Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-05-30
WARTIME STORIES.
A Trying Ordeal While on
Picket Duty.
When Apple Struck, He Thought He
Was Wounded.
A Bit of Scrimmagc Which Never
Went Into Official Reports.

Nothing can be more interesting than
to sit down for an hour or two with a
party of G. A. K. men and listen to
them relate incidents of the war. Try
as hard as you may it is almost an
impcssiblity to find one of the
veterans, that is one who was in the
hot work Of the Civil War, who hasn't
one or more events which he can tell
and which will prove to be worth hear
ing. That such is so is not at all
strange, for even those who took but
a small part in the campaigns of the
great strife have things to tell which
causes one to wonder how civilized
people could ever come to make war.
day or SO ago a Journal man had thg
good fortune to be i'll company with Il
party of the old warriors. He heard
many of the tales of their fighting
days and Il few of them are here repro
duced.
Il recOllcct," remarked one, 1.-The first
night that l went Cn picket duty. You
sec, didn't go out with the regiment.
which was cavalry regiment, but ell .
listed and went out as a recruit. I hit
the command when they were in n
wal III anu "HSll Ilttu W
be watchful This night that they sent
me out was about the darkest 1 ever
saw. 1t was with the greatest difficulty
that you could make out anything in
the darkness. I could not see the ears
of my horse. SO you may judge about
what it was. Well the station on which
they put me was a nice cheerful spot.
A man had been popped over there
each night for the three preceding
nights. 1t don't require any effort on
the mart of you who have been there to
know how felt.
However, the officer of the guard
was a good hearted man and he con-
solcd me much. He said: Don't
worry about it. three are about the
limit that they can snuff out on one
for them to make a try tonight. Just
you keep a stiff upper lip, a sharp
watch and you'll come out all o. X.
"'That was bit encouraging and I
went onto the post. trembling a bit. I
will confess. but still not feeling quite
SO bad as / might have. There l sat
on my horse. carbine at full cock and
ready fer instant use. How long 1 had
been on duty I don't know, but soon I
heard a noise off to one side, where
there were some bushes. Gee, how
that set my heart humping! I could
hear the trip hammer blows and could
feel the blood rush to my head. Into
the darkness 1 peered, straining nv
eyes in an effort to see what it was
which caused the noise. I could almost
feel the impact of the bullet as II
struck me. for I honestly believed that
a Johnny Reb had mFcovered. Again
the noise came and with 1t the con-
of the three who had preceded me. /
couldn't see sign of anyone or any
thing. however.
when I heard the noise for the third
time I located it and also could see
what looked to me like two great balls
Of fire peering at me, from the bushes
"Our orders were to shoot anything
or anybody we saw and who didn't
answer a challenge promptly. I hailed
and I'll admit that my voice was shaky
No answer came. Up went the carbine
and, taking as steady an aim as
III could. fired. There was a commotior
in the bushes for a. moment and then
all was still
Il didn't GO to investigate and IN d
moment up came the officer and Other
members of the guard. told what had
taken place and a hunt was made. II
was ali settled in short time. My bullet
had Killed
A razor back hog"
Talking about frights," said another
"the worst I ever got it was in affight
cur regiment, which had been some
what cut down by the fighting we had
been mixed up in, numbered 161 at the
time. We went into the fight in ques-
ton in the morning and We're in II
about five minutes. I should say. and
when we came out we had 81 men left.