Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-02-16
GEN. JOHN II. PALMER.
Scraps of Military History Never 8efor
Published.

Published.
Some time ago, says the Illinois
State Register, among a party of US or
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:
Il had command of q corps before
Atlanta on the 10Th 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 I 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. I told him of tho
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 trouble-I
tell you Hoods a fighter I was
somewhat alarmed myself and asked
Mckay what he knew about Hoods
fighting qualities
Mckay said, We'll, general. was
in San Antonio, Tex, once before the
war, and [ saw that man Hood bet
$4,000 on hand in Il game of poker,
and he didn't even have a pair of
jacks
"WeIl, I didn't say much in re-
spouse, but decided in my mind that
q man who would bet $4,000 on Il hand
in friendly game of poker when
he didn't even have pair to back him
would be a bad man 20 meet Oh 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.
sit was then about dark, I got my
men together and told them [ 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
inc 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 II o'clock. About
that time Gen. Thomas came along,
saluted me and asked Whats the
matter? saying at the same time 'We
must be ready to move forward when
Hooker's men have had their dinner
and expressing the opinion that we
would now march into Atlanta with
out opposition.
Il said, General I think we are 90
ing to have fight l had scarcely
ceased speaking when we heard a terri
bic firing to our left. I Immediately
dispatched Il messenger in that direc.
ton, who soon returned with the in
formation that Hood had made a terri
Bile charge on our left and 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 my pre-
paTations already described we were
ready 10 meet him, and you bet we
gave him u warm reception and we
defeated him after hard fighting,
and soon thereafter marched victorious
into Atlanta. Had it not been for Nc
Rays story of the $4,000 bet he would
nave 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. Dstin, of Quincy, Ill,
were always intimate friends OF Sem
ator Logan and of course when the
general went to Quincy he stopped at
Col. D;stjus. Last year when the
>lUicr's nome was dedicated at that
the general spent about week
with his old friend Distin. The
coloneIs 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 mum
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 down-thirteen at a 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 omen;
who can say that it was not?