The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1875-09-03
A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
The Fate of "a Man Left for Dead on the
Field of Antietam.
IFrom the Council Bluffs powa) Nonpareil.l

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| Field of Antietam.
lFrom the Council Bluffs Qowa) Nonpareil.l
One of our semi-occasiQnal reporters,
led by business to Omaha yesterday, met
with a strange and peculiar experience,
which, though not beyond the range of
probabilities, has certain fascination
on account of its novelty. Passing up
Douglass street he met a man about
thirty-five years of age, ON crutches, and
dressed in the Army blue of the United
States service. At glance the reporter
imagined he recognized the party, but
was, however, uncertain about it, and
passed on. The idea still fingered, and
he looked back until the invalid, whoev-
er he was, turned the corner. Still
haunted with the face, he retraced his
steps, turned the corner and quickened
his pace, and saw the stranger some dis
tance ahead of him. No time was lost
in overtaking him, when he laid his hand
on his shoulder and requested him TO
stop moment. The stranger did as re-
quested and half-faced the person ad-
dressing him. This gave our reporter
! full view, and he at once recognized In
his face the features of brother who
had been missing since the battle of An
tietam, in September, 1862, nearly thir-
teen years ago. The effect of such q
meeting in such place and under such
circumstances, after so long separation,
can be imagined more easily than 1t can
be described. The wounded soldier, as
he proved to be, and his brother, ad-
journed to an adjoining restaurant,
where he rehearsed his wanderings and
mishaps in the interim. We give the
combined story and vouch for its truth
fulness.
Andrew, we will call him, was, at the
outbreak of the war, q well-to-do tenant
farmer, and upon the organization of the
Pennsylvania reserves under Gen. Nc
Call, became member of the 1st Penn
sylvania 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
campaigns of that gallant corps without
scratch, and just before the battle of
Antietam his brother, our reporter, be-
came q member of the same company.
The wo went into action together, and
while on the turnpike which runs by the
little bunker church ON that memorable
battlefield Georgia brigade drove them
from their position, and in falling back
Andrew fell by the side of his brother
with shot below the pit of the stomach.
The last heard was an exclamation, my
God, my wife," The retreat was then
fastened, 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
grounds between the hostile lines, and
being only wounded, was entirely missed
by those afterward in search of the dead
and wounded, he having hid himself
among some bushes where he was found
afterward by an old farmer, to whose
home he was removed, near Sharpsburg.
Here he remained quite awhile, and was
beginning to convalesce, when j. E. b.
Stuart's cavalry made its famous raid into
Chambersburg in the fall of 1862.
In their retreat within the Con-
federate lines, q detective 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 lie
made his escape 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 government, was sent south
to Texas under Dick Taylor, in whose
command he remained, ever seeking an
opportunity to escape by desertion. Be
ing a Southern man by birth, he had no
difficulty in feigning assimilation with
the troops of the Confederacy, but still,
in that remote region, the prospect of
escape was feeble. The portion of Tay-
lors command to which he belonged was
driven across the Rio Grande into
Mexico, and in short time he fell un-
der the power of the Republican bar
barian Cortina, who raided upon friend
and foe alike. Some border Indian
tribes had possession of some of Corti-
mas most valuable auxiliaries. To ran
som these a large number of cattle were
required in addition to stipulation for
an exchange of captives. Andrew was
selected as a victim of this nefarious
bargain, and was compelled on foot
to accompany the we'll mounted saw
ages in the gloomy retreats in the dismal
4 auN "iAuCoo AhPOAOldDAC ldSLltSStS VI
the Cordilleras.
Nothing can fully and adequately pic
ture the horrors and anguish of that
trip. Once hidden away in the canons
that formed that hiding place of his new
and savage masters all hope died within
him, and for weeks he was the victim of
brain fever which came very near be-
ing his last. When the savages in whose
power he was left was on one of their
raids, they left sufficient strength to in
sure the safety of their village and
guard against surprise. Every attempt
of evasion of this vigilance failed, and
only added to the horrors of his captiv-
ity. For years he was forced to
most disagreeable menial services, and
once took revenge, bloody, fearful and
swift, upon savage companion
when beyond the reach of the sounds
of the village, by hurting him from
rock into canon through which
dashed an angry river. The Indian
gun went to the bottom along with the
body of his victim, but he was encoiled
| nv a vigilance too suift IN hermit him TO