A Rebellion in Dixie by Harry Castlemon (best books to read in life .TXT) 📕

have got, and I want you to order them all into the breastworks out of sight. Tell them that we will describe the whole thing to them after the rebels go away.”

The chief men went off at once to obey the 412order, and by time the two Confederates got up to the hotel porch there wasn’t more than a half-dozen of them in sight—just enough to act as body-guard for the President. There were two rebels in the party, and with them were four pickets whom they had picked up after they had swam their horses across the creek.

“Here’s a couple of gentlemen who want to see the President,” said one of the pickets. “They have come to us with General Lowery’s compliments and want us to surrender.”

“Well, I guess they can take General Lowery’s compliments back to him and say we didn’t come out here to surrender,surrender,” said Mr. Knight.

“I want to see—are you the President?” asked one of the rebels, opening his eyes in surprise.

“I have that honor,” replied Mr. Knight.

The rebels looked at him in profound astonishment. If any of the other men standing around had said that he was the President of the Jones-County Confederacy, they 413might have believed it; but for this man, who stood there with his coat off, his hands in his pockets and his hat perched on the back of his head—for him to say that he was the head and front of that rebellion, was almost too much. The rebels looked at him, and then they looked at the men standing around. There didn’t seem to be but a few of them, and perhaps it was not going to be much to whip them, after all.

“General Lowery wants you to surrender at once,” said the rebel, who had grown bolder since he looked around.

“You have my answer, sir,” said Mr. Knight.

“If you surrender, we will let the privates off if they will enlist in the army,” said the colonel, for Leon made out that that was his rank. “But the chief men of the party will have to go under arrest and be tried for treason.”

“That’s very kind of General Lowery, but somehow we are not ready to be tried yet. We won’t surrender.”

“Why, my goodness, my friend, there won’t 414be a living man of you left by this time to-morrow. How many men have you got here, anyway?”

“About five thousand.”

“Why, I don’t see anybody.”

“Of course you don’t; but if you bring your four thousand four hundred men up here—”

“Have you had spies out?” asked the rebel, more surprised than ever.

“We know how many men you have, and we know that we outnumber them,” said Mr. Knight.

“Then, of course, you won’t surrender if you have that number of men. Then we may as well go back.”

“I think it would be as well. We are bound to kill and capture some of the men you bring against us, and to-morrow we’ll send them inside of your lines with their paroles.”

“Yes? Well, their paroles won’t amount to a row of pins.”

“I think they will. If we capture any of the men without being exchanged we’ll hang 415them to the nearest tree. Good-morning, sir.”

It was right on the rebel’s tongue to tell Mr. Knight to look out or he would get hung himself, but he didn’t say it. After looking all around to make sure that there were no Union men in sight he wheeled his horse and rode off, accompanied by the pickets. No sooner were they out of sight around the first bend than the men began to pour out of their breastworks, and in five minutes more the hotel grounds in front of the porch were just black with an eager, excited crowd, all anxious to hear what the rebels had to say. Mr. Sprague took the part of spokesman, and when he told them what the Confederates had said about there not being one Union man left alive by this time to-morrow, the announcement was received with whoops and yells.

“Let them bring their men on!” shouted Bud McCoy. “We are all ready for them.”

“You must remember that the demand for a surrender comes before a fight,” said Mr. Sprague. “They may be up here in an hour, 416and I think I had better send some men down there to reinforce those pickets.”

“I’ll go for one,” and “I’ll go for another,” were the exclamations that arose from the crowd, and in less time than it takes to tell it five hundred men were all mounted and armed, and rode up to the porch to listen to their final instructions from Mr. Knight. Leon wanted to go, too, but a positive shake of the head from his father told him that that thing wouldn’t do at all.

“You will get fighting enough if you stay right here,” said Mr. Sprague. “You do your duty here under my eye and that is all I shall ask of you.”

“Make as good a fight as you can, boys,” said Mr. Knight. “Only, don’t let them get behind you. Be sure and retreat while you have the chance.”chance.”

The reinforcements rode on down the road with Mr. Dawson in command, and as soon as they were out of sight a silence fell upon the men they had left behind. All were listening for the first report of a carbine or rifle that should announce the opening of the battle. 417One hour passed, and then two, and just as darkness came down to conceal the movements of the rebels the long-wished-for report came. It was followed by a moment’s silence, and then it seemed as if a hurricane was going through the woods. The Confederates had deployed their line until it reached the woods, where it was lost to view, and in that manner charged across the stream and through the timber. But where were the Union men who were to oppose them? For three miles they went through the woods, and then all of a sudden the opposition came when they least expected it. It was the report of a carbine in the hands of young Dawson, and the nearest colonel threw up his arms and fell from his horse. A moment afterward the woods were fairly aflame in advance of them. Scarcely a yell was heard, for the Union men fought as though they had life and liberty at stake.

“Fire low, boys,” said Mr. Dawson, as he loaded up for another shot. “If you strike a man in the legs it will take two to carry him off.”

418The Union men fired three times before they thought of retreat, and the middle of the line was not only thrown into confusion, but it was annihilated, so that their officers could not get anybody to charge upon their concealed enemy; but the wings were all right—they were stretched out so far in the woods that they could easily wrap around the Union men and capture them all—and they hastily got on their horses and beat a quick retreat. The company that came along the road was badly cut up. They were marching in column of fours, and it was their intention, after they got the Union men in full flight, to follow them in, and they would go with such rapidity that they would take the breastworks at once. But after the smoke had cleared away there wasn’t more than a dozen men left. The riders had been shot down, and the horses, having no one to control them, were running frantically about, trampling the dead and dying under their feet.

“That’s pretty well done for the first time,” said Mr. Dawson, when he had made up his mind that all of his battalion were in the 419road. The rest were in the woods, and could easily fight their way to Ellisville. “Now, boys, give them as good as they send.”

The retreat to Ellisville was accomplished in short order, and when the rebels broke from the woods and uttered their charging yell they couldn’t see a single man. They were all behind their breastworks.

“I tell you we gave it to them down there in the woods,” said Dawson, as he rode along behind the breastworks until he found Leon and Tom. “You ought to have been along. I reckon I have paid the rebels for burning our house. I lifted one officer out of his saddle as clean as a whistle.”

“Did you kill him?” asked Leon.

“Well, I reckon so. He threw his arms above his head, and that is a pretty good sign that he was done for.”

“Did you hear any bullets come near you?” inquired Leon, who shuddered when he thought how coolly Dawson could talk of shooting another in cold blood.

“Yes, sir, I heard them; but the rebels fired too high. I saw one man clap his hand 420to his mouth and say ‘Oh!’ but I didn’t see who it was. There they come!” said Dawson, grasping his carbine with a firmer hold and creeping up to an opening in the breastworks. “Now, Leon, show what you are made of.”

“It is certain death to send those fellows up here!” said Leon. “I wish I could warn them away.”

“Haw! haw!” laughed Dawson. “They know what is behind here better than we can tell them. If they don’t, they will soon find it out.”

Mr. Sprague stood a little ways from Leon with his rifle in his hand. He had charge of the brigade now, and it was his duty to give the order to fire. Nearer and nearer came the rebels, yelling like so many mad men, but the report of Mr. Sprague’s gun couldn’t be heard. As soon as the men saw him raise his piece to his shoulder they all fired, and the way the rebels went down before it was certain proof that their bullets had not all been thrown away. But these men were not to be defeated by one volley. They kept on until they reached the breastworks, and then they 421found that they were too high to be scaled by their horses. The Union men on the other side reached over and fired their guns in their faces, until the Confederates could stand it no longer. They turned their horses and fled, and did not stop until they were safe in the woods, from which they had just emerged.

“Long live the Jones-County Confederacy!” shouted some one in the ranks; and the shout was taken up by all the men in the line.

“Let’s go after them!” said another. “We can easy whip them.”

“No, stay where you are,” said Mr. Sprague, who got his instructions from Mr. Knight. “We can whip them here, but if we should get out of line of the breastworks they might prove too much for us.”

It was the occasion of no little difficulty for the Confederate officers to rally their men, and the trouble was that those who belonged to the right and left wings reported that it was impossible to flank the Union position. Those on the right said that there was a swamp in which many men had been killed in their efforts to get around it, and the men 422who belonged on the left reported that there was the river there, and that any attempt to get by it would be useless. General Lowery began to see that the Union men were not to be easily whipped, but he used all his eloquence and authority to induce them to make an effort to carry the centre of the line. He dismounted some of his men with instructions to go and throw down the breastworks, and the rebel cavalry was to be close behind them and go in at the openings they had made. This was the plan that General Lee decided on when he made the attempt to split Grant’s lines by his assault on Fort Steadman. He had half his army in that exploit, but his effort ended just as General Lowery’s did to split the Union lines here. The second attempt was grandly made, and the fight lasted a little longer than it did at first; but the dismounted men were quickly picked off, the cavalry began dropping here and there, and finally, without a word from anybody, they all took to their heels. This time there was nothing said about pursuit, for the Union men had their blood up, and nobody could 423have controlled them. By the time the rebels were in the woods the Union men had mounted their horses and started after them. Leon was in this exploit, and his father did not tell him to stay behind. He didn’t find any Confederates on the way, but he assisted in making some noise, so he did just as much as anybody.

This was the last attempt that was made to break up the Jones-county Confederacy. The rebels saw that the Union men were in earnest and they gave it up as a bad job. A