Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 April 1880 — A Demand for Men Eighteen Feet Long. [ARTICLE]

A Demand for Men Eighteen Feet Long.

A Federal soldier who served in the swamps of South Carolina, during the war, tells the following story : Among the officers whom I remember well at Morris island was Col. Sewell, of New York, a most excellent officer and an accomplished engineer. Col. Sewell was engaged on the Swamp Angel, and, being very energetic himself, he was not afraid to enter the swamps. His surprise can be imagined wh m one day one of his Lieutenants whom he had ordered to take twenty men and enter the swamp said he could not do it. “And why, sir, can’t you do it?” said the energetic Sewell. “The mud is too deep, Colonel,” replied the Lieutenant. “You can at least try, sir,” said Sewell. The Lieutenant did so, and in an hour returned, his men covered with mud from head to foot. “ Here, now,” cried Sewell, on seeing them, “ what brings you back ?” “Colonel, the mud is over my men’s heads. I can’t do it. ” “Oli ! but you can make a requisition for anything that is necessary for the safe passage of the swamp, and I will give it to you, but you must go through it!” The Lieutenant did make a requisition in writing, which was as follows: “ I want twenty men eighteen feet long to cross a swam]) fifteen feet deep.”

The joke was a good one, but Sewell, who was terribly in earnest, could not just then appreciate it, and he promptly arrested the Lieutenant for disrespect to his superior officer. Another Lieutenant was detailed, and he went into the swamp, felled the timber and accomplished what his unfortunate predecessor had failed to do. Col. Sewell built his battery with the aid of wheelbarrows and sand, and the remains still stand as a monument to his energy and skill as an engineer.