The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1888-11-09
The Mortar that Hewftt Made.

An uEwriiten passage in the history of
the war has Just come out. Mr.. Heysitt
has given IL TO the public with hls own
Iecollectiou of it. as follows It was in
the winter OF 1861 or 1862. just before 1
went to Europe. l was At the teatatle
one Sunday Might've always had some
thing of a company, some 20 or 30 on
such occasions-and 1 was at tbs, head
of the table. whec q messenger brought
me telegram from Mr.. Lincoln. 1t
was long printed roll. 1 have the
original still sn-newhere, and it ran
| this way:
81 understand that you are q man who
J can do things that other men saw can't be
| done. Gen. Grant is at Carlo ready to move
on Fort Donelson. ii e has 30 mortarboats,
/ and 80 mortars are on the way from Pitts
burg to Cairo. IL Is now discovered that
| there are no mortar beds for the lack OF
which tue expedition Will fail. because the
Ordnance Bureau say they can't be pro-
4 duced under nine months. They must De
at Cairo in 80 days. Yours truly.
| a. LINCOLN"
"I had never seen a mortar bed, -
said Mr.. Hewitt, but had heard that
Gen. Rodman, who was then in COM
mand at watertown Arsenal, had just
| completed the model OF one, ard that
night L placed myself in communica-
| tion with him, thing had no difficult
| ty in doing, being at the time President
of the American Telegraph Company.
l was able to get the operators 10 stand
at the machine while 1 talked to Gen.
| RodmaD. In reply to my question, Gen.
Ro6man said the FIRST mortar bed had
just been completed. asked him if he
| could send it down to New York by the
Monday night boat at the latest. This
was Sunday night. you understand, and
! there was no way to get il down the
next day. He said he could send IL il
he received orders to do so. 1 told him
to consider that he was under orders for
the time being, assuring him that /
would see that he received them, which
l afterward did.
HE sent the mortar bed. and it ar
rived Tuesday morning by the Fall
River boat. I spent Monday running
around to the Novelty, A.laire and
Cornell's Iron works, TO secure
drsughtsmen TO be ready Tuesday
morning to prepare plans of the several
parts of the mortar bed on its arrival.
1 found that it weighed about ton and
half. and was composed of several
connected parts. L had it earted TO the
Novelty Iron Works and taken 70
pieces, and distributed the pieces around
among the three works have mention
ed, each agreeing to make certain parts
and do all they possibly could to get
them ready in time. The material to
make them was not on hand, and had
to be provided. Being in the iron busi-
ness L knew who made the different
kinds OF material. The principal
maker of an essential kind of iron re-
fused to change his rolls TO make what
was wanted, and felegraphed to Mr..
Lincoln TO send an officer and take pos
pession of his works, which he did.
The work progressed with such success
that as result / was able to send the
first mortar bed forward in l3 days from
the time i received Mr.. Lincoln's tele-
gram and the whole 30 in 26 days. /
sent messenger on with each mortar
bed, and the car upon which il was
loaded was attached to the express
trains, with printed order of the Sec-
retary OF War posted upon it, which
read as follows
This car must not be side-tracked
under penalty of death. BY order of
the Secretary of The War"
General Grant received the mortar
beds on time, the expedition went for
ward, and Donelson and Henry were
taken. paid all the expenses of max
ing and forwarding the mortar beds,
amounting to over $50 600. at the
time paper money was substantially at
par, or nearly so. When 1 got my paw
IN paper money a year after ward paper
money had deprecated over half, and
got 1t then only on the order of Mr.
1 Lincoln. with whom then had nv
| first interview. When 1 was presented
to him, be said "Why, you are not
such a tremendous fellow after all. /
thonght you must be seven feet high and
| weigh 800 pounds.''