The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-02-09
GEN. JOHN Nj. PALMER.
Scraps of Military History Never Before
Published.

Some time ago, says the Illinois
State Register, among a party of us on
an excursion, were ex-Gov. Palmer,
Gov. Oglesby and Judge Jesse J.
Phillips, of Illinois. They have all
been generals in the army, and, of
course, spent the most of their time in
talking over some old army expert
ences. Among other "reminiscences
Gen. Palmer gave the following:
81 had command of corps before
Atlanta on the 18th of July, 1864. We
were at that time about five miles
from the city on Peach tree creek.
Davis division had passed over the
creek. About o'clock in the after
noon our boys brought in a citizen
they had captured on that side of the
creek. He was brought before me
and questioned him closely. He did
not appear to know much but he said
he had read in an Atlanta paper that
Gen. johnson had been relieved of the
command of the opposing army, and
had been succeeded by Gen. j. B.
Hood. Col. Mckay of our side soon
happened along and asked me if there
was anything new. | told him of the
change of commanders on the part of
the enemy, that johnson had been
succeeded by Hood. He appeared
greatly alarmed and exclaimed My
God; general, that means troubleI
tell you Hoods a fighter 1 was
somewhat alarmed myself and asked
Mckay what he knew about Hoods
fighting qualities
Mckay said, We'll, general. I was
in San Antonio, Tex, once before the
II hot
81, 900 on hand in a game of poker,
and he didn't even have a pair of
jacks
"Well, didn't say much in re-
sponse, but l decided in my mind that
a man who would bet s., 900 on hand
in a friendly game of poker when
he didn't even have pair to back him
would be bad man to meet on the
field of battle when he was backed by
several thousand able-bodied confeder-
ate soldiers and the sequel proved
that Mckay was not wrong in his esti-
mate.
1T was then about dark, / got my
men together and told them I ex-
pected we would have to fight to-
morrow. | threw my lines across the
creek and commenced that night to
build Notifications, and the next morn
ing our forces were all across the creek
and we had plenty of earthwork for an
emergency. | ordered dinner to be
served to the men by L o'clock. About
that time Gen. Thomas came along,
saluted me and asked What's the
matter? saying at the same time we
must be ready to move forward when
Heoker's men have had their dinner
and expressing the opinion that we
would now march into Atlanta with
out opposition.
81 said, General l think we are go
ing to have a fight / had scarcely
ceased speaking when we heard terri
BILE firing to our left. | Immediately
dispatched messenger in that direc-
ton, who soon returned with the in
formation that Hood had made a terri
BILE charge on our left aud had already
broken through two lines of Davis
division and was now charging in our
direction, and, sure enough, he was
soon down upon US. But with nv pre-
parations already described We were
ready to meet him, and you bet we
gave him a warm reception and we
defeated him after hard fighting,
and soon thereafter marched victorious
into Atlanta. Had it not been for Nc
Kay's story of the 81, 900 bet he would
have made it very uncomfortable
for US. As it was we were ready for
him.
Another story comes to my mind at
this time that / am sure has never
been in print, and refers to the late
Senator Logan:
Col and Mrs. Distin. of Quincy, Ill.,,
were always intimate friends of SEN
ator Logan and of course when the
general went to Quincy he stopped at
Col. Distin's. Last year when the
Soldiers home was dedicated at that
place the general spent about a week
with his old friend Distin. The
coloners latchstring is always out, and
his friends are generally in, so that
they usually have pretty full tables.
averaging about eighteen persons. But
it happened that one day for dinner
there was Just the unfortunate num-
Der of thirteen.
Mrs. D. asked the general if he OBJ
jected to eating with thirteen at the
table. The general said he would
rather not sit tdown-thirteen at table,
and suggested that he would eat at q
side table that stood in the room. The
matter was finally arranged by one OF
the family eating at the side table and
the dinner proceeded. the supersti-
tious may say this was an evil omeni
who can say that it was not?