The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1905-10-26
SOLDIERS STORIES.
ENTERTAINING "REMINISCENCES
OF THE WAR.
Graphic Account Of Stirring Scenes
Witnessed ON the Battlefield and I'm
Camp-vete-ans Of the Rebellion Re
eits Experiences Of Thrilling Nature.


eits Experiences Of Thrilling Nature.
az was down at Peoria last week"
said the captain, land for the first time
In forty years met Sol +. Flint, Of the
Seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
At the battle Of Allatoona pass Flint
was sergeant major Of the Seventh,
and at the close of the battle was the
ranking officer, all the commissioned
officers having been put out Of action.
Flint didn't admit this, but took great
pride in the fact that he was on duty
and was able for duty all through the
fight.
ut should be remembered that the
Seventh Illinois had purchased at its
own expense Henry repeating rifles,
each rifle good for sixteen shots after
loading. The government furnished
the ammunition, but the boys owned
the rifles, and they knew how to uso
them on this day at Allatoona. They
were In the redoubt with General
Corse and defended, as occasion de-
manded. right flank, left flank and GEN.
ter. II they were blazing away in
the center and a charge was made
on the right or left, they ran to the
point assailed, and with their sixteen
shooters repulsed the enemy.
when Colonel Richard Rowlett,
commanding the Seventh, was shot
through both legs the boys put him
down inside the works. head to the
works ard feet stretched out toward
the center. Rowlett had been on the
works cheering his men when he was
shot, and when Flint reported to Gen.
eral Corse that the colonel had been
severely wounded and was put out of
the fight, the general said, In high tenn
per: 'Blankety blank It'll You tell him
! won't have my officers exposing
themselves as he did, AS Corse ut
that time was sitting propped up
against the works and was binding
up his mangled jaw and ear, Flint
smiled, but he carried the message to
his colonel.
'As Flint passed Rowlett on his
way to defend the flank the colonel
said the boys were tramping on his
wounded legs as they ran from one
point to another and then back. He
asked Flint to stand astride of his legs
and tell the men to step over him and
not on him, and In return for the favor
he would load Flint's gun for him.
Flint took the position as instructed.
kept the men off the wounded legs,
and kept up a steady fire, giving or
ders to the men as advised by the
colonel.
''Rowlett continued to load until he
became weak from loss Of blood. Then
Flint moved him out Of the path of
the men running back and forth, and
kept up the fight. 1t was the sixteen
shooters that told against the enemy,
the changing Of the men from one
front Of the redoubt to another giving
the rebels the impression that all the
regiments in the works were armed
with Henry rifles. The losses Of the
regiment were heavy, but the sixteen
shooters won"
II met the other day." said the ser
geant, "a man whose face had been
haunting me for years. I was out at
Ros. lill cemetery and was passing the
sold ers' lot when I came face to face
with man whose eyes I had seen a
thousand times in reveries and dreams.
On the road to Shiloh / was taken
sick. very sick, and was left in a
house by the roadside. Later, / was
conscious Of being carried to another
house and Of being placed in a large
room. l remember that as I turned
this way and that In my misery
caught the odor of new carpet and
pressed my nose close against the car
peted floor.
my thought was that I had been
transported home and had been put
down in the parlor until my room was
made ready for me. Waiting to be
moved, 1 slept and awoke in torture
1t seemed to me l was in boat toss
Ing in storm, and that some ones
arms held me from getting bruised.
opened my eyes, to see that l was in
an army wagon, jolting over a rough
road, and realized that a man with
wonderfully sympathetic eyes was
holding my head in his lap and striv-
Ing to break the jolts that gave me
such pain.
''The Jolting, 1t seemed to me, con-
tinued for days and days, but when
ever I opened my eyes the friendly
eyes in a friendly face looked down
into mine. and their sympathy COM
forted me. At last opened my eyes
and the friendly face was not there
was in O hospital at Nashville and
was recovering from fever. But no
one could tell me Of my friend. he
lived with me in every recollection of
the war, but 1 never knew who he
was or whether he was dead or alive
until I met him looking for a lost
comrade at Rose Hill.
"We were both old men. He of the
friendly eyes did not recognize me.
and recognized him only by his eyes,
which had the old look in them as he
listened to the questions OF his little
grandson. He remembered all the cir
cumstances Of the jolting journey to
Nashville. and said to my wife and
my boys that he was gladder than
ten thousand dollars to find me. He