The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-08-09

81 think 1t Is a darned big one" said
1, holding onto my tent post. Captain,
this Is a serious matter, and l don't
want an impertinent answer 1 want
to know what TO do with my men,"
"Dam-f-no," said I, still bucEing
against the wind. 1t seemed as IL the
wind would never stop. That night the
Colonel. the Captain and big SAM"
all of the Twenty first Indiana, went on
board Of one of the ships to get good
supper The storm caught them, and
in attempting to reach the shore they
were obliged to climb into an old river
steamer called The Lewis, which had
been captured and recaptured so many
times that the deck was splintered by
shots. 1t was the only craft they could
climb into without help from the deck.
Being top-heavy, it rocked like an over
crowded baby cradle. All the ships
about acknowledged their anchors
and bumped against each other and
broke great holes in their sides.
big Sam" was bully, and whipped
ali the men in the regiment who did not
run from him or beg his mercy but he
could not stand in line and take the
enemy's fire. He was a physical cow
ard, in short. He only Of the three
could row the boat, and he jumped into
the yawl to get to shore. The Colone.
cooked his revolver. and with vehement
oaths ordered him to come back to the
steamer The Chaplain, with hat in
hand raised toward the clouds, prayed
as never preacher prayed as a mere
formality. big Sam" returned for
them. 1t was fun to hear OF this affair
as related by the sailors after the dan
ger was over. The Colonel's swearing
and the Chaplain's praying were heard
above the noise and roar Of the wind.
waves and thunder Wnen asked about
it weeks afterward the Chaplain got up
and walked off without answering.
The Fourteenth Maine had some
dozen men confined in the guard tent.
Lightning struck the center pole, and
killed seven of them and injured the
others. Tie guard was pacing back and
forth before the tent, holding his gun
at a shoulder arms. The lightning
stroke bent his gun barrel into an OK
bow or capital U and threw it twenty
feet away, but did no damage to the
guard except to numb his right arm for
a few hours.
1t was hard to drive tent pins In this
sand, as 1t would compact under the
blow like stone, yet the fiutter of the
tent fly would loosen them, pull them
out and flip them clear over the tent
We had to take down and reset our
tents day and night when it was windy
| have found 1t blown through the key.
hole into my trunk till ii was piled
from the bottom up to the keyhole
often containing over a quart of sand
In cooking and eating so much sand
would get into our grub that we got
enough into our craws to take New Or.
leans. Graves that yesterday were ter
feet deep to-day would show the tor
of the coffin box. 1t was tiresome drill
ing in such sand. and we We're kept 81
it. Gen. Butler was called 1.-THE old
Picayune" by the troops. because some
rebel papers captured from the coas
steamers called him ..Picayune Butler.
after the negro song. When We latel
occupied New Orleans the bands playet
I"Picayune Butler" at every dress parade
for a month.-Captain John I. Camp
bell, Soldiers Home, Lafayette, Ind, il
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