Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-07-18
GOING TO THE WAR.
STORY OF i PATRIOT wro ENLISTED As 4
PRIVATE.
Life Among Thieves PiGkpocksts and Other Bounty
jumping Rufaans-A Terrible Night orgls
on North River SieambOat.
60 1rz.in.on q crereland Leader.

a priyate soldier. l gloss over nothing
The enlisted men, of whom was one, COM
posed .he army. We won or lost the pat
ties / tell how we lived, how we fought
what we talked of o. nights, Of our aspi-
rations and fears. do not claim to have
seen all of Grant 8 last campaign, but what
| saw faithfully record.
The war fever seized me 1868. All the
Summer and fall l had fretted and burned
tobe off. That winter, and before l was
16 wears old, ran away from my fathers
b;gb-lving Hudson river valley farm. l
went to Albany, and enlisted IN the EieN
enth New York Battery, then at the front
in Virginia, and was promptly sent out 10
the penitentiary building, There, to my
inter establishment, found 800 to ,Ooo
ruffians. closely guarded by heavy line
of sentinels, who paced to and fro, day ana
night. rifle in hand, to keep them from
runninp away. When / entered the bar
racks these recruits gathered around me
and asked. GLOW much bounty did you
qet?'' How many times have You Jumped
the bounty?" answered that | had not
bargained for any bounty; that had never
Jumped bounty, and that had eniistea
to 90 the front and fight. was instantly
assailed with abuse Irreclaimable black
guards, thieves and ruffians gathered IN q
boisterous circle around me and called me
foul names. was robbed while in these
barracks of all possessed-al pipe, piece
of tobacco and knife. i remained In TINS
nasty prison for a month. l became THOR
oughly acquainted with my comrades "A
recruits social standing in the barrrcks
was determined by the acts OF viiiainy he
had performed, supplemented by the num-
her of times he had jumped the bounty.
The social standing of
A HARD-FACED, CRAFTY PIcKPockEr,
who had jumped the bounty in say hall a
dozen cities. was assured. He shameless'y
boosted of his rascally agility. Less active
bounty jumpers looked up to him rs to n
leader. He commanded their profound re-
spect When he talked men gathered
around him in crowds and listened 10 the
wsrds of wisdom concerning bounty jump
ing that dropped from his tobacco-stained
lips. His right to occupy the most desira-
bile bunk or stand at the head of the col
umn when we prepared to march to the
kitchen for our rations was indisputed. III
there was man in all that shameless crew
who had enlisted from patriotic motives, i
did not see him. There was not man oil
them who was not eager to run away. Not
a man who did not quake when he Thought
of the front Almost to man they were
bullies aad towards, and almost to II man
they belonged to the criminal classes.
| had been in this den of murderers and
thieves for a week when my uncle, Will
liam Wilkeson of Buffalo, found me, My
absence from the farm had caused search
of the New York barracks to be made for
ME. My uncle, finding that was resolute
in INV intention to go to the front. and that
I would not accept q discharge boy rs
was did the best thing he could do for me,
and that was to vOuch for me to the major,
named Van Rensselaer,, think, who Nas. in
charge of the baIrallssssfie knew my fam
;ly, and when he had heard that ] had run
away from home to enlist, and that | would
not accept discharge, he gave me the
freedom of the city. had a pass which
left in charge of the officer of the guard
when not using it because l was afraid
would be robbed of it if took il into the
barracks. The fact of my having q pass
became known to the bounty jumpers, and
/ was repeatedly offered large sums OF
money for 1t. In the room in which slept
n gang of rOughs
MADE UP A POT OF S17OO,
counting out the money before me, and Of
fered il TO me if would 90 out, and at
night put my pass in n crack between two
designated boards that formed portion Of
q high fence that surrounded the penitenti-
ary grounds. | refused to enter into the
scheme, and they attacked me sayagely,
and would have beat me, perhaps to death,
if the guards, hearing the noise, had not
rushed in. OF course they swOre that / had
madly assaultodiIthem with a heavy bed
Stat, and, of course was punished, and,
equally of course, kept my mouth shut rs
to the real cause of the row, for fear would
be murdered rs | slept if exposed them
In front of the barrrcks stood high wood
ell horse, made by sticking four long poles
large holes bored into smooth log and then
standing it upright, Two ladders, one at
each end, led up to the round body of the
wooden steed A placard, on which was
printed in letters four inches long the word
lighting" was fastened on my back.
Then was led TO the rear ladder and told
to mount the horse and shin along to the
other end, and to sit there until was re-
leased. The sentinel tapped his rifle sig
nifcantly, and said, earnestly: 1T is loaded.
Ifyou dismOunt before you are ordered to,
shall kill YOU" | believed he meant
what he said, and | did not get Of until
ordered TO dismOunt. For the first hour
rather enjoyed the ride; then my legs grew
heavy, my knees panied dreadfully, and
grew feyerish and was very thirsty. Other
men came out of the barracks and climbed
aloft to join in the pleasure of wooden
horseback riding. They laughed at first
but soon began to swear in low tones, and
to curse the days when they were born. In
the course of three hours the log filled up,
and dismounted to make room for fresh
offender. The placard was taken from my
back, and was gruffly ordered to "get out
of this" staggered back a few yards,
stopped TO rub my lame knees, and looked
at the gang who were sadly riding the
wooden horse. Various words were placed
on the cards that were fastened to their
backs, and more than half of them announ-
ced that
THE BEARERS WERE THIEVES.
On my urgent solicitation Major Van
Rensselaer, promised TO ship me with the
first detachment of recruits going to the
front. One cold afternoon, directly the ice
had gone out of the Hudson river, we were
ordered out of the barracks, We were
formed into ranks, and stood in a long.
curved line 1000 rascals strong. We were
counted, as was the daily custom, to see IL
any of the patriots had escaped. Then, at
ter telling us to step fnnr paeen TO the front
as our names were called, the names Of the
men who were to form the detachment
were shouted by sergeant, and we stepped
to the front, one after another, until GOO of
us stood in ranks. We were marched to
the barracks, and told to pack our KNAPP
sacks rs we were to march at once. The
400 recruits who had not been selected
were carefully guarded on the ground, so as
to prevent their mingling with US. Ifthat
had happened some of the recruits who had
been chosen would have failed to appear AT