The National tribune., 1904-04-14
NATIONAL TRIBUNE: WASHINGTON O. THURSDAY APRIL H. 1904

A44SSAO4sD ~ ~ -
} was not AZ atlek 70 grasp the situation .,
the other felRwsT were, and they. were
quickly quickly pisa1s Up souvenir; ef. the e;
} the boys seto about to convince "thsir
uncle" that that Shell had been planted BY
the rebs sonnet days since. They succeeded
so well that Ing got'in new stock OF goods.
and the boys planned other raids on his
shebang. Z ~
A NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
/ Our first Eteatehant- Colonel died before
the end of the year. and another man
came to us. Transferred, so we heard. from
the old Cd Nfich..o. The enlisted men were
delighted to ste him, but the commissioned
officers. from the tiolonel down to the Sec
ond Lieutenant OF Co. f. objected They
got up and cussed. buf the new Lieuten-
ant Colonel laid low and said nothing. An
indignation meeting was called at the suit
ler's tent one night when the new officer
was out i'll command of the picket line, a
detail that for some reason fell to his lot
very often. After sampling keg Of
mackerel $50 it was branded), they de-
| cided that it was un just to jump man
into the regiment as Lieutenant Colonel
from another regiment, and it was further
resolved that as the Chaplain was man
| OF peace and not afraid to tackle the devil,
in his professional life, he should present
to the Lieutenant-C Colonel the next day the
sentiments of the meeting, and, as a min
! lister, to advise the interloper to send in
| his resignation.
Again and again the keg of "mackerel"
was sampled, and they sang I'VE won't
go home till morning, till daylight doth ap-
pear"
| The next afternoon, as the Lieutenant.
Colonel was looking through the camp,
making suggestions to the men about fix
ing up their quarters and in many ways
| trying to improve the condition and get
| acquainted with the boys, he was accosted
| by the Chaplain, who told him he had
something of Importance to communicate,
| and requested that he go to his (the Chap
lain's) tent. They walked in silence down
the line. the boys wondering il the Chap
lain , was going to tell the Colonel stories
told us q few nights later, while on picket
reserve, all about it.
| He said the Chaplain united the fly OF
! the tent and went inside, he following
Once there he found three darkies sitting
about camp kettle filled with Goals. The
panion was the new Lieutenant-Co Colonel"
and he wanted to have private talk with
him. would they please retire?" Not
darby moved Tie Chaplain repeated his
request, and added that they might come
back soon. There being no sign Of a move.
ment on their part, the Colonel grabbed
the one nearest by the neck and hurled
followed right speedily head over heels into
the frosty air, the kettle of Goals follow.
| ing. Privacy being secure to the Chap.
lain, he took the Colonel affectionately by
the buttonhole of his duty coat and inn
parted the Instructions of the night before,
as minister of the Gospel, advise YOU
to resign at once and go home and leave
the officers and men of the regiment to
choose their own Lieutenant Colonel" "Is
that all you have to say, Chaplain?"- said
the Colonel. Yes. l have said quite
60 and tell r. officers Of this regiment to
From an offended experience in the war,
We never found just such another Chap
| lain as was our first one. one who was
| SO good a judge of a horse and SO poor
| Of colored brother or sister, or one who
knew more storifs without a moral than
he. For the good of the service he resigned
early, and anneW' man came to us that
quickly earned Gtr love and respect; and
all this time we We're learning the art Of
war.
PRKEf EXPERIENCES
| Just about haif!a mile to the front from
our post, wl6ch was i'm a cemetery, near
the pike wasiA large plantation house with
q score. of outbuildings. Our Sergeant be-
came positive, from the noises, .heafd, that
| the place was visited by Confe43erates ev-
cry night, and plans were made to cap
| ture them. So just at dark one evening
| the Sergeant, with a squad of men, ad-
vanced to the building and secreted him
self in the fence corners. Just as ex-
pected, a party came up from the woods
across the fields and would have walked
into the trap had not one of our, men lost
his senses. He jumped out of the fence
corner, fired his gun in the air, threw it
away and ran for his life to the rear, the
enemy vanishing in the gloom. Then far
down the picket line a rabbit skurried
through the brush, and another picket fired,
the two shots alarming the division camp.
| and every man in the 16 reg ments were
turned out to stand in line until daylight
SO much for two plumbers.
The next night the Colonel ordered the
Sergeant to take one of his best men and
| enemy's picket line. Following. the road
the first half mile then through fields and
along fences for two miles, they came upon
| a picket post OF dozen men, carelessiy
| lOunging about a small fire of cedar rails
Just then the clouds moved away from a
full moon, and night became almost as
| bright as day. The two men lay fiat upon
the ground, not daring to move muscle,
until friendly cloud again came in front
| of the queen Of night. Then, numbed with
cold, they sneaked away on their hands
and knees. At this time we had only EN-
fields" muzzle-loading guns. Six months
later. with the Colt revolving rifles we
had learned SO we'll to use. these two men
would have exterminated that picket squad
with the first round We are glad now
that we did not have Colt rifles that night
On the way back. mile from home,
they caught the CLEAN Of a musket barrel
in fence corner. Quick as thought both
their guns were bearing on the outlines of
man. with blanket over his shoulders,
who was watching something in the op-
posite direction, his gun ready for instant
use. Both our men had fingers on the
triggers. An instant and that Confederate
would be lifeless. But the Sergeant kept
come out of that; we want you" He
turned about like fash of lightning and
he. gaasped. MY God, Sergeant, is that
You 7"
The recognition was mutual and e1-
plantations brief. The Colonel, getting i'm
patient for their return, had selected an
other from the same company for the same
duty each surprising that none bur anernies