by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XXII
A LIEUTENANT AMONG THE "MISSING"
Major Walthal was very gentlemanly and very polite; but it appeared atonce that he was not willing to permit the escape of the platoon,good-looking and well-dressed as were the officer and the men. He couldnot help observing the contrast between the Riverlawns and theConfederate company near them. Captain Gordon, who had been theprincipal instructor of the squadron, was very neat and precise abouthis person, and had always required the troopers to keep their uniformsand arms and their horses, with their equipments, in good condition.
On the contrary, this particular company of the enemy presented aslovenly appearance; quite in contrast, also, with some other regimentsof their army. The major was a soldier of the highest type, and hecould not fail to see the neatness of the Riverlawns. Very likely hewas sorry to prevent the young lieutenant from carrying out hisintention to leave the camp; but his ideal as a military officer was todo his duty.
Deck's troopers had drawn their sabres; and, with Life Knox in front,they made an impetuous rush towards the entrance. The sergeant was evenmore in earnest than usual; his horse was well trained, and when hisrider pressed his knees against his flanks, he darted off with furyenough to satisfy the determined horseman.
"Halt!" shouted the major; but he might as well have addressed the windor the rain. "Surround them, Captain Staggers, as you did on the field!Cut off their retreat if there is any manhood left in you!"
He led the way himself, though he could do nothing more, for he had nosabre; nothing but his dress sword. Perhaps the captain felt thenecessity of redeeming himself after the number of lies he had told;and he gave the order to charge the impetuous platoon, leading theonslaught in person. The position of his company was nearer to theentrance than that of Deck's command; but Life had spotted him, andrushed upon him.
In spite of his shouting, there was little vim in the movement of thecaptain. He made an awkward cut at the sergeant, who easily parried it,and brought the sharp edge of his sabre down upon his shoulder, nearthe neck, and the officer dropped to the ground as though a bullet hadgone through his brain. His horse turned, and had nearly upset themajor in his flight, and it was evident that the animal was notaccustomed to this kind of business. If the major could have obtained asabre, he would have done better work, and perhaps the platoon wouldhave been checked in its onward movement.
Deck, mindful of the many lessons in prudence he had received from hisfather and his captain, had taken a position on the left of hiscommand; but the enemy were not there at that moment, though theConfederate troopers, under the second lieutenant, were surrounding theRiverlawns from the rear as they advanced. Deck realized that whateverwas done must be accomplished in a moment or never, and he could notrestrain himself, but galloped to the front.
Ceph, his horse, began to put his education into practice, and stood upon his hind feet before the first trooper that came in front of him. Atthat moment the lieutenant cleaved the skull of the man in twain. Theenemy did not fight like the Texan Rangers with whom the young officerhad been pitted before. In fact, they fell back, and began to use theirpistols. One of the Riverlawns dropped from his steed with his facecovered with blood.
The lieutenant saw with intense regret that this man was SergeantFronklyn; but he was apparently only stunned partially by the bullet,for he sprang to his feet with the aid of a comrade, though his horsehad gone with the forward movement of the platoon, and was out of hisreach. At about the same moment the second lieutenant of the Southerncompany, who was a gigantic Tennesseean, led his platoon to the left ofthe Riverlawns, and pushed on towards their front.
This big fellow was a brave man, whatever might be said of the greaterportion of his comrades, and had his eye on Deck, who had just broughthis sabre down upon the trooper whose head he had split in twain. TheSouthron dashed up to him, and levelled a blow with his weapon at thehead of the young officer, just as the latter was turning to confrontthe enemy in his rear. This movement evidently disturbed the aim of thelieutenant, and turned the sabre in his hand.
But the blow came down with the flat side of the blade upon Deck'shead. It stunned him, and his brain whirled. He dropped from Ceph, justas that intelligent animal rose again on his hind feet to confront thenew enemy; but there was no one in the saddle to strike the blow thatmight have killed or disabled the giant who had done the mischief tothe intrepid young officer. Corporal Tilford, who was a powerful man,dashed his horse against the Tennessee lieutenant, and struck him inthe rear, just as the latter had done to Deck. His aim was better, andhe did not permit the hilt to turn in his hand, and the giant finishedhis earthly career there.
Sergeant Fronklyn, though wounded himself, had strength enough to draghis officer to one side of the platoon, so that his form might not becrushed by the advance of horses' feet. The troopers had seen the fallof the lieutenant, and naturally enough, supposing that he was killed,were excited to new fury by the disaster, and rushed upon the enemy,who were crowding them on both sides. They fought with an impetuositywhich the enemy could not withstand, and a large portion of the latterjustified their record for that day by running away.
There were individual instances of bravery on the part of the foe; but,as a whole, the attack upon the Riverlawns was feeble and nerveless. Itwas fortunate for the entrapped platoon that it was not set upon bysome other company of the Confederate cavalry, rather than one whichhad run away from the field of battle; for in that case they might allhave been prisoners of war.
Sergeant Knox remained at the head of the platoon, and after he hadstruck down with his powerful right arm two or three that confrontedhim, he was avoided by the enemy; but he continued to shout encouragingwords to the men, who did not flinch a hair from the troopers thatbeset them in double their own numbers.
"Now forward, my boys!" he cried, as he saw that the entrance was clearfor the passage of the body.
The men pressed on, upsetting the enemy in their path, though most ofthem had fallen back out of the reach of the sabres of the Riverlawns;and with this renewed effort they passed through the entrance and outof the intrenchments. But they had no sooner reached the outside of theworks than they discovered the rest of the squadron in a fight at thefoot of the first hill, with a whole regiment of Confederate cavalry.Captain Woodbine had occupied this hill at the beginning of the fightin this section, and on it Captain Ripley and his riflemen had beenposted later.
The two companies of the First Kentucky were moving forward; but therewas not room enough for them to manoeuvre. As usual, the sharpshooterswere making havoc in the ranks of the regiment, and the head of thecolumn was falling back to escape the deadly rifle-balls. Life haltedhis platoon, and looked them over, puffing like a steam-engine from theviolence of his excitement and the fury of his exertions to save thecommand. The prospect before him was not encouraging, for the enemy hadsome troops outside of the works.
"Where is Leftenant Lyon?" demanded he of Corporal Tilford, as thelatter rode up to him to give him information in regard to the officerin command of the platoon.
"I am sorry to say we left him in the enemy's camp," replied thecorporal.
"Left him there!" exclaimed Life, with something like horror in hisexpression. "Was he wounded?"
"Worse than that, I am afraid," answered his informant.
"You don't mean to say he was killed, Corporal?" asked Life, looking asthough he had lost the only friend he had in the world.
"I don't know for certain that he was killed, and should report himwith the missing," replied the corporal.
"I don't understand it," continued the sergeant. "The lieutenant wasalways able to take care of himself."
"I can tell you just how it was, if you want to hear it in this place,"returned Tilford, as he looked about him, and discovered a company ofinfantry coming out of the fort, and another approaching across thefield. "We shall soon be surrounded here."
The sergeant looked about him, and the prospect near the fort was notencouraging
. He gave the order to march, and led the way. The groundwas hard here, and he galloped his horse at his best speed towards thesecond hill. The main body of the Riverlawns had a favorable positionbetween the first hill and the end of the breastworks. The enemy hadcome down the pike. Between the two hills the two companies of theFirst Kentucky Cavalry had been skilfully posted by the senior captainwhen he found that there was no space between the hill and theintrenchments for his command.
Major Lyon, as it was afterwards stated, had started to the entrance ofthe fort, for the purpose of aiding the escape of the second platoon ofthe first company. Before he had advanced more than a few rods, hisforce had been attacked by the regiment which had just escaped from thefield of battle. They had been ordered by some superior officer on theground to attack the major's command; and the regiment had rushed intothe narrow defile, where only a portion of it could be brought intoaction. The sharpshooters were rapidly reducing the numbers at the headof the column, though the ranks were immediately filled up by thesections behind them.
Life led his platoon, diminished in numbers by only three men besidesthe lieutenant, to a point in the field abreast of the farther side ofthe first hill. At this place he could see the riflemen posted behindtrees and rocks, plying their deadly office with the utmost diligence,and after the manner the captain had ordered on the hill and at themeadow. He was operating upon the head of the enemy's column. Thesergeant found that there was space enough between the hill and the endof the breastworks for him to charge the regiment on the flank, and atleast make a demonstration in that quarter.
The Confederate column was losing its men at a fearful rate in itsfirst company, and the second was sent to dislodge the concealed forceon the hill. They moved gallantly forward, and began the ascent of theslope; but the ground was rough, and covered with trees and rocks,though the former were scattered just enough to enable thesharpshooters to fire over and between them. The advancing force werenearer the riflemen than the companies on the ground, and they droppedalmost as fast as they went forward, and the company was soon recalled.
Sergeant Knox conducted his platoon through the opening, and fell uponthe third company just as the second were approaching the position theyhad occupied before. As usual, his men fought furiously, and veryunexpectedly a panic ensued. The Confederates evidently believed thatthey were flanked by a large force, and began to fall back towards theintrenchments, crowding the companies in the rear before them.
The men in the first company continued to fall in appalling numbersbefore the riflemen's unerring aim. The Riverlawns pressed them withrenewed zeal, and they fell back into the gap made by the flankers. Inthis manner the second platoon came into their proper position, whilethe first company, now re-enforced by the two companies of theirregiment, marched into the fort; and the fight for the time endedthere. By this time it was beginning to be dark, and it was not likelythat the battle would be renewed that night. The work of the nextmorning was to attack and carry the intrenchments.
The battalion had been under the command of Captain Woodbine, thestaff-officer, from the time when the two companies in the rear hadbeen brought into the action. He ordered his force to return to the endof the roads by which they had arrived. Major Lyon led his squadronback to the point indicated, and halted his men there. As soon as hehad done so he rode back to look over his command. The riflemen wererecalled. It was found that they had lost four men in killed, and ninewounded, most of them by the shells from the fort.
Both companies reported their loss in general terms. Dr. Farnwright hadestablished his hospital in the rear, and had a considerable number ofpatients. Captain Gordon could only report for half of his command, forthe other half had been absent. The major passed on to the secondplatoon, and was startled to see that it was in command of the firstsergeant.
"Where is Lieutenant Lyon?" he asked, choking down the emotions thatagitated him.
"Missing, Major," replied Life.
"Missing?" repeated the father of the lieutenant. "I will hear yourreport later;" and he rode back to the head of the column.