The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-11-20
= LETTERS WAN9EE!NGs.
after twenty-five Years 1t Reaches tn,
Party 1t Ii Addressed to.


Party 1t Ii Addressed to. {
Among the many curious things
that occur in the handling of the mails
none are more curious or out of the
ordinary than a story related by Mr..
John Schomaker, a saddle and harness
maker at 1341 North Broadway, and a
member of Ransom post, G. a. R. AT
the beginning of the late war, Mr..
Schomaker was living at Fort Madison,
Ia, where he enlisted as member of
the old Fremont body guard, and
came to St. Louis to Camp Ashboth-
He went south, and after Fremont
was superseded by Gen. Hunter the
body guard was disbanded, and the
members joined other companies. Mr..
Schomaker became a member Of COM
pany F, Fifth Iowa cavalry, which
was attached to company &, OF the
Fourth Michigan cavalry. He was
under Gen. Thomas, and as a mem
ber Of the headquarters courier line,
carried dispatches on the Chlcka-
mauga battle field, and also acted in
the same capacity on and around
Lookout Mountain and Missionary
Ridge, and went as far east as Jones'
boro, Ga, on Gen. Sherman's march
to the sea- On April II, 1864, John
II. Schomaker, father of the soldier,
directed letter to him from Fort
Madison, Ia, and, thinking he was In
Tennessee, wrote the following ad-
dress on the envelope:
JOHN scEoMAKER,
Co. F, Fifth Iowa Cavalry, with Co. 6,
Fourth Mich. Cavalry, via Nashville
The letter reached Nashville in due
time, and was forwarded to the Fifth
Iowa cavalry, lying near Chatta-
nooga, Tenn. But Mr.. Schomaker had
been detailed on the headquarters
courier line, and was gone few days
before the letter arrived at the camp.
The letter was sent back to Nashville,
where it remained few days while
the mail officials were looking up the
whereabouts of the Iowa company. It
seems that Company T, of the Fifth
Iowa cavalry, had about this time gone
home on veterans furlough to see
their wives and sweethearts, and We're
afterwards thrown among two Iowa
companies. The letter was forwarded
from Nashville to the Third Mime
sofa cavalry at ST. Paul, MINI. But
Mr.. Schomaker, instead Of taking ad-
vantage of the furlough in his Iowa
company in Tennessee had gone on to
Georgia with Sherman, and Of course
the letter did not reach him in Mime
sofa. However, the St. Paul postofice
officials, thinking that Mr. Schomaker
was among the 1owans mixed up with +.
the Minnesota companies. redirected
the letter as follows:
On detached duty at Fort Smelling, MINI
And the letter now found its. way
to this outpost in the north, while the
soldier to whom it was written was
fighting far away in Georgia. The
letter was finally advertised, accord
ing to the postal laws at Fort Smelling,
but on July 81, 1864, was sent to the
dead letter Office. in Washington.
Up to this time the nearestm time and
space that the letter came to Mr.. Scho-
maker was the distance from Nash
vile to Chattanooga, and the period
of one day. He left Chattanooga for
Georgia one day before the letter ar
rived there. But the letter was again
sent to the exact place he had left only
a few days before it arrived Mr..
Schomaker visited his home in Fort
Madison, Ia, for one month in 1854,
and few days after he left the letter
was returned to its writer, John b
Schomaker, from the dead letter Of
fee. The envelope and letter were
enclosed in a new envelope. 1t was
thrown into bureau drawer among
several old letters and relics, and was
forgotten by the family.
Mr.. Shoemaker, of this city, never
visited his home again until last Sep
tember, and while there he was nosing
around among some old letters and
ran across this identical letter which
his father had written to him during
the war. The envelope was covered
with the mold Of twenty-five years,
and the ink had faded ilto dim lines
at places. Yet the sentences were en-
tirely legible, and Mr.. Schomaker read
the letter for the first time, with as
much avidity as if he had received it
twenty-five years before W hen it ar
rived in Tennessee, and had then per-
used it by the Pickering light of the
camp fire. But he read it at this late
date with very different phase of in
terest than if he had seen it in 1864.
Then it would have been fresh news
from the loved ones at home. Now it
was read with only an eagerness that
recalled the thrilling scenes of quar-
ter century ago. Received at the
camp long ago the letter would have
been fresh news. Read at this time it
was a memento, a reminiscence. MIR.
Schomaker brought the letter home
with him and has placed it among
quite collection Of war relics which
he has obtained to satisfy his anti
quarian tastes The letter is held
dear by him, and it could not be pur-
chased by gold, greenbacks, or an
African diamond mine. st. LOUIS
Globe-Democrat.