Frank Before Vicksburg Part 5

"I do not wish to go back to the ship without my battery, sir. Will you give me men enough to recover it?"

"No, sir; I can't send any one out there to be shot at. It is certain death, sir."

Frank, who thought that the captain had suddenly grown very careful of his men, made no reply, but hastened back to the spot where he had left his battery. To his joy and surprise he found one of the howitzers safe in the hands of his men; and, as he came up, a sh.e.l.l went crashing toward the rebel line, followed by a triumphant shout from the sailors.

The boatswain's mate, who had managed to secure the gun, by throwing a rope around the trail-wheel, was endeavoring, in the same manner, to obtain possession of the other. After a few ineffectual attempts, he succeeded, and the gun was pulled back safely into the bushes. When they had secured the remainder of the ammunition, the men caught up the trail-ropes, and, without delay, Frank took his old position in the center of the retreating line. The rebels followed them so closely that the sailors were frequently compelled to halt and drive them back.

During one of these halts, the captain of the expedition was killed. As if by magic, Mr. Howe appeared on the scene, and, without waiting to recover the body of his officer, gave the command to fall back more rapidly. At length, just before they reached the bank where they had disembarked, the ammunition for the howitzers being exhausted, Frank requested permission to retreat still more rapidly, and get his guns on board the nearest vessel.

"That request is in perfect keeping with your conduct during the fight,"

returned Mr. Howe, sneeringly. "The plea of saving your battery is a very handy one; but if you are afraid to remain here with us, you may run as fast as you wish. I'd be ashamed to hold up my head after this, if I were in your place."

"I am not afraid to remain here, sir," answered Frank, with a good deal of spirit; "and if you say that I have acted the part of a coward during this fight, I defy you to prove the charge. The idea that I am afraid, because I wish to retreat in order to save my battery, is absurd. Run those guns along lively, lads."

Frank succeeded in getting his howitzers on board one of the tin-clads, which still lay alongside of the bank, without the loss of another man.

A moment afterward the sailors came pouring down the bank. As soon as they were all on board, the vessels moved out into the stream, and commenced sh.e.l.ling the woods. While thus engaged, the Ticonderoga came down the river, and, after dropping her anchor, signaled for the officer in command of the expedition to repair on board. Mr. Howe at once put off in a boat to obey the order, while the vessel in which Frank had taken refuge ran alongside of the Ticonderoga, and as soon as the battery had been taken off, the men, covered with dust and blood, and their faces begrimed with powder, stood silently around the guns, while the remainder of the crew gathered on the opposite side of the deck, and regarded their comrades with sorrow depicted in every feature of their sun-burnt faces. Frank knew that the fight had been a most desperate one, and that he had lost many of his men; but he could scarcely believe his eyes, when he found that out of the forty brave fellows who had started out with him in the morning, but _fifteen remained_--more than half had been left dead on the field, or prisoners in the hands of the rebels.

In a scarcely audible voice he called the roll, and his emotion increased when, at almost every third name, some one answered:

"Not here, sir."

In a few moments the captain appeared on deck. The report of the commander of the expedition had, of course, been unfavorable, and the captain's face wore a look of trouble. Hastily running his eye over the line of dusty, bleeding men that stood before him, he said, in a low voice, as if talking to himself:

"Only fifteen left. I could ill afford to lose so many men. You may go below, lads. Doctor, see that the very best care is taken of the wounded."

After delivering this order, the captain, who was evidently ill at ease, turned and walked down into his cabin.

CHAPTER V.

In the Hands of the "Johnnies" Again.

As soon as the men had disappeared, Frank, with a heavy heart, repaired to his room to dress for supper. He thought over all the little incidents of the day, and frequently detected himself in saying: "Only fifteen men left; fifteen out of forty!"

What a slaughter--a useless slaughter--there had been! And all had been occasioned by the ignorance of the commanding officer of the expedition.

Had Frank been allowed to retain the sheltered position which he had at first taken up, the result would have been far different. And how had he escaped without even a scratch? He had stood beside his men during the whole of the fight--freely exposing himself, and, rendered conspicuous by his uniform, had signaled the vessel twice; and each time the flag had been riddled by bullets, but not a shot had touched him! It seemed but little short of a miracle that he had come off unscathed, when so many men had fallen around him.

He was interrupted in his meditations by the entrance of the orderly, who informed him that his presence was wanted in the cabin. Frank hastily pulled on his coat and repaired thither. As he entered, the captain said:

"Take a chair, Mr. Nelson. I wish to have a few moments' serious conversation with you."

Frank, surprised at the captain's tone and manner, seated himself, and the latter continued:

"Are you aware, sir, that you have this day destroyed all the confidence I have hitherto placed in you, and have rendered yourself liable to severe punishment?"

The effect of this question, so abruptly put, was astounding, and Frank could only falter--

"Sir? I--I--don't understand you, sir."

"Mr. Nelson, I am surprised at you, sir," said the captain, sternly. "I shall have to refresh your memory, then. You have this day been guilty of misdemeanors, any one of which renders you liable to a court-martial, and to a disgraceful dismissal from the service. In the first place, you have shown gross disrespect to your superior officer, and"----

"I guilty of disrespect, sir!" repeated Frank, scarcely believing his ears. "There must be some mistake, sir, for"----

"Don't interrupt me, sir. I repeat, you have been guilty of disrespect to your superior officer, and of cowardice, having been found with your battery far in the rear at a time when your services were very much needed at the front; and then, after the fight had fairly commenced, as if waking up to a sense of your duty, and, no doubt, wishing to make amends for what you had done, you, contrary to orders, recklessly exposed your men, and, as a consequence, out of forty of the bravest fellows that ever trod a ship's deck--which were placed under your command this morning--you had but fifteen left when you returned on board. The energy displayed by you in working your battery, and the manner in which you obtained possession of it, after you moved out from your sheltered position, and had been compelled to retreat, were feats of which any officer might be justly proud, and which I should have been most happy to reward with your promotion, had you not spoiled every thing by your infamous conduct at the commencement of the fight.

Hitherto, since you have been on board this ship, you have been a good officer, have always attended to your duties, and it pains me to be obliged to talk to you in this manner. I never thought that you, after what you did at Cypress Bend, while you were on board of the Milwaukee, would ever have been guilty of such misdemeanors. However, as your conduct heretofore has always been such as I could approve, I shall see that no charges are made against you; and I sincerely hope that what you have learned to-day will be a lesson that you will never forget. I shall give you sufficient opportunities to make amends for what you have done, and I shall commence by sending you ash.o.r.e with a flag of truce, to ask permission of the rebels to bury our dead. You may start at once, sir."

This was a hint that his presence in the cabin was no longer desirable, and Frank, who, in his confusion and bewilderment scarcely knew what he was doing, made his best bow and retired.

What his feelings were as he listened to this reprimand, administered by the captain, who never before had spoken a harsh word to him, it is impossible to describe. He again thought over every thing he had done during the fight; how he had, at the commencement of the action, beaten back the rebels, with a mere handful of men; how he had, in obedience to orders, taken the exposed position where he had lost so many of his gun's crew, and which he had held in spite of the storm of bullets that rained around him, until the whole line had been compelled to retreat, and he was left unsupported; how he had twice risked his life in signaling the ship; and how, when the retreat was ordered he had brought back his guns in safety: he thought of all these things, and wondered where the charge of cowardice could be brought in. And then, when and how had he been guilty of disrespect to his superior officer? Certainly not in remonstrating against ordering the men to stack their arms, for that was a privilege to which he, as one of the commanding officers of the expedition, was ent.i.tled. In regard to recklessly exposing his men, the case was not quite so clear. It was true that, in the beginning of the fight, he had ordered a charge upon the rebels, who greatly outnumbered his own men, and had easily driven them, without loss to himself: perhaps it was there that the third charge had been brought in.

But although he was conscious that he had endeavored to do his whole duty, the words of the captain had cut him to the quick. It had been an unlucky day for him. The expedition had proved a failure, and he had been accused of misdemeanors of which he had never dreamed. It seemed as if fate was against him.

"I believe, as Archie used to say," he soliloquized, "that I am the unluckiest dog in existence. Troubles never come singly."

"The captain wishes to see you, sir," said one of the men, stepping up and interrupting his meditations.

"All right," answered Frank, who was so completely absorbed in his reverie that he was entirely unconscious of what was going on around him; "call all hands to quarters immediately."

"Sir--I--I don't mean--sir--the captain wishes to speak with you, sir,"

repeated the sailor, half inclined to believe that Frank was getting crazy. This aroused the young officer to a sense of his situation; as he approached the quarter-deck, where the captain was standing, the latter said:

"Mr. Nelson, do you intend to go ash.o.r.e with that flag of truce, sir?"

"I beg your pardon, sir," faltered Frank, "I forgot all about that. Will you have the kindness to call away the first cutter?" he continued, approaching the quarter-master, and saluting him as the officer of the deck.

"Mr. Nelson," shouted the captain, "what are you doing? Are you crazy, sir?"

"I believe I am, captain, or pretty near it," answered Frank. "The charges that have been brought against me have well-nigh upset me. They are false, sir, and I don't deserve the reprimand I have received."

In his next attempt to find the officer of the deck Frank met with more success. While the cutter was being manned, he ran down into the steerage, and seizing a pen, hastily dashed off the following:

UNITED STATES STEAMER TICONDEROGA, } OFF CYPRESS BEND, _Oct. 30, 1863_. }

SIR:

Having been reported, by the officer in command of an expedition--sent ash.o.r.e this day for the purpose of dislodging a body of rebels posted behind the levee--for cowardice, disrespect to my superior officer, and for recklessly exposing my men to the fire of the rebels, and knowing, sir, that these charges are utterly groundless, I respectfully request that a Court of Inquiry may be convened to examine into my behavior while under the enemy's fire.

I am, sir, very respectfully Your obedient servant, FRANK NELSON, _Acting Master's Mate_.

Acting Rear-Admiral D. D. PORTER, U. S. N., _Commanding Miss. Squadron_.

While he was sealing the envelope the messenger boy entered and reported the cutter ready. Frank ran on deck, and, after giving the communication to the captain, with a request that it might be approved and forwarded to the Admiral, he sprang into the boat, and gave the order to shove off.

The old boatswain's mate, who was acting as the c.o.xswain of the cutter, had rigged up a flag of truce. As they pulled toward the sh.o.r.e, Frank waved this above his head until he elicited a similar response from the bank; then, throwing down the flag, he seated himself in the stern sheets, and covered his face with his hands. The old mate, mistaking his emotion for sorrow at the death of so many of his men, said:

"Yes, it is a hard case. Not a few of us are left without our chums; but we all know it wasn't your fault. There would have been more of us left if you had been allowed to have your own way."

"Then I did not expose you needlessly, did I, Jack?"