Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-02-19

Little Potter.

ter? We do not know who wrote 1t,
! but It has pathos worthy of Dickens
himself.
short, little square-built, dark
skinned, twtnkling-e eyed young fellow
was known the regiment over as Lit
tie Potter" The name came from his
trade before war times and from the
fact that he was always talking shop.
Standing near the picket fire, though
| uncomfortable himself, he could al
ways suggest way In which to make
coffee boil, and would gather up little
splinters and pile under or about the
| kettle with the keenest enjoyment. al
though the coffee belonged to the mos'
taciturn man in the company.
AT Shiloh, in the midst of the sec
ond days battle, Little Potter left the
company to get water for himself and
several of his companions. quick
change Of position. new line of bat
tie formation took place after his de-
parture and Little Potter was seen
no more for several days.
After the rebels retreated. he was
acting as nurse at the brigade hospi-
tai. He couldn't find his regiment on
his return, but found the hospital
and the division superintendent or
| dered him on duty, and discovering
his excellence as nurse, would not
let him return to the company. There
was a quarrel between the captain
and the surgeon, the former seeing
Little Potter as a skulker and the lat
| ter seeing him as a useful man who
had made a mistake through no fault
OF his own.
The captain reported Potter absent
without leave, and he was court mar
tailed. The sentence was that he
should forfeit six months pay. The
stoppage of six months pay told
| sorely on him, but he weathered the
storm and came out as serene as
though he had never been court-mar-
| tailed.
When the men gathered about the
| fires, talked of Shiloh, and compared
| notes about their losses there on the
| first day, Little Potter would say, in
a droll way: II lost six months pay
| there"
! On the morning of the terrible De
| cember 81, at Stone River, Little Pot
| ter was the first man in place, after
| the orderly, and though the shortest
man In the company, he held his place
| In y1f1o
The company left their dead further
to the front than any other regiment
| In action that day.
| Little Potter was a giant in doing.
He kept his place next to the orderly
when the company was broken and
| scattered With a precision that
| would under other circumstances have
| been droll, he formed on the orderly
| whenever charge was made, and
while it was every man for himself
AS he was ramming home a load a
ball struck him in the fieshy part of
| the leg, cutting a great cash and tear
! ing his clothes. He was advised to go
to the rear. The reply was:
II will show them who Is cow
ard"
\ shot struck him in the left shout
der, and he became deadly pale Still
| with teeth and right hand he man
aged to load his gun and fire. Anoth-
| er shot struck him In the thigh and
he fell. lie was dragged to a stump
| and placed so that the raking fire
would not touch him. He deliberately
| crawled round and placed himself so
| as to face the rebels, and as the com
| pany gave back in one of those almost
! hand-to-hand fights. little Potter kissed
| his hand to the men nearest him and
nestled down with a sigh Of relief.
Days afterwards the sergeant found
a pair of black eyes glistening from
the festoons OF white sheets. in hos
| pital in Murfreesboro. They belonged
to Little Potter, broken-legged, brok-
| charmed and bandaged He could
not move and could hardly speak But
| as the fearful men bent over him, he
lisped: I'VE wakthed them, didn't
WEI"
He was taken to the hospital, and
! here. day after day, went his old
| comrades to see him.
TLey did more: they wrote to Gen.
| Rosecrans telling the simple story.
| They carried the letter along the red
tape line, from brigade headquarters
| to division, from division to corps,
! from corps TO army headquarters, and
| returned with an order from Rose
| Grams himself. directing that the six
months pay be returned to Little Pot
| ter, that all charges on record be
! erased, and that an order compliment
ing his gallantry be read on dress pa
rade. and that a copy be sent to the
man who behaved SO nobly
The order was read on dress pa
| rade, and the document, with all its
| array Of Endorsements and old Rosys
letter was carried TO Little Potter, by
| men who could scarcely speak