Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

ONE IAN CAPTURES SIX HUNDREI DARING FEAT OF J. B. LYLES OF GEN. BRATTON'S STAFF. Gen. Bratton, in Telling the Story Describes the Deed "the Most Conspicuous Feat of Valor and Skill, that Came Within my Knowledge Personally Dur ing the War of Secess cession." The Sunday News. I have just come into possessior of a copy of an account written b3 Brig. Gen. John Bratton, of what hi characterizes as the most conspicuou! feat of personal valor and skill thal came within his knowledge. Gen Bratton's conspicuously activ< and gallant military service to th< Confederacy, from Sumter to Appo mattox, and from private to briga dier general, and his high. reputatior throughout South Carolina for pa triotism and accuracy in statement give peculiar interest and value to thi paper. The hero of the incident related i. Captain Joseph Banks Lyles, now re siding in Caddo, Indian Territory He was born in 1829 near Winnsboro S. C., graduated A. B. from Soutl Carolina college in 1856, and has de votedhis whole life to education, ex cept during his four years' service tc the Confederacy; having been prin cipal and proprietor of the Limestone S. C., Male academy prior to, and sub sequent to, the war of secession; ir i870 he removed to the west and con ducted large schools successively a Paris, rexas, and Caddo, Indian Ter ritory. He served on the staff o General Micah Jenkins and of Gen eral Bratton, was captain of Company C, 5th South Carolina volunteer in fantry. He was nine times wounded with balls, shell and sabre, once hav ing his skull broken. The rifle wit1 which he effected the capture of the six hundred Yankees I have seen-a -seven shot repeating Spencer carbine with which~ the Federal cavalry was armed. I thought the publication o: this enclosed account by General Bratton would 'be interesting to the general public and preserve a valu able historical document. Respectfully, D. H. Means. Whkite Oak, S. C., March 29, 1896. The most conspicuous feat of valoi .and skill (personal,) that came within my knowledge during the war of Se cession was achieved by an officer oJ my brigade on the 27th of October 1864. In the severe and constant fight jng of that campaign my staff, as well as line, suffered, and it was neces officers of the lin1i To meet sai:h demand Cap'tai~n J Banks Lyle, of h: : 5h South Cara. lina regiment, was t-hn. and had beer for some tim^d, rendering efficientc ser vice on the brigade staff. On the morning of the above date the enemy were in heavy force on the north side of the James and assailed oui works with more or less vigor at va rious points, extending their attacks to and beyond the Charles City wood, In the afternoon bhis cavalry assault ed our works on tihe Williamsburg road, held by our cavalry, and were driven off. Field's division of inf an try was promptly moved to the Wil liamsburg road in anticipation of the assault by infantry, which followed, pushing our cavalry farther to the left, my brigade, under its senior, Col. Walker, occupying the line across the road and were in position to meet and repulse it. In their retreat quite a number of them took refuge in a wash or gu-lly, which ran through a depression in the field some* 300 or 400 yards in front of our line, nearly lialf way to the enemy's line. Captain Lyles saw they were whipped and would surrender if called on to do so. He so reported, and asked permission to advance the skirmish line and take them in. His request was refused, but convinced, as he was, that they would escape, simply because they were not invited to surrender before night came to cover their retreat, he determined * to attempt their capture. He went to the skirmish line and tried to get them to volunteer, and failing in that, (all were wIling to go if ordered.) he started alone, but had not advanced sorry that I cannot give their names,) called out: "Hold on, Captain, you shan't go by yourself!" and moved out with him. They had gone but a short distance when he concluded not to subject his brave little force to the danger of possible error of his judg ment, but to use their aid without risk to them. He had observed an officer 'trying to arouse the collapsed spirit of his men in the gully, and, halting his volunteers on the crest overlooking the position, ordered them to open fire on the officer and put a stop to his harrangue, while he advanced alone over the open field in full view of Field's division on our side, and the whole force of the ene my -on the other side. He was recog nized by his own brigade, bu-t those of the other brigades, misapprehend ing' his conduct, fired on him at long range so heavily that the dust stirred by the bullets falling around him al most concealed him from view. This continued until word could be passed continued until word could be passed along *The line stopping it. This, of course, served to attract the atten tion of all to him as he approached the gully in which the enemy were, and in full view of friend and foe, accomplished the capture and made them file out without arms and move on to our lines. There was great en thusiasm and excitement on our side. Men all along the line of the division mounted the works with exclamations . of admiration and inquiry: "Who is P he?" etc. The enemy did not seem to . understand it at first, and took no part until they saw the prisoners fil ing into our works, when they opened L a battery on the scene, which contrib uted to the general excitment, but was especially effective in hurrying the movement of the prisoners into our i works. The number of officers and men captured was about six hu4dred, with three stands of colors and swords by -The armful. This is the I su.bstance of a report made to me on my return to the brigade a few days after the incident occurred. And on which I based and forwarded a rec ommendation for his promotion. Maj. General Fields, who witnesed the close of this stirring scene, not only endorsed, but warmly urged it on the ground of "benefit to the service," in his entire division, adding what he' himself saw of the remarkable feat. But our army was being worn away and reduced in numbers daily. There were no vacancies, all of our positions were held by officers of courage and experience, and our condition was not favorable to giving rank for any feat of valor, not even for one so conspic uous and extraordinary as this. The recommendation for promotion was for this reason, perhaps, shelved. This, though' the most wonderful, was by no means the first of Captain Lyles' feats of danger. They, together with his personal disregard for dan ger, had made him in the brigade a reputation for general recklessness, but his recklessness was entirely per sonal-no officer was more~ careful for his men, in looking to their com fort or shielding them from unneces sary risk. So far as they were con cerned he exercised re.al prudence, but it was the prudence of which only a brave man is capable: He was high ly endowed with what are called "bat tie instincts," and relying implicitly on his intuitions of the conditions of the enemy, acted on them whenever he had authority to do so. Hence his successes in apparently rash and reckless enterprises. His intelligent courage and pecu liar adaptability to fighting attracted my attention and influenced my selec tion of him for service on the staff. I will only add that in that service he more than filled the measure of my expectations. I have intentionally made this plain' and simple statement, avoiding ef fort at embellishment, or even ex pression of my opinion and admira tion, but it is necessary -to a just ap preciation of this crowning feat of a career of heroism to call attention to the time and place and circumstances of its achievement. Our army had been forced 'behind its works around Richmond and Petersburg, and its operations for montths confined to their defence, which taxed to the utmost its courage and fortitude. With constant diminishing resources we were reduced to a steady, dogged defence. To the common eye there was literally no field for enterprise of valor and skill for our army, or any and had not been for months when this startling and astounding feat was performed in the op.en light of day, in the open field and in full view of opposing lines. I put this statement in writing, though as an act of jus tice it is too tardy to be of benefit to my old, worthy and estimable com rade, but I shall give myself the sat isfaction of sending it to his daughter that she and all who come after may know of what stuff they are made. And it may be that it may furnish ma terial for a skillful hand to guild with true metal of heroism a page of our history. John Bratton. (Letter from Brig. Gen. Jno. Bratton to daughter of Capt. J. B. Lyles.) White 'Oak, S. C., March 29, 1896. Dear Miss Fanny: You must no measure my appreciation of your in terest'ng letter by my wan7c of prompt ness in acknowledging it. The delay arose from my desire for leisure to enjoy the writing of such a letter. My time has been occupied with. mat ters -of a distressing and worrying na ture. You will perceive that the state ment enclosed is dated the i9th inst. It was barely started when I was in terrupted and did not resume it until today. Fearing indefinite procrastina ion and trusting that it would be pleasing in the sight of God, I have made a Sunday job of it. I cannot tell how gratifying is such a letter from the daughter of my val ued old comrade, who has been away so far and so long that I did not know that he had a daughter. It not only gave me great pleasure of itself by its spirit and tone, but a pleasant task -to perform, which has been de layed solely by my wish for the lei sure to do it as well as I can and to fully enjoy the doing of it. Your dear father is a little mixed in the facts. I was wounded, almost a week after the Battery Harrison affair and go back a few days after the Williamsburg road incident, while it was fresh, and my statement is the summary of re ports from various sources, from Gen. Fields down to the private's who wit nessed it. He was on the eve of leav ing for home, having secured a teave of absence to get married. The only trophy That was delivered to me was a little cavalry carbine. This 'he brought to me the evening before he left and informed me that he had not turned it over to the government, as was our rule with captured property, told me why he had not done so. When abourt half way through with the capture a Federal officer, some distance up the -line, was indignantly rating his men for surrendering to one man and urging them to kill or capture him. It was the crisis of the undertaking (for he was in their pow-. er if they could only be brought to realize it) and must be metc prompt ly. Throwing down his trophies and picking up the carbine which 'had been lost inl the retreat of cavalry, he ad vanced promptly and directly on the officer, presenting the carbine and threatening to blow his brains out if he did not surrender. He yielded; the capture was completeil. without further trouble. Fortunately the car bine was not loaded, 'but neither your father nor the Yankee knew it. He slung the car'bine on his shoulder and held it .till I came. His duties precluded the idea of his using it in the public service. He had no excuse for appropriating it, and' brought it to me with the above state ment. I received it and having no wedding present for his bride, told him that I would relieve him of all responsibility for it, but concluded to rob the government myself and beg ged him to presentc it to his bride for me as my wedding present. He was so bashful and blushing at the mention of his bride that I doubt ed if he comprehended fully the na ture of the transaction and carried my message 'straight. But he retained the carbine and my appropriation of it for him is the only recognition of his onduct that he ever received except general increase of admiration for his daring by his comrades. The colors nd other trophies I never saw, but n inquiry learned that they have been turned in by a Georgia brigade (An derson's) who got credit for th.em temporarily, but if my recommenda tion for promotion, endorsed by Gen. Fields, is among the war papers, Three stands of colors are on record as cap tured by him. I cannot recall what troops were captured further than handled us so roughly about a month r before at Battery Harrison, and now, Miss Fannie, allow me to 'hank you h for knowing me along with that brave g father of yours, who is now doubtless r Ike the rest of us, now a gray beard ed old man, but still in my vision of r him in the full vigor of young man hood, ready to blush at my illusion to his sweetheart, and for your nice interesting letter, which put in motion a long train of reminiscences, so full I of noble aspirations and glorious t deeds, that the darkness which has 2 followed cannot tarnish their bright- r QUIT COUGHIN There is no n4 Lungs out, w tle of Murray lien and Tar. A few:doses of this Househok lief. A positive cure for Infit Throat. Anti-Spasmodic in C THE MURRAY DRU Cola.zmibia, SI * TWco FC * Special Offer on Our C * Cut out this adv. and han it * you a package each of our 25C. * for the price of one until the f this special offer that will not 1 made solely that you may test t One or both are apt to be neede make a saving, and be ready to as one appears. When bought are guaranteed. * MAYES' DR When Wanting Som CALL Geco. D. D pered Herring, Frenci Boneless Herring, Roa Beef, LunchIgTonlgue,: Chicken and Potted Tur Pineapple, Mushroons Salad,.Pickles-Sweet a lets; Cheese, Coffee fror Crearn of Wheat, Qua Force, Peanut! Butter,1 Ferris' Breakfast IBacor Spices for Pickling, Vine Apple, Fresh lot of Choc pound. Phone 1 10. SOUTH CAROLI 1805-1 Four Schools: Arts, Law , System of Wide Election. Opens Septemb< BENJAMIN GLO FOR BARGAl *FURNI HOUSEKHOL KiblAr, Dc NEWBER) ess. Give my love to your father and tell im I shall not be satisfied unless he ives you a hearty smacking kiss for ie. With love and good wishes for rou all, I am, whether we ever aeet or not, Your sincere friend, John Brattonl. IRD DOG--Liver colored setter, ail cut-Can be had by calling tn mntine Buzhardt and paying for this totice. Bed of wearing your en you can get a bot 's Horehound, Mul Remedy will give immediate re ienza, Bronchitis and Diseasses of rup. Mcc., ALL OAT3AA lg--and Cold Cure. in with 25C. and we will give size Cough and 25C. Cold Cure irst of November. We make 0 )e repeated this year, and is* e merits partly at our expense. * d at any time. Buy at once, treat a cough or cold as sWn at regular prices these remedies 0 UG STORE. ething Good to Eat ON avenport. dOrabs, Shrimps, Kip 1 Sardines, Lobsters, stMutton and Roast SlicedaHam, Potted key, Grated and Sliced ,Asparagus, Celery ndSour, Junket Tab n 15c. to 35c. per lb., ker Oats, Grape Nuts, Butterd Beans, Olives; , Tetley's Tea, Mixed ~gar--White Wine and olate Candies 40c. per INA COLLEGE SSciences andjTeachers. Expenses Moderate. r 27th, 1905. VER, President. INS TURE , GOODS RY S. C.