Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-11-08

front of Gibbons guns, then belchin.
canister in double rounds. More deat
than alive he looked" said her inform
ant, but while she had no tidings o
his present Whereabouts, neither wa.
there any record of his death.
All this was presently sent to FREQ
on the Rappahannock, and made him
the more eager to communicate with
some one across that modern Rubi-
con-some one who could speak adj
visedly. But though there were places
near the fords up stream where the
cavalry vedettes sat long hours in sad
die, facing, and often within hailing
distance of each other the orders
! against communication of any kind
had become exacting, for it was evil
dent that Burnside was marshaling his
grand divisions for move.
In the early summer time, when he
hated to leave the front and longed to
| push on to Richmond or Charlottes-
vile. Benton had been summoned to
Washington. Now. when he longed to
go to Washington, there was prospect
OF m1dwinter dash across the Rap
pahannock. News of the Chiltons was
sorely disquieting. Rosalie would not
write. Jack, in prison camp, could
not, except to kindred, and the doctor
evidently shrank from writing. 1t
was a winter of courts-martial at the
capital, and several such tribunals
We're in session, trying officers of vari-
GUS grades. Many new regiments had
come and were held about the city
until suitably drilled and disciplined.
AS a consequence the avenues again
were alive with uniforms, the hotels
crowded, and many thrifty households
were coming" money taking boarders.
Mention has been made of DR.. Chill
tons sister, with whom they were
again dwelling after their return from
the summer seashore. Being only
moderately well-to-do, and besieged
with applications, she had yielded to
pressure and let two of her rooms to
officers sojourning in the city. Then
one OF these, ordered west, begged
leaN, to present successor, major
OF new regiment, who, being
smart lawyer, had been assigned to
duty as judge advocate of court
for the trial of officers of rank in the
volunteers. When the squire wrote
that McKinnon had been appointed
major of newly raised regiment and
ordered with it to Annapolis, Fred
Benton felt, so great was his antipa-
thy, a vague sensation of ANNOYANCE
and chagrin. Three weeks later when
Col. Golf, of the --teentA, came down
to pay the Iron Brigade a two-days'
visit, the young staff officer was con
founded to hear that Mai. Mckinnon
had just found domicile under the same
roof that shielded DR.. Chiffon and the
lady of his love. 1t meant mischief
and Benton knew it.
One bleak December morning Ben
ton had ridden with his general down
the river bank on the Stafford side
and sat watching the work of the
engineers The pontoon wagons were
being run to the front, and many an
officer and man looked at the heavy
ungalnly boats and the long loads of
balk and chess, then studied the dis
tant line of heights across the stream.
saying little but thinking much. Who
ever sought to storm that crest had a
precious job on hand, was an expurga-
ton OF the way in which the average
veteran expressed his Individual views
And while seated in saddle, shivering
In the wind blowing from the distant
Chesapeake, and wishing the chief
would quit his comments on the orders
OF the corps commander and trot home
to dinner, Benton caught sight of a
little column of cavalry riding defect
edly in from the far left flank. Horses
Jaded, men disguised. and three or
four prisoners in their wake looked
worst of all Where dye s'pose those
dam-fools have come from?" asked
the general, cheerfully. Captain" he
cried, hailing the officer in command,
what you got there?"
The officer touched his cap, turned
out of column, so as not to halt the
iiiSliiouieaI Hldrcu, TOde up toward the
general and said: Prisoners. sir, taken
by one OF our scouting parties a few
miles down, and sent in by us, for most
OF these horses with me have to be
shod."
By this time the greater part of the
troop, in their ugly light blue over
coats, had plodded by, and the squad
OF prisoners came footing it YEARLY
after. Foremost of these tall, thin
faced, ungainly specimen, dressed in
one of those self-same cavalry over
coats, glanced curiously at the general
from under his broad-brimmed SLOUGH
hat; threw look over the blue-nosed,
Watery-eyed pair of orderlies at his
back, and then on Benton and a broth
er aide, sitting few yards aside; then
instantly flash of recognition shot
over his face, and he called aloud:
There, captain. There's a gentle
man who will vouch for what say.
Ask Capt. Benton"
1t was our friend Jennings. he of the
SfOnn hNnCn