The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1886-09-23
BLOODY-SHIR7 PAPERS!
NUMBER XIII.

"Thank you for your article in las
weeks St071d0rd on the SD at Shiloh
I have often thought / would write my
recollections of Shiloh for you, but an
very busy. Cos A and F were absolute
ly the last organized body Of men to leave
Shiloh Chapel line. When they fell back
to the Purdy Road, Buckland's Brigade
which is accredited in all accounts with
having covered itself with glory (and il
pleased with your poem in last weeks
Standard"
Maj. Dawes, Capt. c. K. Crumit, and
Capt. J. R. Percy, were what might be
called the heroes of Shiloh. When the
pickets found themselves assaulted-not
by the enemy's skirmishers, giving them
an equal chance-but by heavy columns
of Confederate Infantry, and Gen, Sher-
man laughed at the alarm which they
gave, there was nothing remaining for
them to do but fall back, and that with
out losing any time. Of course the retreat
was necessarily precipitate affair; men
went without any thought of or attempt
at military precision; the idea of self
preservation, suddenly sprung upon the
excited men, caused the Importance of
the stern duty as soldiers to be lost in the
fear of weak human nature. But this
did not, and does not, apply to all the men
there on that horrible day. An officer
said: Gas 1 went back toward where the
SD were retreating, L saw Capt. Crumit,
Capt Percy, Maj. Dawes and Capt. Jones,
all standing and facing the advancing
foe, and thought they were the bravest
men had ever seen."
And they were brave men. The excite
ment and panic of the hour had not bro
ken down the true and brave manhood
in these officers. But could you have con-
WINGED them, as they stood facing the on
coming columns Of the enemy; as they
stood listening to the shrieking shot and
shell; as they stood listening to the cries
of the wounded or the cheers of the ex-
ultant foe, that that was not surprise?
Not muchI
Maj. Dawes promises to write his own
experience Of the battle of Shiloh, and we
hope he will do so, not that the fact of
the surprise needs any corroboration, for
that is settled, but that an account by
Maj. Dawes would be highly interesting.
The experiences of that terrible day
reach down to the present with signif-
cant force. The heroism, and patriotic
suffering, of that day, shines out with pc
culiar lustre to-day. There the character
of the soldier towers far above the wick
edness and criminal intrigue of a politi-
Cal party; to-day the same character is
compelled to see the same political party
in control of the Government it then at
tempted to destroy. But the character is
as bright still. The wickedness of the
party intrigue cannot take away one
bright laurel from the brow of the soldier
who served his country in its hour of
danger.
An old soldier remarked to US, a few
days ago: You have nothing to boast
of now save that you were in the army.
What are the results of our services?
What is a soldier thought of in this coun-
try?" This comrade takes a wrong view
of the situation. The political field is
worked by politicians, and the schemes
of these, as well as the management of
public affairs, may occasionally assume
threatening aspect, ard the country seem
to be in as bad condition as before the
sacrifices were made by the soldiers of
the war, yet back of these surface indica-
tions lies the fact that the work of the
soldier is regarded by friend and foeman
alike as the greatest good ever accom-
plished in this country. Though a few
narrow-m minded Democrats - such as
sometimes get to be President of the
United States-may sneer at the blue
coat, and the majority of the party may
think that the Union soldier was all |
wrong during the war, still the country
at large looks upon the work of the sol
dier with some degree of appreciation.
That the character of the soldier is not |
losing the respect of the country, is wit
messed by many facts, among which is the
interest taken in and by the new genera
ton of soldiers, the Sons of Veterans.
Those veterans who stood upon the
bloody field of Shiloh, could not penetrate
the future with sufficient power to see,
twenty-four years afterward, a new Army
of men then unborn, and this new army
filled with the enthusiastic fire which
filed the ranks in 1861. The old war-he-
roes tell of their exploits, the young sol
diers hear them and profit by the knowl-
edge received. There could be- placed in
the field to-day well-drilled army of
boys who know vastly more about mill
tary affairs than did those men who went
in 1861. The work of the old soldier will
stand as monument of patriotism and
love of country, to be admired by the old
er men, and the example of which will be
emulated by the young. The shirt that
was made bloody at Shiloh, by the hand of
Democratic treason, will not be washed
by the sophistry of the demagogue or the
pretense of the hypocrite. The years fol-
lowing one after another, do not tarnish
the soldiers record, but bring out with
still brighter glow, the story of his deeds.
How is it with the party that opposed
him, and made his sacrifices and suffering
necessary. 1t will never outlive the infamy
with which it covered itself at that time.
When the soldier stood his ground at Shi-
lon, at Gettysburg, at Chickamauga, he
was facing Democratic bullets, and some
Of the men who directed those bullets are
now in high places in the Government
they sought to destroy. The infamy of
Democracy will shine in history along
side the glory of the Union soldier, that
coming generations may contrast them.
On Thursday, this week, the County
Sunday School Celebration. Let every
school in the county be represented. A
good time is expected. Give one day to
Sunday School work.
We should economize at all times,
but more especially when times are