[DL] Joseph's Wildmen.

["Brom Clancy" <spleen23@webtrolls.com>]

Real story, but what the story in the deadlands universe?



Joseph's Wildmen

Joseph's Wildmen, né the 42nd Virginia Light Infantry, were named after 
the town from which they came. They were notoriously rowdy, keeping the 
other soldiers up all night with voracious drinking and gambling. Their 
standard was a navy blue flag with a golden acorn at its center. (No one 
is really certain what this represented.)

Joseph's Wildmen generally volunteered for the most dangerous missions. 
In the two years that they served under Lee's command, they fought in 29 
major battles and scores of minor skirmishes. They earned their moniker 
after the Battle of Bainesboro Bridge; when the 42nd Virginia Light 
Infantry returned from battle, they carried the heads of 57 Union 
soldiers on their bayonets. Other Confederate soldiers claimed to have 
witnessed members of the 42nd killing enemy soldiers with clubs and 
sticks. It can be said that every other unit, and every officer, feared 
the wrath of the 42nd.

Lee feared mutiny in his Army of Northern Virginia. He sent Joseph's 
Wildmen north to Boston on a suicide mission. (Boston being several 
hundred miles from the front lines.) He figured, win or lose, at least 
they'd be no threat to his other soldiers.

No one knows why Joseph's Wildmen attacked the town of Hopton. (From a 
distance, the sign does look like "Boston." Perhaps in addition to their 
insatiable thirst for violence, Joseph's Wildmen suffered from 
illiteracy.) At Hopton, they were met and defeated the 5th Massachusetts 
Volunteer Riflemen. After burning and looting the town, those that 
survived disappeared into the woods around Hopton. For generations, 
mothers warned their children against wandering the woods at night; "the 
wildmen would get you."