Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-08-14
TWO FAMOUS POEMS.
PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH THEY WERE WRITTEN.

Old Captain John Duble and His Bundles
 of Faded and Time Worn Papers That Recalled Interesting Memories of the
 Long Time Ago.
 Old John Duble, the doughty captain
 of the Ohio river gunboat Conestoga and the commodore of the fleet which helped repulse Bragg and Kirby Smith when they laid siege to Cincinnati, is suffer- ing from the infirmities of his fourscore
 years at his home in this city. Though
 his sea legs have gone back on him to some extent, his mind remains clear and active. I called upon him the other evening and found him engaged in rum- maging through several packages of timeworn and yellow papers, which he said were notes that he had kept for years before and since the War. Picking up clipping upon which were some verses, he laid it in my lap with the re- mark, "Did you hear how that was written?"
 examined the clipping and saw that it contained the verses of General w. H. Lytle of Ohio, who, while fighting
 
 his life near Chickamauga. Who has
 not read 1T Am Dying, Egypt, Dying?"
 "I'll tell you about that piece," con- tinued Captain Duble. "I knew Lytle long before the war, when he was a young man studying law in Cincinnati He was inclined to be gay youth and spent too much time over the flowing bowl. One night he was taken to the Hammond Street station for safe keep ing. As he sobered up he called for a pen and ink. Then and there he wrote that poem. It immOrtalized him.
 "Years after Lytle became Union
 general and participated in the battles of Tennessee. He was killed at Stone River. When the rebels examined the body and found the poem, which estab- lished his identity, they tenderly wrapped him ill the Union flag, for which he had so bravely fought, and sent him across to the Federal camp, ac- companied by guard of honor. That was one of the prettiest things I ever knew the rebels to do, and our boys ap- preciated it too.
 Here's another story of how Buch- anan Reed came to write that dashing poem, 'Sheridan's Ride, with which every one is familiar. SReed was on my staff at the siege of Cincinnati. He had
 been living in that city, but he came originally from Pennsylvania, and was as much at home ill Philadelphia New York, Boston, Rome, Dusseldorf, Lon- don or Paris as i'll the county of Ches- ter, which gave him birth. He went to Cincinnati as tailor's apprentice, then became student of sculpture under Clevenger and carved angel faces upon freestone monuments. Abandoning sculpture he took up art and mental cul- ture When I knew him in 1862, he had been all over the world and had lived ill all of the large cities. He had~written quite number of war poems.
 'Sheridan's Ride was written the 1St of November, 1864. Murdoch, the actor, was to be given an ovation ill PiIe's Opera House. Murdoch was read
 ing Harper's Weekly that morning, and
 upon the title page was the thrilling picture of Sheridan $ ride to the front. A friend suggested that there was a poem in the picture, and asked if he | could not have one written for the actor | to recite at his ovation. Murdoch ex. pressed his doubts at being able to mem orize the piece in time. But the friend sought Reed, who enthused upon seeing
 the picture, and during the afternoon | the poem was finished. Before the ink had dried on the paper Murdoch was committing the verses to memory. That
 night Murdoch inimitably interpreted
 that poem, and peal after peal of enthu siasm punctuated the last three glowing
 verses. BotH Murdoch and Reed were called before the footlights to receive | congratulations. Reed afterward gave
 mo the manuscript of that poem. The
 author told me that he took nothing tt
 his room save pot of black tea, a
 which he slipped as he wrote. 'Tha
 poem, with it's faults, said he, 'camt from no inspiration of the bottle. would like tn havo corrected some O | those faults, but Bayard Taylor advised me not to allow the least change ol | emendation, but to let it stand as writ
 ten. It now stands as the muse gave it. '''-Washington Cor. Cincinnati En
 quircr.
 l Rivers of Buttermilk.