Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1912-11-08
2EksSMM
CAMPEA DBA
AND WAR -
TAKEN PRISONER BY A BOY
Major 8ieelow, Now a Resident Of CHI
cago, Relates Wild Exploit Of
His Younger Days.

This incident, told by Maj. e. A.
Bigelow, now a resident of Chicago.
took place when the narrator vas a
. boy of Is years in Sherman's army
on the march northward after the
march to the sea. At that time Maj.
Bigelow was an orderly. enlisted in
the 6Sth Ohio infantry regiment. The
stoSy he tells is as follows:
THE morning after our arrival at
Pocotelligo a negro came into our
headquarters quite early and inform
ed the general that there were sew
eral companies Of c~onfederates camp
ed two or three miles out, n that
they were there to guard a herd of
that locality. The general Immediate
ly ordered the 18th Ohio and the 18th
Wisconsin infantry to go out and get
those cattle and incidentally as many
confederates as possible.
Il was not on duty that day. but it
was a beautiful morning, and 80 !
asked and received permission to go
with the foraging party. We soon
started out with our negro guide. |
had not heard anything about our be-
ing likely to met any c~onfederates.
and it had not occurred to me to take
my reviewers, saber or any other
weapons OF defense. Less than a mile
from camp we turned into a beautiful
level road, bordered on each side by
large live oak trees, and l bantered
one of the orderlies for a race. OF
we dashed. He was soon distanced
or was called back; at any rate, 1
plunged ahead, thinking of nothing
except the ex~hilaration of the ride.
"The road 1 was on was a bride
path screened on each side by heavy
un%derbrush; hence m movements
were unnoticed by cavalrymen COM
ing down the turnpike that l was fast
approaching. At he intersection l
ran plump into three mounted con-
federates. I was up against the real
thing and had to think, plan and act
on the instant. l was the 30 far away
from the command that any immediate
relief from the source was impossible,
and SO I decided l would go after them
as If I had a company at my back.
Yelling with al my might, Forward,
men, forward!' I dashed up to them
and demanded their surrender.
1.-TWO of them had carbines swung
over their backs and the third one
had a gun lying over his arm ready for
action. l pushed my horse hard
against this man, calling out, Give
me that gum and took it out of his
hands. 1t was loaded. Until l had
possession of it / was absolutely
l.1-J1,, 7 @l,o, hod tho 1ror IN than
but, Notwithstanding this, one of them
wheeled his horse, dashed down the
road and away. / made 10 effort to
stop him. In fact, l felt rather re-
lieved. There was an uncertain guam
tity, but l was certain / could hold the
other two until the trops came up.
This I did easily, but could not refrain
from joshing them for su~rrendering to
a 15-year-old kid, who did not have as
much as a penknife to defend him
self. In due time the troops arrived
and 1 turned over my men, their horses
and equipment.
1.-The c~onfederates did not propose
to give up their cattle without a fight,
but it developed into nothing more
than a brisk skirmish. After we struck
the enemy we formed in an open pine
forest, and two companies OF Indians
from the 18th Wisconsin were deploy-
ed as skirmishers They regarded 1t
as lark, and their lodging antics and
funny Indian calls created no n OF
merriment among the troops. The re-
suit was we succeeded in getting q
part of the cattle and returned to
Pocotelligo, but the only confederates
we brought in were the two who sur
rendered to a boy orderly out for q
lark. I did not stop to think at any
time that / was in great danger. yet
they could have killed me at sight or
had me prisoner for the asking"