The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1866-06-08

invested all MS ready property, which
included bis wife's property, in con.
federate bonds, placed them in her
hands, gave her kiss for n short
farewell, assuring her that the wa,
would soon be over, and, marching AT
the head of q victorious column of
his conntry's defenders, she would be
proud TO welcome him. After his de-
partue, her treatment by his relatives
and neighbors became almost intole-
rablc, because of her hatred Of seces-
sion.
After two years of service in the
Confederate army, he was captured a
prisoner, 10y the victorious Sherman.
IN his march to Atlanta, and sent to
Camp Douglas.
This was good news to his wife.
who could no longer endure the per
secutions she received at the South.
and she resolved to make her way
North and rejoin him in his prison
home, aud if she could not seclhe his
pardon, to at least stay near him
Her confederate. bonds were worth
less, and she was penniless. She
made her way to the Mississippi riv-
er and took passage on the iii fated
steamer Sultana for the North; she
sold some jewelry for money sufficient
to carry her to Chicago. Arriving at
Memphis, her child was taken very i'll.
and by the advice of the captain of
the Sultana, she remained there to Sc
cure medical aid for the child. With
IN twenty four hours thereafter the
boiler OF the Sultana exploded, and
twelve hundred lives were lost.
Geroux Jared i'll at case in Camp
Douglas, and made many stratagems
to escape. He finally succeeded in
bribing raw sentinel to let him pass.
and to avoid pursuit, resort to de-
ception became necessary. A com
rade of his was on the point OF death.
His mess dressed the dead soldier in
the Majors uniform and conveyed
him to the dead house. and gave his
name rs Major Chas. Geroux, Sd Lou
isiana Regiment, G. $. A. The next
morning the body was taken away
and buried, and the rank, name, regi-
ment, and place of burial were duly
recorded in theregister Ct Camp Doug
las dead, by G. A. Jordan, the I'M
dertaker for the Government at Chi
cago. That night Geroux escaped.
His absence created no inquiry, as he
was reported dead For the purpose
of avoiding public roads and convey
ances, he took horse from pasture
near Camp Douglas, belonging to J.
L. Hancock, formerly President Of the
Board Of Trade of Chicago, and by
avoiding public roads as much rs pos
sib e, reached Momence the next day.
His actions excited suspicion, and he
was arrested on suspicion of having
stolen the horse, and was lodged in
the Kankakee jan. He was taken ont
on Il writ of habets corpus, and no
proof being found to hold him, he was
discharged.
Coming thence to this city he OBJ
tanned a situation III wholesale gro
Gerry store
After the usual delays in passinS
letters through the lines, he learned
that his two brothers were killed in
the battle of the Wilderness, that his
fathers estate had been contiscated to
the United States Government, and
his father had voluntarily exiled him
self to Mexico OF his wife and child
the only information was that they
had sought to get North and took pas
sage on the Sultana, since which they
Had I 4 A.
remained that they had persisted,
His true position had been studiously
concealed, and lie had avoided his
former associates. Shortly after he
received this intelligence from the
South, Sherman started on his grand
march from Atlanta, and Grant mar
shalled his grand army before Peters
burg, aud the Confederate States army
vanished almost as a vision. During
the past summer Geroux returned to
the South, and was fully confirmed in
the information he had received about
his family, and that his real estate had
also been confscated. He gave his
wife and child up as lost, and returned
to Cincinnati.
After his wife and child had re-
manned in Memphis and escaped the
disaster of the Sultana, she started
for Chicago, and reached Camp Doug
las. Impatient at the delay, she
FASTENED there with expectations high
to meet him who was dearer to her
than life. The reader can picture to
himself the agony of this sad wife. A
stranger, destitute of money, carrying
in her arms a weakly child not yet re-
covered from a severe illness, and she
herself worn out with fatigue and
anxiety, when she learned that her
husband was dead. There was no
doubt of his death; the registry at
Camp Douglas showed it, and the
grave pointed out TO her, which bore
this inscription on pine board:
MAJOR CHARLES GEROUX,
Third Louisiana Infantry"
The same grave this day is neatly
sodded over, and at its head grows a
rose bush.
Broken hearted and broken down
with grief, she wendell her way on
foot to the great city of Chicago not
knowing why she went A stranger