The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-02-20
ROMANCE Of A SWORD.
Cut a Way Through the Confederacy to Its
Old Owner In Gods Country.

| Old owner In Gods Country
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: Through
q statement in your columns of January 2
by Mrs. j. NJ. Brownson, Victoria, Tex, that
she had possession of an old saber inscribed
with the name of Lieut.. =. III. White, one
of our citizens has been made happy.
On the evening of May /, 1862, in the city
| of Chicago, number of its most prominent
citizens called upon n young man who had
| just returned from war on brief furlough
| and presented him with handsome sword
1t was given to him, they said, in recognition
of valor already shown and with the hope
that it would inspire him to further patriotic
| achievements. The young man, frail in
health and weak in speech, overcome by
| surprise and his own emotions, could barely
reply to the address of the committee. This
young man was Lieut.. z. II. White. He
went through the war, and enjoyed the
inequalities of rebel prison.
One day last month Lieut.. White saw the
announcement in your paper referring to
the sword, and, under date of Jan. II wrote to
Mrs. Brownson letter, in the course of which
he said: THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE says
you have an old saber, captured by my father
from an officer in Gen. Banks's army in
Louisiana. The inscription is much defaced,
but can make out Lieut.. p. III. White etc.
Taylor's was the battery, the name of which
you could not distinctly decipher.
at would be impossible for you to imag-
inc how deeply that newspaper paragraph
affected me. 1t was like a message from a
dear friend, mourned as irrevocably lost in
our late awful fratricidal contest. The
sword is hallowed in my memory because of
the affection which prompted the giving of
it, the associations and incidents circum-
scribing that occasion, and the long and
tender attachment l had for it until the
mutations of war compelled me to surrender
it as trophy of conquest.
THE sword was taken from me at Sabine
Crossroads, La. April 8, 1864. My captor
was, to the best of my recollection, about
complexion. / think he said he was doc
tor. He gave me his name, but it has
escaped my memory. / was taken to Tyler,
Tex, and was there confined in prison until
the termination of the war. The possibility
of the recovery of the old sword that chung
so faithfully to my side during my entire
service in the field after its presentation
thrills me with pleasure and qualification
that mere words are inadequate to express"
In the course of few days Mrs. BrownsOn
replied TO the comrade, to the effect that her
husband would send the sword in short
time. Then she says:
81 have written short history of its
capture, as given by my father, Capt. Alex
ander Mellow, Co. /, 10Th Tex, and his
testimony to the gallantry of Lieut.. White,
Chief of Ransom's Artillery. The sword,
since my marriage in 1870, has held the
place of honor in our home. 1t was damaged
by an overflow of the Colorado River in
1870, which swept away our household goods,
and 1t was recovered in field after the
water subsidized" ~
Mrs. Brownson quotes from one of her
fathers letters, dated April 16, 1864:
"On the 9Th and 9th we had two days of
hard fighting on Mansfield and Pleasant
Hill. lost in my company two killed and
10 wounded. Their loss in killed. wounded,
and missing is 10000, ours 1000. We held
the battle-ground both nights, burying all
their dead, and are taking care of their
wounded, about LOCO The women, God
bless them, are doing all they can for both.
l captured Capt. White, Battery Chief of
Ransom's Artillery. The Captain refused
to surrender to any one but an officer. My
man, Cross, told him, he would kill him,
drew down his gun, and was going to shoot
him. l sprang in, told him to surrender to
me, that i was an ai-ieer. He did So"
Comrade White has received his sword.
1t is an object of much interest to his init
mate friends, and 1T will always doubtless
be to him one of his most highly-treasured
and whenever he looks upon it,
it will awaken within him the most terrible
and yet again the sweetest memories of the
war;" BATTERYMAN," Albany, N. Y.