Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1903-02-14


to the front, and other men fleeing
from crumbling lines, aligned them
selves upon him.
$50 it happened that he became the
center of a new line of desperate
fighters looking for something to rally
upon, for something to cling to in the
storm of battle, for somebody who
would stand against the pursuing
enemy. He stood and they stood, and
later it became a habit with all of
them when confronted by danger to
face as he faced that day, and to con-
fidently await developments. The boy
who faced the smoke on the day of
our small explosion was the youngest
son of my stolid soldier friend and
my theory is that he did as he did
because it was in his blood to do it.
and that the instinct of facing to the
front in time of danger will go down
to his sons and grandsons. Chicago
Inter Ocean.
Got Wood for Campfires.
when we first camped at Shell
Mound, after crossing the Tennessee
in 1863, there was a neat, substantial
brick building used as the railway sta
ton, and the orders were that the
structure be strictly guarded" says
an old soldier. ut was, but in the
comings and goings, up and down the
Tennessee the boys needed brick for
fire places in their little shanties and
frame timbers for the same. A few
bricks were torn out first from one
corner and then from another, until
the building was pr6hounced unsafe.
Then the men of the regiment swoop-
ed down upon it like vultures, and in
twenty minutes there was only bare
skeleton left. and that was carried
off that night.
open campaigns in winter would
have abounded in hardships had it not
been that most of the men in the ser
vice were good fire builders. When
we first entered Kentucky in January.
1852, every fence rail was tied down,
as the boys put it, with the order don't
touch and 1 have seen three thou
sand men shivering in rain and snow
through cold night, without shelter
and without fire because there was
nothing to burn. There were trees
and wood piles all about us, but none
for soldiers. Several of our officers
were put under arrest because they
instructed their men to appropriate
wood or rails to prevent suffering
I'm one case a colonel became popu-
lar at home and in the army because
on a stormy night he took possession
of a wood yard and straw stack
and worked energetically to make his
men comfortable. When threatened
with a court martial the next day he
paid for straw and wood and said
nothing about it. The boys found it
out, however, and the year after the
war that colonel received the vote
of every man in our township, Repub-
lican and Democrat, for sheriff, and
he was reelected and reelected with
out organized opposition in the coun.
ty, until he insisted he was too old to
serve All because he believed that
when the boys needed things to burn
they MIST have things to burn
Another Bunker Hill Musket.
Reading in a recent Globe about
the musket owned by DR.. T. G. Simp-
son of West Fairlee, VT, from which
was fired the first shot at the battle
OF Bunker Hill, reminds me that a
Chelmsford family owned a musket
from which they contended was fired
the first shot at the battle of Bunker
Hill. In the Forefathers' cemetery at
Chelmsford Center there is a moss
covered slate headstone which bears
the following inscription:
Sacred to the memory of Mr. Jo-
seph Spalding, who died July 81, 1920,
act GA In hope of eternal life, which
God, who cannot lie, hath promised to
believers in Jesus Christ He was
among the brave assertors and de-
tenders of the liberties of his country
at Bunker Hill, where he opened the
battle by firing upon the enemy before
orders were given, and after enjoying
for many years the blessings of civil
and religious liberty in common with
others,
He sank to rest
With all his country's wishes bIest"
The old musket is no longer in ex
istence. as it was destroyed by fire.
together with other valuable revolu-
tionary relics, when the old home
stead was burned several years ago
Chelmsford, Dec. 20, 1902. ]. r. Park
hurst--Boston Globe.
The Youngest Soldier.
The Chicago American publishes the
following letter from a veteran:
I am reader OF your paper and in
last Saturdays issue 1 saw a story en-
titled Youngest Soldier of the Civil
War While this soldier may have
enlisted younger than / did, / believe
l am entitled to the distinction of be-
ing the youngest soldier of the civil
war. The article claims this soldier
enlisted when twelve years nine