36. The Hunt for the Scout
By JOHN ESTEN COOKE (1863) The Romance of the Civil War | ||
36. The Hunt for the Scout
By JOHN ESTEN COOKE (1863)
AMONG the numerous scouts employed by General Stuart, none was braver or more intelligent than a young man named Frank Sutledge. He certainly was a ranger— born. He loved his friends, but lie loved his calling better still. It might have been said >of him that man delighted him not, nor, woman either. His chief delight was to penetrate the dense woods, assail the enemy wherever he found an opening, and inflict upon them all the injury in his power. In the eyes of the scout those enemies were wolves, and he hunted them: now and then they returned the compliment.
In person Sutledge was suited to his calling; stout but active; a good hand with pistol and sabre; quick of eye; and with nerves which no peril could shake. Soldiers generally prefer broad daylight and an open country to operate in ; Sutledge liked a forest where no moon shone. When he found it necessary to penetrate
It was in November, 1863, when the Federal army lay around Culpeper Court-House and Mitchell's Station, that Sutledge was sent on a scout to ascertain the number, position, and movements of the Federal forces. Taking with him two companions, he crossed the upper Rapidan, and carefully worked his way toward Mitchell's Station. General Meade had pushed forward his lines to this point a few days before,-. or rather had established large camps there ; it was Sutledge's mission to ascertain, if possible, his designs.
In due time the small party reached the vicinity of the station, and it now became necessary to take the remainder of the journey on foot. They accordingly dismounted, and leaving their horses in a thick copse, "snaked "in the direction of a large Federal camp near at hand, taking advantage of every cover. In this manner they came close upon the camp, and
After a fatiguing day, Sutledge and his party lay down in the woods near the Federal camp, to snatch an hour's sleep before proceeding to their nocturnal work.
Sutledge had selected for his bivouac a retired spot where the encircling woods gave excellent promise of concealment, and the covert was so dense as to set him completely at his ease. Through the thick brushwood no glimmer of firelight could be seen; and the scouts ventured to kindle a fire, which the chill November night rendered far from unacceptable. By the carefully shaded blaze they warmed their benumbed fingers, ate their supplies of hard bread and bacon, and spread their blankets for a brief sleep. Sutledge took off his shoes; laid his hat at his head; and having picked up somewhere a certain "Life of Stonewall Jackson,"recently published in Richmond, now drew it from his haversack, and read a few passages by the firelight. This volume must have produced a soothing effect upon his feelings, for in a short time his eyelids drooped, the volume fell from his hands, and he sank to slumber. His companions were already snoring by his side.
They slept longer than they designed doing—in fact throughout the entire night. The weather, which
The first intimation which Sutledge bad of the danger which menaced him was, he declared, an instinctive feeling that some dangerous foe was near; and this even before be woke. He was not long, however, to remain in doubt, or be compelled to question his instincts. He opened his eyes to find the blanket suddenly drawn away from his face, and to hear a harsh and sarcastic voice exclaim: "How are you, Johnny Reb? Come, get up, and we will give you more comfortable accommodations than out here in the rain !"
Sutledge was wide-awake in an instant, and through his half-closed lids reconnoitred, counting his opponents. They were six in number, all armed and ready. The situation looked ugly. With his companions wide-awake and on the alert there might have been some ground for hope; but they were slumbering like the Seven Sleepers, and in utter unconsciousness of danger. As to Sutledge himself, he was in their very grasp, and practically disarmed; for it was obvious that at the first movement which he made to draw his pistol from the holster around his waist, the six muskets, cocked and pointing at his breast, would be discharged as one piece, and his body riddled with bullets.
The situation was depressing : Sutledge and his companions were in a veritable trap. The least movement
which he made would at once put an end to him, if six balls through the body could do so; and it was obviously
necessary to surrender at once or betake himself to strategy. The first was out of the question, for Sutledge had
made up his mind
THE SCOUT.
[Description: Illustration of
man on horseback]
This reply highly tickled his adversaries; and so much did they relish the evident impression of the Johnny Reb that he was among his own comrades in the Confederate camp, that they shook all over in the excess of their mirth. Sutledge was a dangerous man, however, to jest with. While his opponents were thus indulging their merriment, and highly enjoying the surprise and mortification he would feel when awake to the real nature of the situation, Sutledge was busy executing the plan which he had determined upon. Pulling his blanket still further over his head, he drew a long laboured breath, turned as men do languidly in slumber, and cautiously moved his hand beneath the blanket toward the pistol in his belt. The hand slowly stole downwards under the cover, approached the weapon, and then he had grasped the handle. A second careless movement extracted the pistol from the holster; his finger was on the hammer— without noise the— weapon was cocked.
36. The Hunt for the Scout
By JOHN ESTEN COOKE (1863) The Romance of the Civil War | ||