The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1876-08-08

the Coufedesates. Wall street sod tn
rebels were togsther thsu---as they ar
now Immense applausej. and they be
! against us. That was all there was q
it. We knew we could take vicksburg
and knew when IL would be taken be
fore Wall street did. We knew tn
Mississippi would 20 down, no vi
could land on the rebel eide I've has
already landed on the other side), ans
knew that when we did land on thei
side there would be trouble. so. Il
April We organized togethor, q numbe
Of our officers. aud formed clul
flaughterl, all drew our pay and got al
the money we could. I put ia all my
money, and everything that I had anc
borrowed every dollar that i could. :
We all put in this money, our pay A
soldiers, and made a pnrse Of it snG
sent man to Wall street to sell gold
short at sellers option on 30 days. and
put mp our money "A margins. IL wa,
simplp a bet on our part that We could
take vicksbarg, aud that we would dc
il, and bet on Wall streets part thai
we couldn't and wouldn't. We stAkcd
our lives, too, on top Of tho bet. W.
did take yicksbnrg, ICirsat cheering.
frequently repeated. Tho river went
down and we went in. Removed
cheers. We won our bet, and Wal
street lost. Laughter. We made
money, Imade money, lots OF u. and
am glad Of il. II served good pur-
pore to the Union, too. as well az to
our pockets. IL was not known the
day onr gold was sold whose IL was =
Bnt the next morning il was announc-
ed in the New York press that IL was
the money 81 the Union officers below
vicksburg, their bet virtually. that
they would take yicksburg. In "a
hours gold went down 10 cents.-
Cheers. Some Of the noble men who
fell in the capture of vicksburg were
in "the club. and their families To- day
are saved from poverty by the profit Of
this soldiers' bet with Wall street. -
lSubdned applause. You may call IL
a bet, and morally wrong, IL you choose.
I am willing 10 accept the responsible
~ Of IL as 10 is. ApplauSe. 80 i
did speculate 10 gold while wss ac-
tually st the head Of my division, and
that one charge 10 true. Laughter. ]
THK BcRNIS0 OF THE RICH KxBELs
HousRs.
Another charge il that I AN house
burner. The news that 1 have left the
Democratic party seems 70 have got
vay down ia the old reiel country,
and some one down on the Lower Mis-.
sissippi writes to q 81. Louis paper,
wandering il I am ''the 6en. Tuttie
t.x.x -. Mil.
liken's Bepd 10 Grand Gull. burned so
many fine houses oa Lake 81. Joseph:
among them the finest residence IN all
the Southern country, that OF Col
Bowie, the inventor of the famons
Bowie-hnife." / am the man, much
laughter and applsusel. the same Gen.
Tuttle who with his boys went along
there. Nearly all the houses were
burned before my commard came up.
The Bowie mansion was not. Was IN
il. IL was the grandest honsc 1 ever
saw or read about. The house and fur
niture are said TO have cost 500, ,OO0.--
The upholstering was grand beyond all
description. found q number OF
Union soldiers In the house. belong
ing to Steele's division, which was just
ahead Of niue. They were lounging
around in their muddy boots. enjoying
the lnxuries. sent them on to their
command, and passed on with the head
Of my division. My command was
probably five miles long. along the
road. After about half OF the division
had passed. and was shout two or
three miles away, looked back, at
tracted 10y an inmsnse blaze, and the
Bowie house ~ss gone s-r
suppose it was burned by some OF
nv bows. j do not doubt it. some Of
nv soidiers-of Iowa regiments, too
were Just out Of rebel prison, with
all uf its tortures fresh ia their minds
and this was their irst march. They
remembered we'll. and they probably
know something about IL. Our orders
were all against burning the houses. /
suppose we coald have prevented tteir
burning. too. il We had made it q spe-
cialty. Laughter. But We had al.
other specially on hand Just then
Renewed laughter. This 10 my re-
cord as q house-burner.
TIE STEALING WOOD cHAnaE.
They charge me, too, with stealing
wood, and name the auicunt--20 cords.
The amount is right. tGreat laughter.
I got the wood. Renewed laughter. ]
Phiio, there. (pointing to Mr.. Case, the
drummer of the martial band present,
sitting nj one side, and who was drum
mer OF Company ID, Of the Second
Iowa). knows about that. Also Mr..
Moore. sitting there, (pointing 20 Mr..
W. 8. Moore. one of the Second),
knows about IL. too, and was there. =
Both of you helped load the wood
helped me TO stsal Il. Mr.. Case
That's 40, General. The Second To-
wa can swear IN that" The circun-
stances we're these:
/ was ordered TO take my regiment
and proceed to Paducah and Join a
fieet going up the Tennessee river to
take Fort Henry. At Cairo 1 learned
that Fort Henry was taken. Ny or
der- were changed 10 proceed 10 smith
land, and Join the f.et going mp the
Cumberland river to Fort Doneison. -
The officers Of the steamboat that !
was on with my regiment were bitter
rebels. and sought every opportunity
20 delay us, so that We couldn't reach
there in time. When We arrived at
Smithiapd, the feet had heen gone six
hours. The captain Of the boat said
he had no Cumberland river pilot, and
couldn't go mp that river. forced
aim to 20 at tho point Of the bayonet,
aud placed fle Of soldiers in front Of
the pilot.house with orders not 10 al.
low the captain and pilot 20 live n min
ute II any accident happened 70 the
boat. [Cheers.) Capt. Mills. Of Des
Moines, afterward colonel, was officer
Of the day, and had charge Of the
squad, and all who knew that noble
man aud heroic soldier knew that he
would have performed his duty. Bot
we had not been going long till one OF
NV soldiers, Who was an old steamboat
man, told me that the captain was
"playing Il on me-" and there vasu't
hall q cord Of wood 90 the boat alto
aether. and that the purpose was 70
run out Of wood at some point beyond
the reach OF fuel, and so prevent orr
getting " Fort Donelson.
began to watc for wood Laugh
ter. Soon saw some-this same 20
cords. I ordered the captain 10 land
the boat for the wood. He protested
that be didn't need IL; that he had
plenty of IL. told him he could pull
ashore or pull hemp Lsusbter. !
He landed the boat Cheers. A fus.
sy old rebel vas on the spot, the owneI
Of the wood. The captain ssked him
IL he would sell it--with q rebel wink.
The owner, of course, said no. i said
We would take IL without making 9
bargain. He said We couldn't take IT,
I replied perhaps We conldnt, but W.
would try. (Cheers. We tried. snj