The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-04-06
Daring Deed of a Scout
BY James Mitchell.

In the winter Of 1861 and 1862
while we were in, winter quarters, one
of the favorite pastimes was target
shooting with our army rifles. AT the
time we thoughtiit was nothing more
than pastime and recreation for the
soldiers, but the sequel will prove that
we were getting ready for business.
, There was a. young soldier in Com
pany A. of the 18th S. G. regiment
who always went to the target shoot
ing. He seemed to have keen relish
for anything that would enliven the
monotony of camp life even if it
smacked of little danger. While he
was not crack shot at the beginning
he soon made one Of the best long
range target shots in the regiment.
AS time rolled on and the summer
campaign opened the target shooting
was forgotten until one day the Col
onel received an order from brigade
headquarters to send them one of the
best marksmen he had and good
trusty soldier also. This was an easy
matter settled. Every one said send
t. he will just fill the, bill. This
suited t, he was in for. anything
new, even if. there was little fight
ing mixed in. ~! >,n..
On short notice T. reported to bri-
gade headquarters and from there he
was sent to corps headquarters. He
was put on what we call the army de-
tached service, and was made spe-
-cial sharpshoter and given a
Whitsworth s rife, one Of the finest
long range guns that we had. It also
had a globe sight. Now, with this
globe sight man could take as ac-
curate sight at half mile as he could
with the naked eye at distance of
rs yards. With the aid of graded
guide sight and certain number car
fridge good marksman could hit the
bulls eye at 800 yards.
Now to give some idea what a
sharpshooter with one of these guns
could do. While we were in line of
battle not far from Spottsylvania, our
videttes were in body Of woods on
one side of field and the federal Vi
dettes we're in field Of woods on
the other side at distance of 700 or
800 yards. A sharpshooter on our
side noticed yankee officer in the
woods on the other side with his field
glasses, going from one point to an
other, examining our line. He came
to the nearest point to this sharp
shooter, took position behind large
tree, adjusted his glasses, with his
shoulder resting against the tree and
his head stuck out looking at us.
This sharpshooter took aim at his
head and fred, striking his glasses
and killing him. Tom Paysinger, who
was an independent scout in the yam
kee lines, that night brought the news
that one of our sharpshooters had
killed General Sedgwick, Major
General commanding a corps out on
the vidette line that evening.
Our man, r., made a fine sharp
shooter, but they did not keep him a
sharpshooter long; for he was promot-
ed to an independent scout whose bus
mess it was to get information from
the enemy, even if they must dis
guise themselves and go into the en-
emy's camp as spies, which they very
often did. But before I go on and
tell you about IT,, I want to tell you
Of another scout, and one of his trips
into the enemy's line. 1t was down
below Richmond in piece Of country
that our scouts were all familiar with.
And they knew every unionist fami-
ly and every secessionist and knew
who was friendly to them.
This scout was William Farley. In
telling of one of his trips into the
yankee lines, he said that he was hid
ing near the road when he saw a lady
passing that he knew and he came
out from his hiding place and spoke
to her. She told him that some yam
kee officer had made her house his
headquarters. Farley made arrange
ments with her that he would come af-
ter dark and get into the gardens and
would throw some gravel against the
window. IF she heard this, and ev-
erything was all right, she was to pass
the window three times with light
ed candle. Everything worked all
right. She led him in through a win
dow from the garden and put him
into closet next to the room where