Si Klegg, Book 4

by John McElroy

  CHAPTER XV. KEYED UP FOR ACTION

  MARCHING INTO THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA.

  ALL of that eventful 19th of September, 1864, the men of Lieut.Bowersox's detachment were keyed up with the knowledge that they wereheading straight for a desperate battle, and the main fear with Si,Shorty and the great majority was that they would not reach the field intime to take a hand in the affray. It seemed that never ran a locomotiveat such a snail's pace as their engine was compelled to do over thewretched road bed and improvised bridges. The engineer, stimulated bythe excitement and the urgent messages at every station, was doing hisvery best, but his engine was ditched once and narrowly escaped ita hundred times. The only curb to their impatience was the absoluteknowledge that an attempt at faster running would result in not gettingthere in time at all.

  At every stopping place news from the front was eagerly sought for andcanvassed. It was at all times aggressively meager. All that could belearned was that the whole rebel army was out on the Chickamauga somemiles from Chattanooga, and savagely attacking the Union army to driveit away and recapture the town.

  The news was generally very encouraging. Every attack of the rebels hadbeen repulsed, though our own loss had been heavy. But every man wasneeded. The rebel lines extended far beyond those of the Union army ineach direction, and still they had enough for heavy assaulting columns.Everybody in the neighborhood of Chattanooga had been orderedup, leaving only the meagerest possible guards for the trains andcommunications.

  This increased the burning impatience of the boys to get where theycould be of service. But it was far into the night when they finallyskirted the frowning palisades of Lookout Mountain, and went intobivouac on the banks of Chattanooga Creek. All of the squad wanted guns,and Si and Shorty had been desperately anxious to get them for them.

  At the stopping places were squads of guards, men more or less sick, andmen on detached duty. Whereever Si or Shorty's sharp search could finda gun not actually in use, or not likely to be, it was pretty sure, bysome means or other, either openly or surreptitiously, to be gotten intothe hands of one of the squad. In this way, by the time they arrived atChattanooga, they had nearly half their men armed, and had given themsome preliminary instruction in handling their guns. The Indianiansneeded little so far as loading and firing, for they were all naturalmarksmen, but to the Englishman and his Irish squad the musket was athing of mystery and dread.

  "An' is that the goon for me?" said one of the Irishmen contemptuously,as Si proudly handed him a trusty Springfield he had found unwatchedsome where. "That fool thing wid a bore no bigger'n a gimlet hole? Fwhy,out in the ould country, when we go man-hunting, we take a goon wid amouth like a funnel, that ye can put a hat full av balls inter. To thedivil wid such a goon as this."

  "Fix your mind on learnin' the kinks o' that gun, Barney," advisedShorty. "One ball from it put in the right place 'll do more than a hatfull from your old Irish blunderbuss. A man that gits only one from itwon't need nothin' more'n a head stone and his name crossed offen theroster. Git a good squint at him through them sights, jest be low hisbelt, hold stiddy while you pull the trigger, and his name 'll be mud."

  "But fwhere is the powdher to make the ball go?" persisted Barney,looking at the cartridge which Shorty had put in his hand.

  "The powder is behind the ball in that paper bag," explained Shorty."You tear the paper with your teeth this way, and pour the powder intothe muzzle."

  "Fhat," said Barney contemptuously, surveying the cartridge. "There isn'tenough powdher there to throw a ball as far as Oi can a pebble. Fwhy, Oiused to put a whole handful o' powdher in the old blunderbuss. Oi wuddo betther to whack a man wid a shillelah. And fwhere is the flint tostroike foire?"

  "O, the flintlock's played out, you flannel-mouthed Irishman," saidShorty irritably. "It's as out-of-date as a bow and arrer. This's apercussion-lock; don't you understand? This is a cap. You stick it righton this nipple, an' when the hammer goes down off goes your gun. Don'tyou see?"

  "Well, you can say, maybe, an' maybe you can't But Oi can't. Take yourold goon. Oi'll none avit.

  "May the divil fly away wid it, an' wid you, too. Oi'd rather have a goodshtick. Wid a shtick in me fist Oi'll take care of ony spalpeen fwhat'llstand up in front av me. But wid a fool goon loike that Oi'd be kilt atwance."

  While Si and Shorty were still worrying about what to do for arms forthe remainder of their men, they heard what seemed to be about a companymarching toward them through the darkness.

  "I suppose we had better stop here and stack our arms out of the way,"they heard the officer say who seemed to be in command. "We've got anall-night's job before us, fixing up that bridge, and getting thosewagons across. Stack arms, boys, and leave your belts and traps withthem. There's lots of work down there for us."

  They could see dimly the men obeying the orders, and going down thebank of the creek, where they started large fires to light them at theirwork.

  "They have got a job ahead of 'em," remarked Shorty, looking in thedirection of the fires.

  "It'll take 'em all night and a large part o' tomorrow," said Si,significantly, as a thought entered his mind.

  "Indeed it will," accorded Shorty, as the same idea occurred to him."An' they won't need their guns. They're only pioneers, anyway."

  "If they do," chimed in Si, "they kin pick up plenty more just as goodaround somewhere, when daylight comes. That's what pioneers is for."

  "Si, you ketch on like a he snappin' turtle," said Shorty joyfully."We'll jest help ourselves to them guns and cartridge-boxes, and thenmove our camp over a little ways, and skeet out airly in the mornin' forthe front, and we'll be all right. Don't say nothin' to the Lieutenantabout it. He'll be all right, and approve of it, but he mustn't knowanything of it officially. You git the men up and I'll go over and givethe Lieutenant the wink and tell him that we've found a much betterbivouac about a mile further on."

  While the pioneers were struggling with their task, and the air down bythe creek was filled with shouts and commands, Si and Shorty, with someof the others, quietly appropriated enough stands of arms to completethe equipment of their squad.

  Shorty took much credit for his honesty and forbearance that he did nottouch a single one of the pioneers' belongings but their arms. A littlelater the squad was in bivouac a mile away.

  At the earliest dawn of Sept. 20 they were awake, and after a hastybreakfast moving out the Rossville road for the battlefield. Only anoccasional shot from a nervous picket, peering into the deep fog, orangry spatter from a squad of scouting cavalry disturbed the stillnessof the beautiful Autumn morning. The bright rays of the level sunwere bringing out the rich tints of the maples and dog woods on themountain-sides in all their gorgeous richness. Nature was smiling sobenignantly on every side that it needed the turmoil and rush in thewinding roads to remind one that somewhere near men were in bittercontrast with her divine serenity. But the roads were crowded withammunition and ration wagons pushing out to the front, and with mountedofficers and Orderlies making their way as rapidly as possible back andfor ward with orders and messages.

  Lieut. Bowersox left the road with his detachment and made his wayacross the fields, over ditches, ravines and creeks, through thethickets and the brush, and at last came out on top of Missionary Ridgeat the north side of Rossville Gap.

  With eager eyes they scanned the landscape of billowy mountains andhills to the east and south.

  A fog obscured all the lowlands, but far out columns of thin smokerising lazily on the still air showed where 150,000 men were marshalingfor bloody conflict.

  "That Major I spoke to," said Lieut. Bowersox, as Si and Shorty lookedanxiously in his face, "is on the corps staff, and he says the wholeinfernal Southern Confederacy is out there for blood. They jumped usyesterday like a pack of famished wolves. But Rosecrans had just got hisarmy together in time, though some of the divisions had to march tilltheir tongues were hanging out. All the boys were dead game, though,and they stood the rebels off everywhere in gr
eat shape. He hasn't thefaintest idea where the 200th Ind. is. The divisions and brigades havebeen jumped around from one end of the line to the other till he has butlittle more idea where any regiment is than if it was in the moon. Theonly way for us is to make our way as fast as we can to the front,where they need every man, and trust to luck to find the regiment. We'llprobably not find it, but we'll find a place where they need us badly."

  "Le's go ahead, then," said Si firmly, "as fast as we can. We'd muchrather be with the regiment, but we'll take whatever comes wherever itcomes, and do our level best."

  "I know you will, Sergeant," answered the Lieutenant. "Take another lookover your men. See that they've all cartridges, and caution them to keepcool, stay together, whatever happens, and listen to orders."

  Si felt a new and keener solicitude than he had ever before experienced.Hitherto his only thoughts were as to his own safety and to do himselfcredit in the discharge of his duty. Now he felt a heavy responsibilityfor every man in the detachment.

  He walked slowly down the front of the line, and looked into every man'sface. They appeared anxious but resolute. The face of Wat Burnham, theEnglishman, had settled into more of a bull-dog look than ever. TheIrishmen seemed eager. Abel Waite, the boy on the left, was as excitedas if a game of foot-ball was to come off. He called out:

  "Say, Sergeant, I hain't got but 10 cartridges. Will that be enough?"

  "It'll have to be enough for the present," answered Si. "Be careful of'em. Don't waste none. Be sure o' your man, aim low, git under his belt,an' be careful to ketch your hind-sight before you pull the trigger. Ifwe need more cartridges we'll have to find more somewhere."

  From away beyond the green and yellow waves of hills came the crash ofthe reopened battle. The ripping noise of regiments firing by volley washoarsely punctuated by the deep boom of the field-pieces.

  "Attention, company! Forward March!" shout ed Lieut. Bowersox.

  They swept down the mountain-side, over the next eminence, and soonward. At every crest that they raised the uproar of the battle becamelouder, the crash of musketry and the thunder of the can non morecontinuous. The roads were so filled with teams being urged forwardor backward that they could not follow them, but had to make their waythrough the woods and occasional fields, only keeping such direction aswould bring them quickest to some part of the stormy firing-line.

  The Lieutenant and Si and Shorty tried to make themselves believe thatthe noise was receding, showing that the rebels were being driven. Attimes it certainly was so, and then again it would burst out,

  "Nearer, clearer, deadlier than before," and their hearts would sinkagain. A little past noon they came upon a hight, and there met a sightwhich, for the moment, froze their blood. To their right front thewhole country was filled with men flying in the wildest confusion. Allsemblance of regimental order was lost in the awful turmoil. Cannon,sometimes drawn by two or three horses, sometimes by only one, wereplunging around amid the mob of infantrymen. Mounted officers werewildly galloping in all directions. Colors were carried to crests andridges, and for a moment groups of men would gather around them, only tomelt again into the mob of fugitives. From far behind came the yells ofthe exultant rebels, and a storm of shot and shell into the disorganizedmass.

  The boys' hearts sickened with the thought that the whole army was inutter rout. For a minute or two they surveyed the appalling sight inspeech less despair. Then a gleam of hope shot into Si's mind.

  "Listen," he said; "the firing is heavier than ever over there towardthe center and left, and you can see that men are goin' up instid o'runnin' away. It's Stone River over again. McCook's bin knocked topieces, just as he always is, but old Pap Thomas is standing there likea lion, just as he did at Stone River, and he's holding Crittenden withhim."

  "You're right, Si," shouted the Lieutenant and Shorty. "Hip, hip, hoorayfor the Army o' the Cumberland and old Pap Thomas!"

  They deflected to the left, so as to avoid being tangled up in the massof fugitives, and pushed forward more determinedly, if possible, thanever. They kept edging to the right, for they wanted to reach Thomas'sright as nearly as possible, as that was the natural position of theirregiment.

  Presently, on mounting a roll of the ground, they saw sloping down fromthem a few rods away, and running obliquely to their right, a small"deadening," made by the shiftless farmer for his scanty corn crop. Amob of fugitives flying through had trampled the stalks to the ground.Si and Shorty had seen some of them and yelled at them to come up andform on them, but the skedaddlers either would not or could not hear.

  Beyond the "deadening" came a horde of pursuing rebels, firing andyelling like demons. The sight and sound swelled the boys' hearts withthe rage of battle.

  "Lieutenant," suggested Si, "there's no need o' goin' any further justnow for a fight. We can have just as nice a one right here as we canfind anywhere. I move that we line up back here and wait for them rebelsto come on, an' then git 'em on the flank with an enfilade that'llsalivate 'em in a holy minute."

  "The same idea has occurred to me," said the Lieutenant; "though I'vefelt all along that we should not be diverted by anything from makingour way as fast as possible up to the main line. What do you think,Shorty?"

  "My idee is to down a rebel whenever you git a good chance," saidShorty. "'Do the work nearest thy hand,' I once heard an old preachersay. Le's jump these hounds right here."

  "All right," assented the Lieutenant quite willingly. "Form the men justback of the edge of the woods. Keep them out of sight, and cautionthem not to shoot till they get the order. We must wait till we get therebels just right."

  THEY POSTED THE MEN BEHIND THE TREES. 197]

  Si and Shorty hurriedly posted the men behind trees and rocks, cautionedthem to wait for orders, and fire low, and then stationed themselves,one at the right, and the other at the left of the irregular line.They had scarcely done so when the rebels came surging through the"deadening" in a torrent. They were urged on by two mounted officerswear ing respectively the silver stars of a Colonel and a Major.

  "The feller on the bay hoss's my meat," shouted Shorty from the left.

  "All right," answered Si. "I'll take the chap on the roan."

  "Wait a little," cautioned the Lieutenant. "We'll get more of them ifyou do. Now, let them have it. Ready Aim FIRE!"

  Down went the Colonel and Major and fully 50 of their men. The Indianarecruits might be green as to tactics, but they knew how to level a gun.

  The startled rebels ceased yelling, and looked around in amazement inthe direction whence the unexpected fire came. A few began firing thatway, but the majority started to run back across the "deadening" to thesheltering woods. Groups gathered around the fallen officers to carrythem back.

  "Load as fast as you can, boys," commanded the Lieutenant. "That was agood one. Give them an other."

  The young Irishmen were wild with excitement, and wanted to rush downand club the rebels, but the Lieutenant restrained them, though he couldnot get them to reload their guns. As Si was bringing down his gun henoticed the Englishman aiming at the groups about the officers.

  "Don't shoot them. Fire at the others," Si called out, while he himselfaimed at a man who was try ing to rally his comrades.

  "W'y the bloody 'ell shouldn't Hi shoot them the same has the hothers?"snarled the Englishman, firing into the group. "They're all bloodyrebels."

  By the time the second round was fired the "deadening" was clear of allthe rebels but those who had been struck. The others were re-forming onthe knoll beyond, and a field-piece was hurried up to their assistance,which threw a shell over at the line.

  "We had better move off," said the Lieutenant. "They're forming outthere to take us in flank, and we can't hold them back. We have done allthat we can here, and a mighty good job, too. We have saved a lot of ourmen and salted a good bagful of rebels. Attention! File left March!"

  "That was a mighty good introduction for the boys," said Si to Shortyas they moved on through the woods. "They be
gin to see how the thing'sdone; and didn't they act splendidly? I'm proud of Injianny."

  "Sergeant, didn't I do well?" asked Abel Waite, in the tone that hewould have inquired of his teacher about a recitation. "I done just asyou told me. I kep' my eye on the tall feller in front, who was wavin'his gun and yellin' at the rest to come on. I aimed just below his belt,an' he went down just like I've seen a beef when pap shot him."

  "Good boy," said Si, patting him on the shoul der. "You're a soldieralready."