A. SANDERS, ESQ. – Dear Sir: You published in your daily of the 5th inst., which accidentally came to my hand, an article of a ‘brave boy.’ We call him simply Stepho and I call him the boy of the second regiment. I call him so, therefore, because he is the youngest and belongs to us. Having lived and studied among you for the last twelve years, you may know him, as the son of the old Hungarian exile, F. Spellitich. He is above the middle [illegible], of Herculean strength for one his age, which is surpassed only by his bravery, coolness, and self-possession. You hinted at his exploits, I give you some further particulars.
During the hottest part of the glorious battle at Fort Donelson, this boy of the Second stood there alone, on the summit of the enemy’s entrenchments. He was ordered down by the commanding officer, but all in vain. In the midst of the deafening tumult, he either did not, or would not hear the command, for he stood on his chosen post, coolly and deliberately among the whistling bullets of the enemy, ever as a target or as a living banner of the Union. Unmindful of all, he stripped himself of his superfluous garments, and placing his ammunition on top of them, commenced a single-handed combat against the thousand of the foe. We heard the boy exclaiming ‘you scoundrel, you shot my captain – I will pay you for it,’ and suiting the action to the word he discharged his musket and the victim fell. He loaded again, erect among a thousand dangers, and the next rebel bit the dust. This went on in the same manner, until his ammunition was exhausted. Still more, this boy of the Second had the courage to seize a six barreled revolving rifle in the hands of a foe, and wresting it from him, replaced his garments, and then came down to us, bearing aloft his trophy. The boy, according to the strict military rule, was deprived of his dearly bought rifle, nevertheless, the glory of the exploit will be sufficient trophy for him.
A COMRADE.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, March 12, 1862, p. 1
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