Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1916-06-15
A SOLDIERS
EASTER MORN
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1916, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.

We who held the south end of the
bridge-a picket of a hundred men
We're cooking our suppers when Il SEN
try fired his musket to give the alarm,
and next moment we caught sight of
horsemen on the turnpike beyond the
bridge.
Fall in, Fall in!' shouted our Off
Ger in wild excitement.
Up on the hillside thousand men,
women and children looked down and
held their breath and felt the blood
Jingle to their finger ends. They could
see the long line stretching back for
half mile-600 men to 1OO-and,
though they We're our enemies, they
felt pity for us.
STEADY, now, and fire Iow!''
There was crash and a roar of
iron shod feet as the first squadron
struck the bridge, and then hundred
jets of flame leaped forth to meet the
troopers, and a hundred bullets led the
jets. Down went horses and men
down in one great heap of dead and
dying which other horses could not
leap overland we rose up and swung
our hats and cheered. Up on the hill
side men turned pale, women wept and
children cried out in horror at wars
spectacle. We heard the enemy's bu-
giles blow the order to retreat and dis
mount, and then we looked to our Off
GERS for orders to fall back.
"Hold the bridge to the last! had
been the order to the captain, and he
meant to obey to the letter.
The smoke of our volley still floated
lazily over the town when we heard
the tramp, tramp, tramp of soldiers
footsteps on the finty road, and be-
tween the chinks of the barricade we
saw lines of dismounted men coming
forward at swinging pace. A mo-
ment later it was double quick, and as
we opened scattering fire they reach
ed the heap of dead and dying and
made barricade of it. Five-ten-fif-
teen minutes of sharp firing, in which
three or four men We're killed on both
sides, and then the enemy swarmed
over the barricade and charged Tie
long, narrow bridge was like tunnel.
They were crowded together. and our
bullets could not go astray. A crash of
musketry-a great puff of blue black
smolle-and then all was silent-al!
but the sobs of women and the walls
of children ON the hillside. 1t was war,
but only a sllirmish. The living and
unhurt regained shelter of the barri-
cade, and ten minutes later the enemy
was crossing at the fords above and
from in front and on both TANKS.
Then the order came to fall back.
There had been a hundred of us at the
bridge. Only seventy retreated up the
hillside, sullenly, grudgingly and fir
ing as we went, and the noncombat-
cried out as the bullets whistled over
their heads or plowed up the ground at
their feet We fought from behind the
stone walls, from behind houses and
stores and barns and sheds We stung
the pursuing enemy at every turn and
streets. BY and by, as we fought sin
gly or in groups and when our dead and
| wounded We're everywhere, there came
| the order:
ITO the church, To the church!
Rally on the church"
| Some one led the way-all others
! followed. On the crest of the hill was
the old stone church, built long before
any one dreamed of fratricidal war.
For half an hour peace reigned. The
! enemy was gathering up the wounded
| friend and foe alike-and carrying
them into the quaint old houses to be
cared for by the frightened and sob
bling women. For half an hour, and
| then the truce was broken and carbines
volleyed and the bullets thudded
against the heavy doors and flew in at
the windows and were buried in the
walls and ceiling, beam and joist. We
| fought back-we killed and wounded.
An hour went by and then there We're
only thirty of us living. Surrender
| would have been honorable, but no one
| thought of surrender. By and by the
sun went down and darkness fell.
Some rested while others fought on,
but as we rested and fought there was
a feeling of awe over all Men uttered
u shrek as the bullets struck them
cried out just once. Then the awe of
| God came upon them and they were
silent, or if they wept and prayed we
| did not hear them. Until midnight no
one slept. Then came silence and
peace and men fell down and closed
their eyes and forgot war and it's hor-
rors and dreamed of happy homes far
away.
Then the impatient enemy made a
sudden rush upon us in the darkness,
and In an instant war had returned
and death was stalking abroad again.
1t was fierce attack, but we repealed
it and sank down once more and when
our eyes opened again daylight shone
in at the broken window. Hark! 1t
he I,,Nn al u