The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1912-05-30

!, 1t was in SO neal Appornatto
1 court house, that Brethitt lost trac
of his command; it was in '9S, on Ii
: crest of San Juan Hin, that he foun
!; it again. Between these dates he &C
: CURED the title that is craven on hi
} small white tonbstone-for Brethit
is in a national cemetery now.
AS may be seen from the above. In
story of Brethitt begins away back be
hind the Civil war. Previous to tina
war Brethitt's father was a plain farm
er in the Carolina hills. and Brethtt
himself was but a boy. Under norma
conditions there is no doubt that Bret
hitt would have grown up obScurel!
would have married, would nave spen
the greater part Of his life at the pillow
tail. n finally would have grown oil
peacefully in the company of his child
rem and his grandchildren.
But, as events fell out, a great sn'
arose about the time of Brethitt's l6tl
year. For years the politicians hac
beer predicting and grumbling ant
scheIning, for years the slavery que
ton had moved the nation to wrath anC
vaporing and recrimination. but all this
had seemed of little nomen to the
Brethitts, father and son. So. the
mother of the lad being long since dead
the two titled their little farm, CAV at
tention to the direction of the wind
n the times OF the rain. and held a
large faith in God Il their fellow
men.
Suddenly. however. all this changed.
First there were whisperlngs. then
mutterings, then the hoarse diapason
of a people aroused. Contrary to his
usual quiet customs, the elder Bret
chit went about the house singing the
fierce old war songs that some other
Brethitt had brought hons from Mex
leo, while out at the nefghborhood
church there We're speechmakings first,
and afterward arlning and drilling and
mastering. And presently the term
ones country" one but a vague and
impersonal idea, ann to mean TO the
boy ell. that was good, all that one
might live for. all that one might love.
Then the elder rethitt went away to
First Manassas and to death. 1t IS
quite likely that Brethitt passed by
his fathers body on his own way to
the front, for when the news of the
battle reached the little hill farm, Bret
hit did not delay. Dixie" the bands
were playing-'We'n live and die for
Dixie"-and consumed with the ferver
OF his patriotism, Brethitt humned the
stirring air and meant every word he
muttered.
1t was in this spirit that the lad
took his place among the fighting men.
After that the history of Lees army
was Brethitt's history. His the enthus-
fasIn OF the boy, his the ardor of the
q IL Ilil there was no sound
SO good as that of the rafting guns,
and the battle flag Of his regiment
seemed close akin 10 deity. Under that
scrap OF silk he fought at F'redericks-
burg and at charlottesville. led by it
he forded the clear Potomac and
marched through the green lanes Of
Maryland. bearing it he climbed the
long slope Of Gettysburg, and with it
he was there thrust down again.
Afterward there came gloomier davs
could Brethitt ave realized as much.
The Wilderness, Cold Harbor and Pet
ersburg-and Grants grim lines were
tightening.
But Brethitts soul was in the game
In the last days others MAJ have de-
SPARED. but not SO Brethitt. Even as
they were forced to ~eyacutate theirI
long held lines, he uncased his flag
4 bore it jauntily. Hunger? They
would eat tomorrow. WEAKNESS? Mol
matter.
But the end a come, and presently
Sheridan barred the way. For the last
time the thinned-out columns thrust
Forward their skirmishers, for the lastI
uIne Brethitt advanced the c%oIors,"
ana the spent ranks greeted them
glElhg IN one long yell the norfturi
ginia.
There were shots-a charge-then,
the cavalry swept aside, the solid lines
OF the blue clad Infantry stood sullenly|
revealed. There was no giving back
orWard the forlorn hopei
Again the yell, then the flash of n,,,s-
kerry, the scream of a shell and Breth-
III and his flag e down. In his dim
ming consciousness he saw the gray
INES reel, saw the quick advance of the
olue, and reaching a desperate hand, he
the SIX from its staff and thrust it
into his bosom.
When he awoke AGAIN Ia u,. l.,
cabin, and there were women minister
to him. Something wa the matter
with his head-a splinter of shell had
struck him there-and he had been
brought here weeks ago and left to die.
Lee had surrendered, they told him. the
confedarcy was dead, the army broken
and gone. Unable to comprehend, he
turned his face to the wall and tried to
puzzle it out.
But n day he asked them to bring
ms clothins to him and his flag. With
IN odd CLEAN in his eyes he spread the
latter on the bed beside him, lingering
the shot holes and spelling out the
names that We're written beside them.
Seven Pines, Antietam, Malvern-with
a quick motion Of the hand he broke
off.
When you bury me-" he said, wrap
my body in that
Still he did not die, but as his wound
healed. his intellect clouded. 1t was
useless after this to explain to him.
Lee surrender? Never. Somewhere
yonder to the south the bugles were
blowing; somewhere the camphres were
alight; somewhere his comrades of the |
regiment were waiting for him to come.
Go? OF course he must go. What
would the colonel think If Brethitt
failed to appear?-Brethitt of the colorI
guard. made sergeant for valor on the
field!
The people who had nursed him We're
kindly folk, and they would have kept
him II. they could, but one night he
slipepd away from them. Days after
ward they had news of him from the
ferry at the crossing of the Dan-news
OF a strange looking ragmuffin, who
carried a wrapped-up flag. and who in
quired over M over again for the
camps of Carolina troops.
So Brethitt went southwark, seeking
lost command; his delusion, his old
gray Jacket and his scarcely healed
wound winning for him sympathy and
and God Finally he fell in with
troops-federal troops who held the
land-but his sense OF dis
elimination had been lost, and these
seemed to him comrades.