The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1888-05-04
ARoMkHcE OF THE WAR.
Washington correspondence of the Globe
Democrat,

Washington correspondence Of the Globe.
Democrat.
This morning sit down to tell the
readers OF one OF the strange romances
OF the war, eliminated this very week.
On Friday l stepped into the great
pension bureau, and as soon as the
commissioner, General John c. Black,
had shaken himself loose from score
OF visitors asked him if there was
anything new.
"There is always something new
here" he said. 1.-the granting of a
pension is not only news. but most
important news to somebody. and
the recipient often expresses himself
in terms OF pathetic gratitude which
indicate that it is almost a new birth
to him."
''l4et me see," lie added after min.
ute, touching an electric key upon his
table that suppose tingled an inaudi-
bic bell in some remote portion of the
mammoth establishment, yesterday
there developed IL narrative that
seems TO cover one OF the hitherto Sc.
cret tragedies OF the rebellion. 1t is a
story worth telling"
"Captain," he resumed, when u tall
chief OF division appeared with an
irmless sleeve, "please to tell this
gentleman about Hugh Thompson"
! followed the tall man INTO the tire.
mcnaous court Of tie building, around
the long corridors, to distant room,
and there he produced IL pile of docl,-
mcnts winch studied with ., eat in.
tcrcst during the next two hours.
Indeed, II was one OF the unwrtten
romnnccs of the war, ~ romance over
laid with II tragedy, as General Black
hal imtimatea
Let me see if can tell the story as
i; me to me:
Before the war there lived in the
rural town OF Van Vert, Van Vert
county, Ohio. a youn. fellow in his
teens named Hugh Thompson. He
was as bright as the average boy, IL
smart worker. and popular with ali
tn. girls OF his ncishborhool.
In the sprin. OF 1861, when the
echoes OF Edmund Rntlin's gun fired
ON sumter went rolling down the
Maumce valley, Hugh ut nineteen
years OF aye, was swept into the tide
and borne oft TO the war for the In.
ion. Fortune cast him into Company
II, 18th Ohio volunteers.
Hugh rather liked soldering. The
excitement cxhiaratrd him. lie
showed considerable dexterity i'll the
manual oi arms considerable alacrity
IN the drill At the end of three
months lie rr-enliSted for three years,
ard stared on that crusade which
involved he serious battles in Ken.
lucky and Tennessee over the border
INTO the Gull states.
He wrote home to his mother and
told her he was we'll and not afraid,
and he would come home "in little
while" He even wrote TO II pretty
little cousin and told her the harmless
gossip o! the regiment.
Then came thetougk battle OF Chat.
tanooga on September 10, in which
the Fifteenth Ohio lost almost q
hundred men. Early in the day
Hugh was hit by bullet in
the head, which ''madc him spin
round as ii he was dizzy" but
he refused to 20 to the rear, and when
the order came to charge the enemy's
works he seized his musket and fell in
with the rest The regiment was met
with n hot fire and q solid wall OF SOL
,iiers in gray, and was compelled to
fall lacl; le;lvin. q Gozen or more
stretched on the field. Among these
was Hugh Thompson, with IL shell
wound in his thigh and bayonet
lab in his cheek.
lie was no more. He was dropped
from the rolls rs dead. At home his
family mourned Tor this martyr. and
the village parSon preached IL sermon
with "a moral to it, the moral OF
patriotic fidelity, and the father la.
mented him aloud and cried: "Huyi,
was my boy, and he was shot at the
battle OF Chattanooga"
In WhiteIaw Reds "Ohio is the
War" Nolumn II, | find this story
"HuIh Thompson. wounded and
missing at the battle OF CHATTANOOGA
No further record found"
\ commonplace story, you will say,
and this seems to be the end OF Hugh
Thompson.
For year followed year in he old
home in the Maumee valley. and Hugh
became u Shadowy memory. His
mother grew old and died. His favor.
lite sister died. His brothers died.
| AT their graves the Old man bowed his
head and ieebly wept and said: Hugh
wa> my boy, and he was shot at the
battle OF Chattanooga.
a whole generation passed away
and another generation came. Van
Vert grew to be ascity. Hugh's father
got to be an old man and waited
for The reaper.
Then II curious thing happened.
In the fall OF 1857 Il -witte,lir
low attracted the attention OF a post
OF the Grand army OF the Republic in
Leavcnworth. Kan. He was in middle
lie, and said lie was a soldier, and al.
though he couldn't exactly remember
he thought lie was enlisted III some
Ohio regiment. What company he be
! lonrc,l to, who ms commander; and
comrades were. where he was born
what BATTLES he was engaged in--al
these important facts he had forgot
ten. But he remembered the man,,a
OF arms and evidently knew sonnet lin.
OF a soldiers duty. His name was
1 Henry Thompson, he said.
Tie veterans listened to him. Tn.
first he remembered OF himself, he de
clared, was in the fall OF 1872, and
when consciousness suddenly came tc
him he was walking along q countr,
road in Illinois with IL sripsack in Iii,
hand. SIT seemed aus ii had Just
walked up" he says, "for could no,
remember anything that ever hap
pened to me before that" He wa,
hungry and went into house to &c,
something to eat. lie probably actet
4uecrly Tor the folks thought him era
~ and hurried him along.
In spite oi his lapse OF memory anL
his mental alteration he managed tc
get II livin.,ior he was Industrious anl
willing and he had no expensive habit.
and people hired him to 40 small Jobs
requiring little skill or training. Fol
years he worked around by tine day
In 1879 he married n young woman
i'll II corresponding position in life, but
in five months she died.
lie resumed his wandering from
place TO place, and in Iowa, ABOUT
Y.