Mower County transcript., 1897-12-29
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
"BLACK EAGLE" OF ILLINOIS.
The Tender Nature Of Gen. John A.
Logan.

The Tender Nature Of Gen. John A.
Few Chicagoans knew the "Black
Bagle" of Illinois more intimately than
did Judge Richard Tuthill and by no
one is the character of Gen. Logan more
admired than by him.
1T has always seemed to me-" said
Judge Tuthin, "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-
sistent, so far 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 not q
whit too good for them, in his estima-
tion.
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. It was a board abounding in
good cheer of 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-
a typical soldier of fortune, who was
gifted, as are so many of his race, with
"a peculiar talent for contributing to the
pleasure of a company. Tresillian was
an excellent singer, a clever story teller
and man who had experienced all
lsorts of odd adventures in the most
toutlandish sections of the globe. But
the gift which Gen. logan most ad-
imired and enjoyed in him was his aibil-
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 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
nature was apparent to every man who
knew him. Scores of incidents illus.
trating this most lovable trait have
been related of him, but like best the
one which is most frequently toh-the
story Of Shell-Anna. Perhaps my fond
ness for it arises from the fact that
know it to be absolutely true. It has
been repeated time and again, but no
loyal ninoisan 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 skirmish took place
in the vicinity of a 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 saluted the old woman with
the utmost respect, and in 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 a
shell had torn away portion of the
roof. In one corner, on 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.