The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-12-23

Totke, Editor Of TIE CsneinnaH Commercial !:
In the fnal tissue Of the Richmond
Southern OPINION, written and published
I.by Mr. Edward "a Pollard in paemoriar
of his brother, II, Rives Pollard, its late
editor. Q very remarkable narrative Is given,
the substanceiof which is as follows :'.iaia-'
That on the 18th deysof May, 1884, John
Pollard (atbrother of HsRives and Edward
EA.) was a lieutenant in tho Ninth infantry.
United States army, and stationed with his
command at Fort Madison, ON the Rio
Grande, ga military post Of the United
States on the western boundary of Texas
not as now incorporated into the Union,
That on the day mentioned his mother,
then at her residence, in Albemarle county,
Vas,s her husband being absent as Charge
Affaires to Chilli, entering the family bu-
| ryiag- ground to superintend some improve
ments she be dSordered, was startled by the
| apparition OF her absent son lying on the
ground near The grave of q recently de-
ceased daughter, his cloak, cap, and sash
| near. him, and the blood oozing from o
| wound in his neck She moved toward it !;
it "wayed @, ,hand as if to say adieu =;
/ when she g, shrieked and fainted.'' seuad DO
covering her consciousness exclaimed that
herson was dcad-7an apprehension fully
realized, on the return of the Lieutenant's
body servant q, fortnight pnfterward, bring
| ing with him his personal effects and let
ter from brother officer[ Lieutenant t" John
Deas''], giving On account of his death at
the handsof Captain s., in a duel, on the
| very day of his mother'sv vision in the grave
yard. The body was duly forwarded home
and buried and the tomb bears the follow
ing inscription: .,ga,t.I.i 49,. rs. i.
| t.:Here rest the mortal remains of John,
son Of Richard and Pau inc Pollard, of
Oak Ridge, who died in Louis ma on the 18th
Of May, 1884, aged twenty five years. ''osz9
| Mr.. Pollard proceeds to give the subse-
quent history Of the principal actors in this
strange tragedy Captain ST." he says,
I" became prey to remorse. His days and
| lights were passed in vain and fruitless
regrets. In numerous conflicts which took
place on the frontier where he was sta
toned, with the neighboring tribes of In
dams, renegade Texans, Mexicans,7 and
! others, his recklessness and daring were
| remarked by all. During the invasion of
I Mexico by General Scott his regiment was
| attached to the division under General Gar
land. 1t bore conspicuous part in sll the
actions from the taking of Vera Cruz to the
capture of the city of Mexico itself. AS the
army approached the capital, the fortified
heights of Chepultepec, Cherubusco, and
1 Molino del Rey, were stormed with great
| slaughter. Brevet Colonel, as Captain S.
had now become, led the attack on Cheru-
! busco. He snatched the regimental color
from it's bearer and planted it on the para
| pet, which, with a few others, he was the
| frst to gain. He was struck almost instan-
| taneously by three musket balls, and after
falling he placed his forage cap over his
face and expired
! Lieutenant Deas, who was his brothers
second in the duel, Mr.. Pollard says he
knew rather intimately in Detroit in 1874.
" he was then senior lieutenant in the Fifth
| infantry. He had become a captain, and
was with the division of the army under
| General Taylor, which entered Mexico from
Texas, crossing the Rio del Norte. He was
disabled for some time from q severe wound
he received at Resaca de la Palma, and was
shot while swimming the Rio Grande, with
few of his company, just before the at
tack on Matamoras.' @-
Tits remarkable narrative, 80 circum-
stantially related, with the exact dates and
names, and the facts being in the personal
knowledge of the narrator, historical
writer Of no inconsiderable pretensions,
challenges more than ordinary attention,
| particularly as the story has recently been
Contributed to the Dublin University Maga-
zine, "by some person unknown to MIR.
Pollard, however. ~
| | have taken some pains to examine it,
and am compelled to refuse it my belief
| for the following reasons: .~ .,.s.rr- ,.s-
| /. There was no officer in the army named
Pollard, May II, 1884. The only persons
of that name ever borne on the rolls of the
army as officers are John Pollard, surgeons
mate, appointed October 8, 1906, and re-
signed July l, 1907 and Richard Pollard,
who was major Of the Twenty-frst infan-
try, and resigned June Is, 1914. Vide
| Gardeners Dictionary of the Army.]
| 2. There was no such regiment as the
Ninth infantry in the United States army
| in 1884. The act of Congress of March 2,
1921, to reduce and fix the military estab-
lshment," provided but seven regiments of
infantry the Eighth was authorized by act
Of July 5, 1888, and additional regiments
up to the Sixteenth, February IL, lS47, du-
ring the war with Mexico. Vide Acts Of
| Congress in Relation to the War Depart
ment, edition of 1868 .r- Y =
| The statement that the United States had
a military post on the Rio Grande in 1884 is
sufficiently absurd, when we reflect that
that river was several hundred miles within
the then limits of neighboring and
friendly Power, and that no United States
| troops were ever garrisoned there until the
war with Mexico, twelve years later. Texas
| did not revolt until 1885. Her independ-
ence was acknowledged by the United
States Government in 1887, and her an
| nexation to this country occurred in l845.
| There have been but two Fort Madisons--
one on the west bank Of the Mississippi
| river, short distance above St. Louis, In
what is now called Lee county, Iowa, long
since discontinued, and the other near An
napolis, Maryland. Vide Gardner
So we have, as the conditions OF Mr.. Pol-
lard's wonderful story, the name Of an Of
fcer not in existence, belonging to regl-
ment not in existence, and stationed at a
post not in existence.
Further, he gives I'm erte7aSO Lieutenant
Deas's letter to Mrs. Pollard communicating
the particulars of her sons death. This
| letter is signed " John Deas." Now, there
never was an officer of that name in the
army. There was On Edward Deas and a
| George Deas. The former was drowned in
the Rio Grande-not shot while swimming
it lust before the attack on Matamoras, as
Mr.. Pollard says-near Ringgold barracks,
after the war with Mexico, May Is, l84o.
He originally. belonged, not to the Fifth in,
fantrvs but TO the Fourth artillery, and