Produced by David Widger
SI KLEGG
SI AND SHORTY, WITH THEIR BOY RECRUITS, ENTER ON THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN
By John McElroy
BOOK No. 6
PUBLISHED BY
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE COMPANY,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
SECOND EDITION
COPYRIGHT 1915
Contents:
CHAPTER I. SHORTY BEGINS BEING A FATHER TO PETE SKIDMORE
CHAPTER II. SI AND SHORTY COME VERY NEAR LOSING THEIR BOYS
CHAPTER III. THE PARTNERS GET BACK TO THEIR REGIMENT AT LAST
CHAPTER IV. THE RECRUITS ARE ASSIGNED TO COMPANIES
CHAPTER V. THE YOUNG RECRUITS
CHAPTER VI. SI KLEGG PUTS HIS AWKWARD SQUAD THROUGH ITS FIRST DRILL
CHAPTER VII. SHORTY'S HEART TURNS TOWARD MARIA
CHAPTER VIII. SHORTY WRITES A LETTER TO MARIA KLEGG
CHAPTER IX. SI TAKES HIS BOYS FOR A LITTLE MARCH INTO THE COUNTRY
CHAPTER X. THE BOYS HAVE A COUPLE OF LITTLE SKIRMISHES
CHAPTER XI. SHORTY GIVES THE BOYS THEIR FIRST LESSON IN FORAGING
CHAPTER XII. THE OPENING OF THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN
CHAPTER XIII. THE FIRST DAY OF THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN
CHAPTER XIV. THE EVENING AFTER THE BATTLE
CHAPTER XV. THE FIGHTING AROUND BUZZARD ROOST
CHAPTER XVI. THE 200TH IND. ASSAULTS THE REBEL WORKS AT DAYBREAK
CHAPTER XVII. GATHERING UP THE BOYS AFTER THE BATTLE
CHAPTER XVIII. AN ARTILLERY DUEL
CHAPTER XIX. SI AND SHORTY ARE PUT UNDER ARREST
CHAPTER XX. SHORTY IS ARRAIGNED BEFORE THE COURT-MARTIAL
PREFACE.
"Si Klegg, of the 200th Ind., and Shorty, his Partner," were born years
ago in the brain of John McElroy, Editor of The National Tribune.
These sketches are the original ones published in The National Tribune,
revised and enlarged somewhat by the author. How true they are to nature
every veteran can abundantly testify from his own service. Really, only
the name of the regiment was invented. There is no doubt that there were
several men of the name of Josiah Klegg in the Union Army, and who did
valiant service for the Government. They had experiences akin to, if
not identical with, those narrated here, and substantially every man
who faithfully and bravely carried a musket in defense of the best
Government on earth had sometimes, if not often, experiences of which
those of Si Klegg are a strong reminder.
The Publishers.
THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
TO THE RANK AND FILE
OF THE GREATEST ARMY EVER MUSTERED FOR WAR.
THIS IS NUMBER SIX
OF THE
SI KLEGG SERIES.
SI KLEGG
CHAPTER I. SHORTY BEGINS BEING A FATHER TO PETE SKIDMORE.
"Come, my boy," Si said kindly. "Don't cry. You're a soldier now, and
soldiers don't cry. Stop it."
"Dod durn it," blubbered Pete, "I ain't cryin' bekase Pm skeered. I'm
cryin' bekase I'm afeared you'll lose me. I know durned well you'll lose
me yit, with all this foolin' around."
"No, we won't," Si assured him. "You just keep with us and you'll be all
right."
"Here, you blim-blammed, moon-eyed suckers, git offen that 'ere
crossin'," yelled at them a fireman whose engine came tearing down
toward the middle of the squad. "Hain't you got no more sense than to
stand on a crossin'?"
He hurled a chunk of coal at the squad, which hastily followed Si to the
other side of the track.
"Hello, there; where are you goin', you chuckle-headed clodhoppers?"
yelled the men on another train rushing down from a different direction.
"This ain't no hayfield. Go back home and drive cows, and git out o' the
way o' men who're at work."
There was more scurrying, and when at last Si reached a clear space,
he had only a portion of his squad with him, while Shorty was vowing he
would not go a step farther until he had licked a railroad man. But
the engines continued to whirl back and forth in apparently purposeless
confusion, and the moment that he fixed upon any particular victim
of his wrath, he was sure to be compelled to jump out of the way of a
locomotive clanging up from an unexpected direction and interposing a
train of freight cars between him and the man he was after.
Si was too deeply exercised about getting his squad together to pay
attention to Shorty or the jeering, taunting railroaders. He became
very fearful that some of them had been caught and badly hurt, probably
killed, by the remorseless locomotives.
"This's wuss'n a battle," he remarked to the boys around him. "I'd
ruther take you out on the skirmish-line than through them trains agin."
However, he had come to get some comprehension of the lay of the ground
and the movements of the trains by this time, and by careful watching
succeeded in gathering in his boys, one after another, until he had them
all but little Pete Skidmore. The opinion grew among them that Pete had
unwisely tried to keep up with the bigger boys, who had jumped across
the track in front of a locomotive, and had been caught and crushed
beneath the wheels. He had been seen up to a certain time, and then
those who were last with him had been so busy getting out of the way
that they had forgotten to look for him. Si calmed Shorty down enough to
get him to forget the trainmen for awhile and take charge of the squad
while he went to look for Pete. He had become so bewildered that he
could not tell the direction whence they had come, or where the tragedy
was likely to have happened. The farther he went in attempting to
penetrate the maze of moving trains, the more hopeless the quest seemed.
Finally he went over to the engineer of a locomotive that was standing
still and inquired if he had heard of any accident to a boy soldier
during the day.
"Seems to me that I did hear some o' the boys talkin' about No. 47 or 63
havin' run over a boy, or something," answered the engineer carelessly,
without removing his pipe from his mouth. "I didn't pay no attention to
it. Them things happen every day. Sometimes it's my engine, sometimes
it's some other man's. But I hain't run over nobody for nigh a month
now."
"Confound it," said Si savagely; "you talk about runnin' over men as if
it was part o' your business."
"No," said the engineer languidly, as he reached up for his bell-rope.
"'Tain't, so to speak, part o' our regler business. But the yard's
awfully crowded, old Sherman's makin' it do five times the work it was
calculated for, trains has got to be run on the dot, and men must
keep off the track if they don't want to git hurt. Stand clear, there,
yourself, for I'm goin' to start."
Si returned dejectedly to the place where he had left his squad. The
expression of his face told the news before he had spoken a word. It was
now getting dark, and he and Shorty decided that it was the best
thing to go into bivouac where they were and wait till morning before
attempting to penetrate the maze beyond in search of their regiment.
They gathered up some wood, built fires, made coffee and ate the
remainder of their rations. They were all horribly depressed by little
Pete Skidmore's fate, and Si and Shorty, accustomed as they were to
violent deaths, could not free themselves from responsibility however
much they tried to reason it out as an unavoidable accident. They could
not talk to one another, but each wrapped himself up in his blanket and
sat moodily, a little distance from the fires, chewing the cud of bitter
fancies. Neither could bear the thought of reporting to their regiment
that they had been unable to take care of the smallest boy in their
squad. Si's mind went back to Peter Skidmore's home, and his mother,
whose heart would break over the news.
The clanging and whistling of the trains kept up unabated, and Si
thought they made the most hateful din that ever assailed his ears.
Presently one of the trains stopped opposite them and a voice called
from the locomotive:
"Do you men know of a squad of Injianny recruits commanded by Serg't
Klegg?"
"Yes, here they are," said Si, springing up. "I'm Serg't Klegg."
[Illustration: LITTLE PETE FOUND 13]
"That's him," piped out Pete Skidmore's voice from the engine, with a
very noticeable blubber of joy. "He's the same durned old-fool that I
kept tellin' all the time he'd lose me if he wasn't careful, and he went
and done it all the same."
"Well, here's your boy," continued the first voice. "Be mighty glad
you've got him back and see that you take care o' him after this. My
fireman run down on the cow-ketcher and snatched him up just in the
nick o' time. A second more and he'd bin mince-meat. Men what can't take
better care o' boys oughtn't to be allowed to have charge of 'em. But
the Government gits all sorts o' damn fools for $13 a month."
Si was so delighted at getting Pete back unhurt that he did not have the
heart to reply to the engineer's gibes.