The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1907-01-14
HOW. the REDOUBT
WAS TAKEN



Of half dozen men sitting around a
country store stove Hes the only
hero ever knew who didn't know be
was 4 hero. Anyway. he thinks his
comrades believe he ought to have
been shot for desertlon. To get his
story you must make him mad. How
dy, Mr.. Paddock And the speaker in.
troduced the conner to his friends.
''I1Ow is 1t. Mr.. Paddock" he CON
tinued, that all your comrades in the
civil war got some sort OF promotion
and you weren't even made a cor
roral? They say you came pretty
near being shot for desertlon."
u can't never get rid o that mis-.
take" said Paddock ruefully, .'for
that's what 1t was a mistake. You see.
twas this way. We was down there in
Virginny buckin' up ag'ln long line
OF Notifications at the base OF the
mountains. one night got banker
In to do some scoutin' on my own &C
count. l reckoned the redenbt our bril-
gade was tryIn' to take wasn't well
connected with the one next TO It.
had purity sharp eyes in them days,
and thought seen a way to git in
between EN-. Stealin' along a ravine,
l 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 /
seen? There wasn't twenty men in Il,
and fully half the guns was Quaker.
Il couldn't understand how our gin
eral could be weeks buckin' up ag'in
this measly showin'. but he'd wrote a
lot o books on the science O. war. and
supposed he knowed all about II.
Anyway. l thought I'd go back and
tell him what I'd seen. got down to
the ravine when | was halted BY a
rebel picket and taken prisoner.
1.-THE Johnnies KEEP me three DAYS.
when, SEEM the discipline O. the guard
mighty lax-they was all tired out
fghtin'-I stole away one night, climb
ed up the mountain an circled around
the Johnnles' left flank an our right
flank. l was walkin' into camp one
mornin' thInkin' how I'd like some real
United States coffee when met some
O. our men. The officer In command
arrested me for deserter. toIe him
where I'd been and what I'd seen. but
he didn't believe me.
WAL. 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 / 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. l was mad. The idea o. gettin'
shot for dIscoverin' that there want
no strength in the redoubt! II want
right nohow. WAL. takin' advantage
o the confusion, pickln' up a musket.
! walked right up through the ravlne
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. | knowed my ad-
vantage. beln' in their rear, ana how
could scare 'em. so yelled at the top
OF my voice:
Surrender
~ never see such frightened lot in
your life, One or two OF 'em fred at
me. I fred back, an the rest skedad-
died. 1t happened that young off,
Ger on our picket line was GURUS to
know what the firm meant, thinkin'
likely that the rebs were fghtin' among
themselves, an he come cautiously,
with dozen o. the picket. up the slope.
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.
"'Waai, III be goi darned. said the
officer. We've been three weeks
tryln' to take this fertilization, and
you've TUX IT all alone! And our gin
eral one o. the fust strategIsts in the
army
Hes all right" says /. "Them in
gineerin' books o his haln't got nothln'
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
glneral ridin' up with his STAFF. He'd
seen the United States flag a-ayin' 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 l 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, orderln' one
o his staff to put me in arrest. The
aid went back with me to the guard
tent.
WAL. there l was ag'ln.'
The speaker was interrupted by a
burst OF laughter from his listeners.
"'Taln't no laughIn' matter. How'd
know they wasn't goIn' to carry out
the sentence o. the court martial? /
didn't And l don't know to this day
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