Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-09-17
w. w. DAVIS.
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
CURIOUS WAR RELIC.
A Vest Stained with the Blood OF the First
EederaI Ohcer Shnt In RnttI.

| A Vest Stained With the Blood OF the First
Federal Oacer Shot in Battle.
Col b. F. Hawkes., of the pension
| otice, possesses a curious memento of
the first bloodshed of the civil war It
!, Is the first blood drawn from the veins
of 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 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 q gar
ment of a civilian before the war On
the side, little forward of the arm
hole, was a ragged hole about the size
of mans thumb. Below this a dark
stain ran down, spreading until it cover
ed nearly al 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
1t and stiffened it like rawhide. y
THAT" said Col Hawkes., sis a relic
of the first blood shed of the civil war
The vest was worn by Gen. Cthen Col.)
B. E. Kelley, who commanded at the
battle of Phillippi, the first battle 81
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 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 a few days
later marched against the confederates
under Porterfeld. The struggle then
was to prevent the people of that sec
ton from entering the confederacy, and
out of it grew the state of West Vir-
ginia. Kelley's troops were without
uniform and equipment and were
armed with any sort of guns, knives,
and pistols they could get Some had
rifles, some muSkets, and some shot
guns. The generals only uniform was
his outer coat The confederates
against whom he was contending were
at one hour in the field blowing and at
the next mounted on their pillow horses
in the ranks of Col Porterfeld, and
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 Indiana
and Ohio regiments, made an attack on
the confederates at PhiIippi, driving
them from their position in confusion,
thus beginning the actual fighting Of
the war. After this he was made brig
and his operations in
West Virginia during the rest of the
war were of great service to the gov
,rnment and won for him high COM
nendation. At the battle of Romney,
where a most important victory was
won, he commanded his troops from
.arriage, being not yet sufficiently re-
covered from his wound to ride horse
After the war he held position in the
pension Office at Washington until he
rot to be seventy-eight years old and
etired from active life Since then he
las divided his time between Washing
on and his country place, Swan Mead
Tvs, near Oakland, Md. He is now so
Id and feeble that his death Is expect
d at any time, but his mind Is as clear
nd vigorous as ever. The military spir-
, still remains with him, and he is
making a slow and orderly retreat be-
pre- the Great DestroyeE-N Y. Com
,ercial Advertiser.