Snippet #912771

Lieutenant Alfred Krieger sat calmly atop his bay gelding, Lanze, as he led his command towards the town of Jakal Flats. Behind him he could hear the sounds of horse hooves, the creak of wagon wheels, and the occasional cough or whinny from one of the men or horses. This wasn't Alfred's first choice of assignments, heck it was even in his top ten, but he had his orders and he always followed orders. Besides, there was always the possibility of repelling on indian raid, or fighting local outlaws and bandits, or something else of that nature. It was a perfectly honorable thing to protect these townsfolk and the people who lived in the surrounding areas. And at least he would be staying in one place as opposed to riding up and down the country side.

Something pulled Alfred from his thoughts. Putting his hand up to signal the men to halt, he carefully surveyed his surroundings. As the men came stopped he could now clearing here what had pulled him out of his revery. Gun shots. He hadn't heard them do to the sounds of travel and his own distractedness. And they seemed to be coming from the direction of their destination.

"Form up! Hancock and McCullen, stay with the wagon." Alfred barked out the orders, turning slightly in his saddle to watch his his men formed up in a line abreast to his right, two falling back to stay with the wagon. "Gun crew will follow. Company, forward at a trot!" Shouting the last part, Alfred turned and kicked Lanze forward, his men following his example. He could see them maintain there position and closing the gap between him and them. They quickly reached the crest of a hill, where Alfred order another halt.

Below them was the town of Jakal Flats. It was a small town, ussually not worth bothering with. Alfred and his men were there to deal with any threats to the settlers in the immediate vicinity. It appeared that they just in time. "Company, weapons ready!" Alfred watched his men pull out their pistols. Alfred couldn't resist the desire to draw his saber, the fine steel flashing in the sunlight. "Gatling will follow us down and deploy at the end of the main street. Fire only if absolutely nessecary. Company, forward at the walk."

Alfred led his men down the hill. There was a gunfight going on in the middle of the small town. "Company, forward at the trot!" He cried out as they were about half way down the hill. The majority of the gun men seemed to be attacking only a few men, and the rest of the townsfolk seemed to have fled. The gunmen were dressed in all grey, like they were Confederates or something. They were only a few hundred yard from the town now and the bandits seemed to have not noticed them.

"COMPANY, CHARGE!" Alfred shouted, bringing his arm down and pointing at the enemy with this saber. His men let out a roar as they spurred their horses forward! The sound of shouting men and the thunder of horse hooves brought the bandits to the attention of this new threat, but it was to late. Pistols fired as his men poured into town. There was no way these men, who were indeed dressed in Confederat uniforms, could stand against this charge. They almost immediately broke apart, running for their lives in every direction.