The DeSmet leader. (DeSmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-03-28
LIBBY PRISON.
ITS PLEASANT SIDE DESCRIBED 6y
CHAPLAIN M'CABE.
Mem who Dill Not Want "a Funeral Be-
fore They Dicd--An Execution Or
slered-- Celebrating the Fourth
--"Sweet Home" y


the other evening with an interesting lecture
upon "rhe Bright Side OF life In LibbT
rrison." The lecture was made up of geaa-
ings from his experience within the prison
walls, and hence had genuine force, wit aud
pathos He said: When you heard the title
OF my lecture imagine you said: "Coull
there have lccn bright side 10 that life' u
there was, IL must have been on the outside.
There have been many dark stores related OF
that lie. ami | do not chargs that
tley were OK iggerate1, but l shall
SHOW Won v. had happy day
lavs whoa We forgot We were hungry,
% 80 trSe haa not mtlcisiit
H3sJ s. for, lt all our suffer-
la.. i, wa, W wero p.ayils our parts I'D
tho peipotuation of the republic. ! was in
Mallory's command lie was brave-too
brave-anl got into trouble. lie was look,
ins FOR fight and got It. We were mt Win
chester when Gen. Lee undertook to transfer
tho seat Of war to the north. Tho south
tired of it there. The cry was "On to the
north litors took'it mp and they knew
a,grcat deal al ont military matters Then
the orators tooA 1t up Mr.. Toombs, THAI
most eloquent southerner, created such a
public sentiment that Lee was compelled to
70 ahead to transfer the fighting to thu other
side Of tbs Poto mac.
IN our command we're four musicians
They had been serenading our general, aud
he was 80 pleased that he WAS just about to
make a speech when a scout came in AMI
announced that Lee was coming with his
whole army and il was time for us to get
out. All agreed il was time to get out, sx-
cepting Mallory. He stayed to fight. He
had 1900 men, Le, had 10000. We had
six cannons; Lee had 2s0 pieces OF artillery.
Yet Mallory proposed to stop and fight We
went out to feel our way. We were driven
| back with great los We got bsh,nl ouz
i .trtnchments. Lee scorned 10 alsht M. He,
| kept Oh the road bolt fv, miles away. b.
cause we had n gua that carried shell that dis
tance. and when they exploded they mady II,
uncomfortable. Mallory kept 1t rod hot all
day. Gen. Buell. charged Us with Jacksons
corps the greatest tho r5bels over ha !, but
it never won victory after the loss OF the
great general We were charged. Wo wea
raw recruits. Mallory thought we wouI
finch. He went along the liacs sayiny:
Keep cool" That was good advice, bnt
our hair would rise. Ii you had hear that
rebel yell you would never forget it, When
( you SEQ the weapons pointed at you, dstsr-
mination on every feature, with the pre- ,tigs
of victory after victory, it is enough to make
! your hair stand Oh end.
| The general also said; "Fire low and
fire often.' That was good advice. II
takes 1900 bullets to kill man. Tho
reason Is men fire over each other At
| Gettysburg onc-quarter Of a million mus,iat;
were going thres days and only 5000 men
were hit. You don't know thai. You hear
su IA IA terrible nose that you fear every o q
+ will ba kils anl You too But they otsyed
th, order, ana | am glad they dill Wo hell
- .ti
gave OF. Then at , o'clock in the morning,
june Is. "a hor rs wfra hitcheJ and We
tried to get away. Not atuckle was theret,
rattle. not sold,e. s.oSsa loud word. There
is lothing SO SOLEMN Us going through an
enemy's country, expecting every moment
sh ,et of flame /, open upon You. NJ rchiny
along an officer Whispered to me, "Chaplain-
what did you do with that tent k.ent your
What difference did it makei Why should
he thu, jeopariize our safety. leansi ovess
and sad: III fol lei IL up a1d put"-t.,e =
there came fash, followed by the bullets OF
the enemy. ran one way; he the other I
met him tw) years afterwarl in Ohio. l
ran up to him an flashed my sentence, tell
in, hun where Iput the tent That was tho
longest time it ever took me TO say what
wanted to.
We belonged to tn, One Hun,rel anil
Twenty second Oaio, one OF tho grandest
regiments ever reciu tel; 0Gj men went h,
service with Grant from the Rapi,lan to
Petersburg; were in all tho great fights in
the valley; were with Grant again, arounl
Petersburg and Richmond Only l5D me-,
were living when it was mu tered out Tney
fought themselves 10 the death, and ie
the war had continued year longer, no Q
Of them would have been left alive. SoHsu
Of the captains We're sho. through seve.l
times, and whom the war was over
the old battered colonel was gathered
W. in blanket | was loft behind with
tn dc ctor. We held a council Of w.r We
decided to stay with the sick and wounded
We got II PASS from Gen. Early TO go over Toe
field on parole. We got fifty amtWlances
and carried 100 woun led msn to Winches-
ter Then We went to Early anl sail We
would like 10 10 through ia. linea He looked
up at me aoi said: You preachers have
lone more tian anyone else To bring on this
war. will send you to Richmond "But,
general" said I, ut is $50 miles to Richmond,
and only thirty to Harp-r's Ferry. an we
would rather 60 there" He said to ne:
"You have been shouting ON to Richmond'
for long time, and to Richmond you shall
Co." We went there.
Finally we stood outside ths walls OF Libby
prison, waitin, for some one to come out to
notify Us to como in. A gentleman finally
came out and invited US In. There was q
big book ON table. He said il was tho
registry book Of Libby hotel. We registered.
We were taken in another room and
searched. All we possessed was taken out OF
our pocket. II worth anything il was kept.
If not it was returned. had Ssh That isa
vast sum for preacher to taye. will ex-
plain how had it. 1t was not mine, Ihal
l. in trust for tb, boys who gave Il 10 ms
for their wivcs thinking would get safely
through the tines, said To tho man,
That doA't belong to mo-" He said, II
know It, II belongs to me- He gave me q
r.ceipt for II and when came away was
given S,d) Confederate money for it Il took
S5Od that money to buy pair Of bootS
and sl,C00 10 huy barrel Of -four was
cook for twenty men. made soup When
II ran low Iput in more WATER wantsd
TO give II q home taste one day and put in an
onion. II cost S. The boys thought is
Cheap.
The next man searched was colonel fr IA
New York. He had 500 hidden about him.
They said, sc, lonel, have you any money!
| l knew he had. and wondered II no would
| te forgiven for lying But he didn't lie.
/ He said. "Iook and see They didut see.
and the 800 went upstairs How blessed
| him borrowed some afterwarl Wo
| went up stair. A genuine surpr.ss awaited
! us. had ronjured up pictare OF men dead
( ami dying, care-worn and sa :. There was
! mil, ON every faco and shont rang out as
We sutereL They sprang up with cheer
Dldmt Know the stairway.
IENchange.l
Two friends arc ssatei bofors table Gov.
cred with empty botteA We nut z,
home to bed" says ope aNot without dry
Ing another bottle responded his com.en-
ion. "No. not Tonight; can't get arun4
for few days yet "Why.' "l3ecausa
have moved and am stopping with frisni-s
"And no doesn't want yon to get tightr
"No, it's not him: It's tho stairway~ Idon't