Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-01-19
~,
Copyright. 1894. by j. B. LIppincott Company

trifle and his thoughts were not the
most cheerful as he went away. That
he should find his company commander
q miser, recluse, and something Of
a mystery, had all been foreshadowed.
But that discipline should have been
abandoned in &c" company was quite
another thing. Farnham, the captain
proper, was an officer who had held
high command in the volunteers-too
high, indeed. to serve with equanimity
under the field officer now at the mead of
the regiment, who had had no war serv-
ice whatever. Farnham was within a
few files of promotion to majority, and
therefore despised company duty. So
long as his company had been stationed
in the city, furnishing guards and or
,dcrlies for the various officers then
and occasionally saw portion of 1t
on Sunday morning. Then, after two
years of this demornlizing service, came
the months of detachment duty up in
the interior, and Farnham's friends in
court were glad to get him out Of such
mire as that. Ever since June, there
fore, Close had been alone with the men
and they with him, and no one in au-
thority HAD the faintest idea how things
We're going. Inspectors were also un-
known in those days, and so long as re-
ports and returns We're regularly re-
ceived at headquarters, and no COM
plants came in from the civil author
tiles of negligence or Indifference on
the part of their military hackers, all
went smoothly. Now, there had not
l>een few instances where civil and
military officials had clasbed, but Capt.
Close and his splendid company" had
been the theme of more than one laud-
atory report from the marshal on the
score of what he heard from his depu-
ties. The general commanding, indeed,
had been much elated by high COM
mendation from the highest power IN
Washington, all due to services rem
6ercd in running down ku Nlux and
brealling up moonshiners by Capt.
Close, OF company G, --th infantry.
s.It's lust exactly what TIE old buffers
cut out ior," said the adjutant general
of the department.; "but I'm sorry to
have to see young Lambert sent into
,snch exile"
He could hardly have been sorrier
than Lambert was himself, as that
young officer went briskly up the des-
olate road along the "branch." He had
never seen landscape So dismal in all
his life. How on earth was he to en-
ploy his time? No drills, no roll calls.
mo duties except the sending forth of
detachmcnts at the call of this fellow
Parmelee; no books except the few in
his trunk; no companions except this
heavy, i!iiterate, money grabbing lout
who did not know enough to offer him
seat or a cup of coffee after his long
night ride; not u soul worth knowing
1,earer than Quitman-and only the in
ebriate Potts there! Certainly Mr..
Newton Lambert felt at odds with fate
this sunny December afternoon. He
had tried to persuade himself that the
laughable stories about Close were
grossly exaggerated; but now that he
had met that officer the indications
were in favor of their entire truth.
1t seems that Close had been on some
detached service in connection with the
fraedmen's bureau, and had only joined
his regiment late in the autumn of the
memorable yellow fever year, when
had he So desired. he could have re-
manned away. His appearance at the
stricken garrison when the death rate
averaged 20 day, when the post was
1,J n nj and
Of the companies by corporals. every
body else being either dead. down OF
! convalescent--added to the halo which
hung about his hitherto invisible head
| There was no question as to his con
| summate bravery Grant himself hat
stopped in the rear of his regiment ane
! asked his name after its dash on thu
works ut Donelson, and the unknown
| private was decorated with sergeant:
chevrons on the spot. Before he hat
| opportunity to learn much of his new
duties, "the Johnnies jumped tbs
picket" one night and stampeded every
| body but Close, who was given up fol
lost until he came in two days latel
4 full of buckshot and information. Hi!
colonel acted on the latter while thu
doctors were digging out the former
| and Close got a commission as first lieu
/ qenant in new regiment for his shar'
| Of the resultant benefits. One blood.
| afternoon as they were scramblint
back. unsuccessful. and under an awful
| fire, from the works at Nicksburg, TIL
colonel was left writing on the lead
swept glacis with no shelter but TIL
| dead and dying around him, and Clos
headed the squad that rushed out ant
fetched him in. Everybody at McPher
sons side could see that the reba wer
firing high, when once the daring sur
vivors of the six who started reached
their PROSTATE colonel, but the bul
let's sounded just as deadly to the fou
i who got back alive and Mcpherson sen
for Close and wrung his hard BROW
haud and looked admiringly into tn
sc1uEer, impassive face with it's deep
brown, almost dog-iile eyes. Some o
the Thirteenth regulars were the mex
to report on Close. And these fellows
being at Sherman's headquarters, ha
influence. In the midst of SO rough
campaign, Close looked but little wors
for wear than did his associates, an
when he brought in ten prisoners wit
only two men at his back. turned ther
over to the Thirteenth, and went in TO
more before anybody could thank hin
"Uncle Billy" sWore that man was Gil
of the right sort, and asked him wha
he could do for him that very nigh
And thcn-so the story ran--Close sal
he guessed he'd like to be either su
Ter or a quartermaster-he didn't kno'