The Hickman courier., 1878-07-05
An EXTINCT RACE.
' The Private Soldier in the War Of the T
L,Il.or %

q" The Private Soldier in the War Of the Re-
belhon"
The private soldier in the war OF the
rebellion" He is dead. Or lost. Stray
ed or stolen, possibly. We do not know
where he is, but he is not here. He has
gone away to some place. Perhaps he
has ceased to be necessary Perhaps if
he were here he would be in the way.
At any rate he is not around. He does
not go to the legislature. We do not
find him in congress. He is not eagerly
sought as a candidate for anything. No
body seems to know anything about him.
Occasionally he appears on the pension
list with one leg, wi and seven chill
dren, and eight dollars a month. If
-four takes much Of a rise, he will not
last much longer at that rate, and we
shall soon be deprived even of the occa-
sional glimpse we now have of him.
IL ;aeasss.s-.,stre77Sssg - yesaIlE-s-@@s
lieveCt, Srr,,ssel - Time he was quite nu-
merous. and was even considered rather
convenient, if not, indeed, quite indis-
pensable. 1t was found that upwards of
100 of him were necessary in order to se-
cure mere lines of commissions for three
eminent and deserving men. When field
commissions were wanted for three even
more eminent and great men upwards OF
1000 private soldiers were necessary.
One thousand 1t seems an enormous
number now, when by consulting the
congressional directory we find there
are none in all this proud republic. But
y or Is years ago even that, incredible
as it may appear to us to-day, was con-
sidered small number. There We're
private soldiers and private soldi,.s
There were even hundreds Of thousands
of them.
And they were useful. They dug
trenches; they constructed long lines of
breastworks, and then, when an enemy
came within sight, they climbed over
them and went outside of them to fight.
They worked snd watched and fought.
Cooperating with great and eminent
men who have since passed to their
rewards in one office and another, these
private soldiers sometimes rendered
very useful service in winning great
battles. Oh, they were useful Some
historians have even gone so far as to
maintain that without them the war
could hardly have been carried to a
successful termination. They were really
quite useful.
And now they are all gone. 1t seems
sad, looking back at the war, that none
but the generals and colonels and ma
iors and line officers should have sur
vived its dreadful ravsges. Provi-
dences, even mindful of the wants of a
great and growing nation, undoubtedly
took special care of these great men,
and in great anxiety that the country
should not suffer from q lack Of eminent
men, kind of forgot the private soldiers
and let them wander away And so
they are sll gone. Some of them got
shot Some of them got married and
moved out of the world, to settle upon
tracts of government land, where the
Indians could get at them more easily.
Some of them went into business. Some
of them are teaching school. Some OF
them are driving dray. Some OF them
went away and didn't leave their present
address. But all the same, they are all
gone and it seems dreadfully lonesome
without them. There used to he so
many of tbem.-r Hawkeye.