Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 16.djvu/102

 96 Southern Historical Society Papers.

ority of fire, March I7th, 1862, Brigadier General Trudeau, command- ing the Confederate States artillery, says :

"At 9 P. M. Captain Cummins, of the Signal Service, went to Battery No. i and established there a signal station, which proved of great service during the various engagements."

Further on in his report, the General says : " Besides the officers already mentioned, who were conspicuous for their bravery and cool- ness under a galling fire, I will mention Signal Officers E. Jones and S. Rose, who never left their posts one minute. While shot and shell were tearing everything to pieces, Signal Officer E. Jones had his flag-staff shot from his hands ; he coolly picked up the flag and continued to communicate his message."

Captain (afterwards General) Ed. Rucker, commanding the bat- tery, says : " E. Jones and Samuel Rose, of the Signal Corps, were engaged with me the whole day in defence of the redan, and bore themselves with great coolness and gallantry. Signal Officer Jones having the staff of his flag shot away thrice during the engagement, seized the flag in hia hand, without looking around to listen to ex- clamations, and continued his important message to headquarters. "

The flag was probably knocked out of Mr. Jones' hands by the mud, tons of which flew in the air every time the heavy projectiles from the fleet struck the parapet. Captain Rucker says : " Many shot and shell fell immediately in rear of our guns, while others passed through the parapet, ploughing up the earth and destroying much of the work." This explanation is suggested because, while it eliminates the marvellous element from the story, it detracts nothing from the credit due Mr. Jones for his gallant conduct. It may seem presumptu- ous to question the literal truth of reports penned upon the spot by superior officers, and which, by lapse of years, have passed into the domain of history, but it should be remembered that official reports, written immediately after a lively action, are worded under excite- ment, which has not had time to cool, and in great part upon reports of others, for nobody is able at such times to see everything; besides which, the writer of these reflections was himself an eye-witness of the incidents related, through a spy glass at a safe distance, and held in his hands, after the fight, the identical flag staff which is said to have been thrice shot away and which was undamaged.

Two more brief extracts are quoted to show that the service of the Signal Corps was not those of carpet knights. Colonel Brown, of the Fifty- fifth Tennessee volunteers, writes : "The enemy's heavy shot and shell poured an almost incessant volume upon our meagre