Kildee John W. West, Confederate Sharpshooter

"KILDEE"
John W. West, Confederate Sharpshooter
Twiggs Volunteers, Company C, 4th Georgia Regiment

September 8, 1885
The Atlanta Constitution

"KILDEE"
The Story of a Veteran of the Fourth Georgia From the Irwinton, Ga., Appeal.
     "General Lee was presented by one of his classmates with fifteen fine guns, for sharpshooters, and they were drawn for by his generals. General Doles drew one of them, and selected Mr. John West to take charge of it, and he proved himself worthy of the distinction. He is still a noted rebel."
     The above we copy from the Milledgeville Union and Recorder. The statement is made in connection with the incidents of the reunion of the Fourth Georgia regiment which took place in Milledgeville on the 12th of this month. John West went to the war from Twiggs county and with the gun referred to is said to have become the most noted sharpshooter in the army of the Potomac. His accuracy in sending the leaden missiles of death to the heart of an enemy at great distances is said to have been wonderful, and his steady nerve, clear eye, and unflinched courage was the doom of more "Yanks" than he himself would like to admit for conscience's sake. He was known among the soldiers by the sobriquet of "Kildee." Why the name was given him we have been unable to learn, though we suspect thereby hangs a tale. After the war he returned to his native county, and has been between the plow handles ever since.
    He was among the battle scarred veterans of the "old Fourth Georgia" at its reunion in Milledgeville. He was on hand early, and as the train rolled in bearing the veterans of the "lost cause," he was there to meet them. No one would have even taken him for a hero, as he stood among the assembled crowd at the depot awaiting his former comrades. His face was sunburnt, tanned and hardened with exposure; his coat had been laid aside because it was "too hot", his shirt was made of homespun, and his pants, shoes and hat were of the commonest material. He looked anything else but a typical hero, as he stood among the gaily dressed throng, and yet beneath that homespun shirt beat as brave and true a heat as ever pulsated with life. As the train stopped cheer after cheer rent the air, and the old soldiers passed out of the train and met those that had arrived before them. Amid the deafening cheers, wild confusion and glad welcomes some one called out, "Where is Kildee?" "Where is Killdee?"-"Where is Kildee?" was caught up, and when he was found they rushed towards him, threw their arms around him, laughed, cried and sobbed, yelled and hurrahed, and did every other thing else demonstrative of joy and happiness at once more meeting him. It was too much for Kildee. He was choking with emotion, and tears were streaming down his rough features. He had no power of utterance, but submitted to the hugging and shaking and crying and laughing and yelling and how-dy-ing like a lamb let to slaughter. He was carried along with them. All day long he was crying and hugging and laughing with this small remnant of his old regiment who had met for the first time in twenty years, probably to never meet again.

November 21, 1885
The Atlanta Constitution

CHARLEY GRACE'S SHOT From the Irwinton, Ga., Appeal.
      In a recent issue of THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION I read a clipped from your paper headed "Kildee," the first paragraph of which is as follows:
   "General Lee was presented by one of his classmates with fifteen fine guns for sharpshooters, and they were drawn for by his generals. General Doles drew one of them, and selected Mr. John West to take charge of it, and he proved himself worthy of the distinction. He is still a noted shot,"
      My recollection is that General Doles drew two of those Whitworth rifles, and that "kildee" was put in possession of one and that Charley Grace, of La Grange, who is now a practicing lawyer in Sherman, Tex., and I think, a member of the state senate, was given the other. Mr. Grace was a brave and efficient soldier, as many of the members of the gallant fourth regiment, Georgia volunteers, can testify. It is claimed that he killed General Sedgewich at one of the battles of the Wilderness. I think it was may 9th, 1864. He, like "Kildee." proved himself worthy of the honor conferred upon him in being selected as the recipient of one of the two rifles drawn by General Doles. Rather an amusing incident occurred at the battle of Gettysburg, when in the confusion of battle Charley Grace became separated from his own regiment and found himself among anther regiment of the brigade, the color bearer of which had been killed or wounded, and Grace seized the colors and advanced to the front, waving them as he went. Of course there were members of this regiment who were both willing and anxious to carry their regimental colors, and demanded of Grace that he relinquish them. Grace flatly refused, and carried the colors until the battle was over, when he gave them up to the proper parties. The above was told to me by my brother, who was second lieutenant of Company A, Fourth regiment, Georgia Volunteers.

December 15, 1885
Atlanta Constitution

KILDEES' STORY
THE GREAT CONFEDERATE SHARPSHOOTER TALKS.
The Distribution of the Thirteen Whitworth Rifles-The Drilling of the Sharpshooters-
General Lee's Estimate of Them-An Adventurous Escape-A Thrilling Incident. From the Irwinton, Ga., Appeal
A few days ago in Twiggs county, John West, better known during the war by the sobriquet of "Kildee," the most noted sharpshooter of the confederate service, gave us some interesting facts connected with himself in that perilous service.
      "I was born and raised in Twiggs county, Georgia," said he, "but went to the war from Louisiana as a private. At my solicitation I was transferred to the Twiggs County Volunteers, my home company, which I found in Virginia. The Twiggs Volunteers were nicknamed the 'Jorees' because of their uniforms having three black stripes upon the tail of the coat, resembling the three black feathers on the bird called 'Joree.' I was nicknamed 'Kildee.' because of my slenderness and agility, and because I was in the 'Joree' company. In '62, General Lee received thirteen fine English rifles that were warranted to kill at 1,800 yards. These were the best guns in the service on either side. Thirteen of the best marksmen in the army were detailed for this special service, and I was the only Georgia that was selected. We were placed under the command of a Colonel Brown, who had no other duties than to command us. We were practiced three months before going into service. A score of every shot was kept during this three months, and at the end I was one hundred seventy-six shots in the bull's eye ahead of the rest. The last day of the practice, our marksmanship was tested by our superior officer. A white board, two feet square, with a black diamond about the size of a hat in the center, was placed 1,500 yards away. The wind was blowing stiffly, and it was very unfavorable for good shooting, but I put three bullets in the diamond, and seven in the white of the board. I beat the record and won the choice of horse, bridle, saddle, spurs, gun, revolvers and sabre. Our accouterments were the best the army could afford. Then we entered active service, and I have been through scenes which have tried men's souls. I soon became indifferent to danger, and inured to hardships and privations. I have killed men from ten paces distant to a mile. I have no idea how many I made have killed, but a many a (ineligible) hit the dust. We were sometimes employed separately and collectively; sometimes scouting, then sharpshooting. Our most effective work was in picking off the officers, silencing batteries, and protecting our lines from the enemy's sharpshooters. I am certain I killed Generals Banks and Shields. I was the only confederate sharpshooter on our lines on the days when these generals were killed. The enemy were fourteen and fifteen hundred yards away, and my rifle was the only gun that could reach them. I was shooting at officers, and I know that I killed them.
      Artillerymen could stand anything else better than they could sharpshooting, and they would turn their guns upon a sharpshooter as quick as they would upon a battery. You see we could pick off their guns so easily. Myself and a comrade completely silence a battery of six guns in less than two hours on one occasion. The battery was then stormed and captured. I heard General Lee say he would rather have those thirteen sharpshooters than any regiment in the army. We frequently resorted to various artifices in our warfare. Sometimes we would climb a tree, and pin leaves all over our clothes to keep their color from betraying us. When two of us would be together, and a yankee sharpshooter would be trying to get a shot at us, one of us would put his hat on a ramrod and pike it up from behind the object that concealed, and protected us, and when the yankee cis (sic) head to shoot at the hat, the other one would put a bullet through his head. I have shot em' out of trees and seen 'em fall like coons. When we were in, grass or grain, we would fire and fall over and roll several yards from where we shot at, and the yankee sharpshooter would fire away at the smoke.
     I was captured once. Colonel Brown and I got caught inside the federal lines at Cold Harbor, and Sheridan's wagon train was between us and liberty. We had on yankee coats, and we rode along up the wagon train for some time trying to head it, and escape. But we couldn't do it. Finally Colonel Brown rode up to a driver and ordered him to turn to one side and let us pass.
    "By whose authority?" asked the driver.
     "By my own," replied Brown authoritatively.
     "Who are you?" asked the driver.
    "Colonel Coleman" answered Brown, who had found the name of the colonel who was in command of the train.
     The driver then began to question Colonel Brown pretty closely, and was about to catch up with us. Colonel Brown drew his revolver and sent a ball crashing through his brain. We turned our horses and dashed down the line of wagons at full speed, and we ran right into a company of federal cavalry who were protecting the train. A shower of bullets whistled about us. We wheeled to the right, jumped a stone wall, and just as my horse cleared the wall, a bullet struck him behind the car, and down we came. Brown's horse was shot from under him about twenty steps ahead, and we were captured. As I scrambled out from under my horse, I threw my gun to one side in the grass. Three weeks after that I went back and got it back. We were in a tight place. Having on Yankee coats, we would certainly be shot for spies. Night came on and we were guarded by four sentinels, who paced back and forward in a square several yards in extent. It was very dark. During the second watch, I whispered to Brown that I was going to leave. He asked me how it could be done. I told him I'd rather risk four bullets in the dark than twenty in daylight at Fort Delaware. He said he would follow me. We then began crawling like snakes, out of the square. Four times a sentinel passed right by us. We kept gliding along until we were entirely out. We straightened up when about fifty yards from the sentinels, and struck out for the mountains. We came near perishing for want of food, before we could get back to the confederate lines.
      I was within ten steps of General Doles when he was killed. A federal sharpshooter had been picking off our men all day, and I had been trying for hours to locate him, but failed to do so. I was in advance of our line a hundred yards, and was concealed behind a rock. Several times he had shot at me. About fourteen hundred yards in front of us was a strip of woods. I knew the sharpshooter was in them somewhere, but the tree tops prevented my seeing the smoke of his gun. He had not shot at me in two hours, but confined his fire to the line in my rear. General Doles advanced to where I was and asked me if I couldn't silence that fellow, as he was doing terrible execution in his lines. I told him I had been trying to do it all day, but had failed. He asked me to do my best. He then stepped in front of me, and faced the woods, exposing his entire person. I told him he had better look out, as that fellow had shave me very close several times, and it was dangerous to expose himself. I had scarcely spoken the words when a ball struck him in the right side, passing through his body, and coming out under left arm. General Doles turned half around and fell forward, face downward, and never spoke-being killed instantly. I carried him off the field, and was detailed to carry his remains home. General Doles was a fine officer.
     I was shot through the body once. While I was in the hospital Charley Grace, of LaGrange, Georgia, used my gun, and it is said he killed General Sedgwick, but others doubt it. Four of the guns were captured during the war. I lost mine at the surrender, while I was trying to conceal it in my blanket, to carry home with me. I think I will be able to get it yet, as General Phil Cook, Joe Brown and others are trying to obtained for me from the government. It was private property and I was entitled to it. The Fourth Georgia regiment regard it as a valuable relic."