The Washington times., 1911-06-24
THE VINTAGE
By JOSEPH STARTS
Copyright. 1s11 The Frank A Munsey Company.

of the city, they struck. near Short
Pump, the first picket thrown out to
quick rush enveloping the position cap
tured the entire squad without the fir
ing OF a gun, and prevented the alarm
from being given.
| The information extracted from these
| captives, who belonged to Custis Lees
| city battalions, convinced Dahlgren that
| II would be useless for his small force
to advance farther until nightfall He
ordered malt, and soon thereafter
Mttchelrs detachmeN came Gathering
up.
This detachment had done the work
assigned to 1t only too we'll. Mitchell
reported the destruction of six grist
mills, sawmill, six grain-laden canal
boats, the coal works at Manakin $
Bend, Morgan's Lock, and the barn of
Secretary seddon, which was stored
During the halt at Short Pump the
men fed their horses on captured corn.
men fed their horses on captured corn
and having found dry wood enough.
prepared themselves coffee. Their spir-
It's rose visibly, and they began to sing
with great cheerfulness about JEFF Da-
Wis and the sour apple tree, rolling the
rough voices in deep chorus down the
WIND. And then a boy of a lieutenant
with golden hair, who was wiping down
his gray charger, lifted a clear tenor
to the same tune and sang the nobler
words:
Mine eys have seen the glory of the
coming of the Lord,
He is tramping out the vintage where
the grapes of wrath are stored.
One last shred of hope Dahlgren still
clung to. knowing Capt. Griggs daring
and alert character. he hardly doubted
that when Grigg comprehended the
changed conditions which the storms
and freshets had imposed he would
wait no longer for signals from
from the south bank, but would begin
the revolt Independently. Such a di-
version would start a panic among the
enemy and enable the Federal troopers
10 ride over the entertainments.
Accordingly, he sent Lieutenant Reu-
ben BARLEY, his signal officer, with five
men, the ambulances, and the prisoners;
to make his way to Fitzpatrick, report
the failure to ford the river, and sug-
gest a simultaneous attack at dark 1t
would have been useless to try TO reach
Fitzpatrick by signals, for the air was
foggy. Yet that same fog might enable
the signal office to make this way un
detected to the main body.
BARLEY had been gone half an hour or
veering wind brought to the waiting
troopers ears the hard, quick pounding
of distant artillery somewhere to the
east. Boom. boom. boom!
"Ransoms guns!' several eager voices
cried.
Dahlgren. however, who alone knew
the Interior purpose of the raid, listened
carefully to the direction whence the
firing came, and inclined to believe II
was Grigg at work inside the town.
Bitirg the ends of his mustache, he
stamped nervously up and down and de-
hated what 10 do. Above all, he must
not leave Grigg to his fate.
By that time night had begun to fall;
the air was rapidly growing dark, and
the fog had thickened II BARLEY had
succeeded in reaching Fitzpatrick, this
might be the preconcerted attack. But
# II was Grigg who was the occasion of
that firing, there was all.the more need
to pitch in.
The fiery young colonel shouted to his
trumpeter and ran toward his horse. At
the changing call of the trumpet the
men leaped with a cheer into their sad
dies for their last ride together.
They advanced inside the outer forti
fications, which at that point had been
left unnamed. crossed the railroad, and
Dahlgren formed his battle line. giving
CAPTAIN Hastings and the Fifth MiChi- |
gan the front. Then he moved his
whole force, some 400 men in all, against |
the inner Notifications Of the Confeder-
ate capital.
AS they pushed forward they were met
by a sudden volley from the woods
ahead that blaZed out of the dusk. |
Without dismounting, the horsemen
charged upon the unseen foe. Nolley
after volley was poured into the ranks |
At first there was some wavering. for it
was trying work. Here and there men
and horses began to drop.
They are only militia! shouted Dahl |
gren, galloping down the line. "Charge!'
Charge the damn militia roared the
troopers, and, bursting into the woods,
swept the enemy back.
But as the defenders fell back before |
the impetuous assault. they continued
stubbornly to fire from every covert: |
they were fighting for their homes and
fresides. IT grew darker and darker: |
soon nothing could be seen but the fash |
with the smell of gunpowder. Riderless
horses screaming with pain galloped |
over the field.
Still the federals pressed on; they |
rolled the fierce skirmish toward the |
city till the crack of every carbine was
plainly audible in the anxious houses |
there. For more than two miles they |
Swept everything before them. Two |
hundred prisoners had fallen into their |
hands They had almost gained the |
outskirts of Richmond. for the daring |
of the assault, the gathered darkness. |
the fog. and their loud cheers magnitied
their strength into the thousands. Sec
retary SeddOn afterward estimated this
attacking force at five regiments.
The attack. however. was costing |
them heavenly in killed and wounded.
and when Dahlgren's cavalry had prac-
ticaIly dispersed those opposing them,
tie Re-enforcements had come up. bare
" in time TO save the inner trenches
Let the story of.the repulse which fol-
lowed be told from the other side.
The Armory Battalion. under Major
Ford, had been contestinE Dahlgren's
advance It numbered 40 strong. and
the skillful manner In which Major
Ford took advantage of every thicket
and defensible spot enabled his men to
maintain an active resistance for almost
an hour, although driven back mean
time a little over two miles. and losing |
more than half their number in killed, |
wounded, and captured.
Continuation of This Story VIII BE
Enund I'm TOmOrrONN,a Issue