Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1904-02-16
AN incident of Port Hudson.
Read at a recent campfire of VIM. X. Kimball
Post, G. A. R.)

| Read AZ a recent campfire Of VIM. X. Kimbal
| Poet, G. A. R9
| After several weeks of enforced retire.
ment behind their breastworks, the be.
sieged Confederate soldiers at Port Hud'
son realized that starvation was staring
them in the face, hemmed in, as they
were, by gunboats on the water side, and
Gen. Banks forces on land.
BY some means best known to himself
Gen. Banks became possessed of accu-
rate knowledge of some of the most
secret plans of the Rebel commander,
Gen. Gardner, and among these was the
information that the rebels had prepared
place at certain point in the parapet
where they intended to march out, under
cover of darkness, and make desperate
attempt to break through our lines and
get away.
Fearing to materially weaken any
other point by withdrawing troops, Gen.
Banks and his staff officers had formed
in secret a plan to guard against surprise
by sacrificing the lives of twenty Union
soldiers.
A brisk firing was kept up from the
Union lines, in the night time, over the
heads of detail of men with shovels,
who dug a zig-zag ditch along a ravine,
until they had made their way close up
under the rebel parapet, and opposite
the place where the rebels were to march
out; and there they dug a wide and deep
pit, large enough to hold twenty men
without crowding, and deep enough to
securely confne them when the entrance
was stopped.
At early evening of the next night an
order was sent to the Twelfth Maine
Regiment, calling for detail of twenty
men including one lieutenant and one
corporal. They were formed in line,
and marched, very silently, in single file
up the narrow ditch leading to this pit.
AS soon as they were all in Gen. Banks
appeared at the entrance, and said in
low, earnest voice, "Boys. the rebels are
going to break out here tonight, and
YOU must stay here, and DIE here"' He
Immediately stepped back, and the en-
trance was barricaded with heavy bales
of cotton. A glance around satisfied
all that they were securely imprisoned.
These BOYS were selected with a view
to their fitness to stand the terrible
ordeal: but it was evident from the first
that one mistake had been made in the
selection, and sad mistake, as this was
in the person of their commander, the
lieutenant, who stood trembling and
speechless with fear in the midst OF them.
After waiting some minutes for an order
from him to form the men in line of bat
tie, and receiving none, the corporal
took the liberty to form them without
an order, and formed them in three ranks
and took his position on the left OF the
front rank, with the lieutenant on the
left of the corporal.
In silence, they stood there in the
darkness, awaiting with dread the dead
ly conflict; and thoughts of mother and
all the dear ones in those far away
homes in the North brought tears to
their ewes. TerroriZing visions of the
death struggle, the bloody, mangled
forms of self and comrades lying lifeless
ON the ground, kept recurring as the
long tedious hours passed by, and
thoughts came, too, of that other life so
soon to be entered upon, and of who
would be there
"To lead us with a gentle hand
To the land of the great departed,
To the Silent Land"
But such thoughts were not suited to
inspire soldiers to battle. To be brave
and obey the orders of superiorS was a
soldiers duty. To stay there and DIE
there was the command of the General.
0f that command came within the rules
of ocirilized warfare" it must have been
ut the uttermOst limit between the
civilized and barbarous.)
1t has been said that 1T is better to be
a dead hero than live coward. There
seemed to be every indication that the
lieutenant belonged to the latter class,
as his teeth chartered, and he shook like
one afflicted with the ague, and he seem
ed likely to collapse at the first sign OF
IN approaching crisis.
Whatever happened, the corporars
mind was made up to assume command,
and he had calmly studied the situation,
and thought out how to guard against
false alarm by holding fire until the
enemy began to drop into the pit. Their
movements would likely be as quiet as
possible: and il was uncertain whether
The "Bovs in Blue would be shot to
death or die of bayonet thrusts. n clash
at arms with the bayonet was always the
most dreaded; yet all but one OF that
little company were determined to die
fighting their best whether the battle
was with bullets or with the dreaded
bayonet.
il was told of a negro, in the hands OF
lynchers, that he stood calmly by and
watched the growing blaze that was to
roast him alive, but when the lynchers
drew their knives TO mutilate his body,
he broke down and prayed for mercy.
The "Charge of the Light Brigade" at
Balaklava has been immortalized in
verse by the great poet, Tennyson.
There was a remnant left of the ''six
hundred to tell the story, so they must
have found 'loop-hole OF escape.
somewhere: but to that little squad OF
limited States soldiers in the pit escape
was impossible if the enemy broke out
as expected, for they would have been
more than three hundred
TO one. Every man realized the situa-
tion, knew that although he might fight
as man never fought before, lie must
die.
After hours of silent waiting, and at
tentive listening for some sign OF the
enemy moving in their front, the boys
heard the mutiied sound of footsteps on
the ground. Every man stood at
Ready. Aimn' without waiting for
orders, as the lieutenant had grasped the
corporars gun with both hands to sup
mort himself, and stood shaking there,
crazed with fear and moaning under his
breath; but sudden push and kick
sror, the corporal loosened his hold and
he staggered to the rear.
Don't fire until you hear the COM
mandr was the whispered order OF the
corporal. This was to guard against a
false alarm, as the purpose to be carried
ont by sacrificing these men was to give
the Union army time to prepare for the
onslaught of the enemy.
The boys listened to the sound of foot
steps until they sounded on the very
brink of the pit and some gravel ratified
down the side; then the moving ranks
came to a sudden halt, as though sur
prised to see the dim outlines of that
little force of determined soldiers stand
ing with guns in position ready for bat
tie Almost instantly, to the great
astouishment of the boys, they turned
and retreated, for every soldier in the pit
expected the whole rebel army was
rigbt II, ON them, and would soon be
marching out over their dead bodies. 1t
was not easy to Judge, in the darkness,
of how large force it waS,-perhapS
their advance guard, or a accommodating
party. ,.,s
The weary night was only about half
AL ~