by John McElroy
CHAPTER XIX. SI AND SHORTY ARE PUT UNDER ARREST.
THE next morning the rebels were found to be gone from the positionin front of the 200th Ind;, and after breakfast the regiment marchedleisurely by a road around the dreaded abatis, to the ground which hadbeen scarred and mangled by our terrible artillery fire.
It was an appalling scene that the eyes of the boys rested upon. Everyhorrid form of mutilation and death which could be inflicted bythe jagged shards and fiendish shells, or the even more demon-likeshrapnel-balls, was visible.
Everything was torn, rent, and ragged, as if soma mighty giant, insaneto destroy, had spent his fury there. Nothing had escaped the iron flailof devastation. Trees shattered or cut entirely down; limberchests andcannon-wheels merely bunches of blackened splinters; frightfully mangledhorses, dead, or yet living in agony that filled their great plaintiveeyes; lying in ghastly pools of blood, which filmed and clotted underthe bright rays of the May morning sun.
"Looks like Judgment morn or the fall of Babylon," muttered thereligious-minded Alf Russell, the first to break their awed silence.
AWFUL DESTRUCTION. 241]
"Or the destruction of Sennacherib," suggested Monty Scruggs--
"For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed."
"I should say he had a mighty strong breath, Monty," Shorty interrupted.He liked to break in on Monty's heroics. "Excuse me from havin' a12pounder breathin' around me."
"And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their heartsbut once heaved, and forever grew still," continued Monty.
"I'll bet there wasn't much sleepin' around here while that shell'n' wasgoin' on," broke in Shorty again. "Except the sleep that has the sod fora coverlet and Gabriel's trumpet for a breakfast bell."
Monty continued impressively:
"And there lay the steed, with his nostrils all wide, But through them there rolled not the breath of his pride; And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf."
"Poor horses," murmured Shorty. "I always feel mighty sorry for them.They hadn't nothin' to do with gittin' up this rebellion. We must goaround and kill such as is alive, and put them out o' their misery."
Monty resumed:
"And there lay the rider, distorted and pale. With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail; And the tents were all silent, the banners alone. The lances uplifted, the trumpets unblown."
"Serves 'em right, the yaller-bellied, clay-eatin' yowlers," said Shortysavagely, looking over the mangled corpses. "Pays 'em up for theirmurderin' abatis. We got it in this time worse on them than they did onus, though it'd take as much of this as'd make up several Counties topay up for any one o' the good boys we lost yesterday. I hope theyare all where they kin look down and see how we got it on the seceshhell-hounds. We'll do 'em up worse yit before we're through with 'em."
"Our batteries are improvin' wonderfully," commented the more practicalSi, studying the field. "They seem to've socked every shell in justwhere it'd do the most good. No shootin' at the State o' Georgygenerally and trustin' to luck to hit a rebel. Every shell seems to'velanded just where it was needed, and then 'tended to its business andbusted. You don't see no signs of any strikin' a quarter of a mile away,nor a whole one layin' around anywhere. That's good gunnin', and I'mglad our old six-hoss thrashin'-machine done the biggest share of it.Our brigade has the best battery in the whole army."
"The regiment will go on," reported Orderly-Sergeant, "but Co. Q willstay behind to bury the dead, gather up the arms and things, and thenbring up the brigade ammunition train."
"Stay behind to bury the dead," grumbled Shorty. "Nice business that!Sextons to the Southern Confederacy. Hain't they got any niggers aroundhere that they kin set at the work?"
Nor did Si like the job. "The artillery made the muss, and now theinfantry's got to stay and clean up after it. That don't seem right."
"Well, orders is orders, and got to be obeyed," said theOrderly-Sergeant, cutting short the discussion with the usual formularyof his class. An Orderly-Sergeant is robbed of one of the cherishedprivileges of the other enlisted men. He can not criticise or grumble,but must stop the others from doing so beyond a certain point, and hisrefuge must be the prompt assumption that the orders are all right,and must be executed cheerfully. And he has not the satisfaction of theofficers above him in knowing the why and wherefore of the orders, andperhaps advising as to them. He is "betwixt and between," as they sayout West.
"The quicker we get at it," continued the Orderly, "the sooner it'll beover. Serg't Klegg, take eight or 10 men and hunt around for some picksand shovels. I think that deep trench over there behind the works 'lldo for a grave. You can shovel the bank right down on them and save hardwork. Serg't Wilson, you take eight or 10 men and gather up these pieceso' men and lay them in there. Corp'l Jones, you take another man or twoand go around and kill those horses. Be careful how you shoot now. Don'thurt anybody with glancing bullets. Corp'l Elliott, you take the restand go round and gather the guns and other things, and pile them upthere by that tree to turn over to the ordnance officer. Hustle, now,all of you."
"They didn't think they were digging their own graves," philosophizedMonty Scruggs, as he stood shovel in hand watching the remains beinggathered into the trench.
"He digged a ditch, he digged it deep; He digged it for his brother, But for his great sin he fell in The ditch he'd digged for t'other."
"Good, good, Monty," said Si. "That's the best thing I've heard youspout yit. Give us some more of it."
"There isn't any more of it. The only thing I can think of is:
"The rebel Solomon Grundy; Born in Georgia on Monday; Become a rebel on Tuesday; Run off from Buzzard's Roost on Wednesday; Got licked at Dalton on Thursday; Worse whipped at Resaca on Friday; Blown up by a shell on Saturday; Died and buried on Sunday; And this was the end of Solomon Grundy."
Alf Russell's interest in anatomy had led him to join Serg't Wilson'sparty in gathering up the ghastly fragments of bodies, but the sightswere too much for his nerves, and as he perceived that he was growingsick at the stomach he went over to Shorty's squad.
It was astonishing what things they found, besides guns and equipments.Evidently, the rebels had left quite hurriedly, and many personalbelongings were either forgotten or could not be found in the darkness.Samples of about everything that soldiers carry, and a good many thatthey are not supposed to, were found lying around. There were cookingutensils, some on the fire, with corn-pone and meat in them; some wherethe imperative orders to march found their owners with their breakfastshalf-devoured; there were hats clumsily fashioned of wisps of long-leavedpine sewed together; there were caps which had been jaunty red-and-blue"Zouaves" when their owners had mustered around Nashville in 1861, buthad been faded and tarnished and frayed by the mud and rain at Donelson,Shiloh and Stone River, and by the dust and grime of Perryvilleand Chickamauga, until they had as little semblance to their formerperkiness as the grim-visaged war had to the picnic of capturingungarrisoned forts and lolling in pleasant Summer camps on the banksof the Cumberland. There were coats of many patterns and stages ofdilapidation, telling the same story of former finery, draggled throughthe injurious grime of a thousand camps and marches. There were patchedand threadbare blankets, tramped-out boots and shoes, an occasionalbook, many decks of cards, and so on.
Shorty came across a new cedar canteen with bright brass hoops. He slungit over his shoulder, with the thought that it would be a nice thing tosend back to Maria, as a souvenir of the battle. She might hang it up inher room, or make a pin-cushion or a work-basket out of it.
Presently he came to a box of shells, which he picked up and carriedback to the tree. It was quite heavy, and when he set it down again hefelt thirsty. The canteen occurred to him. It was full. He raised it tohis lips and took a long swig.
&nbs
p; "Great Jehosephat," he gasped, his eyes starting out with astonishment."That ain't water. It's prime old applejack, smoother'n butter, andsmellin' sweeter'n a rose. Best I ever tasted."
Shorty had been strictly abstinent since his return from Indiana, Therigid views of the Klegg family as to liquor-drinking had sunk intohis heart, and somehow whenever temptation came his way the clear,far-seeing eyes of Maria would intervene with such a reproachful glancethat the thought of yielding became repugnant.
But the smooth, creamy applejack had slipped past his lips sounexpectedly that it possessed him, before principle could raise anobjection. Shorty was the kind of a man to whom the first drink is thegreatest danger. After he had one almost anything was likely to happen.
Still, though his blood was already warming with the exhilaratingthrill, there were some twinges of conscience.
"Now, I mustn't take no more o' that," he said to himself. "That onedrink was good and all right enough, because I really thought I wasgoin' to take a drink of water when I put the canteen to my lips. Icould swear that to Maria on a stack o' Bibles high as her dear head.God bless her!"
He began bustling about with more activity, and giving his orders in alouder voice. He saw Pete Skidmore pick up what had been once a militiaofficer's gaudy coat, and examine it curiously. He shouted at him:
"Here, drop that, drop that, you little brat. What 'd I tell you? Thatyou mustn't fetch a rag of anything you see in here, except with thepoint o' your bayonet and with your bayonet on your gun. Drop it, I tellyou."
"Why, what's the matter with that old coat?" asked Pete in an injuredtone, astonished at Shorty's vehemence.
"Everything's the matter with it, and every stitch o' cloth you find.They're swarmin' with rebel bugs. I've trouble enough to keep the Yankeegraybacks off you. If you git the rebel kind on you angwintum won't saveyou."
Pete dropped the coat in affright.
"And you, Sandy Baker," continued Shorty in a yell, "don't you walkthrough them piles o' brush and leaves, where the rebels has binsleepin'. You'll git covered with rebel bugs, too, and we'll never git'em out o' the company. How often 've I got to tell you that?"
Yelling so much made him dry, and the canteen hung so invitingly nearhis hand.
"I don't think another pull at that old applejack 'll hurt me a mite.I really didn't git a square drink the first time, because I was chokedoff by astonishment at findin' it wasn't water. I'll just take enough ofa swig to finish up that drink."
"Jerusalem crickets," he exclaimed, wiping his mouth, "but that's goodstuff. Wonder if bein' in cedar makes it taste so bang-up? If I thoughso I'd never drink out o' anything but cedar as long's I lived. GuessI'll keep this canteen to carry water in. I kin send Maria--"
He stopped. He was not so far gone as to forget that any thought ofMaria was very inappropriate to his present condition. He started toblustering at the boys who were carrying in guns:
"Here, how often have I got to caution you galoots about bein' carefulwith them guns? Don't let the muzzles pint at yourselves, nor anybodyelse. They're all likely to be loaded, and go off any minute, and blowsome o' your cussed heads offen you. Don't slam 'em down that way. Becareful with 'em, I tell you. I'll come over there and larrup some o'you, if you don't mind me."
"What's excitin' Shorty so, to make him yell that way? wondered Si,stopping in his shoveling down the embankment upon the rebel dead, andwiping his hot face.
"O, he's trying to keep them fresh young kids from blowin' themselvesinto Kingdom Come with the rebel guns," answered one of the veteransindifferently, and they resumed their shoveling.
Shorty started over to where some of the boys were trying to extricatea rebel limber abandoned in a ravine. He spied a pair of fine fieldglasses lying on the ground, and picked them up with an exclamation ofdelight.
"Great Jehosephat," he said, turning them over for careful inspection."Ain't this a puddin'? Just the thing to give the Cap. He got hissmashed with a bullet comin' through the abatis, and's bin mournin'about 'em ever since. These is better'n his was, and he'll be ticked todeath to git 'em."
He put them to his eyes and scanned the landscape.
"Ain't they just daisies, though. Bring that teamster over there soclose that I kin hear him cussin' his mules. Cap'll have a better pairo' glasses than the Colonel or the General has. He deserves 'em, too.Capt. McGillicuddy's good all the way through, from skin to bone, and asbrave as they make 'em. He'll be tickleder than a boy with a new pair o'red-topped boots. He'll invite me to take a drink with him, but he won'thave nothin' so good as this old apple-jack. I guess I'll give the restto him, too, for his friends at headquarters. They don't often smacktheir lips over stuff like that. But I'll treat myself once more, justas Capt. McGillicuddy'd do."
The last drink was a settler. He was then in a frame of mind foranything--to tear down a mountain, or lift a hill, or to fight anybody,with or without cause. He looked over at the boys struggling with thelimber, and yelled, as he laid his coat, hat, canteen, and cartridge-boxdown on the stump upon which he had been sitting, and placed thefield-glass upon them:
"Hoopee! Yank her out o' there, boys. Yank h'er out, and don't be allday about it, either. Let me git at her and I'll fetch her out. Standby, you kids, and see your uncle Eph snatch her."
He bolted in to the ravine, swung the limber-tongue about, and with aidof the rest, stirred to united effort by much profane vociferation onhis part, disengaged the limber and trundled it up the bank.
The tall, very stiff young Aid, with whom Si and Shorty had had theprevious affair, came stalking on to the ground, viewing everything withhis usual cold, superior, critical gaze.
"You are doing well, my man," he remarked to Shorty, "but too muchnoise. A non-commissioned officer must not swear at his men. It'sstrictly against regulations."
"Go to blazes," said Shorty, scarcely under his breath. The Aid pickedup the field-glasses, looked at them a minute, scanned the field withthem, and then looked around for the case, as if to appropriate themhimself.
"Here, drop them," said Shorty roughly. "Them's mine."
"How did they come to be yours, sir?" said the Aid sternly. "Picked themup, didn't you?"
"None o' your business how I got 'em. They're mine, I tell you. Give 'emto me."
"You picked them up on the battlefield, sir. They are militaryequipments which you must turn over to the proper officer. I'll takecharge of them myself."
"You'll do nothin' o' the kind," roared Shorty, striding up to him."Give me them glasses."
"I shall do nothing of the kind," said the Aid sternly. "Don't you dareapproach me in that w-ay. Go back to your duties at once. I shall punishyou for disrespect to me and threatening an officer. Fall back, sir, Itell you."
Shorty made a grab for the glasses, which the Aid tried to evade, butShorty fixed his firm clutch upon them. The Aid held on tightly, butShorty wrenched them from his grasp.
"You bob-tailed brevet West Pointer," said Shorty savagely, raising hisfist, "I've a notion to break you in two for tryin' to beat me out o'what's mine. Git out o' here, or I'll--"
"Shorty! Shorty! Stop that!" shouted Si, rushing over to his partner,and catching his back-drawn fist. He had been suspicious as to the causeof his partner's noisiness, and ran up as soon as the disturbance began."Stop it, I say. Are you crazy?"
Poor little Pete, badly excited as to what was happening to his bestfriend, was nervously fumbling his gun and eyeing the Aid.
"Si Klegg, go off and mind your own business, and let me attend tomine," yelled Shorty, struggling to free himself from his partner's irongrasp. "Am I goin' to be run over by every pin-feather snipe from WestPoint? I'll break him in two."
"Sergeant," commanded the Aid, reaching to take the field-glasses fromShorty's hand; "buck and gag that man at once. Knock him down if heresists. Knock him down, I say."
"You tend to your own business and I'll tend to mine. Go away from here,and don't say anything to make him madder, you wasp-waisted errand boy,"said Si s
avagely, as he thrust himself in between the Aid and Shorty."I've got enough to do to take care of him. Go off, if you don't wanthim to mash you."
Little Pete had an idea. He wriggled in between, snatched the glasses,and made off with them.
The Brigade Provost-Marshal rode up and sternly demanded what thedisturbance was about. Shorty began a hot harrangue against young staffofficers generally, and this particular offender, but Si got his armacross his mouth and muffled his speech. The Provost listened to theAid's bitter indictment against both Si and Shorty.
"Put both those men under arrest," he said to the Orderly-Sergeant,"and make a list of the witnesses. I'll court-martial them at the firsthalting place."
CHAPTER XX. SHORTY IS ARRAIGNED BEFORE THE COURT-MARTIAL.
TO REST, refit after the sharp fighting and marching, and to wait forthe slightly wounded and other convalescents to come up, the brigadewent into camp on the banks of the Oostenaula River, near Calhoun, Ga.,and about 20 miles south of Dalton, which had been the objective at theopening of the campaign.
And while the men were washing and mending their clothes, it was decidedto put the discipline of the brigade, which had suffered similarly bythe rough campaign, through a somewhat like process of furnishing andrenovation.
A court-martial was ordered, "to try such cases as may be brought beforeit."
The court convened with all the form and ceremony prescribed by the ArmyRegulations for tribunals which pass judgment upon the pay, honor andlives of officers and men.
The officers detailed for the court sent back to the baggage wagons, andgot their wrinkled dress-suits out of the valises, they buttoned theseto their throats, donned their swords, sashes and white gloves, andgathered stiffly and solemnly about a long, rough table, which hadbeen put up under the spreading limbs of giant oaks. Guards pacing at alittle distance kept all the curious and inquisitive out of earshot. Thecamp gossips, full of interest as to the fate of those who were to betried, could see an aggravating pantomime acted out, but hear no word.
A squad of offenders of various degrees of turpitude ranging fromabsence without leave to sleeping on post, were huddled together underthe Provost Guard, while Si and Shorty, being non-commissioned officers,were allowed to remain with their company, to be produced by Capt.McGillicuddy when wanted. They kept themselves rigidly apart from therest of the company, repelling the freely-offered sympathy of theircomrades. Si was most deeply concerned about Shorty, who was sodesperate over his fall from grace, that he regretted that he had notkilled the young Aid, while he was at him, so as to have relieved hiscomrades of him, and made his own condemnation and execution sure.
"Old Maj. Truax, of the 1st Oshkosh, is President of the court," saidthe Orderly-Sergeant, as the company was anxiously canvassing the boys'chances.
"Gosh, that settles it," groaned Jerry Wilkinson; "that old bull o' thewoods 'd rather shoot a man than not. He's always lookin' around forsome excuse for sculping a man, and the less he has the savager he is."
"I don't believe it," said the Orderly, "I've watched old Truax, whenhe's been roaring around, and I always found that he was after somebodythat deserved it. Men of that kind are pretty certain to be very soft ongood soldiers, like Si and Shorty, and I think he's all right. Theboys of the 1st Oshkosh all swear by him, and you can trust a man's ownregiment to know him surer than anybody else. And then there's Capts.Suter and Harris, of the Maumee Muskrats."
"Terrible strict," muttered Jerry despairingly.
"Lieuts. Newton and Bonesteel, of the Kankakees," continued the Orderly.
"Good men--promoted from the ranks, and remember that they once carrieda gun themselves."
"Lieut. McJimsey, of the staff."
"A wasp-waisted West Pointer, raw from school; thinks he's learned allthere's to know about war out of a book on triggernometry. Has no morefeelin' for a private soljer than I have for a mule. Calls 'em 'my men,'roared Jerry.
"And as he's only a Second Lieutenant he'll have the first vote," sighedthe Orderly. "And Lieut. Bowersox is to be the Judge-Advocate. He'llhave to do the prosecuting. I know he hates the job. He thinks the worldand all of Si and Shorty, but he's the kind of a man to do his dutywithout fear, favor or affection. And all of us 'll have to testify.Dumb Shorty's fool soul! Why didn't he get up his ruction somewherewhere the boys couldn't see him, and know nothing about it! I've nopatience with him or Si."
Lieut. Steigermeyer, the complainant, stalked by in solemn dignity.
"Can't I shoot that dod-blasted Aid, and save Shorty, and take it all onmyself?" blubbered little Pete, who had been in tears ever since he hadseen the grave assemblage of officers in full dress.
SHORTY BEFORE THE COURT-MARTIAL. 256]
"Shut up, you little fool," said the Orderly savagely. In theselfishness of his sorrow it made him angry to see anybody else showmore grief than his.
The Orderly, in stating Lieut. Bowersox's position, forgot, or wasnot aware of the fact, that while the Judge-Advocate represents theGovernment at a trial as the Prosecuting Attorney, he is also thecounsel for the defense; a dual role which has important and frequentlyunexpected results.
After the members were duly seated according to rank, with Maj. Truaxat the head of the table, Lieut. Bowersox read the order for holding thecourt, and called the names of the members. He then said:
"Gentlemen, the first case I shall present to your notice is one ofexceeding gravity, affecting a member of my own regiment. As it is themost important case that you shall have to consider, I thought it bestthat it should be disposed of first. Sergeant, bring in Corp'l WilliamL. Elliott, Co. Q, 200th Ind. Volunteer Infantry."
Shorty entered the court with an air of extreme depression in face andmanner, instead of the usual confident self-assertion which seemedto flow from every look and motion. He stood with eyes fixed upon theground.
"Prisoner," said Lieut. Bowersox, "this court has met to try you. Lookaround upon the members, and see if there is any one to whom you haveobjection. If so, state it."
Shorty glanced listlessly from the head of the table toward the foot.There his eye rested on the Second Lieutenant for a minute, and thenhe muttered to himself, "No, he's no worse than the rest ought to beon me," and shook his head in answer to the Judge-Advocate's formalquestion.
"You will each of you rise, hold up your right hand and be sworn," saidthe Judge-Advocate, and they each pronounced after him the prolix andponderous oath prescribed by the regulations:
"You, Maj. Benjamin Truax, do swear that you will well and truly try anddetermine, according to evidence, the matter now before you, between theUnited States of America and the prisoner to be tried, and that youwill duly administer justice, according to the provisions of an actestablishing rules and articles for the government of the armies of theUnited States, without partiality, favor or affection; and if anydoubt shall arise, not explained by said articles, according to yourunderstanding and the custom of war in such cases. And you do furtherswear, that you will not divulge the sentence of the court, until itshall be published by proper authority; neither will you discloseor discover the vote or opinion of any particular member of thecourt-martial, unless required to give evidence thereof, as a witness,by a court of justice in due course of law. So help you God."
The President then took the book and administered the same oath to theJudge-Advocate.
"I shall now read the charges and specifications," said theJudge-Advocate, "which are as follows, and he read with sonorousimpressiveness:
CHARGE:--Insulting, Threatening, and Striking Superior Officer.
Specification I.--That Corp'l William L. Elliott, Co. Q, 200th Ind. Vol.Inf., did strike and perform other physical violence upon Second Lieut.Adolph Steigermeyer, of the Second Corps, U. S. Engr's, who was hissuperior officer, and in the performance of his duty, in violation ofthe 9th Article of War, and contrary to the discipline of the Armies ofthe United States. This on the march of the army from Dalton, Ga., toCalhoun, Ga., and on the 16th day of May, 1864.
Specification II.--That said Corp'l William I.. Elliott, Co. Q, 200thInd. Vol. Inf., did threaten physical violence to the said Second Lieut,Adolph Steigermeyer, Second Corps, U. S. Engr's, his superior officer,and who was in the performance of his duty, contrary to the 9th Articleof War, and the discipline of the Armies of the United States. This onthe march of the army from Dalton, Ga., to Calhoun, Ga., and on the 16thday of May, 1864.
Specification III.--That said Corp'l William L. Elliott, Co. Q, 200thInd. Vol. Inf., did insult with many opprobrious words, the said AdolphSteigermeyer, Second Corps, U. S. Engr's, his superior officer, in thepresence of many enlisted men, in violation of the 6th Article of Warand of the discipline of the Armies of the United States. This on themarch of the army from Dalton, Ga., to Calhoun, Ga., and on the 16th dayof May, 1864.
CHARGE:--Drunkenness on duty.
Specification I.--That said Corp'l William L. Elliott, Co. Q, 200th Ind.Vol. Inf., being then on duty, and in command of a squad of men, wasopenly and noisily intoxicated and drunk, and incapable of performingsaid duty, in violation of the 45th Article of war, and the disciplineof the Armies of the United States. This on the march of the army fromDalton, Ga., to Calhoun, Ga., and on the 16th day of May, 1864.
CHARGE 3.--Misappropriating Public Property.
Specification I.--That said Corp'l William L. Elliott, being chargedwith the duty of gathering up and accounting for the property capturedfrom and abandoned by the enemy, did appropriate to himself, attemptto conceal, and refuse to deliver to his superior officer a portionthereof, to wit, one pair of field glasses, in violation of the 58thArticle of War, and contrary to the discipline of the Armies of theUnited States. This on the march of the enemy from Dalton, Ga., toCalhoun, Ga., and on the 16th day of May, 1864.
"O, goodness gracious!" murmured little Pete Skidmore, almost faintingwith terror, in the covert of oak leaves, just above the court's head,whither he had noiselessly climbed, to overhear everything. "He'sa-goner, sure! They'll shoot him, sure as guns. Saltpeter won't savehim. He's broke every Article o' War in the whole book. My, what will Ido?"
He slipped down and communicated his information to theanxiously-expectant comrades of Co. Q.
"It mayn't be as bad as we expect," the Orderly-Sergeant tried toconsole them. "The bite of most of them regulations and charges andspecifications ain't never near as bad as their bark. If they were,a good many of us would have been shot long ago. My experience in thearmy's been that the regulations are like the switches the teachers usedto have in school--a willow for the good scholars, and a stout hickoryfor the bad ones. Still, I'm afraid that Shorty won't get off with lessthan hard labor for life on the fortifications."
"Prisoner, you have heard the charges and specifications," said Lieut.Bowersox, in a stern voice. "How do you plead to them?"
"O, I'm guilty--guilty o' the whole lot," said Shorty dejectedly.
"Inasmuch," said Lieut. Bowersox, with an entire change of tone, "asit is my duty to represent the prisoner's interests as counsel, I shalldisregard his plea, and enter one of not guilty."
Shorty started to gasp. "But I done all that--"
"Silence," thundered Lieut. Bowersox, "you are only to speak, sir, whenI or some other member of the court ask you a question."
"But has the Judge-Advocate the right to disregard the plain plea?"Lieut. McJimsey started to inquire, when the President interrupted with,
"Lieutenant, we can have no discussion of the court's practices in thepresence of the prisoner. If you want to enter upon that we shall haveto clear the court. Do you desire that?"
There was something in the bluff old Major's tone that made theLieutenant think this inadvisable, and he signified the negative.
"Call your first witness, then, Judge-Advocate," said Maj. Truax, with awave of his hand.
Lieut. Steigermeyer, in full-dress, even to epaulets, rigidly erect andsternly important as to look, testified that he was a SecondLieutenant in the Regular Army, but had the staff rank of Captain andInspector-General, and after going out of his way to allude to thelaxness of discipline he found prevailing in the Western armies,testified that on the day mentioned, while in pursuance of his duty, hewas going over the battlefield, he came upon the prisoner, whosedrunken yelling attracted his attention; that he had admonished him, andreceived insults in reply.
"My way is to knock a man down, when he gives me any back talk,"remarked the Major, sotto voce, taking a fresh chew of tobacco. "That'sbetter than court-martialing to promote discipline."
"Further admonitions," continued the Lieutenant, "had the same result,and I was about to call a guard to put him under arrest, when I happenedto notice a pair of field-glasses that the prisoner had picked up, andwas evidently intending to appropriate to his own use, and not accountfor them. This was confirmed by his approaching me in a menacing manner,insolently demanding their return, and threatening me in a loud voiceif I did not give them up, which I properly refused to do, and ordereda Sergeant who had come up to seize and buck-and-gag him. The Sergeant,against whom I shall appear later, did not obey my orders, but seemedto abet his companion's gross insubordination. The scene finallyculminated, in the presence of a number of enlisted men, in theprisoner's wrenching the field-glasses away from me by main force, andwould have struck me had not the Sergeant prevented this. It was such anact as in any other army in the world would have subjected the offenderto instant execution. It was only possible in--"
"Pardon me, Lieutenant--I should perhaps say Captain"--interruptedLieut. Bowersox, with much sweetness of manner, "but the most of us arefamiliar with your views as to the inferiority of the discipline of theWestern Armies to that of the Army of the Potomac and European armies,so that we need not take up the' time of the court with its reiteration.What farther happened?"
"Nothing. The Provost Guard came up at that moment, and I directed aSergeant to place the two principal offenders in custody, and secure thenames of the witnesses."
"Is that all, Captain?"
"Yes, except that in closing my testimony I feel that it is my duty toimpress upon the court that so flagrant a case as this should be madethe opportunity for an example in the interests of discipline in thewhole army. I have known this prisoner for some time, and watched him.This is not the first time that he and the Sergeant have insulted me.They are leaders in that class of uneducated fellows who have entirelytoo little respect for officers and gentlemen. They should be taught alesson. This is necessary for the dignity and effectiveness of gentlemenwho bear commissions, and--"
"I will ask the witness if this lecture on military ethics is a part ofhis testimony?" asked the Major:
"I think it is needed," answered the Lieutenant tartly.
"Let me see, Steigermeyer," said the Major, adjusting another chew oftobacco to his mouth, and balancing the knife with which he had cut itoff, judicially in his fingers, a favorite position of his when, as alawyer, he was putting a witness through a cross-examination. "How longhave you been with this army? Came West with the Eleventh Corps, didn'tyou?"
"No; I was left behind on duty. I didn't come for several weeks after."
"So I thought. You weren't with us at Stone River, or Chickamauga, orMission Ridge. You'd know more if you had been. Your mental horizonwould have been enlarged, so to speak. Aren't you from Milwaukee?"
"I was born and brought up there, until I went to West Point," answeredthe Lieutenant, rather uneasily.
"So I thought. The only man of your name that I ever heard of kept asaloon in Milwaukee--a great place for politicians to hang around. Iused to go there myself when I was in politics. He was a sort of a wardboss. Was he your father?"
"Yes, sir," said the Lieutenant, with reddening face; "but I don'tknow what this has to do with the case that I have presented to yourattention."
"It has a great deal to do with this lecture with which you have favoredus," answered the Major dryly. "But we'll not discuss that in opencourt. Are you through with the witness, Judge-Advocate? If so
, call thenext."
"I'll just ask the Captain a few questions for the defense," said Lieut.Bowersox. "How did you know that the prisoner was drunk?"
"How did I know it? How does any man know that another is drunk? He wasboisterous, excited and yelling--that kind of a drunk."
"But that does not prove that he was drunk. That may be his way of doinghis work. Did you see him drink?"
"No."
"Did you ever see him before?"
"Yes."
"How was he acting then?"
"I shall have to say that he was boisterous and yelling then, but not sowildly excited."
"Then it was only a difference in degree, not kind. Was he notaccomplishing what he was ordered to do?"
"Yes, he certainly did bring that limber out of the gulch."
"Then it is only a matter of opinion that he was drunk. You have nothingto guide you except your judgment that the man was drunk, who was stilldoing his duty pretty effectively."
"But there could be no mistake. I know that the man was raging drunk."
"As I said before, that is a matter of opinion and judgment which I willdiscuss with the court later. Did the prisoner actually strike you?"
"I cannot say that he actually did, farther than snatch out of my handthe field-glasses."
"He didn't do it! You're lyin'! I yanked the glasses out of your hand.'Twas me," shouted little Pete, from the oak leaves.
The members all looked up in astonishment.
"Sergeant," said the Major to the Sergeant of the Provost Guard, "fetchthat little rascal down and buck-an-gag him, until I can decide whatfurther punishment he deserves for eavesdropping, and interrupting thecourt."
"I don't care if you kill me," whimpered little Pete, as they tied hishands together, "if you'll only let Corp'l Elliott off. He wasn't toblame. It was me.
"You can go," said Lieut. Bowersox to the Lieutenant. "Sergeant, bringin Orderly-Sergeant Jacob Whitelaw."
In response to the Judge-Advocate's direct questionings theOrderly-Sergeant had to sorrowfully admit that he thought that Shortywas drunk, very drunk, and exceedingly noisy. But when Lieut. Bowersoxchanged to the defense, the Orderly-Sergeant testified with greatalacrity that he had not seen Shorty take a drink, that he did not knowwhere he could have got whisky; did not know where in all that part ofGeorgia there was a drop of liquor outside of the Surgeon's stores andthe officers' canteens; that he wished he did know, for he'd like tohave a drink himself; and that Shorty, when he was putting forth hisgreatest strength, was generally very vociferous and not at all carefulof what he said. This was one of the peculiarities of the man, that hewas overlooked on account of his great effectiveness on the men when inthat state.
The other members of the company testified in the same way, giving theirbelief even more emphatically against any liquor being found anywhere inthat neighborhood, and the unlikelihood of Shorty's being able to obtainany. The other members of the court had "caught on" very quickly to thetactics of the President and Judge-Advocate. All except Lieut. McJimsey,whose prepossessions were decidedly and manifestly in favor of theattitude of his brother staff officer. He grew stiffer and more doggedas the case proceeded, and frequently asked embarrassing questions. TheJudge-Advocate announced that "the case was closed, and the court wouldbe cleared for deliberation.
"Before you open, Judge-Advocate," said Maj. Truax significantly, "Iwant to say something, not as a member of this court, but somethingbetween gentlemen, and I want to say it before we begin ourdeliberations, in order that it shall not be considered as part of them,or influencing them. The lecture by that self-sufficient fellow on ourduties makes me tired. I remember his father--he sold the meanest whiskyto be found in Milwaukee. I want to say right here that no man who sellslager beer can sell whisky fit for gentlemen to drink. Beer corrupts histaste, mind and judgment. Old Steigermeyer had a good deal of politicalinfluence of a certain kind, and he bulldozed the Representative fromhis District into giving his son an appointment to West Point. Now thisyoung upstart comes around and absolutely lectures us who have alwaysbeen gentlemen, and our fathers before us, on gentlemanliness. It washard for me to keep from saying something right before him about thequality of whisky his father used to sell. I can stand a good deal,but the idea of a ginmill keeper's son lording it over others and overenlisted men who came of much better stock than he does sticks in mycraw. Now, whenever I find one of these whose father got his appointmentas Steigermeyer's father did (and the old Major's eye wandered downto where Lieut. McJimsey's air of sternness had given way to visibleunrest) I'm tempted to say unpleasant things. Now, Judge-Advocate,proceed."
"The evidence in this case," said Lieut. Bowersox, with the severityproper to a vindicator of justice, "shows that it was a very flagrantbreach of the essentials of discipline, and deserves stern treatment. Aman wearing the chevrons of a Corporal, has, in the presence of a numberof enlisted men, behaved in the most unseemly manner, showed grossdisobedience to his superior officer, reviled him with opprobriousepithets, threatened to strike him, and actually did strike him. On theother hand (and the Lieutenant's tone changed to that of counsel for thedefense), we all of us know that the prisoner is an excellent soldier oflong service, that his influence has always been for the best, and thathe was promoted to Corporal as an exceptional compliment for his part incapturing a rebel flag at Chickamauga, where he was wounded and leftfor dead on the field. It is for you, gentlemen, to take all these factsinto consideration, and determine how men of this stamp should be dealtwith for the best interests of the service. The evidence against him isin many respects conflicting, and rests upon mere judgment, in which thebest of us are liable to err. I will not detain you farther, gentlemen."
"You say this prisoner was promoted for capturing a rebel flag atChickamauga?" asked Maj. Truax, who was perfectly aware of the fact, butwanted to emphasize it upon the others.
"Yes," said Lieut. Bowersox, only too glad of the opportunity. "I saw itall. Gallant a thing as was ever done. Simply magnificent. Thrills me tothink about it. I tell you that fellow's a soldier all the way through.
"That was before this Stiegermeyer fellow and a lot of other fellows(and again his eyes wandered carelessly down toward Lieut. McJimsey)had even joined us. I remember him also bringing up ammunition to hisregiment at Stone River. He is one of those fellows that you can sendto the rear, and always be sure that he'll come back as fast as his feetcan carry him. I don't want to influence any member of this court, butthe evidence that we have heard don't go an inch toward convincing methat he was drunk, or struck at his superior officer. There was somemistake, always liable to excited men. Lieut. McJimsey, you are thejunior officer present. It is your right to speak and vote first. Let ushear from you."
The Lieutenant seemed to have recovered his sternness, and hisexpression showed a determination to wreak exemplary punishment on theman who had so grievously offended one of his class.
"It is clear to me," he began in a hard, set tone, "that an exampleshould be made. These low, brutal fellows--"
"When I lived in Chicago," broke in the Major, in a conversational tone,apparently forgetful that he had called upon the Lieutenant to speak,but fixing a very piercing blue eye upon him, "I used to mix up a gooddeal with the boys who hung around a saloon kept by a ward politician,an unscrupulous, noisy, driving fellow named--But excuse me. Lieutenant,I forgot for the moment that I had called upon you to speak."
The Lieutenant's face had undergone a remarkable change, and as he sankback in his seat, he said in a forced voice:
"In consideration solely of the previous excellent character of theprisoner, I vote not guilty on all the charges and specifications, butwith a distinct warning to the man as to the future."
"So do I!" "So do I!" said the rest, one after another, so quickly thatit was almost a chorus.
"Judge-Advocate," said Maj. Truax, "when the General approves thisfinding, and you communicate it to prisoner, whisper in his ear that ifhe ever strains us this way again I'l
l take it upon myself to break hisfool neck. Let him look a little out."
"The next case I have is that of Serg't Josiah Klegg, implicated in thesame affair," said Lieut. Bowersox.
"Since we have acquitted the principal, it would be foolish to try theaccessory," said Maj. Truax. "Say the same thing to him. Now, let'sget down to business. Bring in that man that skulked when the boys weregoing for that abatis. I want to make an example of him, for the good ofthe service."