The National tribune., 1902-03-06
sERG'T.MAJ. D. S. RRowN.

| oI-Hp I-h-AS II. D. BhONNs
Not by any means the least Of the 200
ILieutenant-C -COlonels of our regiment was
Serg't-Maj. ID. $. Brown, who, like others
above mentioned, was beardlcSs boy
and not even of sufficient age to vote at
the expiration of his three years service,
ending with the close of the war. He was
promoted from private in Co T. to Regi-
mental Sergeant-Alajor. and | am suspect
ing that if the Governor of Tennessee
could have got Brown away from us he
would have made him a Brigadier- General
the next day. But we held on to our Ser
geant- Major till the muster-out at the
close of hostilities.
This young soldier was of fine caliber,
and has since become the Regimental Poet
Laureate. We seldom have n Reunion
nowadays that he does not thrill us with
page or two Of martial poetry, reviving
the spirit of the old days.
Maj. Brown is now Il citizen of Los An
geles, Cal. He made fortune before he
was 40 years old and retired to Los An
geIes, as sort of halfway stOpping-place
between earth and Heaven. As a soldier
lie was par excellence, and by his earnest
endeavOr and uncOmpromising courage he
won the highest esteem and love of his
comrades, all Of which he retains to this
day.
At the close Of the Cuban war, when
Gen. Shafter helped the city of Los An
eeles to celebrate WashingtOn's Birthday,
the fat General was given a reception,
banquet and "hot time" and the ancient
city was gaily decorated with vari-cOlors
threaded into French and Spanish trap
pings, along with the Confederate gray,
the Nations blue and the white duck of
the men-of-war's men.
SAN JUAN AND RoDGERSyLLE.
Inside the big banquet hall were toasts
and speeches galore, Federal and Confed-
crate both helping the great audience to
"Remember the Maine" and the soldiers
OF three wars made common cause and
went on reminiscing in promiscuous fash
ion all along the line. Now, ID. S. Brown
IS no slOuch i'll making II speech, and, fired
with the enthusiasm Of the hour, he went
on to mix up San Juan Hill with Rodgers
vile and told How the Rough Riders of
his command were attacked in the gray of
the morning, most of the Riders being
asleep in their shelter tents, when the
picllets were driven in on all the trails
leading to the headquarters encampment.
in 10 minutes the Riders were fighting as
they had never fought before, being out
numbered 10 to | and taken at a great
disadvantage. In the dim light there was
pot pouri of cleaning eye-balls, glitter
ing blades, swerying bodies and bllowing
ponchOs-and when the searching rays Of
the rising sun lit up the Jungle the dead
and wounded were revealed amid the tall
grass and embracing vines while large
part of our command found ourselves pris-
oners of war, among the latter being one
Adjutant- General, two Captains, one Ma
Jor, and lots Of others. Our victorious
captors hastily gathered the wounded into
the chaparral between two bricb-cOlored
hills, hlled their canteens from adjacent
water-hOles, and lined the prisoners up by
twos along the dusty trail preparatory
to forced march on, on, to semi-obliyion
and yitrifed despair"
Hold on Where was this? What
forces are you talking about?' was asked
by stalwart trooper fresh from San
Juan Hid from the audience in the tragic
tones of Cyrano de Bergerac.
And then came the answer: Il was
speaking of fight that took place on Nov.
q, 1858, near Rodgersville, East Tenn, be-
tween the 9TH Ohio Volunteer Riders and
some men who used to follow Jeb. Stuart
around over the red earth of Virginia. In
those days the Riders were armed with
the old Remington close-fre carbines, and
when we ran out of ammunition we Just
frightened our belts drew saber and went
right on into still closer business, which
was usually finished up one way or an
other long before the ice-cream wagons,
the photograph artists, the 'embalmed
beef or the magazine writer's arrived at
the landing The forces which opposed
JeD. stuart were liable to have Siboney
for breakfast San Juan for luncheon and
Christie Santiago Be 'Gad'O for o'clock
dinner at the citadel-the first course con-
sistlng entirely of captured schrimpsr'
You will excuse me, good people, for
calling your attention to a bit of ancient |
history, but in these days of crested |
knights, belted palladines and magazine |
heroes, the memory of Rider like Jeb. |
Stuart eliminates the historical dial, gilds |
the hOur-glass and makes us bark back TO |
the echoing bugles of the far yonder"
(To be continued)