Si Klegg, Book 6

by John McElroy

  CHAPTER XVI. THE 200TH IND. ASSAULTS THE REBEL WORKS AT DAYBREAK

  THERE were the same perplexing sounds of battle in many places anddirections when the 200th Ind. went into line as there had been aroundBuzzard Roost.

  Joe Johnston was fiercely contesting every hilltop and narrow gorge togain time to adjust his army to the unexpected movement through SnakeCreek Gap, and save the stores he had accumulated behind the heavyfortifications around Dalton.

  Though they had felt themselves completely worn out by the work withthe train, the prospect of a fight put new life into the 200th Ind., andthey leaned on their guns and listened to the crackling of musketryand booming of artillery far away to their left, to their right, andapparently in their rear. Sometimes the sounds would come so near thatthe wave of battle would seem to be surely rolling down on them. Thenthey would clutch their guns more firmly, and their hands instinctivelyseek their cartridge-boxes. Then the firing would as inexplicably diedown and stop, when they would again sink on the ground with fatigue.

  So the late afternoon wore on. It grew very quiet all around. Even thedull booming of the cannon far up the valley where Howard and Schofieldwere advancing on the heavy works immediately in front of Dalton, dieddown into sullen fitfulness.

  The silence of the woods and the mountains as night drew on became moreoppressive than the crashing sounds, the feverish movements, and thestrained expectancy of the day had been.

  The whip-poor-wills began to fill the evening air with their mournfulcalls, which accentuated and intensified the weird loneliness of thescene, where but a little while before there had been no thought but ofdeadly hatred and bitter strife.

  "I never heard the whip-poor-wills whip so gloomily," remarked thesentimental Alf Russell, after the regiment had stacked arms, and themen were resting, exhausted and out of temper, on the ground. "Seemsto me it sounds altogether different from the way they do at home; gotsomething savage in it."

  "Probably they're yelling their satisfaction over the number of menthey've seen killed and wounded today," ventured Monty Scruggs. "Does'em good to see men shooting at one another instead of birds."

  "Dumbed little brutes," grumbled Shorty, nursing his hurt foot, "ifthey'd bin wrastlin' all day with a mule train they'd be too tired togo yellin' around like that. I always did hate a whip-poor-will, anyway.They hain't got sense enough to do anything but yell, jest like a paselo' rebel cavalry."

  "Great Scott! I wisht I knowed whether we're goin' to stay heretonight," said Si, handling his blanket roll with a look ofanticipation.

  "No," said the Orderly, coming down from the right of the regiment."We're to move forward about a mile, and establish a line for therest of the brigade to form on. We're to go quietly, without noise orcommands, and then bivouac without fires. Get your guns and fall inquietly."

  As ill-tempered as tired, the boys roused up from the ground, and begantaking their guns from the stacks. Harry Joslin snatched his out first,and the stack, falling over, the bayonet points struck Gid Mackall'sface. The angry Gid responded with a blow landed on the side of Harry'shead. In an instant the two clinched, and the others, who were in nobetter humor, began striking at one another in blind temper. Si andShorty snatched the two principals apart with a good deal of violenceand much show of their own tempers.

  "You long legged sand hill crane," said Si, shaking Gid. "Will youalways be kickin' up a rumpus? I'll break your neck if you don't actbetter."

  "You senseless little bantam," said Shorty, with his grip on Harry'sthroat; "will you always be raising a ruction? Will I have to wring yourneck to learn you to behave?"

  "Let him alone, Shorty," said Si irritably. "He ain't to blame. Thisgangling fly-up the crick started it." And he gave Gid another shake.

  "You let him alone. Si," said Shorty crossly. "I know better. This whelpstarted it, as he always does. I'll throw him down and tramp on him."

  "You won't do nothin' o' the kind. Shorty. Don't you contradict me. Lethim go, I tell you."

  "You take your hands off that boy, or I'll make you, Si Klegg," saidShorty hotly. "I won't see you imposin' on somebody's that's smaller'nyou."

  The spectacle of the two partners quarreling startled them all. Theystopped and looked aghast.

  "Here, what's all this disorder here," said the Orderly, coming up,impetuously, and as cross as any one. "Why don't you get into line asordered? Sergeant Klegg, you're always making trouble for me."

  "I ain't doin' nothing o' the kind. What's the sense o' your sayin' sicha thing?" Si retorted. "You know it ain't true."

  "Si Klegg, be careful how you call me a liar," answered the Orderly."I'll--"

  "What in the world does all this mean?" said Capt. McGillicuddy angrily,as he stepped back to them. "What are you wasting time squabblingbefore the men for? Fall into your places at once, and don't let me hearanother word from any of you. Don't you see the regiment is moving?"

  "We'll finish this later," the Orderly whispered to Si, as he went tohis place on the right.

  "I'll settle with you, Shorty, when I have more time," Si remarked ashe took his place.

  "The sooner the better," grunted Shorty. "You can't run over me, if youare a Sergeant."

  The wearied men went stumbling along the rough road for what seemedthe longest mile ever known. It had grown very dark. At last a formseparated itself from the bank of blackness on the left, and a voicesaid in a penetrating whisper:

  "Is this the 200th Ind?"

  "Yes," answered the Colonel.

  "I'm Lieut. Snowden, of the General's staff," said the whisper.

  "Yes; I recognize your voice," answered the Colonel.

  "I was sent here," continued the Whisper, "to post you when you cameup. You will make this your right, and form out there to the left. Do itwithout the slightest noise. There is a strong force of rebels out therein front. They have a line of works with abatis in front, and a fort onthe hill there to the right, as you can see by looking up against thesky. You will not allow any fires to be made or lights to be shown. Theother regiments will come up and form on your right and left, and youwill be ready to attack and carry the line immediately in front of youthe moment that it is light enough to see to move. The signal will begiven by the headquarters bugle."

  "Very good," replied the Colonel. "Tell the General that we'll be ready,and he'll find us inside the rebel line five minutes after the buglesounds."

  "In the meanwhile," continue the Aid, "you will keep a sharp lookout.You may be attacked, and if you see signs of evacuation you are toattack, and the other regiments will support you. The General will comeup later and give you further instructions. Good night."

  The men nearest the Colonel heard plainly all that was said, and itwas soon known throughout the regiment. The men seemed to forget theirfatigue as they moved alertly but warily into line to the left, andstudied intently the sky-line of the rising ground in front.

  The whip-poor-wills were still calling, but at the flanks and rear ofthe regiment. None of them called in front.

  "It's full o' rebels over there; that's the reason," said Si to himself,as he noted this. "Yes, they're all at home, and goin' to shoot," headded in a loud whisper. "Lay down, everybody."

  He was none too soon. The tramping through the bushes, and the variousnoises that bodies of men will make when in motion, had reached theears of the alert rebels. A dazzling series of flashes ran along thesky-line, and a flight of bullets sang wickedly over the heads of the200th Ind., striking in the bushes and trees far behind them.

  "Don't anybody yell! Don't anybody shoot!" called the Colonel in a loudwhisper, and it was repeated by the line oflficers. "It will reveal ourposition. Lie down and keep perfectly quiet. They're overshooting us."

  The rebel battery in the fort waked up, and, more to show its good willthan anything else, began shelling the surrounding landscape.

  One of our batteries, a mile or so to the rear, which had not had anopportunity to fire during the day, could not resist this challenge,an
d began throwing shells at the fort with so fair an aim as to draw theattention of the rebel battery to it.

  The lurid flashes of the muskets, cannon, and shells revealed a belt ofjagged abatis several rods wide covering the entire front of the fortand breastworks.

  "Great Scott!" muttered Si to himself, for he was not on speaking termswith Shorty, and would not alarm the boys; "there's a porcupine nest togit through. How in the Nation are we ever goin' to do it?"

  "Unroll your blankets and lie down on them," came down the line from theColonel. "Lay your guns beside you. Don't attempt to stack them. You mayattract the attention of the rebels. Everybody keep his place, and beready to form and move at once."

  "Stop firing. What are you shooting at?" said a voice of authority inthe rebel works. "Who gave the order to fire?"

  "The men began it themselves," said a second voice. "They heard Yankeesmoving over there, and commenced shooting at them."

  "How do you know there are any Yankees out there? I don't believe theyhave advanced beyond the crest of the hill. I think they are all goingdown toward Resaca. Haven't you any pickets out there?"

  "No. We only moved in here this afternoon, and did not know how long wewere going to stay. I was ordered to stay here till further orders, toprotect the road beyond."

  "Well, we haven't any ammunition to waste firing at uncertainties.There's enough Yankees in sight all the time for all the bullets wehave, without wasting any on imaginary ones. It'll be time enough foryou to begin shooting when you see them coming to the edge of the abatisthere. Before they get through that you'll have time enough to shootaway all the ammunition you have."

  "I'm going to see whether there are any Yankees there," said the secondvoice in the rebel works.

  "Jim, you and Joe go down to the edge of the abatis and see what you cansee."

  The wearied boys had nearly all fallen asleep on their blankets. Eventhe noisy artillery duel had not kept Jim Humphreys awake, and MontyScruggs and Alf Russell followed his example soon after the firingceased. Then Harry Joslyn and Gid Mackall, spreading their blanketsapart for the first time since they had been in the service, soughtrest from their fatigue and forgetfulness of their mutual anger. Siand Shorty kept sternly apart. Shorty occupied himself in fixing theblankets comfortably for a nest for little Pete Skidmore, while Si,brooding over the way that Shorty "had flared up about nothin' at all,"and the Orderly-Sergeant's and Capt. McGillicuddy's unjust heat to him,had kept his eyes fixed on the skyline beyond, and had listened to theconversation of the rebel officers. It occurred to him that by watchingthe two rebels come down he might get an idea of a passage through theabatis, which would be useful in the morning. He strained his eyes tocatch sight of their movements.

  He saw two projections against the sky-line, which he knew were themen crossing the works. They separated, and he could make out two blackblotches above the level of darkness and moving down the slope. One camealmost directly toward him, the other going to the left. It occurred tohim to capture one of the men. He would have suggested to Shorty toget the other, but he could not bring himself to speak to his partner.Keeping his eyes fixed on the man directly in front, he slowly wriggledforward without rising. The man was evidently coming cautiously, haltingevery few steps, and looking and listening.

  Perfect quiet reigned in the regiment. The men were mostly asleep. Thosewho were awake were intently watching the hill for some sign of theenemy, or as silently foreboding the happenings of the morrow.

  Without making the least noise, Si reached the edge of the abatis. Therea young tulip tree had been left standing, and its plentiful branchesand large leaves made a thick mass of darkness. He rose upright behind,but his foot came down on a dead stick, which broke with a sharp crack.All the blood rushed to his heart. But at the same instant his head haddisturbed a whip-poor-will who had taken refuge there from the noise.She flew away with a tumult of plaintive "whips." The rebel in fronthalted for a long time. Then he apparently concluded that an owl wasafter the whip-poor-will, and, reassured, came forward.

  As he had crawled along. Si had felt with his hands that he was on atolerably beaten path, which ran by the sapling he was now standingbehind. He was sure that this led through the abatis, and the rebelwas coming down it. The rebel came on so near that Si could hear hisbreathing, and Si feared he could hear his. The rebel was carrying hisgun at a trail in his right hand, and putting all his powers into hiseyes and ears to detect signs of the presence of Yankees. He hesitatedfor a little while before the sapling, and then stepped past it.

  As he did so Si shot out his right arm and caught him around the neckwith so quick and tight a hug that the rebel could not open his mouthto yell. Si raised his arm so as to press the rebel's jaws together, andwith his left hand reached for his gun. The rebel swayed and struggled,but the slender Southerner was no match for the broad-shouldered Indianaboy, whose muscles had been knit by hard work.

  The struggle was only momentary until Si secured the gun, and therebel's muscles relaxed from the stoppage of his breath.

  "If you say a word, or try to, you're a dead man," Si whispered, as hedropped the gun, and substituted his left hand at the man's throat forhis right arm. Taking silence for acquiescence, Si picked up his own gunand started with his prisoner for the Colonel. He walked upright boldlynow, for the watchers on the rebel works could not see that there wasmore than one man in the path.

  The Colonel ordered Si to bring his prisoner back into a gully somedistance behind the line, where he could be interrogated without thesound reaching the men in the works.

  "Where do you belong?" asked the Colonel.

  "To Kunnel Wheatstone's Jawjy rijimint."

  "How many men have you got over there in the works."

  "Well, a right smart passul."

  "What do you mean by a right smart parcel?"

  "Well, a good big heap."

  "What, a thousand?"

  "Yes, I reckon so."

  "Ten thousand?"

  "I 'spects so."

  "Twenty thousand."

  "Mouty likely."

  "You don't seem to have a clear idea of numbers. How many regiments haveyou got over there?"

  "Well, thar's Kunnel Wheatstone's Jawjy rijimint--that's mine; thenthar's Kunnel Tarrant's South Carliny rijimint, and then thar's KunnelBird's Tennessee rijimint, and I don't mind how many others. They've bincomin' and goin' all day, and I hain't paid no attention to 'em. I onlyknow that thar's enough to give yo'uns a wallopin' if yo'uns only comeon."

  "Sergeant," said the Colonel, "you did a splendid thing in capturingthis man and bringing him to me, but I fear I shall not get as muchinformation out of him as I'd like to. I don't presume anybody reallyknows just how many men are over there. We've got to jump the works andtake the chances on what we find."

  "We're ready the minute you give the word. Colonel," said Si, saluting.

  "Colonel," said Shorty's voice out of the darkness, "I've brung you oneo' the rebel scouts that was piroutin' out there. I don't know as youkin make much out o' him, though, for the welt I fetched him with my gunbar'l seems to've throwed his thinkery out o' gear, and he can't talkstraight."

  "And so you got the other one," Si started to say to his partner, butthen he remembered Shorty's "flarin' up," and held his tongue.

  "I don't imagine that his 'thinkery,' as you call it, was of muchaccount when it was in order, if it was no better than this otherman's," said the Colonel, with a smile. "Perhaps, if he couldthink better he wouldn't be in the rebel army. Sergeant (to theProvost-Sergeant), take charge of these two men. Give them something toeat, and send them to Division Headquarters."

  Si and Shorty carefully avoided one another on their way back tothe company, and declined to discuss their exploits with either theOrderly-Sergeant or Capt. McGillicuddy.

  "Go out and git you a rebel for yourself, if you want to know about'em," Shorty had snapped at the Orderly. "There's plenty more up thereon the hill. It's full of 'em."

  As everythi
ng now seemed quiet in front, the two partners sat down withtheir back against trees to catch a little sleep before the momentousmovement in the morning.

  It seemed to Si that he had hardly closed his eyes when the Orderlyshook him and whispered an order to help arouse the men and get theminto line.

  "Don't make the least noise," whispered the Orderly. "I hear the rebelsmoving around, but we want to jump 'em before they know we're up. Thefurther we can get through that abatis before they discover us, thefewer we'll have killed. It's going to be mighty tough work at best, andI wish that we were going over the works now."

  It was the chill gray of the morning, when every man's spirits andcourage are at ebb-tide. For an instant, Si felt his heart sink at thethought of the awful ordeal that confronted them. There came acrosshis mind a swift vision of the peaceful home back in Indiana, with thepleasant fields lying about, over which he used to go on sweet Springmornings like this and note the flowers that had bloomed over night, andthe growth the wheat had made. How sickening to be now starting to openup a hell of pain, wounds, and death. Then his natural courage andwill reasserted themselves, and he began rousing the boys, but with atenderness born of the thought that their hearts would be as low as hisin that bleak hour.

  Jim Humphreys waked up stolidly, and without a word began preparing tofall in. Alf Russell's and Monty Scruggs's faces turned ashy afterthey had fairly awakened, and they picked up their guns with nervelessfingers.

  Harry Joslyn took the position of a soldier, with his gun at an order,his lips tightly closed, and his eyes fixed on the rebel position, asthe spreading light developed it. Sandy Baker fidgeted about at one timetinkering with his gun and equipments, and then stopping half-way inthe task he had started and falling into a fit of musing. Little PeteSkidmore wandered about, looking into Si's and Shorty's grave faces, andthen into others equally solemn, and finding no comfort in any. It wasthe first time that he heard no joke or quip flash along the formingline to bring cheers or laughter.

  "Come, boys," said Si, kindly, "eat your breakfasts. You can't make nocoffee nor fry no meat, but you'd better fill up on cold grub. You'llneed all you can eat."

  The mention of something to eat seemed to remind Gid Mackall of hisusual appetite. He pulled a cracker out of his haversack and bit it, butit seemed distasteful, and he spat the piece out.

  "The orders are," said the Orderly-Sergeant in a low tone, as he passeddown in front of the company, "to strip off your bankets, canteens, andhaversacks, and pile them. They'll be in the road in the rush, and catchin going through the abatis."

  "Orderly," said Shorty in his most conciliatory way, "if you want to dome a favor make Pete Skidmore one of the detail."

  "I ain't asking suggestions from you," said the Orderly, still surly."But I shall detail Baker and Skidmore for the duty."

  The boys flung their things off with something like desperation in theirlooks.

  It was now daylight, but a dense fog prevented seeing more than a fewfeet.

  "We can't wait any longer," said the Colonel. "Pass the word down theline to move forward. Make no noise till the enemy opens fire. Theneverybody push forward as rapidly as possible for the works."

  "The first fire will probably go over our heads and do little damage,"said Capt. McGillicuddy, stepping down to the center, so that hiswhisper could be heard by all. "It's always so when men fire downhill.Then, you all want to be careful and fire low, so as to hit as many aspossible, and rattle them in their future firing. The more of them wecan hit the less of us will be hit afterward. Forward--Guide right!"

  It seemed as if the crashing of their marching feet was so loud thatthe rebels on the hill could not fail to hear it, and they held theirbreaths in painful expectancy of the volley. But they had gotten a rodor more into the entangling brush of the abatis, and were stumbling andcrashing amid the baffling branches, before they heard the voice of theprevious night command:

  "Ready--Aim--aim low--Fire!"

  The rebel muskets crashed together in a terrific volley, which generallypassed over the heads of the 200th Ind., though a few men fell into thebrush with wounds.

  Si had gone up the path that he had found the night before, andtherefore had no struggle with the fallen trees to shake his nerves anddisturb his aim. He had calculated upon this. He brought his musket downdeliberately and took good aim at the point whence the voice of commandhad come. As his gun cracked he heard voices cry:

  "The Kunnel's shot. Look out for the Kunnel thar."

  Another voice immediately spoke up in command: "Steady, men! Keep cool!Fire low, and give it to the blue-bellied scoundrels!"

  Then broke out a mad rage of death and destruction, in which both sidesseemed in the fiercest insanity of murder. The 200th Ind., encouragedby the shouts of their officers, pressed forward through the bafflingtree-tops, stumbling, falling, rising again, firing as fast as theycould load their guns, and yelling like demons. They were frantic toget through the obstructions and come to hand-to-hand struggle with thefiends who were yelling and firing from the top of the breastworks.

  The rebel battery in the fort began hurling a tornado of shells as nearas they could bring their guns to bear on the yelling. This arousedits enemy battery of the night before, and it opened up viciously. Theregiments to the right and left of the 200th Ind. moved forward at thesound of the firing, and added to the dinning turbulence.

  Si had kept to the path, firing coolly and with deadly aim as he keptpace with the line, which was fiercely forging through the brush. Therehad gathered behind him Jim Humphreys, Harry Joslyn, and Gid Mackall.The rest had gathered over toward Shorty, who was raging through theabatis, tearing aside the branches which impeded the others, yelling,swearing most horribly, and firing as a loaded gun would be handed him.He happened to look around to see who was handing him guns, and saw thatit was Pete Skidmore and Sandy Baker.

  "I thought you little brats was ordered to stay behind with the things,"he gasped.

  "I know we was," whimpered little Pete as he capped a gun and handed itto Shorty; "but we couldn't stay when we heard the yelling and shooting.We was so scared that we was afraid to stay there, so we hunted you up,and--"

  "Come on, boys," yelled Shorty to the others. "Go ahead. We're almostthrough, and then we'll salivate them whelps of damnation."

  A bullet came so nigh Si's face that it seemed to burn him, and then heheard it strike. Jim Humphreys fell without a groan--a bullet throughhis brain.

  "Don't mind that. Forward, boys," shouted Si. "Here's the end of theabatis."

  Gid Mackall fell, and Harry Joslyn turned to help him.

  "Don't mind him. Come on," Si called over his shoulder, as he rushed inthe clear place, just at the edge of the shallow ditch in front of theworks. "Everybody this way."

  THE CHARGE THRU THE ABATIS. 211]

  All that was left of the regiment was now through the abatis. The fogsuddenly lifted, and showed the combatants face to face, with only theditch and the bank of earth between them. The sight was so startlingthat both sides paused for an instant.

  "Forward, 200th Ind.! Rally on your colors!" rang out the clear, sweet,penetrating voice of the Colonel, as he snatched the colors from thehand of the third man who had borne them since the regiment movedforward, and sprang up the side of the works.

  Of the pandemonium that reigned inside the rebel works for the next fewminutes Si only recollected seeing the Orderly-Sergeant, bareheaded, andwith bayonet fixed, leap down from the bank and transfix a man who triedto snatch the flag from the Colonel's hand. Si arrived just in time toshoot the rebel officer who was striking at the Orderly with his sword,while Shorty came up, knocking down a winrow of men with his gun swungby the butt as a club, to rescue Si from three rebels who were trying tobayonet him.

  All at once the entire rebel line broke and ran down the hill in a waveof dingy brown, while another wave of blue rolled over the works to theright and left of the 200th Ind.

  "I hope you ain't hurt, Orderly," said Si, dropping
the butt of hismusket on the ground, and wiping his flushed face. "I thought thatofficer was goin' to git you, sure."

  "He would, if it hadn't been for you, Si. He got in one slash on me, butit ain't much, I think. But Shorty helped you out of a tight box."

  "Yes; Shorty generally does that," said Si, with a beaming look onhis partner. "He's the best soldier in the regiment, and kin always betrusted to git in on time anywhere."

  "Well, I'm afraid it 'll be a short roll I'll have to call thisevening," said the Orderly, with a sorrowful expression. "I supposewe'd better go back through that brush and look up the boys that weredropped."