The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-03
THE OLD SOLDIER AND HIS PENSION.
An Indignant Response to the Presidents
Slur al TO Soldiers Wounds.

Slur al TO Soldiers Wounds.
| Chicago Inter Ocean.
| my blood boils." said an old veteran, when
read some of the articles on the question oil
| soldier disabilities This attempt to create the
| impression that soldier wounded in the first OF
second year OF the war, and who so far recovered
as to do full duty to the end of the war, was not
| disabled by that wound, and is not entitled now
| to pension on account of the wound is ungener-
Gus and inexcusable. Nothing could be further
| from the fact and nothing could be more at war
| with plain justice than such an assumption.
There must be scores of cases in the memory
of every old soldier which, il he could present to
the public, would show the cruelty and heart
lessness OF this attempt. Thera comes up before
me now the pale, pitiful face, and the sad, dark
| eyes OF man who came homo exulting in the
fact that, although he had been terribly wounded
| In 1867, he had served through to the end of the
| war with credit to himself, doing we'll whatever
| had Eeen assigned to him. Six months after his
| return the wound, for some unexplained reason,
| broke out anew, and he went down to the grave
through stages of decline relentlessly plain in
| symptoms as those through which consump-
| tive passes.
For three weeks that poor fellow sat in his
easy chair, with his life going out slowly but
tainly, facing death just as he had faced it when
he lay bleeding on the battle field. All through
| those weeks, while his comrades stood about
him, there was not q complaint, not q murmur
against fate, but rather expressions of gratitude
that he had been allowed to recover so far as to
| do his country some SERVICE and that it was his
privilege to die at home. with his mother to min
| lister to him, rather than to die on the battle
| field. No one could claim that this man did not
die of wound received in battle, and, as his
mother dependent on him, there was no
| question as to her right to pension.
I'm another case one of the fnest-looking
soldiers in the company, one of the best men for
| picket or scouting service, received two severe
wounds After three months spent in the hos
| pital at Nashville the question came up whether
he should go home or remain in the service. He
decided to remain, and he was assigned to duty
| that he could do as we'll as any man. and he con-
| tinued to perform this duty to the end of the
war Then he came home, and, untitled for work
as laborer and faced by the difficulty of secur-
| ing employment suited to his condition. he
drlfted about aimlessly and became some
what dissipated. When application was made
for pension the point was made against him that,
as ne had remained in the service two years
| after his wound was received, that wound could
| not have disabled him. because the requirements
| o. the service called for an able bodied man.
Two years passed before acceptable explanations
could be made to the proper authorities, and the
| pension was granted two days before the man
| died, and, as if outraged human nature or sol
| der nature. offered q commentary on the action
| of the government, he died of the wounds re-
| ceived years before
II know an old codger," said an cid physician,
who was wounded in the foot st Stone river,
but who swore by all that was good and bad
that he would never leave the service for such
| a scratch as that 1t interfored with his
efficiency as marcher, but his captain acted on
the theory that veteran who could shoot and
who would keep his head in time of battle was
better than raw recruit, and when the old fell
low insisted that he should remain in the serv-
ice, favored his claim and he did remain. I
had him attached to the ambulance corps, so
that in long marches he could ride, but there
was never battle in which his command par
ticipated but what he was in the ranks doing
most excellent service. After the close of the
war he became an active business man, and his
old wound did not trouble him for several years.
There came a time, however, when he was con-
fined to the house as cripple, and when he was
persuaded to make application for pension he
was laughed at for his pains.
I'm another case. after the battle of Shiloh; q
man was sent to the hospital tent with severe
wound from bullet that had passed clear
through his body l thought the case a very
serious one, but three days later l missed my
man. At first thought he had died suddenly
and that the body had been carried out in my
| absence. Making inquiries. / discovered that
the fellow had got up on his own responsibility,
and had staggered over to his own company's
quarters. went over aid found him secreted
in one Of the company tents, his comrades
away from the hospital l called the
ambulance. and was ready to take him
again to the hospital, when his captain
made plea for him. and asked that he be al
IOW0u 10 F0IQdlu, Tie men IN Inc same mess
volunteering to act as nurses. He recovered
with astonishing rapidity, and in three or four
weeks was on duty again, taking his turn in all
sorts of weather and in all sorts of circum
stances. He went through the war in that way,
but two years after the war closed, at an old
fashioned raising in West Virginia, ne went be-
yond his strength The wound broke out in the
old place and he became an invalid. When
heard of the matter those who ought to have
taken a sympathetic attitude in such a case were
ondo IN chnyu hat fha ms dica
dated from his lift at the raising / went to
Washington myself and Strengthened that mat
ter out
at is often asked why men who we're wounded
were allowed to remain in the service. 1t has
been charged that surgeons and commissioned
officers generally open to censure for allowing
such men to remain. The reason for their action
is plain. These men. wounded as they were,
were more valuable because of their experience
and their spirit than three times their number of
new troops would have been. Officers from major
general down wanted efficient soldiers, and they
appreciated the value OF such veterans when
they established the invalid corps. Oftentimes
more than half the efficient force of the company
was made up of men who carried the scars
of severe wounds. Moved by soldiers spirit,
and by desire to see the war TO the end, such
men were in the habit of speaking of their
wounds, or of the scars as mere scratches.
The fact that they made light of them then was
to their credit. The fact that any official high
or low, would make light of the wound now is to
his dscredit. That is the whole case in nut
shell, and l know that every army surgeon is
with me in this opinion"
IL know" said an ex-army chaplain, "of
scores of cases in which wounded men or men
sick almost unto death were willing to bargain
with Providence that if they could be gwen
health and strength to the end of the war
they would willingly be invalids all the rest
of their lives. have listened at sick beds with
tears in my eyes to the prayers of such men,
not for long life. not for promotion, but for two
or three years more of health and strength that
they might do their duty and serve their country
through the period of her greatest need know
of many cases in which these men were given
health to go through the trials and exposures of
war to come out Of it wrecks of what they had
been. Every man of this character was sensi-
tive and easily hurt by an imputaton, and hun
dreds of them are being crushed by the heartless
cruelty of imputations now made under the seal
of high authority. 1t 10 a shame and q scandal
that such imputations should find expression
anywhere