The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-17

FOR IL was . cold, foegy. dismal morning. As
warmed BY the fire, I asked il he had observed
anything in trout, . movement Of any kind It
kwAs getting less dark as we talked, and he
pointed with his finger to the rebel works, calling
my attention to some object, asked, What is
4hntp / could not see anything. He looked
again and said, Why, Captain. it's q fag-a white
fagg / looked intently, but in the fog could not
make it out. but it soon began to take form.
j could now see that IL was a flag. but I did
mot believe it to be a white one. Finally the
mist rolled away, and we both saw that it was a
white Tag, and that there were other flags along
the top of the rebel works. We didn't know
what It meant. There was some desultory firing
going on on our side-the boys never allowed the
irebels to feel too easy.
u then saw two men coming from the rebel
works toward ne, and one carried q white flag.
The other introduced himself as the colonel of q
mississippi regiment He was q large man,
with q beard that reached nearly to his sword
belt. and over his shoulders he wore a blanket,
an imitation Of a tigers skin, making, alto
gether, q very striking and picturesque appear
ance. He asked who was in command. and |
told him that was the division of Gen. Lew
Wallace. He said he had a letter for the COM
mandiug officer and handed it to me to transmit
to General Wallace. He then informed ne the
fort had surrendered, and his mission was 10
inform the General that negotiations were pend
ang, and to prevent any further firing along our
line.
Oufreuuereul l AaQ r1Qde0 up, WIFI u u6aVy
heart; a milestone fell from my neck. General
wallace soon after came to the front and met
this officer, and they had some conversation. and
ne then issued orders that firing should be
stopped. 1t was for US a joyful Sunday morn.
ing. As soon as the troops heard the news they
came up the hill in great crowds, and such cheer
ing you never heard in your life. General
Wallace gave orders to his division to march into
Donelson. or the town of Dover. which was sur
rounded by the rebel works. First there came
an advance guard of infantry, then the General
and his staff. and behind came the entire divi-
sion. We were the first federal troops in the
fort AS we went in we saw the long lines
of stacked arms. There were small fires
and men huddling about them. General Wallace
rode to General Buckner's headquarters, dis
mounted and went into the house, and there met
the vanquished rebel chief. In the meantime,
the various regiments of the division were posted
IN different places about the fort About one
hour after General Wallace arrived at
General Buckner's, General Grant and
his staff came up. and General Grant
went into the same house. That was
the tangible results Of which in the large num-
Der OF prisoners taken. was of incalculsble bene-
Gt to the friends of the Union cause at home here
IN Indiana and all over the North"
when we were at Tiptonville in 1862 says
Capt W. R. Myers, the Secretary Of State. II
was presented with a volume Of Byron's poems
by a Mrs. DR.. Walker, and in the leisure hours
of camp life / read poetry to the company. The
poem in which occurs the line, ''Tis sweet for
ones own land to die,' seems to have been partic-
ularly impressive to the boys. and especially to
Capt. Bob Harding, who is now deputy sheriff.
In the midst of an exciting skirmish down on
Red river one day. he yelled across the field to
me, Myers. that id poet of yours is q liar
1T was a strange remark to yell across the Skin
.nish field at such a time, and for a moment at
tracted the attention OF every man in line from
the eremy to Harding. Overwhelmed with as
4 mean. replied Harding, that your poet Is a
liar when he says, ''Tis sweet for ones own
land to die" He never tried it,"
Agroup fold soldiers were exchanging rem
iniscences yesterday, when Capt. Jacob Scholl,
who went out with the Fourteenth Indiana In
fantry, and afterwards became an officer in the
Twenty-eighth United States colored troops.
said: II have recently been reminded of how
tenacious the memories of old comrades are,
even about trivial matters"
''How is thatf' suggested a listener.
81 once met a Capt. S. T. Harris, of East Ten
nessee, but | have rot seen him since early in
1866. / wanted his address and to learn some
thing of how the world had treated him since the
dark days of the war. I had little hope Of gain
ing anything satisfactory, for ] believed him
long since dead, for the poor man had an expert
ence in a rebel prison that would have killed
men Of the stoutest heart. Well, I was saying /
wanted to find out something about him, and a
para graph in a soldiers paper led me to write to
o gentleman n San Francisco, who served in our
regiment / wrote, as l thought necessary, of
one or two incidents that would serve to * Natify
me to the one addressed. He replied immedi-
ately on the receipt of my letter, and said: 1t
is not necessary for you to tell me who you are.
You are the man who has on his right arm,
prieked in Indian ink, the number of your regi-
meIt and the letter of your company Here it
is to this day: 18th Indiana. Company K"
What about Captain Harrisl" asked another
of the party.
II was captured, as some of you know, on the
Both OF July. 1864. before Petersburg. 1t was
the day our mine exploded and killed so many
negroes. With other prisoners, / was at once
carried to the South, but at Danville. Va, dur
ing a short delay, myself and others were to be
hung for being officers in a colored regiment.
We escaped that fate because the Johnnies did
not have time to do the job, and were taken to
columbia. s. c. As we marched into the prison
land up stairs I heard the clanking of chains in
"a room to my right. 1t was not long until I
learned that the rebels had kept o prisoner there
schained to the wall for two years. He had been
captured in East Tennessee. He was a native
of that part of the State, and had
from the outset been loyal. He began
service in the Union army, and was active
in getting recruits from among the East Tonnes
.seeans. But the rebels captured him and took
him thence TO Columbia, where they tried him by
court-martial for recruiting within their lines.
He was sentenced to be shot and had only an
hour to live when the order came c~ountermand-
ing the death sentence. This was done because
the United States authorities held two rebel Of
fcers at Fort Meaenry as hostages for his safe
ty. Instead, he was confined alone to a small
room and loaded with chains. besides being near
ly starved to death. He was exchanged about
the time ! was. That man was Capt S. Il. Har-
ris. l received a very eloquent letter from him
the other day, and you may restassured his pris-
on experience is not forgotten. He says not
a night passes but that he sheds tears over the
dreadful memory, and it grieves him to see the
man who is responsible for the deaths of Ten
nesseeans in the Union and confederate armies.
who took the State out of the Union and had
more to do than any one else in bringing upon
her the devastation of war, now honored by "A
position in the United States Senate"