The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1895-07-26
PRIVATE DAN WRIGHT.
A Modest Hero at the Battle Of
Cedar Mountain.
The history Of the great civil war -

ne brare daeds performed or suffer.
mos endured are ever recorded. They
-,esoair q SORT of family treasure, and
~, mi, ~ the fireside on winter even
;,,g. When we remember that over
(. A., ,,,;lI;an snldiers were mustered in
:, the nn;on army between 1851 and
ses ~ Az strucL with wonder that
s,,rl, 4 MIGHTY volunteer army could be
,r.-shnla5 We are ant however. &c
;r,l n n ne nm entirety. ms a whole,
- 4 most we indiyidualize only 80
sa4 u "A note the character and con.
Incl nf its great leaders The names
~ f,rnnt sherman. Thomas. Sheridan
and 4 few more are on our Inns while
ma h,n6reds IL thousands who Der.
t,,,n,a5 M. aue;as Of pr;vate soldiers.
npa are now al their homes perform
inc tha dut;as ~ pr;va.e citizens. or are
slesp;np N the Ouiet graves where
4hav fall IN hattie, are hardly thought
Of.
Nv fb.ma Il the ,,r;vate soldier. and
aIlan Wr;ebt,, is mr nero. He was =
or;-t rat;r;ng bov. In the summer Of
is5s he came into mv Office and wanted
~ l..rn tha trade II 4 nr;nter We
tallred tore.her "A few minutes and /
W. satisfied that he would answer INV
nnrpose I headed :, devil" The boy
wl,a had fiIled ,hat important place
INA been promoted and so ii was
agreea tbat he should come INTO the
otg;re Il nm upprentice and remain
t,,rre Years he begsp work. Nothing
~ special interest transpired during
b;s annrpntieeshin He was uuiet. in
ssustrious thoughtful. and that was all.
His term Of service expired on Satur-
Tav. April Is. 1851, the day after the
fall of Sumter. On the evening of
afsndaY following a public meeting
was held at Citizens hall. Speeches
were made. The excitement was in
tense.
At the close of the meeting there was
= can for volunteers Among others,
Dan Wright came forward. watched
him as he came up. There was a quiet
look and manner about him quite in
contrast with most of those who signed
their names to the enlistment roll. He
did Il lust as he would perform any
duty about the Office. said: "Why.
Dan. are YOU goings thought that,
as syou are Just through with your ap-
premiership, you would like to remain
with me awhile. You would make =
good foreman and, what is more, you
could begin to lay by q little money
now"
he replied: srMr. H, you have
been very kind 10 me, and / had in
tended 10 remsin with YOU. Il you were
willing. But think / ought to 90 to
the war. 1 may be back after awhile,
but il I should not come back, perhaps
il is rs well One ought to be willing
70 do 4 little for his country"
He was mustered iuto Company G,
seventh regiment The Seventh was I
rnF,s REGIMENT f;Iled nm with ercellen,
men and dur;po the progress Of the
xr,r s;d some s,,lsud;d f;0htinr There
1vsa verv little oD.aortunitv for fur
,nughs II the reg;meut We heard y
X fhrouvh the pauers oeeasiopaIly
rrhe auIv ranort thar came as "a Da,
yvr;o,ht uas that he was a pro5 soldier
I. ~ srr,,vsr u tes9 he e.n,a bau,e
ua s,onr,r,d !. tevv 5avp with his moth
=. .nd s;ss.rs IN tbe zt6 of JuIv 4,
was n Rnvenna ard took dinner at M
hause After dinner we vert on
walking 7 inauired Of him Al to HI
exDerience in the service. From him
heard that he had been in excelleu
health. that a soldier's life agreed witt
IIiu,. that he had obtained valuabl
axv,er;ence. had had a cood opportuuj
~ IL nt,,fiv not only the art of war an,
the questions connected with the con
trnvetsv between the two sections. bu
asAo 10 studv the peorranhy Of III
capntrv and the conditions If the ner
ple He had nrovep 10 he 4 close Oh
server AZ men and things. and he gay
me a great deal Of information no
found in the newspapers. He had
diary in which he had jotted down tn
result Of his observations. He ha
already filed two or three books, an
II was wonder to me how he foun
time 10 do SO much writing. He sal
II was a source Of pleasure, and il b
lived long might be of some service.
There ar 1 great manv newsuape,
msfc mon i tle country Men who's
( Como dsner5s MT ~ mueh mon wba