Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-04-24
ALoNc-LosT swoRp.
It Returns to rs Owner After Nearly a
Quarter of a Century.

+ It Returns - rs Owner After Nearly a
Quarter of "a Century.
/ Frederick Aiather, superintendent Of
f the New York State Fishery Commits
sion at Cold Spring Harbor. has recently
I had peculiar ana interesting expert
ence. At The outbreak Of the war he
/ enlisted in the One Hundred and Thir-
/ teenth New York Regiment, which was
/ shortly afterward converted into twelve
Of heavy OK garrison artillery. These
batteries were instructed in gun-drill at
/ Washington but when it became GER
tain that there was lit5le danger of the
Confederates attacking the capital, the
| regiment vas ordered into the field as
infantry They, however, chung to
their title Of The Seventh New York
Heavy Artillery, a designation they had
received on being Transformed into gun
ners
On June ~. 1864. Lieutenant Mather
was in command OF / Company which
was the color company Of the regi-
ment, and belonged 70 the First Di-
vision Of the second Corps. com
manded by General Hancock The
command was moving on the enc
my's works at Petersburg, va. On
the right was the Irish Legion. and the
two bodies diyergcd The Confederate
forces rushed through the gap, and the
right Of tie one Hundred and Thir-
teenth or Seventh New York Heavy Ar
tillery were taken prisoners To save
the colors Lieutenant Mather determin-
ed to bury them This he did and he
was in the act OF burying his sword, a
presentation from Battery |, on which
his name was engraved. when a South
erner stepped up and said
Look here, Yankee, just drop that"
and ordered him to move inside the en-
emy's trenches.
Il obeyed the order" says Captain
Mather, and was carrying my sword,
in its scabbard, and belt in my hand,
when a man in plain clothes demanded
il of me. | saw he was civilian, who
had only come out to have a shot at US,
and ! resisted During our struggle,
and just as the man was about to strike
me with his fist. an officer came mp and
Indignantly asked II he was about TO
strike a prisoner The man fell back
and | handed my sword to the officer,
who. thinking was wounded offered
me hospitality, and I wrote his name
and address, on a New York Tribune
that ! had in my pocket. Nothing
could have been kinder than the be-
havior of my eaptor I was subsequent
ly confined in prisons at Macon, Ga,
Charleston and Columbia, ) G., and lost
the memoranda with the name Of the
man who had my sword | had some
idea he was a Georgia man, and in my
travels in connection with hsh-culture
in the Southern States have always
been trying to find some trace of him.
"A few years ago Captain l.. Brew
ster, who had served in A Company
Tenth Alabama Regiment during the
var, died. A southern paper published
that among his property was a sword be-
longing to Lieutenant Mather. The
item was copied into the National
Tribune, and | saw it, | communicated
with Captain Brewsters representatives,
and on the first Of this month the old
sword, seabbard and belt once more came
into my possession. The scabbard has
an indentation where ball struck it in
battle. They are relics of by-gone
feud, but prize them very dearly. -
\. T. Tribune