Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-08-19

0ne OF our semlOcCdsioudi Icputis,
II hv business to Omaha yesterday, met
In, III ! strange and singular experience,
m,h;eh though not beyond the range Of
m~robabiIities, has certain fascination on
pincount Of its novelty. Passing up Doug
e., e.. street he met man about thirty five
- - ~ are on crutches, and dressed in
&c army Blue of the United States serv-
;ne e Alta glance the reporter imagined he
r.ssccoonized the party, but, was however, un-
lain about it, and he looked back until
~ invalid. whoever he was, turned the
aorrer Still haunted with the face, he
raced his steps, turned the corner and
ln,,;ckened his pace, and saw the stranger
1 some distance ahead of him. No time
as lost in overtaking him, when he laid
,;s hand ON his shoulder and requested
h;u h stop moment The stranger did
a. requested, and half faced to the person
aJdressing him. This gave our reporter
,early full view, and he at once recog-
n;1ed in his face the features Of brother
Tho had been missing since the battle of
srtietam. in September, 1862, nearly
thirteen wears ago. The effect of such
meeting in such place and under such
Circumstances, after so long separation,
can be imagined more easily than it can be
Soscrit,ed. The wounded soldier, as he
nroved to be, and his brother adj
ionrned to an adjoining restaurant,
There he rehearsed his wander
mos and mishaps in the interim.
NJ give the combined story and vouch
far It's truthfulness. Andrew. as we will
caIl him, was at the outbreak of the war a
well-to-do tenant farmer, and upon the
organization of the Pennsylvania Reserves,
under Gen. Mccall, became a member on
tbe First Pennsylvania Rifles, under Col.
Thomas L. Kane, after whom the
original town of Council Bluffs was
called. He served throughout the
whole of the early bloody cam
paigns of that gallant corps without a
scratch, and just before the battle of Antie-
tam his brother, our reporter, became a
member of the same company. The two
went into action together, and while on
the turnpike which runs by the little
bunker Church on that memorable battle
field Georgia brigade drove them from
their position, and in falling back Andrew
fell by the side of his brother with shot
lust below the pit of his stomach. The
last heard was an exclamation: " My God,
NV wife, The retreat was then has
tened, and so dead did he seem to be that
he was counted among those who had
given up their lives for the cause. Several
DAYS Andrew lay on the neutral ground
between the hostile lines, and being
only wounded was entirely missed
by those afterward in search Of the
dead and wounded, he having hid him
self among some bushes, where he was
found afterward by an old farmer, to
whose house he was removed, near Sharps-
burg. Here he remained for quite a
while, and was beginning to convalesce
when j. Il. b. Stuart's cavalry made its
famous raid into Chambersburg, in the
tall of 1862. In their retreat within the
Confederate lines detachment OF Stuart's
cavalry captured him and took him south
Of the Potomac River, and thence he was
sent to Libby, and from Libby TO Macon,
Ga. At the latter place he made his es-
cape, after having been twice shot in the
arm by the guard, and when on his way
to the Federal lines under the guidance of
negroes he was recaptured by militia.
Losing courage and hope he took the oath
Of allegiance to the Confederate Govern
ment, was sent south to Texas under Dick
TAYLOR, in whose command he remained,
ever seeking an opportunity to escape by
desertion Being Southern man by
birth he had no difficulty in feigning as
sanitation with the troops of the Confcd-
eracy, but still in that remote region the
prospect of escape was feeble. The por-
ton of Taylor's command to which he
belonged was driven across the Rio
Grande into Mexico, and in short
time he fell under the power of
the republican barbarian, Cortina, who
raided upon friend and foe alike. Some
border Indian tribes had possession of
some ofCortina's most valuable auxiliaries.
To ransom these large number of cattle
were required in addition to stipulation
for an exchange of captives. Andrew was
selected as a victim of this nefarious bar
gain, and was compelled on foot TO ac-
company the well mounted savages i'm the
gloomy retreats in the dismal and almost
impenetrable Businesses of the Cordilleras
Nothing can fully and adequately picture
the horrors and anguish of that trip.
Once hidden away in the canons that
formed the hiding place OF his new and
savage masters all hope died within him,
and for weeks he was the victim of a
brain fever which came very near being
ais last. When rle savages in whose
power he was left on one of their raids
hey left sufficient strength to insure the
afety of their village and guard against
urprise Every attempt atevasion of this
'igilance failed and only added to the hor-
ors of his captivity. For years he was
orced to the most disagreeable mental
ervices, and once took revenge bloody,
earful and swift upon a savage COM
,aniop when beyond the reach of the
ounds of the village, by hurting him from
rock into a canon through which
dashed an angry river The Indians gun
vent to the bottom along with the body of
ais victim, but he was encoiled by vigi-
ance too swift to permit him TO profit by
his daring. Three months ago he made a
final attempt to escape and got again to
the open country, where he almost per-
ished of want and not without receiving
other wounds from the arrows of his pur-
suers. He again fell into the clutches of
Cortina's band, who in turn were cap
tured, as the newspapers have already an
nounced, by the Mexican authorities.
Andrews was at once released, his Indian
garb exchanged for new suit OF army
blue, and furnished with transportation
North. He was about to start East yes
terday when he met his brother. The
two, however, concluded to remain until
today, when they will go to the old home.
Andrews wife died of grief and his two
children followed soon after their mother.
Hardship ursyafiane and auffertuo have