Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-02-08
Grants Midnight Ride.


Meade that their headquarters escorts
and wagons were delaying the advance
of Warren's corps, and they decided to
move OH to Todd's tavern in order to
clear the way. The woods were still
on fire along parts of the main road,
which made it almost impossible, SO
that the party turned out to the right
into a side road The intention was to
take the same route by which the cav
airy had advanced, but it was difficult
to tell one road from another
The night was dark, the dust was
thick, the guide who was directing the
party became confused, and it was I'M
certain whether we were going in the
right direction or going into the lines
of the enemy. The guide was for
time suspected Of treachery, but he was
innocent of such a charge, and had only
lost his bearings. Colonel Comstock
rode on in advance, and hearing the
sound of marching columns not far off
on our right, came back with this news.
and it was decided to return to the
Brock road.
General Grant at first demurred when
| it was proposed to turn back, and urged
the guide to try and find some cross
road leading to the Brock road, to avoid
retracing our steps. This was an in
| stance Of his marked aversion to turn
ing back, which amounted almost to a
superstition. He often put himself to
| the greatest personal Inconvenience to
avoid it, When he found he was not
| travelling in the direction he intended to
take, he would try all sorts of cross
cuts, ford streams, and jump any MUM
| Der Of fences to reach another road
| rather than go back and take a fresh
start. If he had been in the place OF
/ the famous apprentice boy who wan
| dered away from London, he would
| never have been thrice mayor of that
city, for with him Bow Bells would
| have appealed to deaf ears when they
chimed out, Turn again, WhittingtOn.'
| The enemy who encountered him never
! failed to feel the effect of this Unborn
| prejudice against turning back.
However, a slight retrograde move
the present instance and the general
| yielded to the force of circumstances
An orderly was stationed at the fork
! of the roads to Indicate the right di
rectiOn to Warren's troops when they
| should reach that point, and our party
proceeded to Todds tavern, reaching
| there soon after midnight. It was
| learned afterward that Anderson'f
/ Longstreets) corps had been marching
parallel with us, and at a distance OF
| less than Il mile, so that the apprehen
sion felt was we'll founded.-"Cam
paigning with Grant, by General Hor
ace Porter, in the Century.
Queer Coincidence in Naval Annals,
The new battle ship now building i'll
! Philadelphia is to have the same name
as the famous piratical cruiser, which,
under command of Raphael Semmes in
! the early years of the war between
the States made such costly depreda-
| tons upon the commerce of the United
States III foreign waters, and whose
| troublesome career was ended by
shots from the old Kearsarge.
How many war vessels and mer-
chantmen have you built in your ship
yards!" was asked by one of a party
| of friends of Charles Cramp, at whose
great shipyard the United States wal
! ship Alabama is being built. '"Fhe Ala
| bama will be our 290th ship" was Mr.
Cramps reply. And he continued
''that figure 300 is especially notewor-
! thy in this instance, because of an in
teresting fact and historical coinci-
| dence. The rebel cruiser Alabama was
| for long while a 'nameless ship and
her only designation was by number
| The coincidence which strikes me as
| interesting is that the piratical cruiser
| Alabama was No. 800, and the United
States war ship is No. 800 The rebel
ship was the 290th ship built by the
| Lairds, in England; Uncle Sans new
| ship is the 290th new vessel built in our
| yard at Philadelphia.
''In the correspondence, continued
| Mr.. Cramp, between our officials III
! England and our State and Navy de-
| partments when she was building in
| England, as well as in the case Of the
| United States before the Geneva arbi-
| tration for the settlement of the cele-
brated Alabama claims, this formida-
! BILE rebel cruiser was described as the
/ 29O' During nearly years time from
! the signing Of the contract for her con
| struction until after she was launched
in May, 1862, she was known by the
name OF the 900 "-Philadelphia Star.
Grants Reticence.
While sitting at the mess table tax
ing breakfast, | asked the general-in-
chief "In all your battles up to this
time, where do you think your pres
ence upon the field was most useful