The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1866-08-09

. TOUTTU5VUTUUIIO3
The 1ItIAO. ". C.--Its HOmeward
MnrcIl.-COnduct OfMaj. Evans,
&c, &c.

FRIEND BOARDMAN:--The llth OHIO
Cav. Vols. broke camp at Fort Leaven-
worth on Sunday, July 10Th, and moved
down two miles below the City of Leavon-
worth to the Pacific and Great Western
Rail Road. Here VIC expected to find
train in readiness to take us OH to st.
Louis, but when the truth came to light no
had been made to procure n
train. Hence we had to camp on the
banks of the muddy Missouri and fight the
mosquitoes until A. M. the next morn
ing. The curses of many of the boys werc |
not loud, but thoy might well be compared |
to the rumbling of distant thunder, and it |
would not have taken portion of the Reg
iment long to have drowned "Old Business"
as he styled himself, in the Missouri River. |
/ have reference now to a man who was
Just as unrefned, unpublished and uncouth
in his manners as Rocky Mountain
grizzly bear. This man held Majors
Commission, and wanted the whole world
to know that he commanded the 1lth Ohio,
while any person with one eye shut and
the other half-closed, could see that he was
commanded by a whisky bottle! The first
letters of his name are Henry Evans. By
occupation he is n butcher. Some of the
boys say he was born one, and has BUTCH
cred everything badly all his life, especial
ly tho emigrant trains that passed Fort
Collins, and the Government that he should
have protected. This is no idle fancy pic
ture of the imagination, but facts that can
be substantiated beyond the power of refu-
tation.
But to return to the Regiment. AS there
were not passenger cars enough, about $50
of the boys got on hog train and went on
to Kansas City ahead ofthe passenger train.
Here we were accommodated with good
cars and were soon passing rapidly across
the State of Missouri. We arrived at st.
Louis half past two o'clock A. NJ. the next
morning, and stopped in the Depot until
daylight, when we crossed over the Mis-
sissippi River and travelled over the st.
Louis, Alton and indianapolis r.. r. to
Columbus, Ohio, where we arrived on the
morning of July 19. "Old Business gave
orders for the men to go to Tod's Barracks
: but we couldn't be persuaded into any
such a snap as that. Hence the boys al
went to the Hotels, preferring to pay theil
own way in preference to living as they
had to do at Leavenworth. AT ten o'clocE
; on the Goth, Companies L, Ii, G, I, and X
were paid off and discharged. Companies
f and L had to remain few days longer
on account of having their pay stopped.
In order that the readers of the News
may fully understand why the pay of these
two Companies was stopped I will give {
q full account of the circumstances connected
with the affair. Sometime in the early
part of the year 1865, one night after th,
men of the two Companies had retired t.
their beds, Capt. Evans, who was then il
command at Fort Collins, went into TIN
quarters of the enlisted men and walked
8 them up out of their Sleep telling then
that they could get all the whisky at tn
Suffers they wanted, free. OF course al
g? the lovers of bad whisky would be ol
hand. A few men of each Company wen
in with Capt Evans and got most glori
ously drunk. Sergeant Finney, of Co. 4
stole the Suffers books and destroyer
: them. Besides, there were some thing
taken in the melee. Then to cap the eli
= max, Capt. Evans tried to get the tw
: Companies to fighting each other, The re
i suit was that they fired over fifteen hun
It dred rounds of ammunition away and not
single man hurt. Tie boys took goo
+ care to fire in the air, only when one G
n two of them shot at "Old Business"
f was an amusing sight to see him maxim
for his quarters, his coat-tail standin
straight out behind, Report saith ths
/ there was moro than one bullet-hole throug
n his coat-skirts. 1t is mystery to all sens
:, BILE men how it happened that Evans we
v not dismissed from the service in disgraC
q after this affair. H ..,H .H
;s Sergeant Finneys awho destroyed Il
books, was arrested and sent to Denver
irons, where he was released without tri
IL after short imprisonment, and was mu
'e tered out of the service by order of Il
D Secretary of War. When Gen. WheatC
80 returned to Omaha, Capt. Evans and son
o. 80 men of Co. accompanied him as escol
They remained at Omaha until this sprin
when they were mustered out and Sc
home. Evans being promoted to Majc
returned to Laramie and took commal
of the Regiment and Post. On our arriv
" at Columbus the boys of the two Comp
at nies were informed that their pay WI
ee stopped, and not only theirs, but that
O. officers who did not belong to either one
n the Companies at the time the Difficult
occurred. Was it right and just that the
officers, who were assigned to the Compal
he more than year after the trouble occr
a red, should be held responsible for the az
n of others Was it right that innocc
ne men should have their pay stopped, VIII
To- those who had done the mischief were {
IeS of the service2 Yet Major Evans acted
~ ~ though it was right and just that th'
'i' men should repair the damage Il
he alone was the instigator and real autf
of. #lE eE h.NI .'i
AS soon as Gov. Cox was made aware
He the truth concerning tho affair, he Il
re- graphed to the Secretary of War and !
vas tho ordar oountarnaandad RtonDino the I