening the colonel sent an ORDER
| ~ y 10 INC company quarters with instruc-
| ttoilS 10y, aastefmans4 to report at once
lat his tent. s*s, @ 80 . -
&C. sergeant, I said the colonel, ..tfis man
sSuredeath must be stopped. Not a dav
passes but he gets some Of our men The
n nex1 1ihlmg viii be to xiii the gen
eral himself. Now, Tn going to depend
Z upon yoV--do you un1ersta nd--upon vol.
20 ,S silehce that murderous gun of his.
+, naas,ef 4a went back to his quarters
| acqualnted with the I.abits of the Con
-IsaeEate tor ne : aa Fied4-te -11f111
5}peiore this time. He made lip his mind
oe ether The iosSW3ng Day would see the
told his, son, who slept near. of his
orcers from the colonel and his deternnin-
t 113ia+s ne re ga ,s the young man a few
case he did not reture. crept under his
she1ter tent and slept like al log. -
! re aWoke in the early morning before
sastlr. He prepared his breakfast of ba-
! con and black coffee Afta- eating he
put some hardtack in hi, hayersack
n ilea MS rs caateen from nearby spring
sung ms rifle over his shoulder and SET
out through the wet grass in the direc
ton of the hostile army. :
| pout = OF clock the nnists had rolled
Up up me hills and the sun was shining
.hrlshtiy. Lying hidden behind a fallen
tree entirely screened by q ciump OF
bushes, Masterman caught a fleeing
s s,1,l'd Of OF MS enemy creeping along the
| death was safely stationed. in a tree be
lore the -UnKn man again found out
iWhere he was. The familiar sound of his
gul and the smoke floating away from
the tree then disclosed his whereabouts
:. Mgasterman watched closely. After a
time he saw the muzzle of .'Suredeat tn s.
rife 2i1 protruding Just beyond the leaves
! Union soldier. The bluezcoated veteran,
| lying behind the log. aimed his gun at 4
! point where he thought "suredeath -
BODY was and fred, instantly. shifting his
tho discharge: It was probably sur
sl;rise 10 the Confederate, although noth-
ing on his part. Betrayed the fact His
l.fe Inuzzle disappeared among the
leaves.
The presence of each was now known
70 the other, and the sharpshooting duel
began Masterrnan had slight advaI..
change his position slightly, while his OPP
poneat was fo-ced to stay upon the same
limb behind tie same part of the tree
trunk. and could not descend. Each EN-
ployed the usual tactics of drawing the
Others fire by holding his hat as if its
cwner was perring, out and Of letting al
empty coat sleeve, peep innccently fron,
COY er.
The Confederate certainly realized that
he had no ordinary sharpshooter opposed
to him. Sometimes a half hour would &c
by with no perceptible movelns mt OF; It's
part of either. Al one time an hour PasS-
su IN absolute quiet. When that siIencs
vas broken, however, 1T was by Sure
qeat pulilng the trigger, and the bullet
made a flesh wound in M aater1nan,s hand
ard ar 9, cut Jaggsd hole through the s,o,k
of his ri1le. Inc duel lasted four hours
before Aasterman finally sent his lucky
sbot. nd saw the other man tumnle from
At this sight all Masternan,s hatred
an2shed. IT was nc. Longer the numbering
is ,s. sharpshooter. but a dead or WOUND
e. Sd man !. # the latter. humanity called
way to the base of the tree He went
cautiously io1 the man might still be
aPs g ngn g there might be other
1T the Conft srate told him the shot was
a =. 1t had gone through the BODY
ne nnIar5Gnate soldier was lying s
|Aulnping Tor an insiae pocke..
IN hat is It. Johnny; what do YOU
.asssds Masterman, kindly kneei-
lin there-leiter-my Titles girl wa
the almost inaudio1e reply
| M 6. !, fInan put his hand inside the
mans S, blouse and brought forth let
rs this it. Joanny?,, he asked.
Inc Confederate nodded i
2 from q, yo pal girl Johnny %
tsars III his eyes. drew sthe ietter from
its stained cove ring. A curl of brown
mar fell to the ground. The dying father
! tried to speak nut only gurgied instead
| md died before MasterTnan could raise
the canteen to his lips.
Chattanooga had been fought, Sherman
lad backed Johnston into Atlanta, de-
| feat "a him, and was in control Of
Georgia the workshop, granary and ar.
ssenaI Of thet gonfederacy.. The march
Ito the sea was on -
9 a small division of the great army that
was devastating Georgia canaped for a
lew days in one spot. Masterman was
i'svltn tals body OF men, Sharpshooters
we're not 50 much needed during the