Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-01-26
DAILY SHORT STORY
Breaking the Hoodoo.

IL dnh anu hlc- No DtllcI
! could have been found in America. \
| couple of weeks, however. showed the
| colonel 10 be an egotist and a drunk
| ard. and few of the company or regi-
mental officers seemed anxious 10 give
him credit fo@ anything outside.
one day the regiment came out 10
| relieve the Fourth ON outpost duty.
| At midafternOOn Il hundred Confeder-
ate cavalry. divided into squads OF
| twenty five. attacked four full cOmpa-
| mics of the Thirteenth at about the
same moment one discharge of their
carbines, followed 10y Il grand yell, did
the business i'll each instance. The
same 100 cavalry then fell upon the
reserve of 600 men and routed them
ut Il dash. One thousand men were
beaten. routed and disgraced by loo.
The colonel called his officers to-
gether and said they must give the
men double drill and that in the next
fight they must shoot down any man
who tried TO make Il bolt for it. And
the captains got their respective com
panies ont on the parade ground and
looked savage and swelled ont their
chests and shouted:
You are laughing stock in this
brigade. You have had two or three
chances TO win glory. but you have
run away like beaten ours. In our next
fight | will shoot the man who even
turns pale"
And yet every private in every COM
pany remembered that when he ran
away lie followed his three officers and
was not able Ia Ovcrtake them. A
month later. at 3 o'clock one summer
morning, our brigade swung into bat
tie line on the left center 1t stretched
across Il cotton field. with its right and
left connecting i'll the woods with 9th
or briSades. The fight began far above
us. That meant waiting. and ii is the
waiting that makes towards of brave
men.
Down the lines of the Fourth, Sew
enth and Eighth went the company
officers to brace up the men who We're
not towards. but yet losing their nerve
in the waiting, but over in the Thir-
tenth it was different The officers
were at the regulation distance i'll rear
OF the lines. and the men had nobody
10 brace them up. To talk to each
other only made matters worse.
We were quite prepared for what
happened-knew that il would happen.
of Il sudden the enemy opened fire on
our front with artillery. and as the
first shell exploded in the ranks of the
Thirteenth the whole LOCO men broke
back like flock of frightened sheep.
y second shell completed the business,
and there was Il stampede which car
red them mile to the rear. The gap
was closed up, and the battle went on,
but the Thirteenth could not be rallied
again that day. Three days later the
major general said TO the officers and
men OH parade:
Il know the history of the Thirteenth
since its first skirmish. You are dis
grace to your state to the army and to
yourselves. l shall recommend that the
regiment be wiped out of existence
On the morning that the order OF
disarmament arrived from Washing
ton the Thirteenth was i'll charge of Il
senior captain, and some of the com
panieS We're i'll charge OF orderly ser
geantS. \ Confederate column. which
had cut loose and marched by night
through the fields and woods, suddenly
burst out of the woods upon the scat
tered camps along the river. The sur
prise was complete, and without 4
check the enemy came sweeping down
the stream The Thirteenth turned
out. but there were no officers to give
them orders They were towards and
had always run away. = few had
already started on this occasion, when
there came the sound of hoOf beats
from the west. and woman rode into
camp. She was hardly above twenty
years old. fair haired and handsome
and probably the wife of some MON
officer from the camps above. Every
man thrilled as she pulled up her horse
and cried out:
Men. they are making a stand up
there by the ford. and if you'll joiE
them the enemy can be checked and
driven back
Well go-we'H go, Fall in-fall in
shouted the men in chorus, after an in
stant's silence. and five minutes later
every man had his musket and car
fridge box and companies were being
formed up the road crowded with
white faced fugitives. and yet never
man OF the Thirteenth fell out. There
WAS no OliiatG 10 itdti tliclll. bhN NAA'
woman rode ;shead and turned now and
then to smile and beckon them on. y
round shot pIowed up the dirt near by.
hut she gave no heed. \ shell burst
against g tree i few yards away and
filled the air with splinterS. but she
did not turn her head. The bullets
came thicker and thicker. but she held
her way until line of blue suddenl;
came into view and then waved her
hand and said:
Right down there. comrades, is
where they need you. and after today
no man will call the Thirteenth a reSi-
mPnt of cowards.'
"Hip-hip-h urrah"' and a swinging
Of caps and 4 dash forward. The blue
fighting line was strengthened not
moment too soon. The enemy hurled
shell and Erape-he poured volley after