Show IKE SIMMONS one night late in december 1862 feiy my regiment the indiana infantry was sent out on picket to H plate place called stewards dam we were divided into three each relief was on duty two hours and oft off four about midnight jk ke summons went on picket and he be became badly rattled while at his post that night charles doing our regimental poet wrote a poem about what happened which I 1 submit to the readers of the examiner B IF BAIR di logan pot post ogden utah I 1 KE IKE SIMMONS by C H doing indiana infantry ry I 1 wonder if ike simmons is still on jon top of ground and it if hes well arid hearty and his constitution sound for its more than eight and twenty years since last I 1 gripped his hand the day we parted company down there in dixie land its the queerest thin thing g in nature how a trifle will recall some half forgotten memory demor y yet it may bo be after all that tho the frosts of many winters have only halt half froze through the mental apparatus that mak eold times seem new for ive just now been reminded in in the oddest sort of way of a thing that happened long ago in a country far away and how it comes im thinking at this moment asi arh am of my old friend Isaac Simmons and that night at stewards dam wo we were comrades in the army of tho the cumberland you see belonged to tho the same pegi regiment ment in fact samo same company marched together messed together slept together when we could and anything that suited me ike sim mons thought though t was good and what was good enough for ike was good enough for me and what we foraged round and got was about enough for throe three best hearted fellow over ever its ed brimful of lively jokes seem to care a nickel for himself if other folks were comfortable and happy and hed stay up halt half the night to nurse a comrade that wits sick and make him feel all right coolest fellow in a skirmish or a charge you ever saw seemed as happy in a battle as a groundhog ground hog in a thaw always ready for his duty never heard min him growl or kick it if we had to make a dozen miles or so at double the crack shot of the regiment r egi ment with rifle always clean in short a better sp soldier Idler no army over civer seen one night tato rate in december of eighteen sixty two before the march which baroug ht us to stone river was quite through iko ike and I 1 were aut on picket at a place called stewards dam wit with h a i squad of ather fellows felio ws in charge ol 01 0 corporal larob carub the darkest night or of any of those lark dark days daja of war and the shadows of the cedars made I 1 the spot abot as black as tar and across the narrow channel of stewards rocky creek lay tile the rebels in such numbers you could stir thorn them w with ith a stick and ill make an affidavit that what hat I 1 say is right that ive been in somo tight places before and since that night and ive fought in many battles alle ive worked for tor undo uncle sam but I 1 never was more shaky shake than that night at stewards dam the guard was changed at midnight when ike simmons trick carpe came on 0 and everything was quiet quiet 4 till about the hour of one when a rustle in tho the bushes to the left of where he strod brought his rifle to lits ills shoulder as quick as lightning could and t the be challenge he sen sent t flying through the the pine like an arrow pierced the darkness ar kness halt and give the countersign dead atlen silence 0 tor for a moment then swift footsteps glided su As it if in sheer defiance of the pickets pointed gun andee and we heard beard ike Simmon sIm utter as each man held lit his breath As sure aurb aslop as im a binner youre rushing on to death but one second ero ere his finger pressed the fhe trigger ot of his gun genf A faint cry of an infant c changed a tragedy to fun a woman and her baby who wanted to got through our lines to where her husband was wag among the boys in blue and simmons stood dumbfounded with gun glued to his cheek As it by ghosts surrounded too much surprised to speak and ill venture the prediction it hes bes 0 on ll 11 top lop of ground tho h ho 0 may be old and feeble yet with ith iner memory nory good and sound hell tell you that in n all the time lie he fought for uncle sam ho never was so rattled as that night at stewards dam |