The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-05-24

| | thin that the sun shone through them like silk, l thought that the rider and the horse was the most beautiful picture Fl ever beheld, and he was one man in l the world I envied at the time He wore a blue Kentucky jeans suit and had | buckied about him a beautiful pair of ivory+handled Remington pistols His l name was engraved on the pistols, is how knew his name was Allen. When he landed. as it were, he exclaimed in loud voice: Hello boys, how are you?" l have -longed to join you, this was rath- 1 CT desperate feat. but I took the oppor- | tunity and I am with you, God bless all of you, how are you anyhow" Our boys began to crowd around him, and in a few minutes there were more than one hun dred of us looking and talking with this newcomer. One of the officers came up and ordered us to disperse or we would draw the fire of the enemy. and of course | shot from the gunboats fired at us | might have been effective. In the mean | time one of my company Joe Willis ask ed to look at .one of the pistols. Willis had the pistol in his hand and many of I us were admiring it, when we saw the pa- | trol guard coming to take this. deserter, | as it appeared to be, to headquarters so | that he might be inter- rrogated by our officers, but he with an eye like an eagle | saw them approaching and began to get very uneasy and restless His bridle and saddle were of the Mexican make. mate of the very best I ever saw. He wore a beaptiful pair of spurs, and as this guard approached and came within thirty or forty feet of the crowd, we being at ! tracted by the guard to some extent did not pay as close attention to him as might | have been, and not in the least did we
 think what his next movement would be.
 but quicker than flash. he pulled his
 left bridle rein and spurred his right foot
 into the flank of the beautiful animal, | and she leaped the works like the flight
 of bird and hit the ground on the other
 side a running. and after he had made
 some sixty or eighty yards distance from our line, he threw himself over quarterly
 on his saddle and swung back over the quarters of the animal whipping her l with his broad brimmed hat and cried
 at the top of his voice "Hurray for Ken
 lucky. by God" and repeated this as far
 as we could hear. -. q. None of the men thought of a gun or firing at this dashing. bold rider until he was some 250 yards back towards the
 Yankee line. Then there were two men just on our right who opened fire on him
 with Springfield rifles but shouted to I them at the top of my voice not to shoot
 that man. He rode without any danger from our side whatever, save three shots II | Yankee lines they rent the very heavens
 with their yells and every gunboat opened on our line and our crowded position, | broadside after broadside until they shook the very earth around us with bursting
 she'll ,and our friend was back in the | lines and had performed the dangerous
 feat under the direction of General Grant.
 He rode into our works to satisfy this great officer that we were in our strong hold and anticipated his landing and at- | tack by this way as it was the best for
 him in every respect. and so we thought | beyond a doubt that he would make his | way around Vicksburg. It would have, been easy going with us to have repulsed
 him and driven him back had he ad- | vanced this field against our splendid position, but after the return of this | rider, l suppose 1t was about forty CT | fifty minutes at least. we thought it gave | him time so that the grapevine telegraph | or signal corps could lend the message | to Bruensburg below Vicksburg to make
 the attack or advance from that point: | in fact, it was only a short while u1.til
 l heard the guns laundering in that di- | rection, and so Grant, instead of making | the attack and surrounding Vicksburg by way of Snyder's Bluff made his landing
 and advance by the way of Bruensburg | and the next morning carly many of us
 were ordered to meet him. We met him
 ell the way to Bakers Creek or Cham
 pion Hills, where we made the greatest | fight and we were repulsed and driven back into Nicksburg and stood the long
 and fearful siege.
 Joe Willis, my comrade, who kept the
 pistol of the dashing rider IS he rode off. | owned and had this pistol some few years ago at ! meeting of our old battery
 at the Piazzas Hotel in that city.
 This shows you what a fearless man | can do in any country. where he has the | nerve, the judgment and rides the right
 kind of stock. l have often wished to
 meet this man since the war. for this Is certainly a piece of unwritten history | that should be written. The very name of Kentucky or Missouri was like music | in our ears because we loved them. That grand old Orphan Brigade of Kentucky | and the Missourians who cast their lot with us were part of us, and they were all most dear to Is, and I know they | were all thoroughbred stock and of the best blood and this daring, dashng rider | and representative of the Federal Army
 must have had the same kind of blood | pulsating through his veins.-Wrltten for
 and read by Mrs. I. N. Stowe, Historian
 R. E. Lee Chapter, opelika, Ala.
 The retiring President of the Alabama Division, U. D. C., read the following letter at the convention and at her re- quest it is here below published
 Marietta, May 2. 1903. My Dear Mrs Dowdell As requested I send list of subscrip- tions from Alabama chapters to aid in our work at the Confederate cemetery here 1 need not tell you how grateful we are. l am sure you and the kind con tributors will understand this. I only wish you could realize the improvement we have made and our hopes of eventually completing our plans. Our memorial ex- ercises on the 18th were beautiful and well attended and altogether we are en- couraged. With best wishes. yours truly,
 Mrs R. l.. Nesbitt,
 President Kennesaw Chapter U. D. c.
 Contributions from Alabama Chapters, U. D. C., to Confederate cemetery at Marietta, Ga:
 James .Csuty Chapter, Scale, $2.50; R. E. Lee Chapter. Opelika, g; Pelham Chapter, Birmingham. $5; Selma Chap ter. Selma, s2; Secession Chapter, Mont gomery, $2; Father Ryan Chapter. Green vile, $2 Troy Chapter, Troy, g; R. E. Rodes, Tuscaloosa. $2 owen H. McLe- more Chapter. Lafayette g.: Raphael Semmes Chapter Auburn. g; Alabama Charter Chapter. Camden. $2; Tuscumbia Chapter. Tuscumbia, $2: Tuskegee Chap | ter Tuskegee, $1S0; Union Springs Chap | ter. Union Springs, g; total $9l.30
 Mrs. R. L. Nesbitt. President Kennesaw Chapter, U. D. c.
 May 2, 1903.