97. An Unfortunate Cow
By FRANC B. WILKIE (1862)
IT was a siege of intolerable length, and without any variety to
break the everlasting monotony. During the weeks that we
were there, there was but one event that increased the
pulsation of my blood. The wooden gunboat Conestoga lay
well up the river just out of the range of the batteries, There
were several ammunition boats in the vicinity, which it was
our duty to guard nights. During the day, the Conestoga
would drop out into the stream and down till within range, and
then add her voice to the thunderous concert.
[_]
The siege of Island No. 10 from March 17 to April 7.
This vessel and the ammunition boats at night were laid up on
the west, or Arkansas shore. Between us and the shore there
was a swamp densely covered with cane, so that access to the
boats by land was impossible. One night, about eleven
o'clock, when everybody save those on duty had turned into
their hammocks, the solemn stillness was suddenly broken by
a hail from the deck,—"Who goes there?"—followed almost
instantly by the report of a musket, and scarcely a second
later by the roar of our larboard guns. The next moment I
rushed out of the cabin on deck. It was as dark as Erebus. The
whistle of the boatswain was calling the men to their places,
and there was a rush of flying feet. There were the creaking of
tackle, and then the flash and roar of the larboard guns of the
Conestoga, as they blazed away into the woods and the
darkness. Down the stream in the density of night, activity
was noticeable among the twinkling lights of the fleet. Signal
rockets flashed athwart the gloom; and soon the quick
pulsations of a steam-tug added its voice to the clamor.
It was tremendously exciting for a few moments. I could see
no enemy; grape went crashing through the cane and trees
and splashing into the water. In the obscurity all I could see
that was human on the deck, when a flash from the guns
lighted up the scene, was one of the ship boys—a sucking tar
of about twelve years of age apparently—who was standing
within the taffrail and blazing into the timber with a revolver as
fast as he could cock it and pull the trigger. A tug came
alongside from the fleet, and an officer climbed up on deck
with a lantern. He disappeared down the gun deck, and a little
later the firing ceased.
The report of the sentinel was to the effect that he heard
something splashing through the water, and had challenged it,
and receiving no answer had fired off his musket. Some boats
were lowered and an exploration was made of the vicinity, but
nothing whatever was discovered. When daylight came, amid
the torn canes lay the body of a cow, or portions of a
cow, for she had been riddled with a charge of grape.
It was she, that, wading through the water, had excited the
challenge and alarm of the sentinel, the fierce resistance of the
gallant Conestoga, and a commotion which affected the
entire fleet.
