Distant Flame

April 20-May 8, 1864

April 2O-May 8,1864 DALTON C HARLIE AND DUNCAN STOOD high on Rocky Face Ridge near Dalton, staring across the green-bearded mountain at a plank seventeen-hundred yards away that Duncan had emblazoned with a large X. Charlie gauged the heft and displacement of the Whitworth rifle after he'd loaded it, ramming the cartridge down the long hexagonally rifled barrel. It was heavy, but there was a certainty about it, its solidity a promise of accuracy. The day had risen lovely and fair, and a soft warmth filled the sky high above Dalton. Drilling had increased , but Charlie and Duncan no longer marched or performed camp duties. They reported to Lieutenant Schell of the sharpshooter company, which was camped near Cleburne's Division headquarters, and took a tent there, met the other men. Most of them were cool and disdainful of the young new recruit until he'd fired a few rounds from his Whitworth and hit a target consistently at twelve hundred yards. The army seemed more ready for battle every day, certain of its desire for motion. When Joe Johnston had taken over from Bragg, the army was in tatters, sick and deserting. Freezing and coughing men vomited, squatted at the edge of camp with violent diarrhea, picked lice and bedbugs. The camp's smell annoyed some of the Dalton ladies and a few of the gentler men. The hospital was full of dying men, embarrassed that they lacked wounds. One man, near death from typhoid, begged a friend to sneak him a pistol, and then blew his own brains out. 48 PHILIP LEE WILLIAMS Little by little, their strength had returned, both in numbers and health, and the spring campaign, which would start soon, would be bloody and decisive. The soldiers had no idea which way things would go; some bet on a new push into Tennessee to retake Chattanooga, while others, knowing Sherman outnumbered them nearly two to one, saw only retreat toward Atlanta. Now, with morning drill over, a few boys from Charlie's old company in General Daniel Govan's Brigade stood on the ridge and watched. Bob Rainey could not see the wisdom in climbing this peak just for a little target practice, until Duncan explained the range of the Whitworth rifle and the inadvisability of firing it anywhere near troops. There were troops on Rocky Face Ridge, but they were lower and farther south this morning. "I don't think there's a man could hit that plank with a Parrott gun," said Tyree Baskins, a nearlybald man in his late thirties from near Little Rock. Baskins chewed a plug of tobacco, and the oily residue dripped into his beard. A boy named Isaac Kennon stood not far away, scratching his head and holding his Enfield, butt to the ground. Kennon had been afraid every day for the past eighteen months and ran away for a time at Chickamauga then came back, begging forgiveness. One of his own men was about to turn him in to the officers when that man took a minie ball in the nose. Afterward, when Kennon lay wounded himself, with the meat of his left forearm folded back in a bloody flap, everyone forgot his brief desertion. "I don't reckon God could hit that plank with a Parrott gun," said Bob Rainey. Isaac Kennon laughed nervously. "Boys, meet God," said Duncan McGregor. "Not meaning anything disrespectful nor nothing of the sort." Charlie lifted the gun, and its weight was astonishing. Trading a light, rapid-fire Spencer for this seemed an odd swap, but he already knew the Whitworth's value. He held it shoulder high, pushing hismuscles against the long weight of the rifle, judged the distance with his sight, looked through the telescope, saw an X on the plank. He squeezed his trigger, and the Whitworth gave a ferocious bark, and a smell of black powder drifted over them. They saw a shudder in the plank, but it had not fallen. "Goddamn, he missed the whole plank," said Tyree. "Isaac, run down there and get that thing and bring it back." Isaac was not afraid now, and pleased to be doing something, he handed his rifle to Bob A Distant Flame 49 Rainey and walked the crest of the ridge. Charlie lowered the Whitworth and waited. He dreamed of standing high on Rocky Face Ridge or perhaps lying down, looking...