A LIEUTENANT AMONG THE "MISSING"
Major Walthal was very gentlemanly and very polite; but it appeared at
once 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 could
not help observing the contrast between the Riverlawns and the
Confederate company near them. Captain Gordon, who had been the
principal instructor of the squadron, was very neat and precise about
his person, and had always required the troopers to keep their uniforms
and arms and their horses, with their equipments, in good condition.
On the contrary, this particular company of the enemy presented a
slovenly appearance; quite in contrast, also, with some other regiments
of their army. The major was a soldier of the highest type, and he
could not fail to see the neatness of the Riverlawns. Very likely he
was sorry to prevent the young lieutenant from carrying out his
intention to leave the camp; but his ideal as a military officer was to
do 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 even
more in earnest than usual; his horse was well trained, and when his
rider pressed his knees against his flanks, he darted off with fury
enough to satisfy the determined horseman.
"Halt!" shouted the major; but he might as well have addressed the wind
or 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 no
sabre; nothing but his dress sword. Perhaps the captain felt the
necessity of redeeming himself after the number of lies he had told;
and he gave the order to charge the impetuous platoon, leading the
onslaught in person. The position of his company was nearer to the
entrance than that of Deck's command; but Life had spotted him, and
rushed upon him.
In spite of his shouting, there was little vim in the movement of the
captain. He made an awkward cut at the sergeant, who easily parried it,
and brought the sharp edge of his sabre down upon his shoulder, near
the neck, and the officer dropped to the ground as though a bullet had
gone through his brain. His horse turned, and had nearly upset the
major in his flight, and it was evident that the animal was not
accustomed to this kind of business. If the major could have obtained a
sabre, he would have done better work, and perhaps the platoon would
have been checked in its onward movement.
Deck, mindful of the many lessons in prudence he had received from his
father and his captain, had taken a position on the left of his
command; but the enemy were not there at that moment, though the
Confederate troopers, under the second lieutenant, were surrounding the
Riverlawns from the rear as they advanced. Deck realized that whatever
was done must be accomplished in a moment or never, and he could not
restrain himself, but galloped to the front.
Ceph, his horse, began to put his education into practice, and stood up
on his hind feet before the first trooper that came in front of him. At
that moment the lieutenant cleaved the skull of the man in twain. The
enemy did not fight like the Texan Rangers with whom the young officer
had been pitted before. In fact, they fell back, and began to use their
pistols. One of the Riverlawns dropped from his steed with his face
covered with blood.
The lieutenant saw with intense regret that this man was Sergeant
Fronklyn; but he was apparently only stunned partially by the bullet,
for he sprang to his feet with the aid of a comrade, though his horse
had gone with the forward movement of the platoon, and was out of his
reach. At about the same moment the second lieutenant of the Southern
company, who was a gigantic Tennesseean, led his platoon to the left of
the Riverlawns, and pushed on towards their front.
This big fellow was a brave man, whatever might be said of the greater
portion of his comrades, and had his eye on Deck, who had just brought
his sabre down upon the trooper whose head he had split in twain. The
Southron dashed up to him, and levelled a blow with his weapon at the
head of the young officer, just as the latter was turning to confront
the enemy in his rear. This movement evidently disturbed the aim of the
lieutenant, and turned the sabre in his hand.
But the blow came down with the flat side of the blade upon Deck's
head. It stunned him, and his brain whirled. He dropped from Ceph, just
as that intelligent animal rose again on his hind feet to confront the
new enemy; but there was no one in the saddle to strike the blow that
might have killed or disabled the giant who had done the mischief to
the intrepid young officer. Corporal Tilford, who was a powerful man,
dashed his horse against the Tennessee lieutenant, and struck him in
the rear, just as the latter had done to Deck. His aim was better, and
he did not permit the hilt to turn in his hand, and the giant finished
his earthly career there.
Sergeant Fronklyn, though wounded himself, had strength enough to drag
his officer to one side of the platoon, so that his form might not be
crushed by the advance of horses' feet. The troopers had seen the fall
of 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 impetuosity
which the enemy could not withstand, and a large portion of the latter
justified 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. It
was fortunate for the entrapped platoon that it was not set upon by
some other company of the Confederate cavalry, rather than one which
had run away from the field of battle; for in that case they might all
have been prisoners of war.
Sergeant Knox remained at the head of the platoon, and after he had
struck down with his powerful right arm two or three that confronted
him, he was avoided by the enemy; but he continued to shout encouraging
words to the men, who did not flinch a hair from the troopers that
beset them in double their own numbers.
"Now forward, my boys!" he cried, as he saw that the entrance was clear
for the passage of the body.
The men pressed on, upsetting the enemy in their path, though most of
them had fallen back out of the reach of the sabres of the Riverlawns;
and with this renewed effort they passed through the entrance and out
of the intrenchments. But they had no sooner reached the outside of the
works than they discovered the rest of the squadron in a fight at the
foot of the first hill, with a whole regiment of Confederate cavalry.
Captain Woodbine had occupied this hill at the beginning of the fight
in this section, and on it Captain Ripley and his riflemen had been
posted later.
The two companies of the First Kentucky were moving forward; but there
was not room enough for them to manoeuvre. As usual, the sharpshooters
were making havoc in the ranks of the regiment, and the head of the
column was falling back to escape the deadly rifle-balls. Life halted
his platoon, and looked them over, puffing like a steam-engine from the
violence of his excitement and the fury of his exertions to save the
command. The prospect before him was not encouraging, for the enemy had
some troops outside of the works.
"Where is Leftenant Lyon?" demanded he of Corporal Tilford, as the
latter rode up to him to give him information in regard to the officer
in command of the platoon.
"I am sorry to say we left him in the enemy's camp," replied the
corporal.
"Left him there!" exclaimed Life, with something like horror in his
expression. "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 as
though he had lost the only friend he had in the world.
"I don't know for certain that he was killed, and should report him
with the missing," replied the corporal.
"I don't understand it," continued the sergeant. "The lieutenant was
always 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 of
infantry coming out of the fort, and another approaching across the
field. "We shall soon be surrounded here."
The sergeant looked about him, and the prospect near the fort was not
encouraging. He gave the order to march, and led the way. The ground
was hard here, and he galloped his horse at his best speed towards the
second hill. The main body of the Riverlawns had a favorable position
between the first hill and the end of the breastworks. The enemy had
come down the pike. Between the two hills the two companies of the
First Kentucky Cavalry had been skilfully posted by the senior captain
when he found that there was no space between the hill and the
intrenchments for his command.
Major Lyon, as it was afterwards stated, had started to the entrance of
the fort, for the purpose of aiding the escape of the second platoon of
the first company. Before he had advanced more than a few rods, his
force had been attacked by the regiment which had just escaped from the
field of battle. They had been ordered by some superior officer on the
ground to attack the major's command; and the regiment had rushed into
the narrow defile, where only a portion of it could be brought into
action. The sharpshooters were rapidly reducing the numbers at the head
of the column, though the ranks were immediately filled up by the
sections behind them.
Life led his platoon, diminished in numbers by only three men besides
the lieutenant, to a point in the field abreast of the farther side of
the first hill. At this place he could see the riflemen posted behind
trees and rocks, plying their deadly office with the utmost diligence,
and after the manner the captain had ordered on the hill and at the
meadow. He was operating upon the head of the enemy's column. The
sergeant found that there was space enough between the hill and the end
of the breastworks for him to charge the regiment on the flank, and at
least make a demonstration in that quarter.
The Confederate column was losing its men at a fearful rate in its
first company, and the second was sent to dislodge the concealed force
on the hill. They moved gallantly forward, and began the ascent of the
slope; but the ground was rough, and covered with trees and rocks,
though the former were scattered just enough to enable the
sharpshooters to fire over and between them. The advancing force were
nearer the riflemen than the companies on the ground, and they dropped
almost as fast as they went forward, and the company was soon recalled.
Sergeant Knox conducted his platoon through the opening, and fell upon
the third company just as the second were approaching the position they
had occupied before. As usual, his men fought furiously, and very
unexpectedly a panic ensued. The Confederates evidently believed that
they were flanked by a large force, and began to fall back towards the
intrenchments, crowding the companies in the rear before them.
The men in the first company continued to fall in appalling numbers
before the riflemen's unerring aim. The Riverlawns pressed them with
renewed zeal, and they fell back into the gap made by the flankers. In
this manner the second platoon came into their proper position, while
the first company, now re-enforced by the two companies of their
regiment, marched into the fort; and the fight for the time ended
there. By this time it was beginning to be dark, and it was not likely
that the battle would be renewed that night. The work of the next
morning was to attack and carry the intrenchments.
The battalion had been under the command of Captain Woodbine, the
staff-officer, from the time when the two companies in the rear had
been brought into the action. He ordered his force to return to the end
of the roads by which they had arrived. Major Lyon led his squadron
back to the point indicated, and halted his men there. As soon as he
had done so he rode back to look over his command. The riflemen were
recalled. It was found that they had lost four men in killed, and nine
wounded, most of them by the shells from the fort.
Both companies reported their loss in general terms. Dr. Farnwright had
established his hospital in the rear, and had a considerable number of
patients. Captain Gordon could only report for half of his command, for
the other half had been absent. The major passed on to the second
platoon, and was startled to see that it was in command of the first
sergeant.
"Where is Lieutenant Lyon?" he asked, choking down the emotions that
agitated him.
"Missing, Major," replied Life.
"Missing?" repeated the father of the lieutenant. "I will hear your
report later;" and he rode back to the head of the column.