Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1888-08-23

Buchanan Read Wrote the Poem.
II has been my habit, during the thirteen
years have enjoyed an acquaintance with
Gen. Sheridan, to keep memorandum of
interviews with him, and ! hav. notes full
Of his conversations. "reminiscences ON the
subject which old soldiers never do aud
never should tire Of talking-the war of tine
rebellion. lie always tpok. freely to me
and has permitted me to publish u good
deal OF what he said, always. however. with
the condition that il il were written in the
form of an interview he should be allowed
To revise the report Of his words. lie did
not like newspaper notorieiy- lew men 81"
hut he was as fond as any body of seeing
the good things he said aud did spoken
well Of in the newspapers. II was not van
ity. but he took mu IA pride in his achieve
nents. and il they were ;tccuratel. described
and intellgentiy discussed, he always en-
j"yei reading what people said aud thought
of him. Within the past year or two, how
ever, he has been preparing his book, aud
has not been so desirous of having his rem
:-.:---- .,s Pu's:-s.s.i r'.,~..'iv ~heu -
Now. don't put that in your paper, Tor
! am just getting ready I" print it in my
book.
While engaged in the preparation of this
book his mind was constantly upon the
past. and he enjoyed fighting his battles
over again. One III the most interesting
interviews I ever had with him was about
Buchanan Reads poem, SHERIDAN Ride.
happened to be in the ears with him, and
showed him paragraph which described
the recitation of ''Sheridan's Ride" by an
actor at some theatrical benefit. asked
him il he had ever met Read.
YES" he replied, II knew him well.
first met him before the battle Of stone
river lie WAS "A guest at the headquarters
of Gcn. Isosecrans', and stayed with us "a
good while
"Do you know how he happened I" write
it,"
YES have heard him tell about it a
great many times. There are "a number OF
stories float ting around. but IN give you
the true one, as Reed told il Ia me. James
T.. Muroi.,ck suggested the idea
"Nur,lock, the elocutionistp p'
"Yes, he was an actor at one of the Tin
cinnati theaters at the time, and "a great
friend of mine. He lost "a son at the battle
Of Missionary Ridge-Murdock did-and
came down there to get the body. The
enemy occupied the place where the boy was
luried, and the old man remained there, IL
guest at my headquarters. He used to
ride the lines with me, and always used the
black horse, Rienzi, that was afterward
called Winchester, and became very fond oi
him Things were very exciting down there,
and Mur,lock saw a good deal of war. sun
Iay he always read and rccital poems to
the troops around headquarters. and there
was one poem of Browring's that was al
ways called for. IL was n great favorite
with the soldiers and with me, and we
never let him off without cciting il. Ii was
the ride from Ghent to AK. You reinem-
ber it?''
"Well, after the battle of Cedar creek
there was published in Harper's Weekly II
story Of my ride from Winchester and n
picture of me on the black horse, eieDzi.
Mur,lock saw it and took il up to Read,
suggesting that it was n good theme Tor n
poem. Murdock had just seen AN officer
who was there. and gave him "a description
of the affair. and Read jumped 1T the idea
lie shut himself up in his room, wrote the
poem that afternoon, had his wife make !,
copy, and sent it over to Murlock's house
AS soon as il was done, to SEE how he liked
it, Murdock WAS very much pleased, and
that night read the poem at the theate'
between the acts. So il got into the news
papers. where ! first saw it,
"It is said that you have the origina
manuscript
"No. ! never saw it,"
"Iiow did Read happen tn paint this pic
ture?"
| "IIe did il On an order from the Union
League club of Philadelphia. They sen,
him down to New orleans where ! was sta
toned. and sat for him there. He was
going to Rome that fall and could not fin
| i.b it, but made some sketches and :hei
completed the picture at Rome. never
had a copy of the picture. but he afterwars
gave me the sketches, which ! stilI hav. a'
my house."
"Who were with you in that ride?'
sandy Forsythe and Col. a. keefe of m,
staff Forsythe is down in New Mexies
/ now, Iieutenant-colonelo of the Fourth cav
airy. O'keefe was killed at the battle a
Five Forks"
| WuILAM T.. CrRTis.