The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1909-03-04

Capture of the. Spanish Fort.
My regiment lay directly in front
of Spanish Fort during the siege, and
on the night of the. evacuation. 1 was
in the trenches. Four of us were oe-
cupying a hole. probably half mile
to the right of the fort in front Of
where our regiment lay. 1 do not re-
member the time. OF night, but prob
ably it was about the hour of midnight.
when all Of a sudden there began ire
along our line. The cheering was
grand, indeed, and, as we knew, began
in old A. ]. Smiths Corps, which was.
taken up seemingly by each successive
regiment until it reached our position
and was still carried along the line
to our left. L admit that none in our
little hole-at the time-lsnew what
the cheering meant, but remarked to.
each other that there was something
up. There was but little if any firing
along the line at this time, so we con-
Guided the most dangerous part was
over and the Johnnies had pulled their
holes In and old A. Us boys were look
ing after them. We soon found out
there was no need Of staying In our
hole longer. l then said to the boys,
let us go over to the rebs' works one
fellow agreed to it and We started for
the works in front of us which was
but short distance. Nothing Of i'm
portance was to be seen at this point.
we then struck for the big fort to
our left. We stumbled along in that
| direction until quite there, when a
| thought suddenly came TO our minds
| that the Johnnies were not very par
/ ticular where they planted their tor
ped0es about fort, so long as they
knew where they were themselves We
| concluded to return TO camp and look
! after the fort when it would be more
light. Up to this time we had seen
none of Smiths guerrillas or any rebs
and all was quiet along the line. In
| the early morn not few from all the
commands were on a prospecting tour.
1
roll was being beat in the camps, and
as the comrade remarked: There was
little hustling did" We were soon
on the move for Blukely, but luckily
for the Twenty-eighth, as we had a
| faculty Of getting into scrapes Of that
kind. Steel and his niggers had the
Johnnies corralled ON our arrival.
have no doubt the Thirteenth Corps
were glad of 1t, but often wondered
why the guerrilla part of the Sixteenth
Corps let their colored comrades 90
such a thing when there was so much
glory I'm 1t. In regard TO the capture
of Spanish Fort, 1 will add, at the
time the Sixteenth Corps captured il
firmly believe any one regiment of the
Thirteenth could have done it. l will
now speak OF an incident which may
possibly be remembered by my com
rades. If / am not mistaken II was
| the Fiftieth Indiana. / write from
memory alone, yet the incident is rs
fresh to mind as if 1t happened but
yesterday. You will remember neces-
sity made ii our custom while In froni
OF Spanish Fort to relieve the old
guard at night Having on the night
in question moved out with our guard
detail from the different regiments
were halted In line while the officers
were making the necessary assignment
for the different posts. There was
probably detail of fifty or more from
my command and a like number from
other regiments. The Indiana boys
were near our line at the time, but
all were restless from waiting. Mum
bers had crawled beneath an old earth
work covering near by, awaiting the
delay. Presently shell was seen com
ing in our direction from a rebel water
batte.y In front. Well, 1t did come
member while watching its course there
was considerable lodging about and
living down at this time and lively
hustling among the boys under the
covering. One poor soldier was brought
therefrom and laid upon the ground
near by. He was speeches., and wa:
not recognized by any of the Twenty
eighth. 1t was some moments before
le was recognized Dy any. Soon, how
ever. a fellow comrade bowed his head
10 that OF the wounded comrade anC
made this expression. my God, il:
Nels. Hayden | was Informed b.
never spoke again, but lived day OF
two and then crossed over.-Johi
Isonhart, i'm American Tribune.