The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-11-18

Gentlemen. the Thirteenth has got
as good fighting blood as there is in
this army. but it has disgraced the
brigade twice over. Go at it and work
your men up If you handle them
right they Will fight. If you let them
smirch the reputation of this brigade
again I'll hold each and every one OF
you personally responsible"
The colonel called his officers to-
gether and said they must give the
men double drill. and that in the next
fight they must shoot down any man
who tried to make a bolt for it. nd
the captains got their respective COM
panies out on the parade ground and
looked savage and swelled out their
chests and shouted.
You are a laughing stock in this
brigade. You have had two or three
chances to win glory. but you have
run away like beaten ours. In our
next fight I will shoot the man who
even turns pale
And yet every private in every COM
pany remembered that when he ran
away he followed his three officers
and was not able to overtake them A
month later, at o'clock one sum-
mer morning. our brigade swung into
battle line on the left center. IT
stretched across a cotton field, with its
right and left connecting in the woods
with other brigadeS. The fight began
far above US. That meant waiting.
and it is the waiting that makes
towards of brave men.
Down the lines OF the t'OurIn, Sew
enth and Eighth went the company
officers to brace I'D the men who were
not towards. but yet losing their nerve
in the waiting. but over in the Thir-
teenth it was different. The officers
were at the regulation distance in rear
of the lines. and the men had nobody
to brace them I'D. To talk to each
other only made matters worse
We were quite prepared for what hap
pened-knew that it would happenG. OF
sudden the enemy opened fire on our
front with artillery, and as the first
shell exploded in the ranks of the Thir-
tenth the whole thousand men broke
back like a flock of frightened sheep
A second shell completed the business,
and there was stampede which car
ried them mile to the rear. The ga
was closed up and the battle went on.
but the Thirteenth could not be rallied
again that day. Three days later the
major general said to the officers and
men on parade:
| Il know the history of the Thirteenth
since its first SkirmiSh. You are a dis
grace to your state, to the army, and to
yourselves. 1 shall recommend that the
regiment be wiped out of existence"
On the morning that the order of dis
/ baDdment arrived from Washington the
Thirteenth was in charge of a senior
captain, and some of the companies
! were in charge of orderly sergeants. A
/ loose and nlarched by night through
/ the fields and woods. suddenly purss
out of the woods upon the scattered
camps along the river. The surprise
was complete and without a check the
enemy came sweeping down the stream
The Thirteenth turned out, but there
were no officers to give them orders
| They were towards and had always ran
away A few had already started on
! this occasion when there came the
sound of hoof-beats from the west ana
a woman rode into camp. She was
hardly above twenty years old, fair
haired and handsome, and probably the
wife of some Union officer from the
i camps above. Every man thrilled as
| she pulled up her horse and cried out:
/ Men. they are making a stand W
| there by the ford. and if you'll Join
them the enemy Gamble checked and
| driven back
Wen go-we'll go-falI in-fall inn
/ shouted the men in chorus after an in
stant's silence, and five minutes later
every man had his musket and cart
ridge box and companies were being
formed up the road crowded with white
faced fugitives, and yet never a man oil
the Thirteenth fell out. There was nc
officer to lead them, but the woman
rode ahead and turned now and then te
smile and beckon them on. A round
shot p1owed up the dirt near by bu.
she gave no heed. A shell burst against
a tree a few yards away and filed the
air with splinters, but she did not TURF
her head The bullets came thicker anc
thicker, but she held her way until q
line of blue suddenly came into view