Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-03-18
THE BATTLE-FIELDS.
OLD SOLDIERS TALK OVER
ARMY EXPERIENCES.
The Blue and the Gray Review Incl.
dents of the Late War, and In q
Graphic and Interesting Manner
Tell OF Gasp, March and Battle.


to stamp out Unionism in that section.
and particularly to wipe off the earth
Col. David Moore. and his First
northeastern Missouri Infantry"
which were stationed at Athens, Mo.
DIR. j. t. Norris. now prominent
physician of kahoka, Mo, was one OF
Green's band, the flower of the land"
as the Secession papers described them,
and gives this account of the battle:
Our men got off their horses aud
tied them to trees and fence posts.
They were armed with shotguns and
squirrel rifles that would shoot posi-
bly, from 20 TO 100 yards. Then we
had two cannon, a six and a nine
FOUNDER.
The Federals lined up in the form
OF an l., Our cannon were unlimber-
ed and the gunners went to work. To
me it looked homcidal to point those
grim monsters at human beings Re
member, none of use knew any more
of war beyond what we had read in
the books.
The cannoneers applied their
matches | shuddered and turned my
head, Two awful detonations follow
ed-and the balls lit in Iowa. They
gracously travelled about 300 feet
above the enemy, who jeered us.
For two hours the battle ragged
on TANKS and center Word came to
us that the Des MoineS River was
almost choked with the corpses of the
Federas. 1t was said the river was
becoming rich carmine hue. We
cheered and started forward. Then
we made disagreeable discovery
the enemy's muskets would shoot
more than twice as far as our hunting
guns. We might just as well have
been shooting i'm the air, for all the
good we were doing.
"Of course, the thing TO have done
on learning of the superior range of
their guns was to charge 'em. There
were enough of us TO have gathered
IN the whole crowd, brass buttons and
all. But their guns could outshoot
ours and it was as easy as adding two
and two to figure out that they must
necessarily be able TO lick us. Every
blessed Confederate turned himself
into a lightning calculator to work out
the result, and then made break for
his horse.
Did ! run, too? You bet | did. 1t
seems funny enough now, but /
thought | had fine reason for il then
In spite of the Des Moines River be-
ing damned by dead bIuecoats. we felt
certain there were enough left to
reach us with those terrible long
range muskets
You never saw such a mix-up as
when the fugitives tried to unhltch
their horses. Few waited TO unite
them. Some slashed the brides with
knife; others tried to jerk them loose
by main force. The horses imblbed
the terror of their masters and jumped
around frantically. Many broke loose
and rushed wildly across the field. add.
ing TO the uproar. Some of the ex-
cited soldiers struck out across the
country without taking time to get
their horses. The cannon-thOse ter
rible engines designed to terrlfy the
enemy-were dragged off the field and
hidden in some hazel brush
1.-THE rout didn't stop until the Con
federates got back to their homes in
Marion, Lewis. Shelby. Scotland
Knox and Schuyler Counties. You
never saw men so homesick i'm all
your life. During all this panic and
confusion there was no attempt by
the enemy TO pursue. While Col
Moore's soldiers could outshoot us
they couldn't outrun us-not that day.
after the excitement had worn off
bit. and the boys had rested, they
met and reorganized. Every man said
he wasn't scared up there at Athens.
lie just wanted to get away They
laughed over their display Of panic
but were grimly determined it should
never occur again.
'rhose men who ran the hardest de-
veloped into the finest soldiers Won
ever saw. They Joined the regular
Confederate army. and many of them
atoned with their lifebIood for their
scare at Athens. Inconsequential as
the battle was. it gave them in after
days the equpoise OF veterans and
taught them how to stand and be shot
at without fiinching. American Trib-
une.
The Yates Phaianx oY 1861
THE Yates phalanx," said the Can
tain. had a hard time getting into
the service and a hard time getting
out remember well that we began
to organize the phalanx as soon as the
news came to Chicago that Fort Sum
ter had been fired on. We had 800
men for the regiment when we receiv
ed notice that the quota Of the State
was more than fun and that we could
not he accepted under the first call
The men were so disappointed and r.
ritated that they Joined in an effort to |
have the regiment accepted by the |
state of Missouri. The tender Of 800 |
men was no small thing in |