The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-07-17

Oh Mexico ana thus capture the entire
country, which feat he successfully ac-
) complished. Benjamin Parke Kooser,
a brother of Curtis kooser, deed, who
served in the Company commanded by
Captain-afterwards Gen. w. Il. Sher-
man-after the war settled in Califor-
mia, was Centennial Commissioner
from that State in 1876, and editor and
; proprietor of the Santa Cruz Scnfiadi
at time of his death in 1878.
At the battle of Buena Vista the
Mexicans under Gen. Santa Anna num-
bered about twenty thousand men and
were sorely pressing the handful of
Americans, when Bragg's artillery was
ordered to the rescue. Without any
infantry support lie dashed up to within
IA few yards ofthe crowded masses of the
enemy. a single discharge made them
waver. "A little more grape Captain
Bragg" shouted Taylor. A second and
third discharge followed, when the
| Mexicans broke and fled in disorder.
After the war Kimmel returned 10
Somerset where he afterwards became
an associate judge and is now court
crier.
When the constitution for the gov
framed there WAS one subject, human
slavery, which the statesmen having
the matter in charge could not handle,
SO they left it alone to take care of
| itself and 10 work out its own solution.
II is idle to speculate what might have
been and what might not have been
had they resolutely taken The matter
in hand and settled il by constitutional
provision. They did not and it remain
ed continual source of trouble until il
was wiped out by blood. The South,
for years chiefly dependent upon its
cotton crop. believed it could not be
| cultivated without slave labor. Every
movement upon the political chess
| board was watched with most jealous
| eyes by the southern statesmen. The
admission of a free state required the
admission of another, slave state, that
no advantage might be obtained i'm the
Senate. As settling the question the
Missouri Compromise was enacted by
congress in 1870, providing that sla-
very should never exist north of the
southern boundary of Missouri. But
all compromises of any great moral
principle come to naught. Any law to
be respected and enforced must have
behind it the good opinion and Dloral
support of the people. The Supreme
Court of the United States might say,
as in the Dred Scott decision, that
slave had no rights which a white man |
was bound to respect, yet it fell as a |
dead letter because the people did not |
believe il. There was no institution of /
the country more strongly entrenched /
than the slave power. In addition to
the Missouri Compromise it had the
fugitive slave law, the Dred Scott de-
cision and the control of the three
branches of the national government.
But the growing sentiment of abolition /
in the North, famed 10y the Garrisons,
the Lovejoys, Fred Douglas, Mrs. Stowe
and the managers of the underground /
railway gave birth TO the young r.
publican party, and in 1856, under the
banner of John G.. Fremont, although |
defeated at the polls, it made such a
I L.
fortell coming events.
The contest in Illinois between Ste
phen \ Douglas and Abraham Lincoln /
for the senatorship attracted the at
tention of the nation. The debates be- |
tween them involved the whole ques-
ton, and the arguments for either side
were 50 admirably and elOIuently pre-
sented rs To excite the admiration of
friend and foe of the respective cham
pions. Although Lincoln had a major
ity of the popular vote, yet, owing TO
the way in which the state had been /
districted, majority of the legislators
were elected for Douglas, who was
made a national reputation. He was
invited to speak in the Academy Of |
Music at New York and there boldly |
declared that "hOuse divided against /
itself cannot stand"-''this country |
cannot exist half slave and half free"
The Republican Convention of 1850
made him its nominee for President. |
This alarmed the South and notice was
given that his election would result in .
the disruption of the Union. Between
the squatter sovereignty ideas of Doug
las and the unconditional slavery !
ideas of Breckenridge the adherents of |
the slave power were torn i'm two, and
in the election following Lincoln was
successful. In the month following,
South Carolina passed her sO-called or
dinance ofsecession, which was quickly
followed by the other rebelliOus states,
and in February, 1861, jefferson Davis
was announced President of the South
ern Confederacy. On the 18th day of
April Fort Sumter was fired upon; on
the 18th it was evacuated by Major
Anderson, and on the 18th President
Lincoln called for 1900 volunteers.
The civil war was upon Us. No one
dreamed of its magnitude or the terri
bIe sacrifice of blood and treasure
which WAS to follow.
The first soldiers enlisted from SOM
erset county were those of Company
\, 10th Regiment of Pennsylvania Re
serves. This company was mustered
under command of Captain II. p. Cum
Minis, June -, 1861, and after three
years exposure 10 the hardships Ofwar
those who escaped the rain of rebel
bullets at Bull Run, Fredericksburg,
Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill, South
Mountain, the Wilderness and their
numerous other battles and casualties
of war, were given n hearty welcome |
home-Captain John c. Gather, who
enlisted as a private, being then in
command of the company.
In the fall of 1851 Somerset county |
also furnished for the 5ith Regiment of |
PENNSYLVANIA Volunteers Co. Il, Capt. |
John III. Hite Co. c, Capt EnOch ID.
Yutzy, afterwards promoted TO Major;
Co. G., Capt. Frank B. Long, and parts
of companies ID and III. The original