The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-07-09
An Interesting Meeting.

On July 3rd of this year, two men met in
City Hall both were ex-soldiers, one wear
ing the badge Of the Third Army Corps, the
famous 'Kearney Patch" Tor red diamond'
the other the badge Of the Second Corps.
The first carried the badge of his suffering
as well as service in his erutehes and empty
clothing, where once was his strong left leg,
amputated near the hip, and to which he had
hidden "a last goodbye at Little Sailors
Creek, Va, April 6, 1865 Both men wore
the distinctive mark of men Of business; of
men who exercised large and good in
fuence In the circles In which they moved.
These men had not met before since that 9th
OF April, So disastrous to one OF them, aud If
words could describe a meeting such as this
we would pat it here, but 1t cannot be done;
old soldiers know what this means, and 9TH
ers cannot comprehend It. Grasping each
others hands for a moment, the first named
placing his erutehes so that he could .tand at
ease, drew his pocket book from his pocket
and took from 1t the tiny leaf of a small diary
upon which was penciled address and
held it before his friend. Upon it was writ
ten, Joseph 5. Smith, Headquarters Second
Corps, aud was the name Of the man to
whom it was shown, and the man who so
presented it was James NJ. Webb, ESQ, our
present Treasurer of Cumberland county
That bit of paper and penclled address had
a pathetic interest; on that 9th OF April 1866,
Comrade Webb, then a 1st lieutenant in COM
mand Of Co. B., of the nth Maine, lay upon
the ground on the battlefield Of Little Sail
ors' Creek suffering terrible agony from his
left leg shattered near the hip the upper
part Of the thigh bone ground to fragments,
when COL Smith, then on the staff of Gen.
Humphreys, came riding along and dis
mounted to his assistance. With the fIa-
ernity of soldiers from the same state, and
of the older and worldwide fraternity old as
the kingly temple builder, Solomon, he bent
over him to do what he could to assuage the
sufferings Of his comrade and brother; then
riding away he returned with surgeon who
aided the wounded man with the rough an.
pliances of the field. As last kind atten-
tion, and all that he could do further. Col.
Smith, first asking the wounded man II he
was supplied with money, and Offering TO
furnish anything needed in that respect took
the little diary from his comrades pocket.
wrote in 1t the name and the address now
appearing there, and saying, "Send TO Corps
headquarters for anything you need" rode
away as duty called. Comrade Webb took
his pain-fraught way to Burkesville, Va,
thence to City Point and from there to Anna
polls, Nd, but he remembered the man who
was his friend and helper in his terrible need
and treasured that little diary as a sacred
thing; the years rolled on, and they did not
meet, but the little diary was not forgotten,
and when Mr.. Webb came from his home on
the morning of the day on which the Army
of the Potomac was to meet in this city, he
removed the sacred leaf and placed it care
fully in his pocket book. hoping that at last
he might meet the man whose name was
written there. And they did meet; honor to
the true eomradeship which army experience
evoked; honor also to that great society, ex-
tending to all peoples and all nations OF men,
which, while 1t is not all Of religion
| cherishes principles and prompts kind ac-
| tions by which Masonry and the Christian
| religion meet together upon the common
| ground of the Sermon on the Mount