& so much of it was cleared since my last visit that the sight of it now cast my mind back to battle grounds in the War with trees stumped & shredded by cannon shot or cut down to offer clean lines of fire to the infantry.
“Shall we take the ridge line Sgt.?” says Tom to Nevin.
“What is he asking Mick?” says Nevin to me.
“Will we picket the top of the hill or down here Sgt.?” says I.
Says Nevin, “You boys head on up & remember to keep watch over the back side of the hill. That aint cleared yet & it is easy for any f_____ to creep up in them trees. I will be up to spell you in 2 bells.” From his tunic he took out a watch on a chain. “Maybe by then you will be able to take some grub without throwing it up.”
We both did nod our heads & I smiled at him though it hurt my head. A finer soldier you would not meet in this life than our 1st Sgt. God Be With Him wherever he has gone.
So up the hill side we climbed Tom & myself & so steep was it betimes we did dismount & lead the horses round stumps & parties of men working saws & axes. The men worked to the low side of the trees so that when they fell they would slide some of the ways down the hill where they could be shorn of branches & chained to oxen to be drug away for planing in the mule powered mill. The very air of the Pinery was filled with the sound of men sawing & chopping & even laughing for somebody no doubt brung a bottle. I reckon the civilian timber men were many of them already 1/2 jugged which I did not reckon wise with towering pines crashing down around you but wise is not a word you would use to describe timber men at all.
All of it was the noise & racket of a normal days work & a body might get to thinking it was just like any stand of forest in America. My head was thumping like an apprentice drummer & as we passed the highest up group of cutters I asked Tom if we could halt our climb for a moment. “I may be sick Tom,” I recall saying to my brother & he gave me a small smile that all men fair love to give to them that are more hung over than they be themselves. I spat a few times & with the cool air working on me at last I felt well enough to continue. I tell you all was normal as you can imagine Sir so that when from the top of the hill there came a terrible din a crashing of hooves & cracking of branches & terrible yipping & howling well it was a fierce shock to me. The Indians did rarely attack the Pinery but rather preferred to attack the wood train itself but now coming down the hill at us was a mob of them. It did not seem real to me it seemed like something out of a fever dream.
Tom & I sat as if frozen for a moment watching as the marauders barrelled in & out of the trees like dancers at a fair not one of them dismounting but passing tween the trees like fog or mist leaning aft on their queer saddles for balance as their ponies descended upon us. They were 50 yds. from us & coming strong down that hill.
Tom broke our spell. Says he, “Dismount Michael.” He said it calm as could be & it was like he shook me awake. My heart begun thumping in earnest fear now but I followed Tom & we swung down from our saddles & stood down hill with our horses as cover holding the reins & aiming & letting fire with our muskets over the horses’ backs. Two arrows struck Tom’s mount in his flank & shoulder & he did whinny but stood his ground as if knowing he was there for to cover Tom & myself. My horse she was not as staunch after her wounding some weeks before & she spooked at the onslaught as I fired & I did not hit a thing other than trees but Tom caught one of them Braves square in the bread basket knocking him back off his mount to