Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1884 — A Neat Capture. [ARTICLE]

A Neat Capture.

One of the incidents that were often repeated with a lively jest and caused matay an evening laugh to ring among those stubborn hills, even during the darkest, dreariest and hardest days that we passed in trenches during the siege of "Vicksburg, ran thus: One night after Logan’s men had worked their approach up to the foot of the rebel works in front of them, they discovered the Coi federates at work inside bringing up bales of cotton to repair the damage our artillery had done to their works. Among the Union soldiers was a Yankee sailor who had been, as he claimed, “all over creation and the rest of the world,” and who “could do a little of everything, and a thing or two besides.” He suggested the plan, which was quickly indorsed by his merry comrades, of trying to steal the cotton away from the rebels. The suggestion was promptly acted upon. Some grappling hooks with long rope attached were procured. Placing the rope in the hands of his comrades so that they would be ready to give a sudden pull at the right time, the sailor-boy soldier gave the grappling hooks the proper swing, and cast them over the walls of the rebel fort. As the hooks struck inside he cried to the boys who had hold of the rope to “pull like h—1!” which of course they did with lively eeal. The first pull showed that the merry experiment had succeeded, a result they had hardly expected. The hook had evidently aotually caught a firm hold of a bale of cotton, The wild cry that arose from the bewildered and astonished rebels, and the tenacity with which they hung to the end of the line, showed that they were not well pleased to see their cotton climb over iuto the Union lines in that manner. Those nearest at hand had caught hold and were doing their best, but a band of terror-stricken rebels made but poor show when pulling on a rope against twenty wild, enthusiastic Yankee boys. With aery of triumph the Unien soldiers brought the rope, grappling hooks, cotton and all over the waifs of the rebel fort and down into the UDion trench. Their surprise was now unbounded, to find that instead of a bale of cotton, as they supposed, they had actually caught and brought over a rebel Lieutenant. The grappling hooks had firmly caught in his clothing, and he was obliged to come over. He was

hurt considerably, but with good and proper care at the hands of his captors soon recovered, but insists that he cannot understand how he happens to be on our side of the line. This incident is insisted upon so strongly that we are almost compelled to believe that in the main it is true. There is only one matter of doubt: It is well known that Logan’s soldiers are not only famous fighters but also capital story-tellers. It would be hard to find boys that do more fighting and have more fun than they. —From “Am\.y Life," by A. O. Marshall.