The National tribune., 1901-08-22
Dodged Shell and Caught a Rebel.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: On the
second day after the Rheatown ant
Pughs Hill fight, 'weuns'' were aftel
Geo. Dallas Mosgrove and his "critter
back comrades hot-footed. When near
ing the town of Blountville halt was
made, men dismouted and preparation:
began for making corn coffee. About thu
time our rail pie fires began to blaze nice
ly Ito hOIse' sounded, and twas wills
pered that the Johnnies were coming, fo
us. We cussed and swore, and wondered
if they were us hungry as we were. On
artillery pushed on toward Blountvillc
and soon commenced to throw she'll. Th,
enemy's guns replied, and soon music wa:
in the air. Cos. |, A, III. II and NJ Of
my regiment were now ordered to prepar,
to charge with saber on Il rebel batter!
that had command of the road leading
into town. The outlook was not very en-
couraging to us, but like soldiers tried ant
true we went for those guns i'll trut
Apache style. As we were about to COB
bic up the war dogs, sheet of flame cam'
from the brush Oh the roadside to "ul
right, bullets whistled through the air
and with shell from the battery we were
almost swept from our saddles.
We had struck a snag, and were stag
gered. Without much encouragement W.
got to the rear quickly, and finally rallied
and reformed. Then we entered the tim
Der to our left, dismounted and Went fol
our foe on foot.
We soon struck n force of dismounteG
men, and q footrace commenced. The
lively manner in which we pumped lead
from our carbines made the rebs think
Burnsides whole army was on hand. Out
from the timber we pushed them into an
open field, and now we had fair race
Across the field we went, shouting and
shooting a. every jump. Pretty soon two
guns ratified into view, numbered, and
sent us notice to halt. We somewhat
Slackened our pace, yet kept on. The
lively manner in which those guns Were
served was caution. We could see the
shell as they left the guns, and as they
came misunderstanding through the air il
looked to us very unhealthy thereabouts
A shell seemingly intended for me came
bowling along and being not high in the
air l thought to dip and dodge it. i fell
to the ground, and fiattened like a flap
jack. The shell plunked itself in the
in every direction. Golly, but l was
scared. My hair raised my cap so far
from my head that my brain had q chance
to cool. Thinking that two shells might
strike in the same place, / up and away
toward the foe. Ahead of me / spied a
sag IN the ground, sort of hOg-wallow,
as we call them here in California. Be
fore l reached the depression another
shell came for me, and burst over my
head. Heavens, what racket Pieces
of shell and scrap-irOn, horseshoe nails
and tish-hooks went screeching at every
point of the compass, and each one sing
ing different tune. Imagining the ar
tillery had singled me out for target
concluded to adjourn. A few more jumps
brought me 10 the hole in the ground,
and then seeing another cast-iron pud-
ding coming my way, headlong | plunged
into the hog-wallow, among nettles, weeds
and briars. The shell sailed over me,
leaving in its wake streak of hot air
that made beads of perspiration trickle
down my face. Our boys were still GO
ing on with the yell, and making it warm
for the Johnnies. Not to be left too far be-
hind in the race, l extricated myself from
the briars, and as l was about to get out
of the hole l spied a brogan among the
weeds. Ho, says l TO myself; a cache OF
some old citizen is IN here. / caught hold
of the brogan, and, 10, / found it fast
to foot. What have here. Come out
of that" / yelled, and backward, like a
crawfsh, came a genuine reb, armed and
equipped with an Enfield rife. BY my
soul, man; what are you doing in here:"
says /. Well" said he, II was done
tuckered out and / thought if l hid in
thar yo'uns would not find me- WELL -
said |, IF | had not hid in thar to dodge
shell yo'uns would have been in thar
yIt." Taking my prize TO the rear, j re-
ported as having dug the Johnny out of
a woodchuck hole. If my memory is cor
rect, my prisoner belonged to Co. b, of
Georgia regiment.-IsAAC G. DENNIS,
Co. NJ, 18th Ill. Cav, Ferndale, Cal.