Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1904-10-12
A VERY LONG DUEL
tOriginal.l

inclined to tell of the singular episode.
and hairbreadth escapes he had ex-
perienced; indeed he sat with look Of
suspicion on his face that some of the
adventures were tinged with the pris-
matte hues of the imagination. After
each man had told from three to q
dozen yarns and the silent one had not
opened his mouth the rest set up
clamor for story. After much APP
parent unwillingness he consented.
''Tm Kentuckian by birth, gentle
men. and when the war came on was
engaged to Il Kentucky girl. You know
that in Kentucky we were divided in
our sympathies between Union and
Confederate, and my girl happened to
be on the other side. However, that
didn't separate us, but something else
did-a Union officer. was with Bragg
when he went into Kentucky In '62,
and we passed through the town where
my fiancee lived. She was very good
to me- but after our retreat. while We
were confronting Rosecrans. the sum-
mer after the battle of Stone River,
went up in disguise to see her (risking
death by the halter in doing sol to dis
cover her one moonlight night in the
garden in the arms Of a Yankee cap
tain / was informed that his name
was Sullivan-a redheaded Irishman-
and that he had taken my girl right off
her feet the moment he looked at her.
l got back to camp and vowed that il
ever l met Captain Sullivan one Of US
should bite the dust.
'Rosecrans followed us down through
Bridgeport to Chattanooga. and we only
stopped him at Chickamauga. During
that fight your General Thomas held
in for some time, checked by planting
his artillery around the famous Horse
shoe l was blazing away at his posi-
ton with my guns when an aid rode
up and, pointing to Yankee battery,
gave me an order to silence 1t. They
the best in the Yankee service he said.
That was all the spur l wanted. and
poured in all the ammunition l had.
Coming to the last shell, l pointed the
gun myself and plainly saw the red
headed Irish captain pointing gun
at me. Both pulled the lanyard at the
same instant. His shot rtcochetted be-
fore my gun, sprinkling the soil In my
eyes, so that couldn't see what dam
age l had done. and when l could see
the Yankee battery had been with
drawn.
A Iov To or /
that Captain Sullivan was still COM
handing his famous battery. Some
thing told me that the day would sure
ly yet come when would get even
with him, but the war ended without
my coming again In sight of him.
drifted away from Kentucky and mar
ried-not the girl Sullivan had robbed
me of, nor did he. She married man
who had never smelled powder.
"Weil, when 1t was proposed by the
government to make national park OF
the Chickamauga backgrounds a par
ty of us ex-Confederates went there
with a camp kit to spend a week look
ing the ground over and locating places
where disputes had taken place. l had
a fancy to note the ground where Sui
Ivan and / had had our little duel and
hit the spot exactly. / knew 1t by
peculiarly shaped rock that was d.
rectly in line with his gun and about
twenty yards behind it. l knew this
because Sullivan's guns were lined up
along a road. Our party reached the
spot at nightfall. and we concluded,
water being handy, to camp there.
1.-THE next morning as soon as we
had turned out we were visited by
party Of ex-Union officers, commits
sion sent down by the government
who, having got separated from their
wagon, asked us for breakfast. l
think we were all introduced, but my
hearing isn't good and | seldom catch
names. We had a cook with us who
built fire, and we were soon listening
to the sizzle of bacon and smelling the
odor of coffee. While waiting for
breakfast I was noting the position
and observed that the fire was built
lust ten yards behind where l calcu-
lated had stood Captain Sullivan's gun
when | fired at him so many years be-
fore. was sitting on the rock by
which l had located the spot and saw
one Of the government commissioners
go up to the fire and stand with his
back to 1t, his coat tails parted, warm
ing himself, for the morning was
quite chilly. l was thinking OF that
day of the battle when / had missed
killing the man who had robbed me of
my sweetheart and even at that late
date regretting that had missed him.
suddenly there was terrific ex-
plosion right under the fire. / was hit
by burning brand, but not before l
had seen the man warming himself
blown twenty feet into the air. He
was the only one of the partysinjur
though pieces of iron cut their way
through the trees near by, and when
he came down we all rushed toward
him, expecting, of course, to find that
he had been killed.
"'Sullivan" cried one of his party,
man with an Irish brogue. ARE We
dead?
"'Divil bit And he got up and
shook himself free from the dirt on
his clothes.