[Illustration: Sergeant Hunter Charging the Confederates]
Brave Deeds of Union Soldiers
By
SAMUEL SCOVILLE, JR.
PHILADELPHIA
GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY
GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY
_Published November, 1915_
_All rights reserved_
Printed in U.S.A.
_To Theodore Roosevelt_
_Commissioner, Governor, Colonel and President, who believes in peace
with honor, but never in peace at the price of righteousness and whose
own life has been full of deeds of physical and moral courage, this
book of brave deeds is dedicated._
Foreword
In these days when even our skies are shadowed by wars and rumors of
wars, it is fitting to remember what men and women and children of our
blood have done in the past. In this chronicle have been included not
alone the great deeds of great men, but also the brave deeds of
commonplace people. May the tale of their every-day heroism be an
inspiration to each one of us to do our best endeavor when we find
ourselves in the crisis-times of life.
Contents
I. THE BARE BRIGADE 11
II. THE ESCAPE FROM LIBBY PRISON 19
III. TWO AGAINST A CITY 39
IV. BOY HEROES 51
V. THE CHARGE OF ZAGONYI 79
VI. THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE 95
VII. SHERIDAN'S RIDE 121
VIII. THE BLOODY ANGLE 141
IX. HEROES OF GETTYSBURG 163
X. THE LONE SCOUT 185
XI. RUNNING THE GAUNTLET 213
XII. FORGOTTEN HEROES 229
XIII. THE THREE HUNDRED WHO SAVED AN ARMY 253
XIV. THE RESCUE OF THE SCOUTS 273
XV. THE BOY-GENERAL 311
XVI. MEDAL-OF-HONOR MEN 325
Illustrations
Sergeant Hunter Charging the Confederates _Frontispiece_
Libby Prison _Facing page_ 24
Captain Bailey and Midshipman Read
Facing the New Orleans Mob " " 46
Sheridan Hurrying to Rally his Men " " 136
The Battle of Gettysburg " " 174
Corporal Pike " " 190
In the Woods Near Chancellorsville " " 264
Attacking the Inner Traverses of Fort Fisher " " 320
CHAPTER I
THE BARE BRIGADE
Kipling wrote one of his best stories on how Mulvaney and his captain
with an undressed company swam the Irriwaddy River in India and
captured Lungtungpen. It was a brave deed. The average man can't be
brave without his clothes.
In the Civil War there was one unchronicled fight where a few naked,
shoeless men swam a roaring river, marched through a thorny forest and
captured a superior and entrenched force of the enemy together with
their guns. This American Lungtungpen happened on the great march of
General Sherman to the sea. He had fought the deadly and lost battle of
Kenesaw Mountain, and failing to drive out the crafty Confederate
General Johnson by direct assault outflanked him and forced him to fall
back. Then the Union Army celebrated the Fourth of July, 1864, by the
battle of Ruffs Station and drove Johnson back and across the
Chattahoochee River. The heavy rains had so swollen this river that all
the fords were impassable, while the Confederates had destroyed all
boats for miles up and down the river to prevent them from being used
by the Union Army and had settled down for a rest from their relentless
pursuers. General McCook was commanding the part of the Union line
fronting directly on the river. Orders came from General Sherman to
cross at Cochran's Ford and Colonel Brownlow of the First Tennessee
Regiment was ordered to carry out this command. He was the son of
Fighting Parson Brownlow and had the reputation of not knowing what
fear was. The attempt was made at three o'clock in the morning. It was
raining in torrents and the men at the word of command dashed into the
river. The water kept getting deeper and deeper and the bottom proved
to be covered with great boulders over which the horses stumbled and
round which the cross torrents foamed and rushed. When the men had
finally reached the middle of the river and were swimming for dear
life, suddenly a company of Confederates on the other side opened up on
them at close range. As the bullets zipped and pattered through the
water, the floundering, swimming men turned around and made the best of
their way back, feeling that this was an impossible crossing to make.
Once safely back they deployed on the bank and kept up a scattering
fire all that morning against the enemy.
As the day wore on, Colonel Dorr, who commanded the brigade, made his
appearance and inquired angrily why the First Tennessee was not on the
other side and in possession of the opposite bank. Colonel Brownlow
explained that he had made the attempt, that there was no ford and that
to attempt to make a swimming charge through the rough water and in the
face of an entrenched enemy would be to sacrifice his whole regiment
uselessly. Colonel Dorr would listen to no explanations.
"If you and your men are afraid to do what you're told, say so and I'll
report to General Sherman and see if he can't find some one else," he
shouted and rode off, leaving Colonel Brownlow and his command in a
fighting frame of mind. The former called nine of his best men to the
rear and it was some time before he was calm enough to speak.
"Boys," he said at last, "we've _got_ to cross that river. It's plain
it can't be forded. We've no pontoons and I am not going to have my men
slaughtered while they swim, but you fellows come with me and we'll
drive those Rebs out of there before dark."
He then gave directions for the rest of his men to keep up a tremendous
fire to divert the attention of the enemy. In the meanwhile he and his
little squad marched through the brush to a point about a mile up the
river behind a bend. There they stripped to the skin and made a little
raft of two logs. On this they placed their carbines, cartridge boxes
and belts and swam out into the rough water, pushing the little raft in
front of them. It was hard going. The water was high, and every once in
a while the fierce current would dash and bruise some of the men
against the boulders which were scattered everywhere along the bed of
the river. The best swimmers, however, helped the weaker ones and they
all worked together to keep the precious raft right side up and their
ammunition and rifles dry. After a tremendous struggle they finally
reached the opposite bank without having seen any Confederates. There
they lined up, strapped on their cartridge belts, shouldered their
carbines and started to march through the brush. Every step they took
over the sharp stones and twigs and thorns was agony and the men
relieved themselves by using extremely strong language.
"No swearing, men!" said Colonel Brownlow, sternly.
At that moment he stepped on a long thorn and instantly disobeyed his
own order. He halted the column, extracted the thorn and amended his
order.
"No swearing, men,--unless it's absolutely necessary," he commanded.
They limped along through the brush until they reached a road that led
to the ford some four hundred yards in the rear of the enemy whom they
could see firing away for dear life at the Union soldiers on the other
side. The Confederate forces consisted of about fifty men. Colonel
Brownlow and his nine crept through the brush as silently as possible
until they were within a few yards of the unconscious enemy. Then they
straightened up, cocked their carbines, poured in a volley and with a
tremendous yell charged down upon them. The Confederates upon receiving
this unexpected attack from the rear sprang to their feet, but when
they saw the ten white ghostly figures charge down upon them, yelling
like madmen, it was too much for their nerves and they scattered on
every side. Twelve of them were captured. The last one was a
freckle-faced rebel who tried to hide behind a tree. When seen,
however, he came forward and threw down his gun.
"Well, Yanks, I surrender," he said, "but it ain't fair. You ought to
be ashamed to go charging around the country this way. If you'd been
captured, we'd have hung you for spies because you ain't got any
uniforms on."
Colonel Brownlow hustled his prisoners up the river to the raft and
made them swim across in front of them and then reported to General
McCook that he had driven the enemy out of the rifle-pits, captured
twelve men, one officer and two boats. Shortly afterward the
Confederates withdrew from their position for, as some of the prisoners
explained, they felt that if the Yanks could fight like that undressed,
there was no telling what they'd do if they came over with their
clothes on.