Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1891-08-22
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
CURIOUS WAR RELIC.
a Vest Stained with the Blood of the First
Federal Oficer Shot in battle.

a Vest Stained with the Blood of the First
Federal officer Shot in Battle.
Col. b. f. Hawkes., of the pension
Office, possesses a curious memento of
the first bloodshed of the civil war. 1t
as the first blood drawn from the veins
of a federal officer by confederate fire.
Talking about war times the other
day Col. Hawkes. took the paper from
little bundle he carried and held up for
inspection low-cut gray vest, of a sort
of pepper and salt" pattern, bound
about the edges with brown silk cord
and ornamented with buttons that
looked like bullets 1t had been a gar
ment of civilian before the war. On
the side, q little forward of the arm
hole, was a ragged hole about the size
of a mans thumb. Below this dark
stain ran down, spreading until it cover
ed nearly all one side of the vest. On the
inside this stain colored the entire lin
ing of the vest The garment was
soaked with blood that had dried into
at and stiffened it like rawhide.
THAT" said Col Hawkes. sis relic
of the first blood shed of the civil war.
The vest was worn by Gen. (then Col
B. f. Kelley, who commanded at the
battle of Phillippi, the first battle of
the war, and who was the first officer
on the federal side to receive wound.
The ball, fired in volley of the rear
guard of the retreating confederates,
entered where you see that hole, passed
through the generals lungs and came
out Just below the shoulder blade.
was his adjutant and was with him
there. When we saw him lying with
the blood squirting from the wound as
if forced out with a pump, no one ex-
pected him to live more than few
minutes.
The surgeons at the hospital pro-
nounced the wound mortal, and it was
so reported to Gen. Mcclellan, but the
general never left the front, and in less
than sixty days was again in command.
He is now eighty-four years old, and,
as he was the first officer to
fall in the cause of the Union, he will
be among the last of the brave generals
to pass away"
Gen. Kelley commanded the first fed
"eral troops who marched on confeder-
ate soil. He took command of the first
regiment raised in Western Virginia on
the 25th of May, 1861, and few days
later marched against the confederates
under Porterfield. The struggle then
was to prevent the people of that sec.
tion from entering the confederacy, and
out of it grew the state of West Viz.
sginia. Kelley's troops were without
uniform and equipment, and were
armed with any sort of guns, knives
and pistols they could get Some haG
rifles, some muskets, and some shot
guns The generals only uniform wa:
his outer coat. The confederates
against whom he was contending were
at one hour in the field plowing and al
the next mounted on their plow horses
in the ranks of Col Porterfeld, ant
then again they were at their plows as
peaceful tillers of the soil.
At four o'clock on the Sd of June
1861, Col. Kelley, supported by Indians
and Ohio regiments, made an attack or
the confederates at Phillippi, driving
them from their position in confusion
thus beginning the actual fighting o
tie war. After this he was made brig
.adier-general, and his operations il
West Virginia during TIE rest of th
war were of great service to the gov
ernment and won for him high com
mendation, AT the battle of Romney
where most important victory wa
won, he commanded his troops from
carriage, being not yet sufficiently re
covered from his wound to ride horse
After the war he held a position in tn
pension Office at Washington until h
got to be seventy-eight years old an
retired from active life. Since then h.
has divided his time between Washing
ton and his country place. Swan Mead
-ows, near Oakland, Md. He is now S,
old and feeble that his death is expect
ed at any time, but his mind IS as elea
and vigorous as ever. The military spil
it still remains with him, and he
making slow and orderly retreat be
fore the Great Destroyer Y. Com
mercial Advertiser.