Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1905-01-27
The Iron
! Brig Jade /
- A STORY OF THE ARMY
OF THE POTOMAC
ByCEN. CHARLES KING
Author Of Norman Holt. ''.Ehe Colonies
Da1ghtsr.' % a. Fort FFayns," Etc.
CoDynzht 1902 By G. ". DILLINGHAM; O.
iContinued.l
Author of"Eorman Holt. '"-The Colonel
QauRhter, >, .. Fort EIaYna.n Etc.

smoking void, with obstinate deter
mination,' writes Old Jack, in rueful
admission of the stubborn valor of his
foe. And after all what has he &C
complished? What has he not done this
night but blunder? All he had to do
was to remain there in concealment
beyond that unfinished railway grade,
resting in the shady woods, and, all
unconscious of his presence, the union
brigades would have passed him by,
leaving Ricketts, far in the rear to be
cut off, crushed or captured. But the
sight Of 5000 Yankees marching along
almost parallel to his front, all unsup-
ported, was too much for even such
piety as Jackson's Ordinarily he had
done wonders with dozen regiments
nearly as small as these. Tonight he
sends in twice that number to assail
a smaller force, and is fought to
stand within an hour. He has gained
nothing. He has lost one-third of his
best and bravest-his Virginians. He
has betrayed his position to the enc
my, for Sigel, away to the southeast,
has heard the sound of battle, and Nc
Lean, brave leader of one of his few
American brigades, watches the des-
perate struggle from Ladue's old look
out at the Henry house, and Pope,
skillfully directing his diverging col
umn to trap Jackson at Centreville,
hears over the left shoulder, far over
Bull Run, the furious cannOnade long
league behind him, the storm OF
battle that only dies out at nine, but
that tells him the tale of one more
trick of Jackson's-the time-honored
tale of the Irishman's flea.
But it opens Pope's otherwise blinded
eyes, changes in toto his plans for the
morrow, and bids him turn his col
umns on Groveton. Jackson's blunder
has taken much from his own fame,
added much to those of another, and
given the Badgers and Hoosiers the
title they rejoice in ever thereafter
the name of the Iron Brigade.
Sore times are these, this black,
moonless night, as, within hailing dis
lance of each other, officers and men
Of the opposing forces go cropping about
with glimmering lights, looking for
friends among the slain. Sad hearts
are these beating in the bosoms Of the
group Of union generals in the fence
corner back of the moaning wood, for
| it is full of wounded The regimental
commanders are slowly withdrawing
their wearied men to the line OF the
| pike, leaving strong pickets to protect
| the surgeons and their stretcher-bear-
| ers at the front. 1t is dramatic scene
when that dark-eyed soldier, COM
mander of the Seventh, rides in to re-
| port to his brigade chief concerning
| the regiment that caustic regular"
| has sometimes misjudged. what do
you think of the Seventh now?'' is the
irrepressible question just before the
colonel slips, fainting, from his saddle,
and then and not until then permits
it to be known that all the time as he
| held his men to their desperate work,
he sat his horse, pierced through both
| thighs by Enfield bullet, his boots run
ming over with blood. Old Graybeard
of the Sixth, too, is shot through the
leg, and Gibbon has borrowed his
right-hand man, the tall, brainy adj
jutant, and the Sixth feels bereft,
though it, too, falls into soldier hands.
But the Black Hats and the Hoosiers
have lost more than all.
/ At nine O'Clock, as the last scattering
| shots are fired out to the northwest,
where some of Stuart's fellows have
stumbled on the Hoosier pickets in the
darkness, the division general sends
an aide with brief note to Ricketts,,
telling him of the battle, and saying
he means to hold the ground despite
the fact that prisoners report old
StOnewall $4,000 strong. He sends
other staff officers in search of Nc
Dowell, his corps commander, with
similar report and the request that
| Ricketts, be ordered to close in and
support him. McDowells own engineer
officer is with him, deeply interested
witness, coming up with Hatch's bri-
gade, which hurriedly recalled, had
faced about and marched eagerly back
hoping to be of use. but reaching the
field only as darkness settled on the
line. So the engineer stays to hear
the reports and views of the various
commanders before going himself in
search of his chief, stays long enough
to give his opinion that the division
must move off the pike to the right OF
suffer demolition at dawn, and this
too, is the opinion of Hatch and Glib
bon, sitting with their division COM
mander and it is urgently given by both
There is nothing for it then. urge the
brigadiers. but slip OF southeastward
in hopes Of support. and Fred Ben
, ton, riding out to the left front with
!, orders to bring In the pickets, finds
. those venturesome HOLSTERS crawling
, forward on hands and knees, beyond
the original line.
There was morse battery came ou
D there just before DUSK explains {
. young sergeant and it just rainel
shrapnd on u.s. Some of Stuart's fel
lows galloped down to slice OF our left