The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-04
THE IRON BRIGADE
STORY OF the ARMY OF THE POTOMAC

oH0 "a oOOAA NbAo sOhhS
~officer-Chilton. Because" said Kennard,
Il heard Chiffon say to Mckinnon he was
praying that he might yet meet Captain
Benton. There was a Union man he would
shoot on sight And Winston said amen!'
Now, Fred said Haskell, as he called
for his horse. I've got TO ride the lines
and get the reports, but we've got Nc
h1nnon up with the army at last, and soon
as were through with this business well
nail him." But evidently it was business
first in Haskelfs eyes.
So between being in Stanton's bad books
and those of these young Virginia gallants
and OF Rosalie herself IL must be admitted
that Fred Benton felt all the fates were
against him. He had two burning desires
as toward 0 o'clock he threaded his way
through the swarm of arriving batteries
men and horses looking worn and haggard
after the all-night march-and rode slowly
back TO Wadsworth. One was TO meet Nc
kinnon and brand him as the author of the
SANDERS that had so marred his prospects,
personal and professional: the other was in
some way 10 wiring from Chiffon an ex-
PLANTATION of his violent threat. 1t would
certainly throw light on the cause of
ftosahes FURIOUS denunciation. Little did
ne cream how soon he should be spared
the need, and through what sad. strange
circumstance.
All America knows the main story Of that
second days grapple, when but for War
ren's generalship and the heroism of Weed,
vincent and their fellows of the Fifth
corps the fierce fighters of Hood would
nave gained their lodgment on the Round
Tops and the enflade of the Union line.
ihat; lKe Picketts tremendous assault on
the third day, overshadowed everything oc-
curing at the TANKS. But for this there
were deeds done along the stony, wooded
northward slope of Cups and far out In
the open field beyond Wolf hill that would
5e riRglng In song and story to this very
Gay, Tor Ewell made desperate attempt to
gain the heights and the Baltimore pike
PENN oehlnd them. and Stuart. missing until
dIlef sundown or the second day. strove as
marc 70 make up for lost time in his
sPlsndldly conceived cavalry dash on our
rISh. ana rear just as Pickett led his
mighty Vlrginians to wedge the Union GEN.
ter-ihe grand browning effort of the clos
ing lay. Had Ewell won the heights Get
ossouss wouid nave been written in the
catalogue or disaster. Had Stuart swept in
among the ammunition trains, battery
wagons, held hospitals and reserves at the
reaL whlle Pickett was piercing the front
notnlng could have restored the field. But
again the tide had turned. EweIl left
scores OF his best and bravest under the
muzzies or the S~pringfields along the bowl
trapped, engulfed. overwhelmed and final
~ swept bodily from the field, never again
10 charge on Northern soil.
the twilight of the second of
July that Witnessed EweIrs bloody assault
ana the dawning of that black FRIDAY of
the lost cause.-The third d~ay-something
son Old men. The ''Stonewall" brigade
was there still, almost at the extreme point
Hr the long fsh,hook of the Confederate
line. lurking in the woods down in the low,
ground between the rocky point. where
crouched the survivors of Wadsworth's di-
vision, and the forest-covered heights off
10 the where cavalry guidons
Union cavalry-had been flashing in the
iast rays OF the setting sun. Somewhere out
IN the dim fields to the north and north
edsl tnere was stir and excitement even in
the Wearled bivouacs of Ewell: and. un-
DER the starlight, eager to satisfy his gem
eraIs restless desire 10 know what it all
menu, Fred Benton had crept out to the
front. taking a leaf from Haskelrs primer.
ana hoping for a side scout of his own. But
he found the same conditions:
Whispering officers. commanding the fore
most line, pointed out that they were bent
BACK Ike a hoop, connecting with the left
or Greenes division of the Twelfth Corps.
ana mat, as though in a ring, the de
tenders of the hill were utterly hemmed
In, save to the southwest, by lines of un-
seen, wary, vigilant Johnnies, for every
man that ventured down i'm hopes of filling
foot of the slope. had failed to return. They
were nearly surrounded, yet safe so long
as they stayeu where they were. Early was
planning. evidently. an assault at dawn.
BY half-past 10, however, comparative ST.
lence reigned at the right flank. The ia
nous conference-Meade with his corps
rarm mouse In rear of the center. The
word had gone the rounds, to the ioy of
every soldier heart, that the new command
er meant TO stand and fight, and if Lee
could muster no more men than these al
ready thrown in, he might hammer the
lines in vain. They did not know. perhaps,
49, IA NV NOOuS JACK Oh Nll-
loughby run. Heth's whole division was
stu nursing the wounds received in the
hrst days battle. but would be ready on
the morrow, and that Pickett's magnificent
command of Virginians would all he there
to strengthen the lines to the west. Now.
II only Stuart and his pet ~brigades would
Dut stay lost, so that no fear need be felt
we'll,
But would Stuart stay lost? Could he
nave got so far away as not to be found
and by this time returned to the army: and
when he came, would it not be from the
north, and thus bring him in on the very
hank they were now defending? Tired as
he was, Benton could net sleep for think
ing of the disclosures made through Has
kell. Twice he had crawled from his grassy
ped underneath an ambulance, and gone
watchful pickets. There was no change i'm
conditions. they whispered. The slopes
Mere sun covered with the lurking enemy.
Toward h~alf-past 2 a staff officer from
Meade stumbled in and reused the general
wanted 10 know if anything had been heard
of large bodies of cavalry out to the north.
and Wadsworth was compelled to report
that II had been found impossible to ascer-
tain.
But, when the aid left, Benton could
stand 1t no longer. Alone and afoot, after
a word with his gr~ay-haired chief. he
slipped out of the circle and away to the
easterly. nearly half a mile. greeted oc-
casionally by low-toned challenge of SEN
Try, Out OlneT OmceTS were hurrying
swiftly to and fro. and there was little de-
tention. AS early as 3 o'clock he found
himself following the patrol down a rocky
pathway coward the creek, and. learn
ing from outlying sentry there that no force
seemed to be in his immediate front-only
a few pickets-Benton explained that he
wished to crawl out far enough to be be-
yond the sound of trampling hoof and
rumbling wheel at the pike, that he might
listen the better. The sentries denurred
but finally decided to take the Chances
and let him go. And, creeping from bush
to bush TO avoid the moonlit spaces. less
than half an hour before the dawn he
had succeeded in gaining fully four hun
dred yards out toward the northeast. and
there low voices warned him to lie still
and listen. He was either on or within the
Confederate picket line, and had much to
learn and little time.
And then, hardly breathing as he
crouched close to the trunk OF a spreading
tree. somewhere among the leafy shades
along the slopes of Wolf hill a whip-poor-
will began his farewell hymn to the fit
ting night, and, just as on that April morn
ing among the heights of the Hedseman
faint and sweet, soft yet stirring. so far
out TO the north that the performer Doubt
less thought 1t beyond the range of ;n-
imical ears, a cavalry trumpet began To
sound the martial reveille. sitting the
mournful plant of the feathered herald
OF the dawn and stirring some nearby
watcher TO instant, even profane. remon-
STRANGE. Damn that internal dash-dashed
IDIOT stormed a low, half choked voice
He'll tell the whole dash-dashed Yankee
army our fellows have come. Go back
there, sergeant. and tell our tru-npeter II
1 hn arg tn foot a horn TT