The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-06-14

was shot through the head, and going to
the rear l met Lucius Johnson, who did
not know what had become of the regi-
ment, which for want of leadership in
our generals, had refused to lie still and
be killed for nothing. In a piece Of
thleket just to the rear was a South Car
DINA major calling on the men to rally,
and, admiring his pluck l stopped with
him, as did Hicks, another of my COM
pany. He got together forty-seven men
and led us up the hill which 10000 had
tried in vain to take. We went about as
far as the main line had gone and our
game cock major ordered us to lie down,
at which l was surprised, for he seemed
willing to attack alone the whole Yankee
army. The cannons still belched forth
their whirlwinds of canister, and about
dusk one struck me on the thigh, which
was blue and black for weeks. Some of
| Jackson's troops came to our support in
the night, but the enemy retreated, and
7 the next morning, with a musket for a
crutch and desperately sick, 1 searched
for my command. Feeble as / was /
could not resist the feeling of intense
| satisfaction arising from the knowledge
that l had gone as far to the front as
anybody else. and that / had remained
all night close up to the enemy. In fact
/ considered Ii a settled question that /
could do my part in a battle, but up to
that time had not known it for fact
A furlough, home comforts and DOCTOR
ing prepared me for second Manassas,
where we were better led, and my regi-
ment acquitted itself with credit. Led
the same way at Malvern Hill we would
have taken the position. These are the
honest confessions of a boy who did not
know whether he could fight or not until
he was tried in the fire. If the young men
of the present generation were called on
to endure the same experimentation
God forbld--they would not disgrace their
ancestors, but the topers, the cigarette
smokers and the gamblers would play out
of the game, Just as they fall by the
wayside In their battles of banking, rail-
reading, merchandising, law, farming,
and medicine, and just as they did in 81
65. But one baptism Of fire did not make
a hero and in 90, "a and '65 as the shells
and bullets began to fly around us. the
| flesh felt the same tremblings and aver
sions to the danger. You have all seen
a frightened horse, and how senseiess he
| Is, but a man or lot of men In panic
| have less reason than a runaway horse,
and l have laughed and grown mad by
turns at men who were hlnching from
the searching shells and bullets l saw
Jim DuBose, who weighed about one
hundred pounds. at Chicamauga, put his
bayonet to the breast of a fleeing colonel
I
and yet the same Jim, whilst on lonely
vdette post on the Darbytown road, fired
at covey of cartridges made FESTIVE in
the bushes by the intense cold My
brigade had proven themselves veterans
on many a bloody field, had resisted odds
of ten to one at Sharpsburg and Rich
mond, had taken breast works and bat
teries from odds, yet as we were march
ing one starlight night outside our lines
through the thick woods to flank the en-
envy, a little muddy stream, crossed only
by a foot log, delayed our march, and
passing it / suddenly found that every
man had taken to the woods like
scared quails. A scout could not do like
wise, however strong the temptation, 30
I advanced until / hailed a bulky form
In the road and found mounted boy
courier, who had panicked veterans by
inquiring in loud voice, Whose COM
mand is that?" OF such stuff are NOR
tails made. With my son, in 1897, drove
over the same road-curious to recall the
feelings of that sombre scene. Three
miles from our line and less than two
hundred yards from a strong cavalry
post of the enemy. was in little road.
crossing a march, when at a sudden
turn l met a little woman in a blue
shawl, and the momentary terror / felt
| is yet fresh in my recollection. At an
other place where we had fought three
| times, and the arms and the legs of the
dead had been uncovered by the winter
rains, and where alone I had taken pris-
oners, l was standing waiting for day
| light, so as to observe the hostile camps,
when l saw gliding towards me. now
stopping, now moving, a grey object too
small for a horse, but to my disturbed
imagination, quite large. My heart came
to my throat several times and / turned
my gun on the object. but the recollec-
ton of the ridicule l would get II / shot
anything but an enemy made me wait
till discovered-an 'opossum. 1t Is but
step from the sublime to the ridicu-
lous, even in war times, and the man
whose heroism you praise today may
look like a searecrow tomorrow.
The braggart and bully of peace times
is likely to prove a coward in battle. and
the quiet man who turns pale when
angry, will lead in the daring charge.
Alone. and miles from my own people.
have been ordered to surrender and es-
capped by feetness, and I have many
! times narrowly missed death. or cap
ture, and it would be idle to say that one
did not feel fear al no old soldier
would believe it.