The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1905-04-13
HOLDING THE
LIGHTHOUSE
Copyright. 1904. by T. c. Mcclure.l


cllnrue OF Il lighthouse Oil the North
| Carolina coast. and one evening during
| the l:,st year OF the war | was driven
inside by seven Confederates. who had
| landed from sloop near by and whose
mission was to destroy the light
! WIS we'll provided with arms and am
,,usaitioa, ana as they came within
/ ,nooting distance I opened fire and
:; ouadetl one of them. All Of them at
t: ..3yel to tie left to get out OF
| ran, G. ;llsd five minutes later there was
i eeIlant that surrender. In case Of
! refusal they would burn me out
As tic lower door was a stout one
ana loopAolcd for muskery and as
there WAS no drift stuff within mile
Of us to make i fine, was not greatly
worried over the appearance of the
men and their threats. made the door
SECURE anu then climbed to the top OF
tie Ugh aouse and just as | got there
the sloop from which the soldiers had
landed and which had been left to take
! care of itself was foated off the beach
! hy the rs.ng tide and soon passed be-
/ vonG recovery The situation now pre-
j scented was a rather curious one. |
WAS Il prisoner inside the lighthouse
| lut the sang We're prisoners outside as
we'll We We're on an island, aud there
was no escape for them without a
boat
expected to be fired on when light
cd the lantern. which was in an ex-.
] posed position, and. sure enough, they
opened on me with their muskets and
shaved me pretty close three or four
times got down safely, however,
and then had only the door to look
after during the night. | got another
demand to surrender, but only laughed
]. at it, though two of the men crept
softly up and gave me several bullets
through the loopholes, which might
have finished me had / been standing
erect
The fellows could not tell whether |
had been hit or not, and about 8 o'clock
heard them crawling up again to Sis
ten As one of them rubbed against
the door | fired through loophole, and
the yell which answered the shot was
proof that | had wounded another.
, What the unwounded would do during
, the night could only guess at and be
on the watch to checkmate. The two
wounded men must have suffered
great deal, but the leader was deter
! mined fellow and bound to carry out
, his orders.
Soon after the wounding of the sec
ond man | heard the whole party NOV
. ing away. and it was a matter of two
: hours before they returned They had
, searched the shores fer driftwood and
| brought back loads of it.
OF a sudden, while I was listening
with, the closest attention, the loop
, holes were stopped up with sticks
! thrust into them, and then the supply
Of firewood was heaped against the
door There were three men engaged
!. I in this work, and all at once threw
the door wide open and blazed, away
I / at them with my revolver. All went
r down. and before the others could come
$ up had the door shut again. 1t was
not until two. hours later that knew
) | whether l had Killed or wounded the
three. had managed to clear the
{ loopholes and was on the alert for dtiy
| further move when one of the gang
| crawled as near as he dared and shout
ed:
Say, you in there, we want to sur
{ render!''
How many of youy' asked in re-
ply.
Seven, and five are wounded and
suffering. The sergeant will be dead
man unless we can get help pretty
soon."
where are the two unwohnded
; menu
They swan off to get the sloop and
y have either been eaten by the sharks
or drowned Say, sergeant, for heav-
ems sake don't go back on us. We
were sent to capture and destroy the
lighthouse, but we have got the worst
OF 1t and are ready to surrender to-
J you"
looked on 1t as plot to take nae off
my guard and refused to open the door.
Twice more before daylight the same
man came and again appealed to me-.
but he received the same answer The
ones feared were the two unwound-.
ed ones. | believed they were In am
bush instead Of going of after the boat.
1 When daylight came went upstairs
and looked down from the parapet and
soon made out that there was one man
dead and no others about except the
wounded Before descending and open
ing the door | made them jdisarm. and
just as was going out to them my
assistant who had been away ever
since the morning before to secure
fresh supplies, ran his boat upon the
beach. We took the wounded in hand
together. The sergeant in command Of
4 tl,o Cc,,ofi J,od hIn1 ~, ~, Tho