The Palatka news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1905-03-24
HOLDING THE
LIGHTHOUSE

/ ChiOllllh COdblJ uul one evening uuIIilB
the last year Of the war J was driven
inside by seven Confederates, who had
landed from a sloop near by and whose
mission was to destroy the light
was well provided with arms and am
munition, and as they came within
shooting distance I opened fire and
wounded one of them All of them at
once moved to the left to get out of
range, and five minutes later there was
a demand that l surrender III case Of
refusal they would burn me out
AS the lower door was a stout one
and loopholed for musketry and as
there was no drift stuff within mile
of us to make a fire, was not greatly
worried over the appearance of the
men and their threats | made the door
secure and then climbed TO the top of
the lighthouse, and just as l 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
by the rising tide and soon passed be-
yond recovery. The situation now pre-
sented was a rather curious one.
was prisoner inside the lighthouse,
but the gang were prisoners outside as
well. We were on an island, and there
was no escape for them without a
boat
expected to be fired on when light
ed 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. l 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 l been standing
erect.
The fellows could not tell whether
had been hit or not, and about o'clock
l heard them crawling up again TO lis
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 l could only guess at and be
on the watch to cbeckmate. The two
wounded men must have suffered q
great deal, but the leader was q 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 1t was matter Of two
hours before they returned. They had
searched the shores for driftwOod and
brought back loads Of 1t.
OF a sudden, while l 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
In this work, and all at once threw
the door wide open and blaZed away
at them with my revolver. All went
down. and before the others could come
up l had the door shut again. 1t was.
not until two hours later that knew
whether had killed or wounded the
three l had managed to clear the
loopholeS and was on the alert for any,
further move whep one of the gang
crawled as near as he dared and shout
ed
"Say, you in there, we want to sur
renderw
"How many of your asked In re-,
ply.
"Seven, and five are wounded and
suffering. The sergeant will be a dead
man unless we can get help pretty
soon"
Where are the two unwounded
menT'
"They swan off to get the sloop and
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
you"
looked on 1t as plot to take me on
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 off after the boat.
When daylight came l went upstairs
and looked down from the parapet and
soon made out that there was one man
wounded. Before descending and open
ing the door made them disarm, and
Just as l 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 commend Of
the squad had bled to death during the
night of his wound, and some of the
others were in very weak copdition.
We bound up their hurts and made
them as comfortable as possible, and
that afternoon Federal craft was sig
nailed, and she ran In and conveyed the
living to Georgetown as prisoners Of
war.
About the same time the Confederate
sioop came driving back with the tide
and was easily secured. Several sur
/ nr,lSino discoveries awaited us She had
about $4,000 OF Confederate money
aboard, which was entirely worthless
as currency, but we also found 5000 In