The National tribune., 1882-03-18

Mr.. Stevens wss captain; when the compa-
ny was fir or snized"
| The mo-h,ss Of 4 Co. were saddened in
that hour for general rejoicing, when they
heard Mrs. BENEFITS answer. The officer
in command, after hesitating, called Mrs.
Bennett one side and said
Mrs. Bennett, it pains me beyond ex-
preston to tell you, but you may as well
know now as at later day, that your hus-
band was seriously wounded at one of the
Wilderness fights. The woods were fired,
and your husband, with many other wound
ed men, was burned to death"
The devoted wife who had given her hus-
band to the country realized, for the first
time, that she was widow; that she was
alone, husband and child both dead. What
n crushed heart the must have carried to
that lonely home.
At the expiration of three or four months
Mrs. Bennett forwarded to the Department
the necessary papers to secure the pay due
her husband at the time of his death, and a
pension. The Department acknowledged the
receipt of her papers, stating that they were
correct-that her husband was wounded
and died at the Wilderness that the
pay and pension would follow in due time.
1t was an autumn day in 1864 that a
neighbOr called at the home of Mrs. Ben
nett who was in morning for her patriot
dead, and handed her letter. The address
was unfamiliar, and had been written by
trembling and weak hand. 1t was opened
and read as follows:
ANDERsoNvILLE, GA, Sept, 1864-lfy
Dear Wife: Was badly wounded and taken
prisoner; have been very sick, and am still
weak and prisoner.
ARCHIBALD D. BENNETT.
AS Mrs. Bennett related this thrilling in
formation her eyes swan in tears and Den
ny wheeled his chair toward the window
and looked through mist. II can't tell
you how rejoiced L was" said the woman,
"nor how my heart sank as I thought of
my husband, wounded, sick, weak, and in
that horrible place, Andersonville. had read
only day or two before the letter came that |
our men were starving at Andersonville, |
and dying at the rate of 800 day, and 1 |
said to myself it is as much as a well |
man can stand to live as they are obliged to |
at that prison, much less one who is wound |
ed and sick. No one can tell how 1 |
suffered during the following five or six
months. Not another word came from him.
I pictured to myself my husbands great
and imagined saw him dead and
buried in the trenches"
$50 you never received any more letters
from AndersonviIle
"Not word. The prisoners were allowed
TO send nothing home which did not first
pass through the hands of the rebel keeper
That many letters were written I am GER
ain, but that one brief line was all ever
received, thought L looked hourly for
others until felt sure that my husband
vas not among the living"
How drearily the winter of 1865 must
lave passed with the woman who had
)uried her little one, and who had twice
,een convinced of the death of her husband
who had died at the Wilderness and came
o life again to die at that most infamous of
ii the rebel prison pens.
Spring had come-the spring of 1865,
nd the buds were swelling and the air
'almy. The night train brought pas
enger to Fox Lake Junction. In some
nanner he cannot tell just how, he found
is way to the village, mile or two dis
ant, and it being warm, and an unseason-
BILE hour, he laid down on the hotel steps
nd slept until morning, when he made in ,
aid the stranger:
"Can you tell me if there is living here. &
r in this vicinity, a Mrs. Bennett-Mrs. A. t
}. Bennett ?" t
eyes; what do you know about her?D 7
"What do know about her? Why she's {
~ wife-Tm her husband" I
"Mrs. Bennett is in the hotel, at this mo- q
lent," said the lanlord, who now saw a Q
light resemblance in the stranger to the I
igorOus young man who in 1861 went I
18th A company to the war. (
The history of the sad case was as well 7
nown in Fox Lake as any incideut of the @
ar, and the people who had been standing q
bout looking at and listening to the v
stranger" caught the spirit of rejoicing at +
nee. The landlord informed his wife, and
lat good lady lost no time in preparing Mrs o
emmett for another ordeal. The stranger u
as seated in the Office, with his back to the b
DOT from which the ladies were to enter the I
ON, and partially behind the outside-door, Il
wv open. Mrs. Bennett and the landlords n
ife entered arm in arm and walked toward d
. stranger" When about half way across s,