The National tribune., 1890-02-20
STORY OF A CANNONEER.

STORY OF A CANN0NEER.
Continued from Ist page.)
the idea of seeing the President would be to
state great fact in very feeble words! On
my way back to quarters / bought neat linen
stand-up collar and pair of short gantlet
gloves, together with fne Mcclellan cap"
such as officers wore The next morning, as
! soon rs we had our coffee, proceeded to style
up" within an inch of my life. As before stated,
we had all drawn complete new on Tits of under
clothing, uniforms, boots, Overcoats, blankets,
etc, and. as l was detailed by the good old
Quartermaster to issue il and make the return,
/ had opportunity to pick it all over. The re.
suit was that got com plete unifOTm-jacket,
blouse and two pairs of pantaloOns that fitted me
as If they were made to order. So arrayed my
self in the brand new jacket and trousers, with
my linen collar carefully pinned to the neck
band of my woolen shirt, and Just showing its
white edge above the red braid on my jacket
collar. / backed my boots, belt and holster
until you could see your face in them. and
fastened my trousers legs under the shanks of
my boots with straps. And finally fitting my
new Mcclellan cap n little over my left eye
and pulling on my buff gantlet gloves, para
ly2ed the rest OF our squad by the spectacle
of the best-dresscd Cannoncer they had ever
seen
/ was promptly on time at Mr.. IIubbard's
apartments where | met Mrs. Hubbard and
their niece, Miss julia who had just arrived
from home. After brief chat with them, Mr..
Hubbard started with me for the White House.
Arriving there he sent his card to tho PrCsi-
dent. and we were at once ushcrcd into the
large room adjoining the Presidents private
office. We had 10 wait some time. There were
many other callers, among them three Major
Generals who looked at me curiOu5y; evil
IDENTIFY wondering what enlisted artillery
men could be doing there in tow of Member
OF Congress.
Mr. Hubbard had some business Of his own
with the President, and after he had finished
that he introduced me to the President as " the
soldier son of one Of his most esteemed con-
stituents"
This is fighting boy. Mr.. President" he
said :" He is a veteran all the way from Fred
ericksburg and has just been up in the Valley
with Sheridan attending to Mr. Early!"
Mr. Lincoln looked at me with an expression
ofminged kindness and drolery on his homely
face
TOOK ME BY THE HAND, AND SAID:
"Where is your mustache2 Aveteran ought
to have mustache!"
said had been trying to raise one, but it
wouldn't grow"
How old are your"
Nineteen years, sir"
% How long have you been in the armyH"
"Over two years. sir"
How many battles have you been in-what
oues?"
So began to go over the list, from Freder-
icksburg to Cedar Creek, and when got TO the
end he said That is very long record Tor
such a short boyl"
There were Is or 20 people looking on, and
they all laughed Mt this, Major Generals in
cluded. Mr.. Lincoln was 80 much taller than
] was. that had TO look almost straight up at
him, and he seemed to be much amused at my
| self.possession aud the precision of my replies
| to his questions. lie was feeling pretty good
mt that time guess. because the election re-
| turns were In. assuring his reelection by an
| enormous majority. But he was very busy,
| and could not spend much time with me, so he
said. In conclusion:
This tronblc will soon be over my son.
| Then you must come and see me again. will
have more time to talk with you then.
! always love to talk with our soldier boys Bless
yon all-every one Good morning"
remember that was much struck with his
! way of referring 10 the war as " this trouble"
! But everything he said was so plain and home
! like. and there was such kindness in his tone
| that he made me feel as completely at home rs
I II had been In the battery camp. OF c0prse
! there was nothing remarkable in this inter
! view but IL was TO me one Of the chief events
/ of my life. Dir. Hubbard then introduced me
4 to some of the people in the outer room whom
/ he know, and we had a few minutes chat with
! them. Mrs. Hubbard and her niece. who lived
! with them. had recently arrived in Washing
\ ton direct from home, aud il was the next best
/ thing to 4 furlough 10 visit them. The young
| lady was about my age we had attended the
/ same seminary together two years, in 1860, 6l,
/ and had been -four terms in the same French
| class, SO we were already we'll acquainted.
Like most Northern women ut that time,
/ Mrs. II. and her niece were intensely patriotic
| and they never tired of listening to my stories
of battle aud bivouac. When came To describe
! our desperate encounter at Cedar Creek Miss
/ Julia's blue eyes looked as big rs saucers and
she exclaimed, " How perfectly dreadful But
/ weren't you sorry for the poor rebel whom
Serg't Aldrlch killed | don't sec how men
can do such awful things"
This was the first visit Of these ladies to
! Washington, and their previous gimpses of
the war bad been ut "long range" in their
/ quiet village home, far from the sights and
sounds of conflict But the daily scenes of
| Washington At that time, and my vivid re-
| citals made them feel as If they were actually
/ at the front themselves. After dinner a volun-
| teer Captain from our town dropped in to make
/ "A call, and was much amused Mt Miss Juias
| total failure To understand the frgid dignity
/ of his intercourse with me. / afterward ex-
/ planned to her the wide social difference, in a
military sense. between a commissioned officer
! and an enlisted man. But" she insisted,
your family up home have a much better So
cial position than his In fact, we could never
| think OF receiving Capt. Sherwood socially up
home and il is only because of Unce's public
! position that we receive him here"
The fact is that this volunteer Captain had
! been n saloon keeper in our native village and
| Miss Julia could not exactly comprehend why
| pair of shoulder straps should make so much
| difference, or why army officer in Washing
ton whom she would not recognize on the
street at home. should affect to look down on
boy whom she had always regarded as her
social equal. But / reassnred her by saying
that. after all, Corporal in the Regular Artil-
| lery was superior in real if not in nominal rank
TO "A Captain of volunteer infantry.
| Well, after delightful afternoon and even
ing with these charming people from home,
went back to our old shed at the wharf and for
the rest of orr stay put on no end of style over
| the rest of the boys who had no Congressman
to show them around.
| To be coHiinusdl
|
For Engrdria9s Giren Aray 10 any sn6-