Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1897-09-11
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
"eLAok EAGLE" OF ILLINOIS.
rhc Tender Nature of Gen. John A.
Logan.


Few Chicagoans knew the "Black
Eagle" of Illinois more intimately than
did Judge Richard Tuthill and by no
one is the character of Gen. Logan more
admired than by bin.
at has always seemed to me-" sail
Judge Tuthill, that there were three
or four distinct Logans, so varied and
pronounced were his characteristics.
His superior officers were unquestion-
ably inclined to regard the Logan of
the camp as most eXacting and per-
&stent, so fac as his relations with them
were concerned, for he was jealous for
his own troops. and if he felt that the
men of another brigade were receiving
better treatment, in any respect, than
his own boys his demands for fair
division of favors would be emphatic
and insistent. The best going was nota
whit too good for them, in his estima-
ton.
With his own officers and men he
was decidedly democratic, and his mess
table was one of the most jovial places
to be found anywhere within the feder-
al lines. 1t was a. board abounding In
good cheer of n refined and entertain
ing kind. No person outside of Gen.
Logan's official family was more fire.
quently seen at his mess table than a
cultured Irishman named Tresillian-
typical soldier of fortune, who was
| gifted, as are so many of his race, with
peculiar talent for contributing to the
| pleasure of a company. Tresillian was
an excellent singer, a clever story teller
and 4 man who had experienced all
sorts of odd adventures in the most
outlandish sections of the globe. But
the gift which Gen. Logan most ad-
mired and enjoyed in him was his abil-
ity to improvise stirring poems, full
of sentiment and tenderness. For these
songs of the camp the Irish minstrel
composed appropriate music and then
sung them to the great delight of the
general and his staff. But not a man
who listened to them was so quickly
moved by their pathos and wit as the
swarthy and intrepid hero from Illinois.
The exquisite tenderness of Logan's s
nature was apparent to every man who
knew him. Scores of incidents illus
| u tlllS lilOoO u tiiU lldNC
been related of him, but 1 like best the
one which is most frequently told-the
story of Shell-Anna. Perhaps my fond
ness for it arises from the fact that
know it to be absolutely true. 1t has
been repeated time and again, but no
loyal Illinoisan can hear it too often.
after the battle of Atlanta, when
Logan had resumed command of his
corps and followed Hoods army to
Flint river, a sharp s1irmish took place
in the vicinity of Il wretched little cabin,
close by the roadside. AS Gen. logan
was about to pass the log hut his quick
eye caught sight of an aged and dis
tressed face IN the doorway. He rode
nearer and saluteG the old woman with
the utmost respect, and in n kindly and
sympathetic tone inquired the cause OF
her apparent trouble. For answer the
aged dame beckoned him to come with.
in. He dismounted and entered. There
was no lack of light in the cabin, for 4
shell had torn away portion of the
roof In one corner, on a bedtick, re-
clined a young woman-scarcely more
than a girl-and beside her the babe
which had come into the world scarce.
ly an hour before to the music OF
whistling bullets and screaming shells