Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1866-07-25
Congregsman-KeIlH a Record

The gentleman whose name heads this ar
ticle is an eminent member Of the Radica
church. We propose to give an anecdott
about him-not for its personal bearing, bu
as illustrative Of the school to which he be-
longs.
There was recently in the service of the
Union most gallant cavalry officer namec
! Matthew Berry. He was an Irishman o
good family and education, but had run away
! from home, and was serving his second tern
in the regular cavalry when the late REBEL
ion broke out.
Early insthe wax, Berry became Sergeant
Iof Orderlies to General Mcclellan on the
/ Peninsula, aud carried many of the most i'm.
/ portant orders during the seven days Of bat.
I tie How nobly, and at what risk he carri
ed them, was told in glowing phrases in one
Of the early numbers OF The Citizen under il;
present management, by a Major Genera
I who witnessed his conduct
Subsequently Berry was commissioned in
a Pennsylvania cavalry regiment and rose
rapidly to Captain. No officer was more dis
tnguished for personal gallantry cool judg-
ment and thorough soldiership. A noble
| horseman, an excellent swOrdsman. and q
leader idoIized by his men, his name became
| honored wherever known and when he was
acting as aid-de-camp, 1t became thing ol
Iinslruotion and pride for a whole army to see
how he carried orders during an engagement
Straight as an arrow-over hedges, bitches,
swamps, and through contending lines of skir-
mishes Berry few as If bearing charmed
| life; and on the document recommending
! him to Governor Fenton for Colonel OF a New
York cavalry regiment, there were words OF
praise signed by names of power, such as few
soldiers, however deserving, are sufficiently
/ fortunate to carry ont Of the army.
! Captain Berry, beside any claim from his
own services, had two brothers. both officers,
! killed in the war for the Union; and it was
under these circumstances that he applied for
some position to Secretary McCulloch, He
had r0'trouble in receiving the worthy and
kind Secretarys approval of his claims and
when we last heard OF him he had offered
the Collectorship of Galveston, Texas, by Mr..
McCulloch, who is a true and discriminating
friend to all who have deserved well OF their
country.
But while candidate for this or some sim
liar position, Captain Berry had been intro
duced and warmly recommended by W. F..
Smith better known to his men as Baby
to Judge Kelly, of Philadelphia, who at first
promised to exert his influence in the gallant
Captains favor.
3" But how are you in politics Captain
Berry ?" asked the able bodied Congressman
who probably never heard the whistle Of bull
let's in his life, except, perhaps, at Christ
mas turkey-shooiing.
" I know nothing Of politics, was the re-
ply; but so far as I can understand matters
now, 1 am in favor os President Johnson's
reconstruction policy, or whatever course
viii give US back real Union Of the States
most speedily"
"Then, sir, said Kelly, suddenly halting
for they were welking up Pennsylvania
avenue toward the Department. can do
nothing for you, and desire to do nothing
Under Mr. Lincoln, had some influence;
but this man Johnson only associates with
Copperheads and traitors, and oil are OF these
classes who support him. am sorry, Capt.
Berry, that you should have allied yourself
to a political cause cutting off all respect or
gratitude for your military services"
Comment on the foregoing would be
thrown away. Let each reader picture the
astonishment of the young Captain to hear
himself denounced as copperhead or trail
tor,' by an able-hodie political renegade, who
held and avowed Ill the theries Of the rebel
lion up to the firing upon Fort Sumter-just
as much as General Butler did and who has
never since that time done any thing for the
Union, save to make money and acquire
power through pretended ultra devotion to
its necessitiesl Such is Judge Kelly, Of
Philadel phia-a fair specimen-brick Of the
Radicals; and with this record we leave him
to judgment of the army and his constitu-
ents.-M Y Citizen.