Omaha daily bee., 1897-05-30

II the commonest soldier who marched
under Napoleon's banners carried mar
shal's baton in his knapsack, as the Little
Corporal once declared, It can be said with
equal truth that every private in the federal
army carried the shoulder-straps Of a major
general In his.
The very first volunteer to dazzle my
boyish Imagination was a young lawyer who
enlisted the instant President Lincolns call
for troops reached our town, setting an ex-
ample that was initiated in less than twenty
four hours by two or three hundred of the
"nower OF the youth" He was a civilian,
with no military training whatever. When
Lee surrendered four years later, his troops
turned over their arms to Major General
Joseph J. Bartlett, whose name had first ap-
peared upon the rolls Of the army among
the enlisted men, The story OF this soldier.
rising through every grade step by step,
from the bottom round to the top OF the
ladder would read like a romance, but one
incident will suffice to show that the path
of promotion was thorny one, even for
the bravest of the brave. AS major In
Colonel Henry w Slocum's regiment at the
FIRST battle of Bull Run, Bartlett rallied the
soldiers after Slocum had been shot down
and kept them in the fight and out of the
panic as the official report OF the general
commanding stated, AS a colonel he led his
own regiment. and much OF the time
brigade in the battles of the peninsula,
through all the seven days " fight. at the
storming OF South Mountain. where his serv-
fees were brilliant, and his personal bear
ings most heroic, at Antietam and at Fred
ericksburg.
THIRTEEN WOUNDS.
The name OF Lincoln Is associated with
many phases of the battle of Gettysburg.
but nowhere more romantically than In its
connection with the battlefield promotion
incident of which Colonel Il. Il. Cross was
HDnrnpE nrinCiDal
Gross commanded a brigade at Gettysburg.
but for two years had held the rank of
colonel In the Fighting Fifth" New Hamp-
shire. 1t would require the spilling OF
food OF red ink to describe the battles OF
Cross and his crack regiment from the
granite state. Hancock had again and again
pleaded with the powers that ruled for sill
Ner star to pin upon the faded blouse OF this
gallant soldier. But both Hancock and his
protege were the wrong side OF the ad
minis stration fence, and though doing a gem
erals duty, simple New Hampshire colonel
Cross remained, short time before the
battle OF Gettysburg he said OF himself that
he wore nine scars as souvenirs of his devo-
tlon to the flag OF the republic, and three
from foreign wars. As to the nine Yankee
wounds there was no mistake. and the 9TH
ers counted 'for fair" giving to the one
he was to receive on the field Of wonderful
destiny that unlucky number, 49,
II was an hour to call for the sacrifice of
the old guard, when Hancock sent Cross
brigade into the wheat field to stem the
tide Of disaster during the second days bat
tie. On receiving orders Cross exclaimed,
Sayly "Goodby. general; l am never going
TO get that star" Squirting on his horse, he
disappeared, to be swallowed up in the whirl-
pool Of carnage. After a few minutes Han
cock heard that he had been desperately
wounded, and once more sent up appeal
for the proper recognition of the bravery
of his noble lieutenant. Cross lived for some
days, lived till the wires had carried the
"ne tprt bon
reached the field bearing a generals COM
mission, signed and dispatched In all haste
by the kind-hearted president
The bit OF gilded parchment was placed in
che hands of the dying soldier, but his mind
remained fixed upon the incidents of the bat
Gle which had sealed his fate. He died
shouting orders and ges.uring to Imaginary
pattalions, unconscious that his shroud would
,., 1e martial cloak decorated with the star so
clchly earned and so cruelty denied him. =
\ SHERIDAN'S LONG WATT
1t Is not necessary to air private grievances |
In order to illustrate the evil OF favoritism |
IN awarding rank. Sheridan remained a |
colonel OF Michigan volunteers long after he |
had directed battles of his own and until !
several commanders of western armies be-
sieged Washington with appeals in his favor |
saying that the little Irish cavalryman was |
worth his weight in gold" and ought to be |
made general The most incomprehensblu |
of all at this time Is the treatment which |
Miles received while performing deeds OF |
the kind which inspired those classic phrases |
met with in Napoleons war bulletins II |
there was any soldier in the ranks of the |
blue who went through fire and blood to win |
his decorations II was the same Massachus-
etts volunteer whom Governor Andrews re-
fused to commission because he was only |
boy. In spite Of the fact that 100 good men
and true had chosen him for their leader
But when he got to the front where courage,
or the want OF It, told at flash, the hero
stun In his slender frame was not slow TO