Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-10-27
STORIES OF THE WAR.
BY l. 3. $.

EARLY in the war every soldis
had q passion for relics. ThiI
was carried to extremes; every
man was collecting mementoes fCl
Rls father, his brother and sisters
and special friends. The first
stage demanded cannon balls
pieces OF shell stained with blood
cartridges taken from rebel cart.
ridge boxes, shot-guus, squirrel
rides taken from the bushwhack.
ers, swords, and much-talked-of
toothpicks, but their frenzy finally
exhausted itself, and the relic pas
sion found expression in rings and
ornaments made from camel coal
and mussel- l-shslls, and pipes made
from mountain laurel. At the
time Of hecapture of Fort Donel-
son everybody was in the first
stage. The officers and men first
to enter the rebel lines first Sc
lected artillery sabres as the best
mementoes. Then they threw
these away and took shot-guns.
with the thought that they had
been in action and would be OF
use at home. Then after a day or
two they threw away shot-guns
and retained the smallest bits of
~~-Ix5~I aba1io
line old captain from Northern
\ had q worse attack than the
vary man was afflicted with.
Out in day after day collecting
gflns, swords, cannon balls and
all sorts OF things from the battle
Z field. When the orders came to
move the captain was in guam. :.
dary. He solved the problem by
swearing at the Government for
not providing adequate tranapor-
tation. He retained only large
ARTILLERY sack handsomely made
of leather, which he proposed to
use as q haversack. He laid in q
supply Of chicken, butter in . tea.
cup, buscnit, crackers, Q bottle OF
pickles, ground coffee for extreme
cases. pepper and salt for fresh
meat, and arranged all in order
in his roomy haversack. he was
proud Of the institution, and ex-
amined it frequently, each inspec-
ton making him the better salts
fed with the whole arrangement.
While the haversaek was hanging
on the gun stacks, just previous
to the start, some fellow picked
. six-pound cannon ball from the
captains rejected collection of
relics, and dropped it in among
the chickens, butter and buscuit.
The march commenced.
The captain lost faith in his
haversack. He changed the strap
from the right shoulder to the
left and back again, and finally
supported it with bis hand. When
the halt for dinner came, he was
as glad az any private weighed
down with Q knapsack. He re-.
tired to . proper distance and
selected seat with great deliher-
alton on log. and opened his
haversack with pucksring lips.
His buttsr-cup was broken, and
ster and chicken and bread and
bkles were one conglomerate
shass. The captain was astounded.
His first reach into the mass de-
tscted the cannon ball. He drew
ii out, hurled it against q tree.
and swore 90 a. to tx the standard
for the regiment for the war. He
was outraged. After he had 40
isned bis dinner he thought bet
ter Of the cannon ball venture,
nd declared that, as be had car
RED il go far, he would carry it
farther. And he did, and it is
now displayed as . memento OF
The war at Defiance, Ohio. This
ended the relic-gathering of the
company.
The provost marshals during
the war brought to the surface
many rich stories, and these
stories were enjoyed immensely
By the soldiers in the field. In
Houthern Ohio lived good Mrs.
blank, woman whose husband
had left her years before, writing
10 her from New York that il he
was not at home within three
days she conl9~ consider that ht
was dead. II alive he would Ger
tainly be at home in three days
\SHe did not come. and without
understanding the mysterious al
Iusions his wife and all his friendl
considered him dead. He wa
never heard Of afterward.
The widow had two sons, one
stalwart young man, the other
cripple. When the first enroll
ment for the draft was ordered
widow was allowed to exemp
one son from the draft and I,
elect which son. She elected I,
have the healthy son remain a
home, knowing that the erippl
or invalid could not be drafted
4 This gave her both Of her sons q
home. Everyone foresaw tha
she would do this, and the pro
yost mar, hal met her with: "Be
fore you can claim this exemption
Mrs. b. you must present sati,
factory evidence that your bus
band is dead" SAID the aston
ished woman: "Of course he
dead, and I can prove it; / hav
{ letter from him in his ew
handwriting saying So" And
the very last the woman coul
not understand why this repeate
declaration should cause q laugl