St. Paul daily globe., 1893-08-13
COL. MACK j. LEANING.
A Somewhat Remarkable Charac-
ter-His Funeral This After

A Somewhat Remarkable Charac-
ter-His Funeral This After
noon.
Today at p. m, In Oakland ceme-
terry, will be laid to rest the remains of
one of the veteran survivors of the civil
war-whoSe career embraced more of
adventure and suffering than fell to the
lot of most of his comrades. He died
few days ago at Highwood. in the
mountains of Montana. He had gone
there from Great Falls, Mont, with a
camping party, hoping to prolong his
life for few weeks or months.
Col. Leaning, at the outbreak of the
war, when mere boy, enlisted in one
| of the Chicago regiments and went to
| the front. He rapidly developed those
excellent qualities of courage, discipline
| and endurance which marked him a
| soldier of ability and promise. He rose
| rapidly IN rank, aud was commissioned
| as first lieutenant and adiutant of the
Thirteenth Tennessee cavalry. He was
with the command of United States
| colOred troops that were surrounded and
maSSacred SO brutality at Fort Pillow
by Gen. Forrest April IL, 1864, and
bore flag of truce 10 Gen. Forrest.
No quarter was given to officers OF men.
and when tile federal troops had nearly
all been killed Ur wounded the wooden
buildings were set on fire, ard as
rapidly as the survivors were driven by
the flames into the open space and the
| river. they were butchered pitilesSIy in
cold blood. The horrors of that butchery
were made the subject of investigation
by special committee of congress on
the conduct of the war. Col. Leaning
| was examined under oath by that COM
mlttee, at great length, to try to tiX the
responsibility of the butchery. His
testimony was very clear and compre-
hensive, as far as the events of the
! fight came under his observation, and
has been published repeatedly in con-
nection with the report of the con-
gressional committee. He received
terrible wounds during the fight which
wholly disabled him. He was placed on
blanket in Or near one of
the frame buildings which was SET
on fire. He would have been
cremated then and there, but i'll answer
to his eXclamationS imploring assistance
| some humane Confederate officer rushed
TO his relief and dragged him away
from the flames, and protected him
against the fury of the soldiers, and thus
| preserved his life.
elcy for his gallantry at Fort Pillow.
His wounds disabled him for a long
time, but after the close of the war he
was selected by President Andrew john
StOn for service i'll the White house as
one of his private secretaries. Later he
was appointed United States collector
OF Internal revenue III the Fifth
district of Missouri, which office
he filled with fidelity and
honor. He was for time
an attorney at law in st. Paul after the
war. and employed in the Office of Allis
IL Williams. He married d daughter of
Mr.. Buck, who lives at Tanners lake.
six miles east of st. Paul. She died
| some ten or twelve years ago.
He has grown son and married
daughter by his first wife. He subse-
quently married again, and his widow
| and children will accompany the re-
mains here, arriving at 7:50 this morn-
ing. The funeral announcement ap-
pears elsewhere in this paper.