The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1916-02-17
The Pity Of 1t
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1916, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.
By M. QUAD

'Here! as the sergeant called the roll
on the morning we awoke beside the
Potomac. There was an even hundred
AZ We marched away-as we took our
arst turn at picket-as we first sighted
the enemy, as we went into battle for
the first time. After the roar Of guns
had died away and the dead had been
buried, only eighty-nine men answered
"Herew to the sergeant's roll call In
the morning.
A few weeks went by, and we stood
shoulder to shoulder in battle line
again, and when the sergeant called
the roll, now only seventyeight men
answered Here"
ing back to Malvern hill. Cannon
doomed and musketry cracked all day
long and far into the night. Wounded
men cursed and groaned as they limp
ed away or fell helpless-men pitched
forward with but single cry and
died with their faces hidden in the
weeds and grass. After Malvern Hill
the sergeant called the roll again-not
the same sergeant as before, for he
was lying dead in the thickets at Fair
Oaks-and this time only flfty-two men
answered "Here!'
And so could you wonder that when
recruits came down to us we looked
upon them as intruders, even though
they were good men and true, and
had come to help us win victories?
Their names were called with ours,
and we heard them answer "Herew
But they were only with us; they
could not be Of US. They had come
too late.
And at last came Appomattox and
the surrender and then peace and the
return to Washington. We were al
most full company again as we turn
I'd Out-On the meadows of Arlington
for the last roll call. Upward of sew
onty living men could have answered
here to their names.
Fall in, company G.. Attention to
roll call!'
1t was not the sergeant who had
called the roll after Fredericksburg,
after Charlottesville, after Gettys-
burg. It was a new man-one who had
been promoted before his cheeks had
scarcely been burned by the southern
sun. But he had heard of the ties
which bound the old veterans together
he realized what this last roll call
meant to the survivors. And from the
musty archives Of the past he took the
roll Of the dead and called:
"Anson, Armstrong, Armitage" No
one replied.
BERRY, Bloomingdale, Benson, Bar
ston, Benham" No one replied:
"Cary, Carter, Canadian, Cummings,
Comstockw No one replied.
And so he called, and so the silence
of the death roll grew deeper.
Young, Yeomans, Wager" No one
replied.
"York"
"Here!'
And so he of all was the sole surviv-
or, the last living man Of company u
the only one who had right to stand
there in that line and answer to the
last roll CALL The others-ninety and
nine-were crippled at home or sleep
ing their last sleep on the hillsides, IL
the valleys, in the forests and the
thickets Of Virginia.
The line cheered him as he stood
apart, the last survivor of glorious
band which had fought in dozen bat
ties, but he turned his head away anc
wept.
Perhaps no act Of war enSenderet
more bitterness than the burning OF
the barns and houses in the Shenan
doah valley under Sheridan's otflcia
order.
No warning was given unless the
great clouds Of smoke rising up here
and there to signify destruction were
taken as warnings of what was tt
come. A squad of men galloped up
the women and children were told tn
substance Of the order, and the mattel
was applied An hour later they sa
on the grass houseless and homeless
some of them naked and dumb in ter
ror. There were tears and prayers
and pleadings, but the order had gon'
forth.
By and by. as we rode up to quain
old farmhouse. half hidden among tn
fruit trees, a rifle cracked and troop
er, shot through the head. fell off hi:
horse. The black pillars OF smoke dot
ting the valley had told the people
what was coming. Here was one de
termined to protect bis property-on
man 'gainst company after compan.
riding up and down and across lei
minutes later the barn and the stack
were on fire and men under cover Wer
keeping up hot fire on the rifle pit
Just as another squad. attracted D!
the firing, came up a second man wa
hit and grievously wounded.
There was no more firing from tn
pit. Some Of the scores Of bullet
fred into it must have found a target
There was rush from all sides AM
the pit was captured. Fifty men hat
captured one And that one? 1t wa
a lad not day over fourteen and on
Of our carbine bullets had taken ri
life And when we laid him on tn