Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-08-09

looked back, attracted by an immense blaze,
and the Bowie house was gone.
suppose 1t was burned by some OF nv
boys. do not doubt it. Some Of my sol.
diers-of Iowa regiments, too-were lust out
Of rebel prison, with all Of It's fortunes
fresh IN their mihds--and this was their first
march. They remembered well, and they
probably knew something about it. Our
orders were all against burning the houses.
l suppose We could have prevented their
burning, too, II We had made it speciality
Laughter. But we had another specially
on hand just then. [Rencwed laughter
This Is my record as house-burner.
They charge Inc, too, with stealing wood,
and name the amount-twenty cords. The
amount is right [Grcat laughtcrl I got
the wood. Renewed laughter.] Phiio there,
(pointing to Mr.. Case, the drummer of the
martial band present, sitting at one side,
and was drummer Of Co. d., of the Second
Iowa., knows about that. Also MIR. Moore,
sitting there, (polnting to Mr.. W. S. Moore,
OF the Second), knows about it too, and was
there, Both OF you helped load the wood
mir. Case-That's So The circumstances
| were these.
was ordered to take my regiment and
proceed to Paducah and join fleet going
up the Tennessee River, to take Fort Henry.
At Cairo learned that Fort Henry had been
! taken My orders were changed to proceed
| to Smithland, and join the fleet going up the
| Cumberland River to Fort Donelson The
| officers of the steamboat that was on, with
my regiment, were bitter rebels, and sought
! every opportunity to delay us, 40 that we
| couldn't reach there in time. When we ar
/ rived at Smithland the fleet had been gone
/ SIX hours. The Captain of the boat said he
! had no Cumberland River pilot, and couldn't
| 60 up the river. | forced him to 90 at the
/ point of the bayonct, and placed file of sol
/ Uiprs in frnpt Of thp yi1nt hnpsa wit Jnr
not to allow the Captain and pilot to live u
minute If any accident happened to the boat.
! lCheers. Capt Mills, of Des Moines, after
wards Colonel was officer Of the day. and
had charge of the squad, and all who knew
| that noble soldier knew that he would have
| performed his duty. But we had not been
| going long till one of my soldiers, who was
an old steamboaman, told me that the Cap
tain was playing il on me-" that there
wasn't half & cord OF wood on the boat alto
| gether, and that the purpose was TO run out
/ OF wood at some point beyond the reach of
fuel, and so prevent our getting to Fort Don
elson.
! began to watch for wood Laughter. |
Soon saw some--this same twenty cords I
ordered the Captain to land the boat for the
wood He protested that he didn't need it,
that he had plenty of it. ! told him he
could pull ashore or pull hemp. Laughter |
He landed the boat. (Checrs. A fussy old
rebel was on the spot, the owner of the
wood, The Captain asked him IL he would
sell it-with rebel wink. The owner OF
4 course said we would take it without making
a bargain. He said we couldn't take it,
replied perhaps we couldn't, but we would
4 try, Laughter. We tried, and every man
in the regiment officers and all, were soon
/ loading wood, and ii was on the boat speedily.
Yes, every soldier in the lot helped me to dc
that stealing. (Langhterl The owner want
ed to know, as we We're leaving, who wa, go
/ ing TO pay him for the wood. | told him that
I ] didn't know, and that all ! knew was that
we were bound for Fort Donelson, and no
rebels were going to stop us on the trip If we
/ could helpit. That is the story of the wood
I lCheers. don't know exactly how much
stole. ] don't ask the price and didn't pay
for it. This is the robber that | was there
But we did get to Fort Donelson, and some
of you have heard of the fun that the Sec
ond Iowa had there with that lot of BeI
Hills "Constitution-huggers."
They say am murderer! Well, I'll tel
you about that Some anonymous coward
has sent me an extract from paper in Mis-.
souri-namc of the paper not given, but the
piece cut out--charging me with having
murdered man in Stewart, Mo-, and with
shooting men after they had surrendered.
/ As to the first: That was an incident Of our
trip as we first went to the front. The
town was on the Hannibal d st. Joe Road.
1 The Second Iowa was the first Union rcgi-
I ment that made the trip along the whole
length of that line. Others had gone part
of the way, but the Second made the whole
trip, and were the first Union troops that
the rebels down there had seen. AS we came
up to this little town, rebel FLAG was
streaming from a pole in a door-yard. II was
the first RAG Of the Confederacy my boys had
seen, and they said it must come down.
lChcers ] anticipated no trouble, but aft
er the boys went up there ! heard some
shots, and then ] went up. a young rebel
had heard of our coming to the town, and
had raised the flag, as defiance and men
ace, and said it should float If he had TO pro
tect it with his life. He got chance. He
said, with his revolver drawn, ar The boys
came up, that the first man who laid hand.
on that flag he would shoot dead. The boy.
proceeded TO take the thing down--and hc
got killed How he was killed don't know
exactly. Philo, there lpointing to Mr.. Case
again, sitting near by, holding the same old
drum that he drummcd through the warl
can tell YOU more about that than ! can.
Mr.. Case-The fellow said he would shoot
the first man who dared even TO touch tht
flag or the staii, aud the boys went for 1t. He
tried TO shoot, swapping his revolver twice
lie didn't get chance to snap it again. His
flag came down and so did he. beers.
The Gcncral-Well, that's the story Of 1t.
didn't see that part Of it. ] saw the flag
after it was down, though, and saw the fool
ish young rebel lying there dead. That's all
! know about y, and perhaps am response
BILE. If so, / have nothing to take back. Our
business down there was to put down the
rebel coiors, and of course we commenced
as soon as we saw whore the work com
menced. tjheers. The boys, in taking
down the rebels flag, had to shoot the rebel
to do ito save their own lives-and so
AIN charged with numbering him.
As to the shooting OF men after they SUR
rendered, these are the facts: The rebels
had been burning the railroad bridges aud
tearing up the track 10 keep the Union
troops from getting 10 the front. They were
trying to throw trains off the track, and
weaken bridges so rs to let whole regiments
down into its chasms and rivers, hoping thus