Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-08-03

with being robber, an incendiary
and a murderer These charges
they make to describe their career
and record as a soldier. Can | be
blamed then, in view of such abuse
as this, for departing from my resolv-
ed purpose of privacy, and publicly
hurting back upon their authors all
such accusations !? Tremendous APP
plause.
CHARGES MADE AGAINST THE GENERAL.
Let me refer to some of these
charges briefly. / would not be long,
although / find my time is far too
short for telling it all, and do not
want to weary you. They say stole
cotton, and made money by it. It's
a lie Applause. | say it with that
word because that is the word.
[Great applause | captured but
two lots of Confederate cotton, as it
was Called cotton belonging to the
Rebel government. | turned it over
and took duplicate receipts for it
one of which | sent to the Secretary
of the Treasury, where it now is, and
the other kept, and now have it.
| never made cent in cotton, and
never tried to do it. I make short
work of these charges, because that
is all there is of it.
THE vICKsBURG GOLD SPECULATION.
They say specnlated in gold while
at the head of my command. 1t is a
fact. Laughter The Wall street
brokers were running up the price of
| gold, specializing on the fast increas-
ing perils of the republic, saying that
Vicksburg could not be taken, and
that therefore the rebellion would be
victorious. They did not scruple thus
to speculate even if it was destroying
the credit of the government, and
| helping the Confederates. Wall street
and the rebels were together then =
as they are now, immense applause /,
and they bet against US. That was
all there was of it. We knew we
could take Vicksburg. and knew
when it would be taken before Wall
street did. We knew the Mississippi
would 90 down, so we could land on
the rebel side-(we had already land
ed on the other side) land knew
that when we did land on their side
there would be trouble. So in April
we organized together, number of
our officers, and formed club.
Laughter, all drew our pay, and got
all the money we could. | put in
this all my money, and everything
that | had, and borrowed every dol
lar that | could.
We put up in this money, our pay
as soldiers, and made purse of it,
and sent a man to Wall street to sell
gold short at sellers option on ninety
days, and put up our money as mar
gins. 1t was simply bet on our part
that we could take Vlcksburg, and
that we would do it, and bet on
Wall streets part that we couldn't
aud wouldn't We asked our lives,
too, on the top of the bet. We did
take Vicksburg. Great cheering,
frequently repeated. The river went
down and we went in. Renewed
cheers. We won our bet, and Wall
street lost. Laughter. We made
money l made money, lost all of it,
and | am glad of it 1t served good
purpose to the Union, too, as well as
to our pockets. 1t was not known
the day our gold was sold whose it
was. But the next morning it was
announced in the New York Press
that it was the money of the Union
officers before Vicksburg, their bet,
virtually. that they would take Vicks-
burg In twenty-four hours gold
went down fifteen cent. 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 srteet.
You may call it bet, and morally
wrong, if you choose. | am willing
to accept the responsibility oft as it
is. Applause. So | did speculate
in gold, while [ was actually at the
head of my division. That one charge
is true. Laughter
THE BURNING OF RICH REBELS HOUSES.
Another charge is that | am a
house burner. The news that have
left the Democratic party seems to
have got away down in the old rebel
country, and some one down on the
lower Mississippi writes to St.
Louis paper, wondering if am "the
Gen. Tuttle whose troops, on the
march from Milliken's Bend to Grand
Gulf, burned so many fine houses on
Lake St. Joseph, among them the
finest residence in all the Southern
country, that of Col. Bowie, the
inventor of the famous Bowie knife, .
/ am the man! (much laughter and
appIause); the same Gen. Tuttle who
with his boys went along there.
Nearly all the houses were burned
before my command came up. The
| Bowie mansion was not. | was in it.
1t was the grandest house | ever saw,
or read about. The house and furni-
ture are said to have cost 100000
The upholstering was grand beyond
description. l found number of
Union soldiers in the house, belong
| ing to Steeles division, which was
just ahead of mine. They were
lounging around in their muddy
boots, enjoying the luxuries. ! sent
them on to their command, and pass
ed on at 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 about two or three miles away,
looked back attracted by an immense
blaze, and the Bowie house was
gone.
I suppose it was burnt by some OF
my boys. / do not doubtit. Some OF
my soldiers-of Iowa regiments, too
were just out of rebel prison,
with all Gifts tortures fresh IN their
minds-and this was their first
march. They remembered well, and