| Show forgotten HEROES by ELMO SCOTT WATSON low kirkland of Ker kershaws shaws brigade afoot DECEMBER 13 1802 along the foot of maryes heights in the quaint old town of fredericksburg va runs run a stone w wall a 11 an anc in the sunken road behind it san stand n d t the he troops of the confederate general cobb among then them Is kershaws Ker shaws brigade of south carolinians across the open fields which lay before for e them a line of blue clad men Is forming for a charge the union onion troops which general burnside Burnsl de Is hurling into a veritable inferno in a desperate attempt to break the tines lines of the man blan in gray robert E M lee the blue line sweeps forward up dp on I 1 the heights the confederate artillery opens up and a storm of shot and slid I 1 tears through the trunks ranks of the men in blue but they press on from behind the stone wall there comes a hall of bul bullets lets the blue line reels back but another one Is forming no less than seven times do the northerners charge and each time the charging line breaks and plies piles its dead on the earlier lines of dead of them sacrificed in the resplendent dr dramatic matle fruitless murdered courage of the war in which Amer american lenn fought american then burnside Burnsl de gives up the effort up from many places on that death strewn oben open field there rises a moaning cry which swells into a diapason of agony water I 1 water I 1 for gods sake water I 1 it rises above the sound of the bullets which still whistle overhead and above the rumbling of the big guns gun which are not yet stilled back of th the stone wall a young boy richard kirkland of kershaws Ker shaws brigade seeks out his bis commander he asks permission to carry water to th the suffering men out yonder kershaw tries to dissuade him it Is sure death to venture out where the bullets are astl still I 1 I 1 flying thick and fast from every direction but the boy persists 1 1 I cant stand this he says this being that wave of begging pleading sound that beats against his ears so the general tells him he be can go kirkland picks up six canteens filled with water he springs over the stone wall and crouching low runs to the nearest sufferer kneeling beside the wounded enemy he lifts up his bis head and the parched lips of the dying man ann reel fuel for a moment the cooling draught then he passes on to the next and the next and the next when his bis au supply p ply of water la is exhausted he goes back f for or a fresh supply and for on an hour and a half he pursues his bis errand of mercy and in all that time not a bullet touches himl gushing cushing sinks albemarle 0 OK F feat performed by R P hobson during the spanish american war bottling up cerveris veras fleet flee I 1 by sinking the old collier mer almac in the channel of santiago harbor one school history says it was one of the bravest deeds ever done in war and will never be forgotten the same history says nothing about how bow william barker cushing blew up the confederate warship albemarle in the roanoke river in 1804 cushing a native of wisconsin and a page in the national house of representatives senta tives was appointed to annapolis at the age of nineteen but bur resigned at the out outbreak break of the civil war to volunteer r in the navy Cu gushing hing repeatedly distinguished himself until he wits was made a lieutenant in 1802 his fits most brilliant exploit occurred on the night of october 27 1804 when he did what admiral farragut characterized as the most dauntless naval deed ever performed by any young officer or of the american navy the confederate ironclad iron clad albemarle had successfully beaten off an attack by federal gunboats gun boats and then retired up the roanoke river where she lay a constant threat to the federal blockade A circle of heavy logs loomed boomed well out from her side had been een placed around oud the ile vessel its as a protection against torpedoes cushing volunteered to destroy the enemy ship and knowing the desperate nature of the enterprise remarked to his bis brother off officers leers as he set out with a small crew in a steam launch towing an armed cutter that it meant another stripe or a coffin by some freak of lu luck c k his launch was within a short distance of the ironclad before he was discovered casting oft off the cutter be ordered its mcw to attack the nearest picket post and a nd he drove the launch under a full head of steam straight at the albemarle under a storm 0 of fire he pressed on until he be struck the log boom but as they were wet and slimy his little craft slid over them easily by this time the launch had been shot almost to 0 o pieces but Is was near enough for Cush bushings ings purpose he coolly swung a torpedo boom under the albemarle and set off the charge then ordering ils his crew to look out for themselves he ie r sprang prang into the river swam under water as far as possible and escaped in n the darkness after wandering th through r ough a dense swamp he finally found a picket boat and was carried b back ac k to the he fleet of the crew which accompanied him only one other escaped the remainder being either drowned killed or captured the destruction st of the albemarle led to the capture of plymouth and the surrounding country so their was not in vain 1 1131 1931 western newspaper union |
