An incident is related of young Spellitich, at Fort Donelson, a member of Co. C, and a son of Mr. Felix Spellitich, of this county, that ought to be recorded. When our forces arrived at the entrenchments he clambered on top, stopped there, took off his overcoat, laid it down, then his under coat, laid that down deliberately, put his ammunition on top of the pile, then stood and coolly took aim at the enemy. Each time, when about to fire, he would say “You scoundrel, you shot my captain,” or words to that effect, and every time he pulled the trigger an enemy bit the dust. Seeing his dangerous position, exposed as the boy was, a prominent object for the enemy’s marksmen, Lieut. Bing ordered him down, but he either didn’t hear, or didn’t want to, and kept on blazing away as if the fate of the army depended on his maintaining his position. When he came down, he was entirely unharmed. Young Spellitich is about nineteen years old, and is a native of Hungary.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, March 5, 1862, p. 1
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