The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-01-03

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
canals and preparing for an assault
on the fort" Mr.. Ward said. "On
the day of the assault a 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 sen to Jack
son, and captured it,"
This was all that he would say of
one of the most important battles of
the war, a battle that had for its
force hat 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 a long siege.
Those who have traversed "no
mans" land know what Wards act
meant. They know hat 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 a
While this was the outstanding act
of his war service, Ward admits that
there were others which were almost
as trying. He was. one of the feder-
ais who knew the horrors of a con-
federate prison. and he was a 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, III. After
receiving is discharge, the youngster
turned to the west, and more than 33
years ago selected Anaconda as his
home.
When the Brigade Charged
"The Charge of the Light Brig
ade," immortalized by Tennyson's
poem, was made at Balaklava while
Pat Duane, a 19-year-old lad from
County Galway, Ireland, was doing
his share of fighting from the British
line. Not only vas he in at Balak-
lava, but he was at Inkermann, two
of the bloodiest battles of the Grim
can war. 1t was not until after the
battle of Sebastopol that he received
his decorations. His resourcefulneSs
on the battlefield and his utter dis
regard for himself won for him the
Crimean war medal with a clasp for
bravery shown before S~ebastopol, and
the crescent of Turkey, a decoration
seldom conferred on a Caucasian.
Duane was one of a handful of men /
who never missed a call during the
entire Crimean campaign.
His next decoration was won in
China when the British force march
ed against Picking after Minister
Pang Wanching had categorically re-
fused to comply with the ultimatum
of the British army demanding the
payment of indemnity and the ratifi-
cation of the treaty of Tien-tsin. He
was in the fighting when the Taku
forts fell, opening the road to Pc
king; at the battle of Chan-Chia-Wan
and the occupation of the Imperial