Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-12-20

| Saptaiu. W nile L was orderly ser
geant they were in the first four Of
the company and always fell in next
10 myself. This was when we were
very particular TO have the men fall
in according to height. and it so hap
pened that these two were close TO me
in nearly every engagement of the first
two years of the war On the march
they were always right behind me.
two big six-footers. setting the pace
for the company in long, measured
strides.
''They came striding toward me the
other day in the old way. shoulders on
a level, elbow to elbow, and the blood
leaped in my veins as | saw their
goedly figures and caught the cadence
of their step. On the face of one of
them was the smile l had seen there
scores Of times when the enemy was
i'll front, Most men see double in time
of danger. Crane had n mathematical
eye when the enemy was in front. On
one occasion, l remember, when the
rebel cavalry seemed on the point of
attacking US, the Captain asked me,
How many men are there sergeant?
and | replied, About thirty
Instantly the tall private right at
my shoulder said. No, eleven: four
men riding bays, three on sorrels. three
on black horses. and one burned fool
on calico horse He had counted
them and observed closely without any
trace of excitement. In the language
of tie boys, he never missed a note
and he was frequently sent forward to
take observations. On one occasion,
when the company was in line not
more than thirty feet from n field of
standing corn. we heard men i'll the
corn and ave knew from the sounds
that they were marching forward.
-'We were ready to fire, when Crane
said, Hold on. Captain; that's Com
pany of our own regiment. l saw
one Of the hats above the corn and
! heard Bumstead sneeZe. 1t is Com
pany b, sure And it was. And the
boys of Company b. when they came
up and heard the story, counted that
adventure as very close call Again,
our company. in the course of run
ming mountain fight, was divided La
ter In the day we saw men coming in
single file along a path through weeds
as high as a mans head.
Just above the weeds showed four
SLOUGH hats. two of them worn rather
jauntily We could see the tops of
theA hats, but we could not see the
faces or figures of the men who wore
them. The question was, whether the
| squad belonged to the enemy or to
our regiment. ! decided to challenge
and l shouted, Who goes there" fifty
| Of my men with their fingers on trg-
gers ready to fire. All the men In
front except four lodged and my own
men were restrained with difficulty
from firing at once. lust then a voice
came from the weeds saying. Hold
your horses sergeant. | know you ana
You ought to know me- Ii was Cranes
voice. lie had not been ratified for Il
moment
AT Shiloh, two OF the high privatcs
of the first four were wounded. The
other two held their places up to the
time of Stone River. and | can remem-
Der only single occasion when they
were not the first TO fall In in the for
! nation " The company. On this occa-
sion, one of the shortest men in the
company was first at my side when a
| quick order to form for battle came
unexpectedly upon us. He declined
| 10 Weld the place. and We went into
| the fight with the company headed by
a short instead of Il high private But
| in the first twenty minutes my short
man received three wounds, and one
Of the big fellows, picking him up.
carried him to a high stump, put him
behind II. and said: Sonny, you were
in the wrong pew. If you had been
down where You belonged. you prob
| ably would not have been shot
AS Crane took his place again he
called my attention to the men in the
rebel line coming toward us lie point
ed out one man who wore a red com
| fort, another who had on n rubber
coat and still another who wore a blue
blouse. He fired at the man with the
| red comfort four or five times and
still the fellow came s;rding forward
Then Crane turned, broke his rifle over
tree, saying. quietly, that he would
as soon chew paper when he was hun
cry as shoot at a m"n and not hit
him. In few minutes he had another
rifle, and just as be was taking de-
iiberate aim went down under a rebel
bullet
My high private fell at full length
and was left behind for dead In half
an hour we had formed a new line and
were watching our front very careful
~ when we saw Il man dodge behind
a tree not more than fifty feet In front
Of us. Instantly a score of men fired
at that tree, and the chips few in ev-
cry direction. Then we heard voice
saying: Hold on. boys. hold on and
after a minute Crane stepped out and
INN g., .Vs,tv. l.