The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-29
CHAPTER XXI.


brigade CROPPED it's way through dripping
fog and lay in line of battle. having little
to do but wait orders. and catching only
occasional shots from the Southern guns
along the heights Old hands under fire.
the veterans-officers and men-lay close
and kept still. Their rifles could effect
nothing against an enemy uphill and be-
hind intrenchments New hands. not yet
used to battle, were not so quiet, and the
gallant colonel OF the great battalion of
Wolverines, big almost as the rest of the
brigade. thought it necessary to ride up
and down his line, exhorting his men to
steadiness in loud and powerful voice. at
lets 'em know I'm here" said he, TO the
expostulant commander of the next-door
regiment az see." said the latter. as
volley flashed down from Earlys fellows
along the crest. ''and it also let's the enemy.
Your men will be steadier without the tell
ing," which reasoning the colonel pondered
over and accepted. He and his thorough
breds were spelling for a chance to show
their neighbors from the adjoining States
that they were quite as valiant as the
Wanted old brigade. Give us half
chance" said he, land then-you look out
for the Wolverines
But neither Fredericksburg, nor Chancel-
louisville, nor Virginia, nor even Maryland
afforded the longed-for opportunity. Not
until the desperate clinch far up on Penn
sylvania soil-not until the midsummer
morning of the first day at Gettysburg
did their time come, but when 1t came 1t
proved a test the like of which had never
been met before. even in that hard-fghting.
hard-hammered command.
Meanwhile, what had not befallen other
actors in our story-notably the Damon and
Pythias of the ante-belum days, Benton
and Paul Ladue.%
Seems TO have bout as many friends
among the rebs as he has on our side of the
line had the division commander re-
marked of Benton. though in a moment of
exaggerated biliousness, the day after the
retreat from the Southern shore. Every
body was in evil temper at the time. The
repeated assaults on that iptrenched and
commanding line had cost fearfully. The
| army had fought and bled with all it's old
hopeless devotion. Even Burnside's fiercest
| critics had battled bravely for him on
| the field, but he had heard the hard things
said of him by some, at least, of their
| number, and the army was to have another
| shaking up in consequence. Then Fred's
new general had come in for rasping from
| the corps commander, because the leading
brigade took the wrong road in the rain
and darkness, going back to the pontoon
| bridge, and so delayed matters over an
hour. 1t happened that Benton had guild
ed the division to its first position on the
| field; that he had been sent to find General
| Franklin; that when he returned with a
message from this latter officer, the di-
vision was in motion, and the commander
had ridden off to speak with Gibbon or
somebody else, and Benton followed, of
course. in search of his chief. instead of
staying with the head of column. Finding
himself rebuked. the general reprimanded
Benton in the presence and hearing of off,
| GERS and men. Benton's heart and temper
being both sore and tried, he had replied
| with much spirit. If not subordination, to
the effect thatSthe message he was charged
| to deliver admitted of no delay; that If the
general had been where he belonged there
would have been no delay; and that sooner
than submit to such injustice he would ask
| TO be relieved from staff duty forthwith
and wrote that very night to his old friend
| and general. then a member of an impor-
tant military tribunal at Washington, beg
|
ing him, of course, the story of poor Ladue.
But. being coupled with another. that
story was now almost old one at the
capital, for thither had the poor lad been
sent and Jennings with him; Paul looking,
| indeed. more dead than alive" for a
strange, eventful history had been his ever
| since the dreadful morning north of
| Sharpsburg that stretched him senseless in
front of Gibbons furious guns KILLED. -
! said Lamar and other officers who saw
him borne away in a blanket "MortalIy
wounded" said the hospital attendants
who first ministered to him, back of the
bunker Church, where reigned confusion
inexpressble owing to the appalling num-
| Der Of those needing surgical aid. How he
| got there or beyond. Paul never knew until
| long thereafter Stunned, as General Jones
had been, by the explosion of shell lust
| over his head, and gashed across the breast
| by whirling fragment of iron, Ladue only
recovered consciousness four days after the
| fight, when they told him he was in safe
| hands and the house of a farmer not three
miles out of Shepherdstown. The ambu-
| lance team, frightened by bursting shell.
| had toppled the driver out of his seat and
run away, capsizing the crazy vehicle and
distributing the human load along country
| lane. That was the last of Paul Ladue for
six long weeks. and when he came to the
| verge of recovery his comrades had gone
| long miles away. Union soldiers were on
every side. Tender-hearted virginians had
carried him to their loft and there con-
cealed and cared for him until he was we'll
| enough to move about, and in November.
when he begged to be aided to rejoin his
comrades. every pass and road southwark
was held and guarded. Odd as il NAV
| seem, the easiest. most practicab bic way for
| a Southern soldier to go from the Potomac
| to his own people was by way of the North.
The young men of the family were in Jack
sons corps. The old father was permitted
to go TO and fro, marketing at Martins
burg, near by, or Hagerstown, over In
Maryland. His wife and her younger sis
| ter. whose husband rode with Stuart had
relatives in Chambersburg and Baltimore
Through these kind souls civilian clothing
was bought for their interesting captive in
| whose welfare they had now an almost
sentimental interest, and by mid November
| Paul was safely under the roof of a WELL
| TODD and most active Southern sympa-
! thizer in the monumental city. He and his
were only too proud and happy to serve an
| officer OF the Eleventh Alabama, and row
! ally they entertained him and most skill