The National tribune., 1902-03-13


| i &c Third street. Jame>sOwn. y. "
! -
at Fredericksburg and we were now Nc
! Gowan'S Brigade. Our Gen. Jackson had
fallen at Charlottesville, and we were
now in the corps Of y. I. Hill, whose
| promotion placed four brigades of our di-
vision under Gen. pendcr. Letters re-
ccived by Co. III Il few weeks before had
been addressed to Gregg's Brigade, y. L.
Hills Division, Jacksons Corps; letters
received now were addressed to Nc
Gowan's Brigade, Pender's Division. \.
! p. Hills Corps. But why do / talk Of
letters?
Shortly after our return to the old
camp, by order of Gen. Pender, bat
talon of sharpshOOters was formed in
each brigade of his division. Two or
three men were taken from each COM
pany-frOm the large companies three,
| from the small ones two. Our brigade
had five regiments of 10 companies each.
so that McGowan's Battalion of sharp
shooters was to he composed of about l2l
men, Gen. McGOwan chose Capt Has
kel as the commander of the battalion.
When | heard of tliis appointment went
to the Captain and begged to go with
him. He said, Il had already chosen
you, Jones'" and | felt happy and proud
When the battalion was draN up for
the first time, orders were read showing
the organization of the command. There
were to be three companies, each under
a Lieutenant. ] was in Co. a, with the
other men from the 1st. Gus Rhodes,
Sergeant in Co. II, was named Orderly
Sergeant of Co. \ of the battalion. and
Private +. Jones was named Second Ser
geant. For Il moment | wondered. who
this B. Jones was, and then it came upon
me that no one could be meant except
myself
After the ranks broke I went to the
Captain. He smiled at my approach.
You deserved it, Jones; at least | think
so. / don't know the other men, and
do know you"
| stammered some reply, thanking him
for his goodness toward me, and started
to go away.
Wait said he, 81 want to talk to
you. Do you know the men of the com
pany?'
NO, sir; only few of them; but the
few | know know the others and say
they are good men,"
mo doubt they have been well proved
in the line" said he: but you know that
Co. G and Co. II have thus far had to
do almost all the skirmishing for the reg
iment and we have only four or five men
III the battalion ont of those companies.
1t is one thing to be good soldier in the
line and another thing to be a good skir-
misher."
Il suppose so. Captain said I: ''but
it seems to me that anybody would pre-
fer being in the battalion
''No. not anybody" said the Captain;
'.it shows some independence of mind to
prefer it, \ man willing to lean on 9th
crs will not like the battalion. Our du-
ties will be somewhat different for the
VI. tI.ars fI.n md
their pay through their original compa-
nies, but are no longer attached to them
otherwise. On the march and in battle
they will serve as distinct command,
and will be exposed to many dangers
that the line of battle will escape, though
the danger, on the whole, will be lessened,
| dare say, especially for alert men who
know how to seize every advantage. But
the most of the men have not been
trained for such service. As a body, we
have had no training at all. We must
begin at once, and | expect you to hold
up your end of Co. A"
81 will do my best, Captain said /.
"Come to my quarters tonight" said
he; Il want you to do some writing for
me-"
That night program of drill exer-
cises for the battalion was prepared, and
day after day thereafter it was put into
practice We drilled and drilled; COM
Dany drill as skirmishers; battalion drill
as skirmshers; estimating distances; tar
get firing, and AL of it.
Early in June Hills Corps alone was
holding the lines at Fredericksburg.
EweI and Longstreet had marched away
toward the Shenandoah Valley, and on
ward upon the road that ends at Gem
etery Hill. The Federals again crossed
the Rappahannock, but in small bodies.
Their army was on the Falmouth Hills
beyond the river.
On the 9th the battalion was ordered to
the front We took our places-fve steps
apart-in road running down the river.
On either side of the road was a dry
ditch with a bank of earth thrown up,
and with trees growing upon the bank, so
that the road was n fine shaded avenue.
In front. and on our side of the river,
was a Federal skirmish-line-500 yards
from u.s.
Firing began. The Yankees were
screened from view by bushes in the
low ground between us and the river.
Much tall grass, weeds, and broom -sedge
covered the unwooded space between the
opposing lines; rarely could a man be
seen. Our men stood in the dry ditch
and fired above the bank, which formed
a natural breastwOrk. At my place, on
the left of Co. a, large tree was grow
ing upon the bank. | was standing be-
firing was very slOw-men trying to pick
a target. When the bullet struck the tree
saw the smoke of a gun rise from be-
hind a bush. l aimed at the bush and
fired Soon bullet sized by me, and /
saw the smoke at the same bush; fired
again. Again the tree was struck. and
again l fired. The tree was a good pro-
tectiOn-possibly not so good as the bank
of earth, though it gave me much bet
ter view-and / suppose l was little
careless; at any rate, while loading the
next time | felt sharp little pain on my
arm. | jumped back into the ditch. My
sleeve was torn between my arm and
body. | took off my ccat-there was
hardly more than q scratch; the ball had
grazed the inside of my arm about an
inch below the armpit and had drawn
some blood.
We skirmished all day, neither side ad-
vancing. The battalion had no losses AT
night the Federals withdrew to their side
of the river. While going back to camp
our men kept up perfect babel of talk
concerning their first days experience in
the battalion of sharpshooters. They
were to undergo other experiences-expe-
riences which would cause them to hold
their tongues.
(To be continued)
Bronson-I succeeded in keeping nv last