Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-09-29
A HERO BUT NOT A TURK.
Col. Cravvf0Fd not Osman Pasha-
An Interview With the Wife
of the Former.

Col. CraVyfGFd not Osman Pnsha-
An Interview With the Wife
of the Former.
vineland, n. ]. Special to the New York
Times.
The notoriety given to Col. r.
Clay Crawford by the highly colored
and circumstantial report of his iden-
! tity with Osman Pasha, the Turkish
defender of Plevna, which was first
made public by the Louisville
Courier-Journal, has created fer
ment of excitement in the ordinarily
quiet little town of Newfield, situa-
ted about four miles north of here on
the West Jersey railroad. There, in
seclusion, holding hardly any inter
course with their neighbors, reside
the family of Col. Crawford, consist
ing of his wife and three children,
two boys and a girl, aged ten, nine
and seven years respectively. Mrs.
Crawford has made her home in
Newfield for several years, while
her husband has been wandering
about the country, living there with
her parents, whose names are Pei
ton. She is a cultured and intelli-
gent lady, very retiring in her dis
position and reserved in her CONVEX
sation, giving up her whole time to
the education of her children, of
| whom she takes exclusive charge.
When the subject of her husbands
reported exploits in Turkey was in
! trOduced she became interested at
once, and her face glowed with en-
thusiasm as she recounted incidents
in his past career, and dwelt lovingly
on the present, in which, as made
known to her in the results of Osman
Pasha's daring and dash, she hon
estly believed. Col. Crawford, she
said, was born in Rogersville, Haw-
kins county, Tenn. At the age of
fourteen he went to Mexico as
soldier, running away from home to
accomplish his object. At sixteen
he was appointed to West Point by
his life long friend Andrew Johnson,
who then represented his district,
and who always made him an es-
pecial protege. The account of his
life then, as already published, she
admitted to be true. AT the age of
twenty he accompanied Walker on
his fillibustering expedition. AT
the beginning of our civil war he
entered the Union army, rising rap
idly in the confidence of his superb |
ors, and early in the conflict was in |
command of the First regiment of |
Tennessee artillery. At the close of !
the war he went to Mexico, figuring
there as the hero of Bagdad. During |
the war of the rebellion, in 1864, |
Col. Crawford was married to her in |
Brooklyn, n. Y. Since his return |
from Mexico her husband, she said,
had not been permanently located |
anywhere, but had been travelling |
about in search of adventures. He
was last at home one year ago the
present month, and this fact in it's
elf, without the authoritative state
ment Of the Turkish minister made
public this morning, is enough to
disprOve his reported identity with
Osman Pasha. Yet for all that, she
confesses that she knew his where
abOuts previous to that time, and
that he had been all the while i'm
this country. She seemed infatuated
with the idea that within the brief
space of a year her husband had
risen to the dignity of a Turkish
commander, and was indeed Osman
Pasha. 1t was so characteristic, she
said, and then earnestly added: cit
must be he." Since Colonel Craw-
fOrd's departure year ago she has
not heard word from him, directly
or Indirectly, and when he went
away he said he was going to Mex
leo, because, he affirmed, there was
going to be trouble there.
Mrc Tt,.o xrf,n1.f11c v.o5f f1nt,aa Is q r,a,. |
feet stOrehouse of memorials of her
husbands past military career. One
room is devoted exclusively to his
possessions and is full of them. A
fine oil painting of the Colonel him
self hangs on the wall and it repre-
sents man of intelligence and cour-
age. 1t is fine face with a high
forehead and magnificent mustache
and whiskers. His sword, presented
to him by the enlisted men of the
First Tennessee artillery, is also
there, as well as his rich uniform of
a Mexican Major-General-a green
coat, yellow vest, and red panta- I
loOns-also his commission, bearing
the signature and flourish of Santa
Anna himself. A bureau drawer
contains q diary covering all his SER
vice during the rebellion. There |
are also abundant mementoes of his
with the Masonic frater- I
nifty, in which order he has held ,
high official position. But the most S
and historic relic of all {
is a silken flag, torn and stained, {
with the union in tatters and the /:
stars clinging to mere threads. To {
this dilapidated banner Is attached !
q paper, upon which is written in |
Col. Crawford's own handwriting,
the following: "Regimental flag of
the First regiment Tennessee artil-
lery, commanded by Colonel r.. Clay
Crawford. 1t was carried by bat
terry A at the battle of Perrysville, (
KY, by batteries A, b, and ID at
the battle of Knoxville; was the {
first United States flag raised i'm East !
on its occupation by
United States forces was carried at
the head Of the column when the
army of the Ohio entered East Ten
nessee; was torn from the staff and
carried off by battery G when the
battery was captured, Nov. Is, 1868, {
ut Rogersville, Tenn. was captured /,
and retaken the same day when
battery B was taken by a charge on
the rebels under Gen. jackson, near !
Tenn, Jan. Is, 1864. |
The guns and flag were recaptured !
by Capt Patteen and % men Of bat
.ery B in n hand-tO-hand fight for
he two parrot guns named Ada [
md Robert (named for Col. Craw- I
ord and his wife) the right and left {
guns of battery b."