Gatling Gun on Firing-Line July 1st.
(Taken under fire by Sergeant Weigle.)
“Retiring troops as rear guards have in this weapon par excellence the weapon for a swift and sharp return with the power of rapidly withdrawing. If the enemy can by any means be enticed within its range, he will certainly suffer great losses. If he cannot be brought in range, his distance will be rather respectful.”
This discussion as presented was entirely and absolutely original with the author and the result of his own unaided researches on the subject. It will be seen in the account of the battle how accurately the conditions there laid down were fulfilled.
But the carriage in use by the Gatling Gun Detachment was not the one proposed to the War Department. That carriage has not, as yet, been built, nor has the War Department in any way recognized the invention or even acknowledged the receipt of the communication and drawings.
The problem, therefore, confronting the Gatling Gun Detachment was to demonstrate the above uses of the machine gun, taking the obsolete artillery carriage drawn by mules, and endeavor to get the guns into action by draft. The personnel of the detachment alone accounts for their success. They got the guns up on the firing-line, not because of any superiority of the carriage over that in use by the artillery, for there was none; not because of aid rendered by other arms of the service, for they actually went into battle as far as 100 yards in advance of the infantry skirmishers; but because the Gatling Gun Detachment was there for the purpose of getting into the fight and was determined to give the guns a trial.
In the first place, all the members of the Gatling Gun Detachment were members of the Regular Army. All but three of them were natives of the United States, and those three were American citizens. Every man in the detachment had been selected by the detachment commander, or had voluntarily undertaken to perform this duty, realizing and believing that it was an extremely hazardous duty. Every member of the detachment possessed a common-school education, and some of them were well educated. All of them were men of exceptionally good character and sober habits. The drivers were Privs. Shiffer, Correll, Merryman, and Chase. The description formerly given of Shiffer applies, with slight modifications, to all the four. The first sergeant, Weigle, a native of Gettysburg, a soldier of eight years’ experience in the Regular Army, a man of fine natural ability and good educational attainments, was worthy to command any company in the United States Army. Thoroughly well instructed in the mechanism of Gatling guns, of exceptionally cheerful and buoyant disposition, he was an ideal first sergeant for any organization. Steigerwald, acting chief of gun No. 1, was of German birth, well educated. He had chosen the military profession for the love of it; he was a man of wonderfully fine physique, a “dead sure” shot, and one who hardly understood the meaning of the word “fatigue.” He was ambitious, he was an ardent believer in the Gatling gun, and he was determined to win a commission on the battle-field.
Corporal Doyle was a magnificent type of the old-time Regular—one of the kind that composed the army before Proctorism tried to convert it into a Sunday-school. In former days Doyle had been a drinking man; but the common opinion as expressed by his company officers even in those days was, “I would rather have Doyle, drunk, than any other non-commissioned officer, sober; because Doyle never gets too drunk to attend to duty.” Two years before this Doyle had quit drinking, and the only drawback to this most excellent noncommissioned officer had been removed. He was a thorough disciplinarian; one of the kind that takes no back talk; one who is prone to using the butt end of a musket as a persuader, if necessary; and Doyle was thoroughly devoted to the detachment commander. Corp. Smith was another of the same stamp. Corp. Smith loved poker. In fact, his sobriquet was “Poker Smith.” He was one of the kind of poker-players who would “see” a $5 bet on a pair of deuces, raise it to $25, and generally rake in the “pot.” It was Corp. Smith who thought in this Gatling gun deal he was holding a pair of deuces, because he didn’t take much stock in Gatling guns, but he was a firm believer in his commanding officer and was prepared to “bluff” the Dons to the limit of the game.