The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-08
LIMBS LEFT AT FREDERICKS-
BURG.
Joyous Reunion of Veterans Who
Were Manned by the Same Shell.

Washington Post: The thronging of
the veterans from all parts of the conti-
nent to witness the inauguration of their
old comrade, Major Mckinley, is con-
tinually bringing old soldiers, who
drank from the same canteen," face to
face with each other for the, first time
since the war. Men who were left upon
the field for dead suddenly assert them
selves before astonished witnesses to
their taking off, and boys who parted in
their teens now hug and waltz around
like old men gone mad.
Several days ago, while John Johnson,
! a one-armed veteran. was busily engaged
at his work in the treasury department
a stranger stepped into the room, made
a hasty survey of its occupants, then
walking over to Johnson's desk said
'hellon Johnson thought for a moment
that he had been taken for a telephone,
but when the stranger said something
about Fredericksburg and old Battery
b. Johnson rubbed his eyes and began to
gather his wits The stranger proved to
be Winfield S. Williams. of the Seventh
Wisconsin infantry. Johnson was a mem
Der of the Second Wisconsin, and both
men had been detached from their COM
panies and had served side by side III
Battery Il, Fourth United States artillery.
They were together before Fredericks-
burg, where Johnson had his right arm
taken off close to the shoulder by a
shell. This brought his active military
career to a sudden end, and as the wound
was pronounced to be almost necessarily
fatal, Williams placed him among his
comrades who had been mustered out at
the lannon's mouth and dropped kindly
tear to his memory. After the war Will
Jams took up his residence on the Pacific
coast, in California, and never dreamed
of seeing Johnson this side of the Jordan
until their meeting here after an absence
of "a years. Their greeting was hearty
in the extreme.
Two or three evenings later while
these two were standing together in Will
lards hotel, William p. Hogarty passed
along. He, like Johnson, carried an
empty sleeve. There was something mag
netic in these empty sleeves which drew
the two men together. Hogarty, who is
member OF the Twenty-third New York
but that he lost his arm at Frederieks
burg while serving as a detached man
with Battery B, Fourth United States
Johnson and Hogarty were serving at the
same gun in Battery 3 and that each
lost an arm. Williams, who saw johnson
fall, was quite positive thatthe same shell
are both medal-winners. each holding a
medal for gallantry at Antietam and
Fredericksburg.
There was a decidedly hilarious re-
hardly subsidized when big n. B. Prentiss
hove in view. Johnson, who is we'll ac-
quainted with Prentiss. introduced him
to the other txp and began to tell of
their strange and happy meeting after
separation of 50 years. Johnson was
not allowed to do all the talking how
ever. and Williams. happening to refer
ally touched a tender spot in the memory
of Prentiss, who Immediately wanted to
know what Williams knew about that
regiment. Then 1T transpired that Will
Jams and Ned Prent;ss had been not only
mem bers of the same company in the
Seventh, but that they had been ''pards''
-sharers OF each others joys in camp