The argus., October 29, 1898, Image 8

About The argus. (Holbrook, Ariz.) 1895-1900

Image provided by: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ

                
SOLDIER'S TARGET.
o
i -4A
ra
ACH man, as he
signed bis name on
the enlistment roll,
realized that war
meant fight, and
that fight meant
kill. This idea was
"further drilled into
us In camp; it form
ed the basis of the
colonel's address as
to the front; it
as
we marched
brought our muskets to an "aim'
we caught sig'jt of the enemy for the
first time. Ws had become soldiers to
march, fight and kill. It was to be look
ed upon as a matter of business, as
well as a patriotic duty. The sooner
the strength of the enemy was exhaust
ed the sooner we would have peace.
We thought that every man in com
pany "G" had the same feeling to kill
but we had not been long at the front
when we found an exception. A score
of skirmishers were ordered down in
front of the regiment to feel the
strength of the enemy In the fringe of
bushes along a creek. Ambrose Davis
was one of us. He was a man of 30
a plain, every day man who had laid
down the tools of a mechanic to take
up the musket of a soldier. He was not
given to enthusiasm, but he was an obe
dient soldier and the best shot in the
company. As we clambered over the
fence and took "opea order" on the
broad field which dipped down to the
creek, the enemy in the fringe had a
dead rest on every man. War with
them also meant kill. To kill one of
half a million men means little, and yet
It means kill. Zip! Ping! Zip! It was
not firing by file It was not firing by
volleys into a battle line half hidden
In the smoke, but every bullet that came
pinging was meant for an individual
soldier.
We' crouched down and ran forward,
We zig-zaeged to right and left We
took the shelter of every knoll, brush
and stump. The enemy had to develop
his strength to check us. In front of
Davis was an opening in the fring
a spot where a farm road crossed the
creek. The enemy to the right and left
of this road was using the bank of the
stream as a breastwork and we were
firing a good deal at random. An officer
suddenly appeared in the center of this
opening, and raising a pair of glasses
to his eyes he took a cool survey of the
regiment far back of us on the hill. lie
was within pistol shot of Davis and
he must have known It, and yet he
stood there as cool and calm as you
please to take his chance. It was
sheer bravado. Four of our twenty had
been killed, and the enemy was seek
ing the lives of the rest. I was to the
right of Davis and could have almost
hit the officer with a stone; the man
on his' left had just as fair a target.
He was not our "game," however he
belonged to Davis. We saw our com
rade thrust forward a barrel of his
musket and bring his eye down to the
sights. Then we watched the officer to
see him throw up his hands and fall.
Thirty seconds passed away, and we
glanced back at Davis. He had lifted
his head and was looking at the officer
over his gun. At the end of a quarter
of a minute he dropped it again. "It
was his duty to kill,, but this was kill
ing in cold blood, and he had to have
a few seconds to nerve himself up.
Back went our eyes to the officer. He
was slowly sweeping the glasses
across a front of half a mile, and I
wondered If he would drop them as
the bullet struck him, or whether his
fingers would clutch and hold them the
tighter. My heart came crowding into
my throat as I watched and as the sec
onds passed, and at length I heard the
man on Davis' left shouting at him:
"Shoot! Shoot! Why the devil don't
you drop that officer?"
I turned to look at Davis, and as I
did so he slewed the muzzle of his gun
to the right and fired into the bushes.
A few seconds later the officer lowered
his glasses, and swinging them in h!s
hand and perhaps humming a tune,
he slowly disappeared into the bushes.
Later in the day, when Davis' singular
action had been reported, the captain
said to him:
Davis, I can't believe you are a cow
ard, because you went down on the
skirmish line to be shot at, but when
you had an enemy fairly under your
gun, and an officer at that, why didn't
you bring him down?" I
"I was going to, sir, but I I
couldn't," was the reply.
"Cut they were shooting at you to
kill."
"Yes. I know."
The captain could hardly reprimand
a man for not killing an enemy as be
would have shot down a rabbit, and
there was no one to hint that Davis
lacked courage. The incident was for
gotten after a little, and such was the
soldiery conduct of the man that he
was made a corporal. When the enemy
withdrew behind the works at York
town to bar McClellan's road to Rich
mond he covered his wings with
sharpshooters, and our officers were
their special target. One day, as three
companies of us were dragging up some
of the heavy siege-guns to be put in
peltion, a major and a private were kill
ed by a sharpshooter who was located
In a tree top. He could be plainly made
out, but the range was too far for our
army muskets. A Berdan rifle was sent
for, and -when it arrived our captain
put it Into the bands of Corporal Davis
and said:
"You are by long odds the best shot
In our company. With a dead-rest over
that log you can tumble that man out
of his tree."
Davis hung back and turned pale.
Just then a brigadier rode up to give
an order, atod bis horse had scarcely
come to a halt when a bullet from the
sharpshooter passed through the gen
eral's hat. He was not only a bit
startled, but Inclined to reprimand that
the fellow had not been disposed of.
When he saw the heavy rifle in the
hands of the pale-faced and hesitating
corporal he shouted out:
"Hurry up, man, and tumble him out
of that before he can reload! If you
bring him down I'll ask your captain
to make a sergeant of you five minutes
later!"
Davis advanced to a stump a few
feet away and knelt down and sighted
his rifle across it We who knew his
marksmanship felt sure that his bullet
would speed true. He took a long aim,
and we were holding our breath to hear
the report of the rifle, when he drew
back, rose np and said:
"I I can't shoot that man!"
The words were hardly out of his
mouth when the man in the tree fired
again, and his bullet struck down a
lieutenant within five feet of the briga
dier. "You Idiot, but why don't you shoot?"
shouted the indignant general, as he
stepped forward.
"It is cold blood, sir cold blood!"
whispered Davis, who trembled in ev
ery limb, and was as pale-faced as a
dead man.
"You poltroon, you coward !" raged
the general. "Here, you man cut the
stripes from his sleeves, and you, cap
tain, see that be Is reduced to the ranks
on1 the company roll! He ought to be
court-martialed and driven out of the
army In disgrace!"
A soldier stepped forward and with
his pocket-knife cut the chevrons from
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In rear of us and warning each man to
aim low. I beard him cursing Davis,
and twice after, that ere we fell back,
I saw the man firing into the tree top3.
The enemy crowded us back day by
day and mile by mile, and there was
fighting over every foot of the high
ways. We had a fierce grapple at Fair
Oaks, and again at Savage Station, but
all I knew of Davis was that he was
with us. It was only when weturned at
bay at Malvern Hill that I found my
self beside him again. He had been
three times grazed by bullets, and that
-was proof that he had stood up to a
soldier's work. Our regiment was sta
tioned at the base of the hill, strung
along in the bed of a dry creek, and the
banks gave us protection and a rest for
our muskets. As the enemy came
swarming across the open every man
was a fair target. I had fired three or
four times when j my musket fouled and !j0hn )8ere pQWS and Cultivators, Bridge & Bladl
as I waited to clear it I watched Davis. o
He was firing over the heads of the
enemy by thirty feet Our position was
one which could not be carried. The
enemy realized this at last and the
battle began to die away. On our front
we had only dead and wounded men.
as far as we could see, and all firing
had ceased, when a man suddenly rose
up from the ground about a pistol shot
away and stood staring at us. A thou
sand men shouted at him to come and
surrender, but after a moment he turn
ed his back and began moving away. I
do not know why any of the hundreds
of men who had him In range did not
fire, but they did not Some were even
cheering the man, when an officer of
artillery Jumped down among us and
shouted:
"Shoot him shoot him why don't
some of you bring him down?"
His words were heard by fifty men,
but not a gun was raised. The officer
was storming at us when Davis sud
denly lifted his musket and fired, and
the retreating man flung up his arms,
whirled about and sank down. Curses
and groans followed, and Davis threw
down his gun and hid bis face in his
bands and sobbed.
"A splendid shot!" cried the officer,
"and if I were your captain you would
be a corporal to-morrow!"
Davis had done a strange thing. We
looked at him and wondered over it
The heat of the battle was yet strong
upon us, but the killing of the mac
seemed little short of cold-blooded mur
der. "Did I kill kill him?" asked Davis ol
a man beside him when he could con
trol himself.
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"SLEWED THE MUZZLE OF HIS GUX TO THE RIGHT."
the pool
him ge'
the porporal's sleeves,, and Toor Davis "Yes,
slunk away in disgrace. Here was a ' devil.
strange thing. A soldier, who did not i away'
hesitate to put himself in a position to I "You have all been down on me ho
you hot him dead.
Why didn't you let
be killed could not be induced to fire
upon the. enemy. His soldierly quali
ties were such that he had been taken
out of the ranks, and yet he refused
to carry out a soldier's first duty to
kill. We could not call him a coward
no man is a coward who will face death
but we called him strange and won
dered what was back of it all. The
cause I wouldn't kill." m laueJ tht
shooter, as he hid his face again.
That n'ght we fell back to the .Tame?
River. Iu the darkness and confuslor,
commands were mixed up. and it was
night again before the company vvV.
was called. Private Davis was anion;:
the missing. He had survived the bat
tle the retreat was unmolested it
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men of the company fell away from j alive he was bound to find his command
him, and in a few days he stood almost i within a few hours. And vet he Uevel
alone. When we followed up the ene
my after Yorktown there was some
heavy, skirmishing with the rear guard.
found it. When the returns were made
up his name was p'.aeed among the
lead, tie nad neon disgraced ln-cause
t ... 1 T .-; - .n ... ; . l. . i. . . I . , . ... . . '
.imuiusc f.n io aa nnu nit- v. uni,..i u. . ue WOU1U UOt K.1!. tie Uaa UCTVeil Uilll-
and upon one occasion, when the nun- self up at last to lire upon a hir.iiar.
dred charged and captured a gun. he target and then ? We sp.ike his nanit
led us all In the rush and was the first! in whispers after that, and said onlv
man to put a hand on it. After that we good words fur likn.-Ch.nies B. Lewis.
said It was a case or "nerves, or that ;n Denver News.
he had a hereditary fear of shedding
blood, and he was looked upon mure
favorably.
We saw nothing more of the "strange
ness" of Ambrose Davis until the battle
which drove McClellan to make a
change of base. For half a day our reg
iment stood in battle liue, waiting to at
tack or be attacked, and during this in
terval our company lost two men killed
and three wounded. It required all the
nerve the men could work up to staud
there and be shot at without firing a
shot In return, but Davis showed no
more nervousness than any of the rest.
When at length we moved by the left
flank for a quarter of a mile and then
dropped down to open fire and hold our
ground, Davis was the man on my left
and as I loaded my musket I noticed when a man Is continually talking
that be was firing high. Five minutes about his troubles, his neighbors never
later a lieutenant came creeping along 1 trouble very much about his talk.
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