The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1875-11-03
After Thirteen Years.
THE REMARKABLE MEETING OF TWO
BROTHERS WHO WERE SEPA-
RATED AT CAPTURE
OF CORINTH,

| 'oo'o euii' a0 viz SapUulc dlQ pr
lage of Coriath, Mississippi, by the
Union forces in the late war, and oil
his restoration to his family after
thirteen years had passed and the
little boy had grown to be man.
In the fight of the inhabitants from
/ the burning town, most Of the peo-
pie hurried down the railroad track
leading from the southern part of the
place, and took refuge in the woods
and fields along the route. Sooaskhe
streets were deserted by all except
this little boy, who became separa-
ted from his friends, and stricken
with terror ran hither and thither in
his bewilderment, and at last hid
himself in freight car which had
escaped tile general confagration.-
Among the Union soldiers who soon
poured into the city was Captain (af.
forwards General) Hickenlooper, of
the Fifth Ohio Battery who discov-
cred the boy and took him back to
camp, where by his youthful intelIi-
gence he became a great favorite.-
The boy stated that his name was
Frank Foster. and that his father and
brother were in the rebel army, his
brother being an aide to General
Beauregard; but as all search for
them had failed, it was believed that
they were dead. The General, out
of pity, adopted the boy, and in Au-
gust, 1872, sent him to Cincinnati,
where he was taken charge of by the
Generals father and mother. He
was sent to school and afterwards
served an apprenticeship in the Sur
veyor's Office under his patron, the
Gen raj, becoming at length good
civil engineer. During all these
twelve or thirteen years be never
ceased, when an opportunity offered.
of making diligent inquiry with re
gard to his parents and family, but
in vain; all he remembered was his
father and mothers name; and with
only this to guide him it seemed a
hopeless task.
He wrote repeatedly to his old
home, but the letters were all re-
turned, no one having called for
them. He inserted from time to
time advertisements in the St, Louis
papers, but they brought no res
ponse; and from the day that he was
first taken to the Union camp, nearly
fourteen years ago, wrapped in an old
army blouse that reached to his an
kles, until Saturday of last week, did
never hear one syllable in regard to
father, mother or friends.
One evening, year or two ago,
young Foster, in company with some
friends, visited theatre ip this city,
and while all were affected with mer-
riment by the performance of a par
ticular comedian, Foster was silent
and serious, and being afterwards
asked the cause, answered.: "That
man looked so much like my mother
that it starts me to thinking"
Again one night last week, young
Foster visited the same theatre, and,
to his astonish ment, the same come
dian appeared on the stage. This
time it made such an impression on
Fosters mind that he could not
sleep. On Saturday morning oflast
week two interested friends visited
the theatre and found the comedian
alluded to at rehearsal. They ques-
toned him closely. The names of
both father and mother correspondent
exactly, but he had no brother. His
only brother, Frank was lost, he said
when child, on the battlefield of
Corinth, and all search for him for
thirteen years had proved unavailing
and he had finally been given up as
dead. The history of the family
was then related in detail, as to how,
after the siege and burning of the
town, they had returned to the old
town in Dunkirk, New York, finally
moving to Cleveland, where they
have remained ever since; the faith
er's death; the now heart-broken old
mother surviving son to earn liv
ing for his mother and sisters, and
his final debut and success on the
stage; the unavailing search for the
lost brother: the advertisements in
papers in Eastern and Southern cit
les; the journeys, many of them on
foot, to distant places; of the dis
tracted mother still searching for
her lost child. -
The brothers, as soon as they we're
satisfied between themselves that
they were brothers, dispatched a
message of good news, to their moth
er liz Cleveland, and followed the