Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1907-05-08
HOW the REDOUBT
WAS TAKEN
[Original.l

was bCiOs Az way liz thihhS
comrades believe he ought to have
been shot for desertion. To get his
story you must make him mad. How
dy, Mr.. Paddock And the speaker in
troduced the conner to his friends.
"How is it, Mr.. Paddock" he con-
tinued, that all your comrades in the
civil war got some sort of promotion
and you weren't even made cor
poral? They say you came pretty
near being shot for desertion."
81 can't never get rid O. that mis-
take" said Paddock ruefully, "for
that's what it was, mistake. You see,
twas this way. We was down there in
Virginny buckin' up agin long line
of Notifications at the base of the
mountains. One night got banker
in to do some scoutin' on my own ac-
count. l reckoned the redoubt our bri-
gade was tryin' to take wasn't well
connected with the one next to it.
had purity sharp eyes in them days,
and l thought / seen a way to git in
between 'em. Stealin' along a ravine,
/ managed to git by the pickets O. both
armies, climbed the mountains and
looked right down into the fort we was
a-tryin' to take. What dye suppose I
seen? There wasn't twenty men in it.
and fully half the guns was Quaker.
81 couldn't understand how our gin
eral could be weeks buckin' up ag'in
this measly shown, but he'd wrote a
lot o. books on the science O war, and
I supposed he knowed all about 1t.
Anyway, l thought I'd go back and
tell him what I'd seen. got down to
the ravine when l was halted by a
rebel picket and taken prisoner
'The Johnnies KEEP me three days,
when, SEEM the discipline o. the guard
mighty lax-they was all tired out
fightin'-I stole away one night, climb
ed up the mountain an circled around
the Johnnies' left flank an our right
flank. l was walkin' into camp one
mornin' thinkin' how I'd like some real
United States coffee when l met some
O. our men. The officer in command
arrested me for deserter. l tole him
where I'd been and what I'd seen, but
he didn't believe me.
"Waal, d'y' know, they court mar
tailed me for desertion-yes. they did
an, wo'se, they sentenced me to be
shot. The only bit O. luck I had was
a raid o. rebel cavalry that shook us all
up and interfered with my shootin'
The hubbub broke the line in our front
too. | was mad. The idea o. gettin'
shot for discoverin' that there want
no strength in the redoubt! 1t want
right nohow. WAL. takin' advantage
o. the confusion, pickin' up q musket
walked right up through the ravine
an the path I'd found On the mountain
side till / got to the spot where I'd
looked down on the Johnnies in the
redoubt. There want as many of 'em
as there was afore. I knowed my adj
vantage, bein' in their rear, and how /
could scare 'em, so yelled at the top
Of my voice:
Surrender
"Y' never see such frightened lot in
your life. One or two Of 'em fired at
me. / fired back, an the rest skedad-
died. 1t happened that a young Off
know what the firm meant, thinkin'
likely that the rebs were fightin' among
themselves, an he come cautiously,
with dozen o. the picket, up the slope.
l seen him an hollered to him to come
on the redoubt was our'n. He KEN, an
it want long afore the United States
flag was a-futterin' over them Quaker
guns.
"'Waal, I'll be gol darned! said the
officer. We've been three weeks
tryin' to take this fertilization, and
you've tux it all alone! And our gin
eral one o. the fust strateSists in the
army
Hes all right" says l. Them in
gineern' books o. his hain't got nothin'
in 'em bout Quaker guns | says.
How d'y' expect him to know what
his books don't teachY
81 went down the slope and met the
gineral ridin' up with. his staff. He'd
seen the United States flag a-fyin' over
the redoubt and didn't know what 1t
meant. He stopped me and asked me
who | was and where I'd come from.
/ told him / was the man that was to
have been shot for desertion when the
raiders come down on us and spoiled
my execution. l was goin' on to tell
the rest when he rode on, orderin' one
O. his staff to put me In arrest. The
aid went back with me t, ~ guayd
tent.
"Waal, there / was ag'ir +"
The speaker was inter int'd by 8
burst of laughter from hi ..s,eness.
"'Tain't no laughin' m; 't"'. How'd
know they wasn't goin 70 "r'"v out
the sentence o. the court martial!
didn't. And / don't know to this day
why they didn't. After awhile my
cap'n he come and TUX me out the
guard tent, and he says, Paddock
says he, you jest go about yer bust
ness. The gineral isn't goin' to shoot
We, but yer wanderin' around without
leave is prejudiclal to good order and
military discipline. Anyway, this yere
brigade is supposed to be commanded
by one o. the most scientific warriors
In the army, besides bein' backed by
six United States senators and twenty
congressman, and it wouldn't do for
1t to git out how the redoubt was