The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1914-04-10
Surprise the Yankees.

| back door, which was unlocked.
Surprise the Yankees.
Lieut.. Hardy led the way into a
room with three windows that faced
the she'll road. He took the middle
window, with me on the right and
Stevens on the left next to the road.
What in the world those Yankees ex-
pected to find out there l have never
been able even to SurmiSe. Not a
soul lived within a mile and a half
and there was nothing worth cOnfis-
I'cating. But there they were, about
500 of them, it appeared to me, in
long struggling line from the end of
the shell road to the bath house on
the wharf. They were too far off for
effective work with our carbines, but
had mine resting on the window sill
and was sighting straight at the brass
buttons on a big black mans chest.
Don't shoot until say fire. warn
ed Lieut.. Hardy.
'In a few moments-it might have
been half an hour, for all the reckon
ing of time that | was capable of TAX
ing-they came marching straight to-
ward us, four abreast, blue and
brassy line that doomed up like col
umn of gigantic Ot,ellos.
Sergeant whispered the Lieuten-
ant, you take the man on the right
and A, you plug that big fellow on
the left
"The officers were still forming
them into line under the trees while
the first file marched eff toward us,
fol - duo 70 Of hn hod no
shell road, the sand being too deep
and hot further along. They may
have come there for drilling purposes,
as their marching showed them to be
raw recruits, but fifty-odd miles was
a long way to a drill ground. They
were not more than seventy-five yards
off when the order came to fire. l
heard only two reports, almost to-
gether, and saw two men plunge for
ward to the road There was no ans
wering fire, and we were out Of the
room and halfway to the horses when
/ looked back and saw the black
troops plunging madly through the
sand to the wharf and out to the
boats.
The Enemy Is Routed.
1--WE didn't know what might hap
pen, though, and did not stop untn
we were at the point from which We
located the steamboat. There in sc.
curity we watched the enemy scramb
ling out of the small boats that had
not capsized il: the mad rout. Hun.
dreds of men were in the water and
some must have drowned, although
only one body was washed ashore SO
far as l ever heard. There was only
a shot apiece in the carbineS, but we
certainly did do effective work in the
fighting line. l had missed my man,
was convinced, and was very much
ashamed and mortified in cOnse- |
quence.
1T was fully three-quarters of an
hour after we had left the scene that |
the steamboat, which was armed with |
several cannon, opened fire on the
empty house from which the blacks
had been ambushed. The bombard- |
ment was kept up for two hours or
more, but only two or three shots !
took effect upon the house. We boys !
at the bay subsequently found a
couple of carloads Of cannon balls |
imbedded in the sandy bluff.
lone of us must have only wound !
ed his man. generously commented !
Lieut.. Hardy, when we finally sat
down to the fish Stevens had caught !
and he had noticed how depressed |!
was
1.-The Yankees never tried to recov- /
er the bodies of the dead men, and |
they were buried by the people of the !
bay.
eft uac in 1897 nearly Ouartor of !
century later, that l was night city |
editor of a New York morning news {
paper, when one night the makeup |
man handed me note written on !
proof paper saying one Of the printers
had asked him to hand it to me. This |
was the note as | recollect it:
81 would like to see you after |
work about Bay ST., Louis in Co.
Stevens Turns UP.