The National tribune., 1901-04-18

cheers 10y my cemrAny.
When the atteI noUn began to wane, and
no apparent IuIpressIon had yet been made
upon our WORKS, agd with the knowleuse
tnat we had ,put over the rIyer three
scouts IN the mofning as soon us the iIgnt
opened, aud sefit them TO Littie kvck,
Only % miles AWAY, The enemy realized
that something siaG to be done, and uUne
quickly. 80, tanlng for volunteers FROM
| their ranks, they picked out d Captain
and ~ men, arinlng each with a lighted
| plne-wood tOrch, to make grand rush
Ior the Courthouse Square, which was
surrounded wah Wooden houses and cot
| ton-baies, and erdeayor to set tire to them.
| Once anre we OF course would be smoked
i and scorched out, and, they reasoned. fall
an easy prey to their forces. 80 the for
iOrn hope OF Il men, with torches, creep
ing within one block OF the Square, rose
| up, ana with that defiant Confederate
yeil rushed down the broad avenue.
Our sharpshooters were awake, and
one after another of the daring raiders
! dropped in his tracks. The Captain, ap.
parently, bore charmed life. At their
head he came on the run. His ceInpan-
| ions closing IN behind HIM as their com
| rades dropped out, and now four of them,
with bunch of cotton dipped in kerosene,
were within four feet of the cotton bales,
| and light wooden shanty. Al
ready had he stretched out his
arm to thrust the cotton and oil
up to the house, when down he dropped.
| The Captain sprang forward, threT his
| torch against and under the house, picked
up the saturated cotton, when down he
dropped, and his two companions in his
rear We're already badly wounded and
writhing in their death struggle.
The next day we buried the heroic Cap
tain in the little graveyard overlooking
the scene of his sublime courage.
Col. Clayton now had officers bugle call
blown, and sitting on his magnificent
charger in the center of the
the COnfederates would yet sue
ceed in their undertaking. Go back to
your commands" he said; have your men
all ready whenever buildings are fired,
mount your horses, assemble on the north
side of the Square, and those whose horses
are killed or disabled, clear away the cot
tOn-bales and distractions, on the Little
Rock road or street, and the mounted men
follow me, aud we will charge through
the enemy's lines and get away with all
we can. The dismounted men will, of
course, have TO surrender"
But the enemy was as tired as we were,
and blowing his bugles in the neighbor-
hood of his six-gun battery, the rebel Gen
eral called off his men. We rested in
peace that night, and next day went out
to meet reinfOrcements from Little Rock,
telling them to go back, we did not need
them. The sequel to this was the battle
at Long Greek few weeks afterward,
when Clayton moved out some % miles
from camp and gave battle, gaining a de-
cided victory.
One Iaughabe incident occurred during
the fight The old saddler OF our com
pany was crossing the Square, when a
solid shot struck behind him some 80 or
40 feet, and came bounding and rolling
down the avenue. The old man saw il
coming, and started on the run straight
down the avenue without Swerving to
right or left. The ball kept rolling on.
lessening the distance. The whole COM
mand had a good view of the race, and
yell: Run, Padgett, runr' 'Step lively,
old mani" Run for your lifei' Now
or neyerr Get move on your run,
Padgett, rum
Straining every nerve, he raced down
the street ever and anon casting a back
ward glance to see the dreaded missile
almost upon him. lie was too excited and
badly ratified to think OF stepping a few
feet sideways and letting the ball roll by
him until a negro, jumping from behind
a cottOn-bale, jerked him to one side,
while the ball went rolling by, making
mighty plunge from the bank out into the
river.
Again during the fight a contraband
black as the ace Of spades applied to one
Of the boys for gun and revolver. offer
ing to go outside the breastwOrks and
bring in a prisoner. The arms were fur
nished him, and, disappearing around the
corner of the block. in less than - min
utes he came marching up the street, a
tall, lGnk, butternut-clothed individual in
front OF him, said individual being well
loaded down with arms. The negro had
actually gone out several blocks. found a
Confederate soldier in an empty house
acting as a sharpshOOter, and suddenly
closing in behind him with his gun al
most touching him, ordered him to step
lively, now, out of the back door and |
straight down the avenue to the Union |
line Knowing it was death to refuse. the |
obeyed. but a worse de- |
moralized and disgusted Confederate |
could not be found in the whole South.
The Postoflce, within about one block |
of the Square. was burned just before |
dark, and in the morning bright and early |
quite a number of the boys were poking |
around in the ashes, finding occasional |
coins or some little souvenirs.
In the meantime the old Confederate |
Postmaster had gone to headquarters and |
asked for guard to protect him while |
he dug up some money he had buried. The |
guard was furnished, and employing a !
half-dOzen negroes, he took up the stone |
slabs before the open fireplace and brought |
forth six buckets filled with silver coin, |
much to the chagrin Of the men who had |
been walking over it for hours.
CHAT OF THE CORRIDORS.