Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-04-26
THE SIMPLE Life OF A COMMONfR
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Those. old Belgian muskets,
Those smooth bore musaets,
Those time-honored muskets,
Those rust covered muskets,
We shot with that day.
Now the word is spoken, men
look into each others faces, just for
an instant, some are pale, some are
flushed, some look wildly on before
them, many silent prayer goes up
to God for protection and for sue
cess, but never an oath is uttered,
no, no, eternity lies just over the
brow of that hill there, while death
= Eks along its sides. 1t may be you,
p HIay be me, God save us. The
wo, spoken, the column moves,
full o. rim determination and not
without fear. A horse might be
free from fear at such a time, so
might a pig or an OK, but seldom a
man. Side by side the men push
on, they jostle each other, the fall
len trees are in the way, the sharp
pointed limbs are dangerous hind
RANGES, but the line is well preserv-
ed, not word is spoken, not a gun
is fired on our side. Silent as the
grave and inexorable as death the
boys move on. Ping, ping ping,
bang, ping, ping. ping, ping. bang,
bang-whiz, bang, bang, bullets
and grape. shot and she'll, whistling.
screeching, screaming away on their
mission of death, but no man speaks,
no man halts, the column moves on.
Sergeant Doty is down, never to rise
again till Gods resurrection call
shall awaken him from sleep. 9th
ers are falling in quick succession,
some drop dead, shot through the
heart, through the head, mangled by
grape and torn by she'll Some are
only wounded; they lie still where
they have fallen. Some manage to
hobble away to the rear, some seek
a place where they may find shelter
and care for their wounds, but they
are killed before they can find it.
Not a groan is heard nor a cry; they
suffer in silence that they may not
dishearten their comrades; they die
like soldiers. There is no halt, no
hesitancy, no, not for an instant.
Like lions stealing on their prey the
left wing, and then the right wing
climb the sleeps. Captain Cloutman
of Ottumwa drops dead with bull
let in his brain; twenty PAGES furth-
er on Slaymaker of Davenport is
instantly killed; so is Lieutenant
Harper, so are forty others. Tuttle
is wounded; so is Major Chapman;
so are one. hundred and fifty-seven
others, some Of them unto death.
Blood is streaming from their faces,
bursting from their breasts, getting
down into their shoes, reddening the
trampled snow at their feet. Arms
drop lifeless at the side of the body,
limbs are torn away in an instant
A cannon ball bears head away
and leaves a lifeless trunk behind.
But now the rebels are flying, the
works are taken at the point Of the
bayonet; our men leap the trenches
with a shout of victory, bayoneting
all that linger a moment behind, and
now for the first time Tuttle's voice
rings out clear and strong. "Give
them - boys" and some one
writing of 1t afterwards said: ''If
ever mortals inflicted the torments
of the damned upon the denizens
of earth, it was then and there in
obedience to that command" Colo
mel Hanson and his Tennesseeans
made splendid fight of 1t but they
were swept away like chaff from a
threshing floor, and Donelson was
ours.
Mr.. Charles Boynton, an Iowa poet
sought to imortalize the charge of
the Second Iowa in poem of many
stanzas, from which ! have taken
the liberty to select the following
lines:,
THE rebel flag DER Henry waves
For but an hour, and DER the graves
OF traitors pass the victorious bands,
Till Cumberland breaks on the sight
And Donelson in waiting stands
Astride its rampant crowned height.
Where are the Winklerieds that now
VIII scale the tempest crowned
brow,
VIII raise again the inspiring cry
Make way for Liberty" and high
Upon the uprising shaft of fame
With him record their deathless
names.
Behold. them here, the Alpine
heights
Ne'er nursed braver, bolder stock
Than now as Freedoms chosef
knights
Spring forth to meet the battle
shock;
Up the steep hillside, on they press