St. Paul daily globe., 1889-02-07
Contrabands Kept Armies
Supplied With Food and !
Information. :
Constituents Of a Legislator
Declare That He Acted &
Judieiously. ),
A Hayward Wife Creates Dis
sension and a Divorce J
Suit. u

the Ryan last evening was one of the
most interesting in the history of the
commandery. In point of attendance it
exceeded any meeting. since the annual
gathering last spring, and good fellow
ship and jovialty reigned supreme,
while the cares of everyday life were
forgotten for the time being. Reminis-
cences of the unhappy and
much to be deplored days of
the past were brought into
relief when contrasted with the glisten-
ing plate and tempting edibles which
the management of the Ryan placed be-
fore the evening revelers, and the
fatigues and hardships of '6l-2 gave
place to the peace and good fellowship
of 'S9.
The board of officers met at 7:30 and
elected the following new members of,
the commandery: Norman Perkins,
Warren Hewitt Mead, George Lawrence
Wood.
Maj. George @. White, Gen. J. ".
Bishop and Gen. l.. A. Grant were
elected delegates from the Minnesota
commandery to the sixth quadrennial
congress of the order, which will be
held at Cincinnati April 10. Gen. J. H.
Baker, Gen. A. B. Nettleton and Lieut..
W. III. Dixon were elected alternates.
At the conclusion of the business
meeting the companions and honorary
members repaired to the ladies' ordi-
nary. About 100 sat down at the table,
and finer looking body of men never
gathered
ABOUT THE FESTIVE BOARD.
All professions and mercantile pur-
suits were represented, for the men
who fought for their country during the
trying days of the war, have been a
credit to themselves and to society
since its close. AT the conclusion of
an elaborate lunch chairs were pushed
back and cigars lighted. For short
while general conversation proved an
admirable aid to digestion, but
to relieve overburdened humanity, the
chairman wrapped for order, and Col.
Josiah w. .BisseIl, commanding the En-
gineer regiment OF the West Missouri
volunteer corps, read an interesting pa
per upon THE Western Organization of
Colored People for Furnishing IDformaz
tion to United States Troops in the
South" .
During the spring and long summer
of 1861" read Col. Bissell, when we
held st. Louis by strict fighting and
martial law, the German was always
ready with his musket. and the colored
man with information; but all we could
do with the latter, was to try to i'm
press upon him the idea that his day of
deliverance would surely come. Hefeared
more then he hoped. but was wonder
fully alert. In September we were in
the midst of the worst ''SeseSch" region
in western Missouri, but the colored
men came to us at night and brought
such loads of turkeys and chickens that
the men lived upon the fat of th land.
They dug large cave with the entrance
under capt. Hills tent, where they were
allowed to stay until such as wished
could be passed along. These men
would give me any information about
the country or about the whites, but
would say nothing about themselves or
their organization. Information would
be carried about
TWENTY MILES EACH NIGHT.
1t was always reliable except as to num-
bers; then it was wholly at fault, and
right smart" might mean 100 or 1000,
we had to guess.
By the time we left in the spriRg for
the New Madrid campaign | had every
reason to believe that the colored ele-
ment in Western Missouri was thor
Oughiy organized. During the early
part of the war the full benefits of this
auxiliary were not reaped, because
many of the officers would not believe
that there was an .'intelligent contra
band" Van Dorns' raid would have
been failure had Col. Murphy, who
was in command at Holly Spring, needed
their warning. One hundred men of
my regiment at Davis Mills. under com
mand of Lieut.. Biesner, had three full
days notice, and fortified themselves so
we'll and sent out such flaming reports
that Van Dorns, with his 5000 men,
went around them and left them alone.
In Western Tennessee my officers and
men took delight in killing the blood
hounds which before the war were used
to hunt rttnaways. and afterwards to
find deserters from the rebel army.
This made wonderful impression on
the colored men, and was repaid with
the spoils of many smokehouse or
chicken r0ost, for it was only by such
exhibitions of power that we could im-
press upon them the fact of their near
ness of their day of deliverance, and
when they gave their confidence it could
not be shaken.
For years previous to the war the col
ored men felt that something was going
to happen. They compared notes with
one another: had no regular places of
meeting and no officers, but the colored
preachers controlled the whole and
were the guiding spirits. And we'll did
they perform their task. for | think the
weight of our Western army was felt
about 100 miles ahead of us. Beyond
that it was more of hope than reality
INDORSED MR.. IVES.