The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-12-16
ROMANCE OF TWO WARS.
STORY OF TWO REJECTED MARY
LAND LOVERS WHO FOUGHT.

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Still singie-rhe Other Lies Buried
Near Where He Fell in Battle.
When the war with Mexico was declared,
Samuel McCurdy was a merchant in
Grantsville, beautiful mountain village
in western Maryland, with a declining
business and without the perseverance to
restore it to its former condition of pros
perity. He was fond Of the gay life of the
towns and had contracted debts, and had,
moreover, fallen in love without any ap-
parent chance of his affections being re-
ciprccated He was bright, intelligent,
gallant, with a fine presence, yet his
charmer held him aloof. She respected
him, did not disdain him, yet she had fears
for the future and rejected his suit.
Then came chance for the disappointed
lover to enlist, win glory on foreign field
and return to claim attention with the
halo of q warriors deeds about him.
Oddly enough, there was another case
| like this in the neighborhood. Samuel Nc
! Cleary, sturdy, handsome young stage
coach driver, had likewise found an unre-
! sponsive object of love. He drove on the
/ old National road, which was then the
/ thoroughfare over the mountains, and his
was familiar figure in the country round
about. His aspirations ran in the direc-
| ton of the fair daughter Of a wealthy hotel
keeper, well educated and cultivated. She
was the acknowledged belle of the neigh
borhood. McCleary, of course, was of a
humber station in life, but true to the
adage that love knows no bounds, he did
not despair, but made his advances, which
were not met with any degree of response
There was no repulse, but the siege was
raised, to be renewed under other circum-
stances.
GOING TO WAR
1t was in the middle of March. 1S47, that
the gallant Captain Walker came riding
through the Cum berland region in search
of recruits for the Mexican campaign. Nc
Cleary was ripe for adventure and he
joined. 1t had been agreed between him
and McCurdy, they being fast friends. that
they should enlist together, but McCurdy
was away from home at the time, and on
his return, hearing of the Enlistment of mis-
friend, he followed the command across the
country to Newport, KY, where he, too,
joined the company.
McCleary was great favorite with the
commander, a good fellow in every way,
the soul of honor, and one Of the bravest /
soldiers ever under fire. He was always at
the front with Walker and when they fell /
they were together in the van.
The two Marylanders did not seek shell |
tered places in the campaign. They were /
there for fighting and for glory, and they |
knew that it must be sought at the fore. |
Walkers rangers gave them ample oppor- /
tunity for active work, for this gallant |
band was the first to dash forward into |
dangerous places and do desperate deeds |
They went into the battle of Humantla !
together, and but one Of them came out
McCurdy. 1t was a fierce fight, though /
the Numbers were small on each side.
McCleary fell with his captain, pierced by
many Mexican lances, and was buried on
the field.
McCurdy went on and passed through
all of the battles of the valley of Mexico,
without wound, beyond scratch from
one of the peculiar copper covered balls
used by the Mexican forces.
MCURDY'S PROPOSAL.
He was present at the final capture of
the capital, and then, with a company OF
300, he volunteered to go down to Vera
Cruz with the First train of sick and wound
ed. On his return to the city he was Sc
lected by the commandment of the City
Guard as his clerk, being an excellent pen
man. The capitol building was made the
headquarters of the invaders, and from
there McCurdy wrote at times to his old
friends in Maryland on the magnificent
letter paper of the fallen government, with
its great coat of arms emblazoned at its
head. One of these letters was important
Accompanying the letter was a hand
L. 4. Il
the directions were that B., to whom it
was sent, SHOULD place it upon the appro-
pirate finger of Miss Chat" as McCurdy's
distant sweetheart was called among her
friends. This was to be with the under
standing that when the soldier returned
from the war she was to become his wife
Unfortunately. the lady objected. Though !
the proxy was well sustained and the mis-
sion was attempted with skill and tact, she
refused to accept the ring and with it the
conditions. The prototype of John Alden
urged her to give a reason why she should
not take the token, and she replied, II
think you know the reasons" Unhappily,
he did not, and never did know why it was
that McCurdy was not fAvorite with her.
The ring, however, was not returned TO
Mexico for fear that McCurdy might, in
his desperation, give it with its meaning to {
a native beauty.
THE VETERAN TODAY.
The war over, McCurdy came home, ex-
pecting to be greeted by his promised bride,
but though she joined in the demonstra-
tons of welcome that the town made, she
as distant as ever For several
years he remained in old Allegheny county.
he tried politics; but though he had hosts {
IF friends, he was too ardent Wing to be ]
successful, and he went out TO California, {
where he was more successful in his politi-
;al aspirations. He was finally elected to {
The legislature. At last be returned to the 1
States" but for some years his where q
abouts were quite unknown to his old
friends in the Cumberland region. c
When the war of the rebellion broke out c
ne was awakened into a new life, and be I
enlisted and served throughout the contest c
Is a private soldier from Pennsylvania, !
rom the first gun 10 the final surrender
de kept his shoulder for the musket and
lot for the strap, and he was mustered
,ut with the same rank that be had at L
irst. T
McCurdy is still living, nearly seventy
hree years of age, at the home for disabled 1 =
volunteers at Hampton, Va, drawing a
pension OF eight dollars a month for his
services in the Mexican war He never q
married or wished 20 do so unless Chat" t
night change her mind, which she did noe
10. She is also living, sixJy-five years of
lCe. near New York, unmarried.
The girl whom McClesry left behind him s
ole I Y