The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1924-01-04

out considerable questioning. With
the help of Mrs. Ward the reporter
got the details.
Through No Mans Land
"Our company was before Vicks-
burg for several months, digging
on the fort" Mr.. Ward said. ION
the day of the assault party of 20,
with ladders, went out ahead of the
assaulting party to the line of breast
works that surrounded the town. We
crossed the half mile between our
lines and the forts and then went
back without scaling the walls. A
few days later we were sent to jack
son, and captured it."
This was all that he would say of
one of the most important battles of
the war, battle that had for its
object the isolation of the confederate
force that commanded the Missis-
sippi. Grant had assembled 10000
men for the capture of the fort, which
meant the surrender of the Missis-
sippi and the dissection of the confed-
crate army, a feat accomplished only
after long siege.
Those who have traversed mo
mans" land know what Wards act
meant. They know that every rifle
in the hands of the soldiers behind
the bastions that formed the outer
defense of the fort was trained on the
party of 20 that covered the she'll
swept field ahead of the main as
saulting party. They know that ar
tillery fire was unreliable and that
the danger of death from friendly
guns was as great as from those of
the enemy. 1t was in this field of
hell that Sergeant Major Ward won
his decoration, yet he regards the act
as one of the ordinary experiences
of the war.
While this was the outstanding act
of his war service, Ward admits that
there were others which we're almost
as trying. He was one of the feder-
ais who knew the horrors of con-
federate prison, and he was mem
Der of Sherman's army on the march |
to the sea-. At the conclusion of the |
march, which helped break the back |
bone of the confederacy, he contin- |
ued to Washington and passed in re-
view before PRESIDENT Johnson before
being mustered out. Enlisting at De-
catur, ILL.,, at the age of "a. Ward
saw three years of service, being mus
tered out at Spring field, Ill. After
receiving is discharge, the youngster
turned to the west, and more than 8 3
years ago selected Anaconda as his
home.
When the Brigade Charged
1.-THE Charge of the Light Brig
ide," immortalized by Tennyson's
poem, was made at Balaklava while
Pat Duane, 19-year-old lad from
County Galway, Ireland, was doing
lis share of fighting from the British S
inc. Not only was he in at Balak- i
ava, but he was at Inkermann, two
# the bloodiest battles of the Grim E
'dn WAL. IL Was uOL uuLll dlI0T Liz
'attle of Sebastopol that he received S
lis decorations. His resourcefulness {
N the battlefield and his utter dis q
egard for himself won for him the t
,rimean war medal with a clasp for {
ravery shown before Sebastopol, and s
he crescent of Turkey, a decoration T
eldom conferred on a Caucasian.
duane was one of a handful of men
Tho never missed a call during the f
ntire Crimean campaign. r
His next decoration was won in Q
hina when the British force march I
d against Picking after Minister k
ang Wanching had categorically re- u
used to comply with the ultimatum il
the British army demanding the
ayment of indemnity and the ratifi- t.
alton of the treaty of Tien-tsin. He s.
as in the fighting when the Taku A
orts fell, opening the road to Pc n
ing; at the battle of Chan-Chia-Wa q
nd the occupation of the Imperial O