Captain Jack, the Union Spy, Vol. 3

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Excerpt from Captain Jack, the Union Spy, Vol. 3: Or in Vicksburg and Out "To arms! to arms, boys! They're coming like the whirlwind!" Such was the ominous cry with which Captain Jack Stanley summoned together his company of raw troops. Before his men were fairly out of their tents the gray lines of Confederate soldiers were seen advancing through the thick woods in front of the Union camp, joining in a deadly fire as they pressed forward. Jack seized his sword and, undaunted by the wild confusion and terror which swayed hi men and the Union forces all about them, rallied his company and made ready to withstand the awful onslaught. The enemy's attack was a complete surprise. The Union soldiers had small thought of a battle, and had been lounging about their tents in a manner characteristic of Sunday morning. Many of them had not been in a general engagement, and the first smell of powder and the sight of the determined rebel line filled their minds with fear and caused a large number to turn on their heels and heel to the rear. Captain Stanley's words, however, called many of the older heads to their senses, and before the advancing line had reached the Union camp the latter's battle line had been formed and a stubborn defense begun. "Give it to 'em, boys!" Captain Stanley cried to his men above the rattle of musketry that was becoming louder every instant, well show em how to fight! Like a rock he stood before his men, and with his sword in one hand and his revolver in the other, urged them to maintain their position. But a mountain could scarcely have withstood that rushing charge. Like demons bent on the work of total annihilation the gray lines came on. Suddenly from a neighboring hillock a battery of artillery opened its destructive fire on the Union troops and seemed to direct all its energies against the brave little company that held its place while the troops on all sides of it were rapidly treating. The brave men fell one by one until nearly half their number lay prostrate on the ground. Captain Stanley finally saw the utter uselessness of trying to maintain his position, but was too determined to give up the fight. With flashing eyes he quickly raised his sword above his head, and in a voice that seemed to ring down the lines like the roar of a cannon, he shouted: "Forward, boys! Follow me! Don't let em say they took our camp!" Without waiting to see if his men followed he rushed straight against the enemy's column. Half a dozen brave fellows who could not withstand the force of their leaders example rushed after him and tried to stem the advancing flood, but it was useless. On the gray lines came, until Captain Jack was forced back beyond his camp and was compelled to see the enemy take his flags into their possession. "Boys!" he shouted again, "they must not take those flags. Remember how we promised to defend them when they were presented to us when we left home, and lets after them with hearts of steel. Come, follow me!" His band rallied at this call, and the surrounding troops, catching his indomitable spirit, pressed forward once more. He led them straight toward the custodians of the captured flags, and while the enemy stood, amazed at his daring, he struck down with his sword the men who carried them, and snatching up the loved standards, he slowly retreated. Not without loss of blood, however, for down his left arm there trickled a stream of red that told only too plainly that