The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-01-21
NEW STORIES OF THE WAR.
AN EXPLOSYON OF A GREAT
 GUN.
The Ezecutios of a Soldier Who Could
 But Would Not Save Himself.

The Ezecutios of a Soldier Who Could
 But Would Not Save Himself.
 Columbus, Ky, forty years ago was
 small village at the foot of a high bluff,
 which extended north in the direction of
 Cairo, ILL The Father of Waters, com
 ing from a westerly direction, at Colum-
 bus, has made a dead set, beat against
 the base of that rocky bluff from whose
 top, about 800 feet in height, the course
 of the river can be seen for five miles
 toward Cairo. The opposite Missouri
 shore is low subject to overflow SeV-
 eral hundred acres at this point were
 cleared, and the landing was called Bel
 mont. Above this, on the same side,
 along the river, lay heavy woods.
 Through these woods, over this field,
 on a bright, sunny morning in Noyem-
 Der, 1861, General Grant, with 6,500 sol
 diers in blue, rushed upon two regl-
 ments of Arkansas troops, whose tents
 lined the rivers edge at Belmont. It is a memorable battlefield, for here Grant
 first commanded, and here he met his
 first huniliating defeat; mortifying to him because he had the larger force, choice of position and the advantage Of a surprise; but the Confederates cross ed the river in open beats under gall ing fire, 4,500 to $500, recovered the field and drove their foe panic-stricken from it, pell-mell through the woods to, their transports, on which they rushed so madly that they nearly sunk them by croWding their starboard sides. No ca bles were cast off-the axe severed them and they returned to Cairo with their decks crowded with the dead, dying and wounded; yet one history at least made Grant here the victor which only shows, "'Tis great fault in chronologer to turn parasite"
 For some weeks before this battle General Polk anticipated an attack on Columbus from Cairo, on the Kentucky side, and all the troops were kept there except the two Arkansas regiments, who fought Grant until their ammuni- tion gave out and then retreated under the bank of the river, where they re- mained until they were reinforced from Columbus.
 On that morning a private of the Fifth Louisiana battalion, returning from outpost duty toward Cairo, saw transport after transport sweep in sight from the river, crowded with troops, | and were lost to sight in bend on the Missouri side; these were Grants forces.
 On the bluff above Columbus was "the l Lady Polk an immense rif1ed cannon, l named for the generals wife, on cir cular track with an embankment in- closing it. This gun commanded the Belmont battlefield and every point of the compass. It had never been fired, but on that day it sent plunging shot into the federal troops, which largely caused their panic
 It was cast at Memphis but when an attempt was made to ram the shot home it was found the f1anges were too large for the grooves of the piece, and they had to be filed down, but as it expanded by firing, the charges entered without filing A shot was left in the cannon when the battle ended, which, contract ing as it cooled, clasped the ball as in vice.
 Several days after General Polk, de- string to get the gums range, concluded to fire it up the river, and a crowd of officers and soldiers collected to witness it. Seven men were inside the embank- ment handling the piece General Polk and Captain Fucker were outside, to the rear and one side. When the signal to fire was given a fearful explosion fol- lowed When the smoke cleared away a horrible sight met the eye. The gun, ten feet in length, with breech nearly as large as a flour barrel, was burst in two at the breech, one-half of which was buried in the embankment and the other half thrown over it; the muzzle was thrown forward and partly hidden from sight in the earth
 And the poor fellows who manned it were dead and dying, lying here and there, ghastly corpses or in the death agony. A small persimmon tree near bore Ioathsome, sickening fruit, where shower of shredded flesh and skin had fallen, in fork of it being a bIackened arm. A piece of 8 poor gunners skull was picked up, that only a few minutes before covered pulsating brain; it was white and bleached as if by years of sun and rain. A horrid, distorted, mis- shapen and headless cadaver lay on it's ' back, three-legged. The right limb had ' been partly torn off and doubled back ' ,n its breast; the left was in the natural I position and the third lay alongside it. t
  the explosion, torn from his body and s thrown through the air to where 1t rest 8 ,d I General Polk and Captain Fucker s wore overcoats; both were thrown to I he ground, the general badly stunned, | put the captain got up without aid. The T 'otary force of the disrupted air peeled l. If the captains outer coat and the cloth S rom the generals left sleeve. This was g scene that memory does not willingly ecall. 2 Our civil war had many purple test b .ments'' that showed its ruthlessness, volfish cruelty-but these are wars t. main features, and the following but f; proves it: Death for some has no ter W ors; for renown and shoulder straps O ome risk it. or through defense of prin- b ple or remorse some seek it. The a First Tennessee enlisted for three h months service. Braver men never h houldered a gun or gave the rebel yell 1t { was largely Irish in its makeup, had N S many dare-devils as ever followed h he beat of drum and earned a fighting k ecord second to none. They mutinied fc ot for want of love for Dixie, but be- il ause their term of service being out 1 6. hey wanted to choose their own com- ,,- lands, in which they were not only tc 'iing to fight for her hut, if needs be,