The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-09
WAR "ExTRAs" OF 1861.
How the News of the Firing on SUM
ter Was Spread i'm Western Town.
New Work. Sun

now the news Oh the FIRING on sum-
ter Was Spread in "a western Town.
New York Sun.
II remember the news of the beginning
OF the civil war as II came TO our town"
said a man who is not yet a veteran. II
was about sixteen years old. L was returns
ing home in the afternoon. | saw coming
toward me a horse ridden, as / recall 1t.
madly by a man. As they came nearer
heard the man shouting. The horse was
blowing like locomotive. ! noticed that
the man rode bareback. Every time he
yelled he plunged his heels into the sides of
the horse. do not remember the exact
words of the rider. bat they were about
war beginning. AS he rode people in the
street who saw him stopped. listened, and
asked one another about it, many windows
along the way were hoisted. and as | 80
ceeded homeward the women who knew me
called from the lookouts and asked me
what that man said about the war.
when / reached home / found my
neighbors had called in TO tell her what
they knew and to ask what she knew about
the war. The negroes about our house
were frightened. One of them took refuge
in the cellarfand came out only after she
had been threatened Her fear was the
'abolshioners.' The word Yankee as an
approbrious epithet had not at that time
come into use.
There was. a Dutch hotel in the. town OF
the roof of which was triangle. For many
years it was the town clock. 1t dangled out
the hour for the three meals. breakfast,
dinner and supper, and when 1t sounded tho
housewives looked at their timepeces. This
triangle changed out that afternoon before
supper time. An, earthquake, would have
caused no more cOmmotiOn The proprietor
OF the tavern beat the triangle until the city
marshal made him stop it.
There We're two newspapers in the town
and each one got out what was called an
extra. IT was not much like the extra of
this eneration. The news of the firing on
Sumter consisted of less than 200 words, was
printed on small slip of white newspaper
and was set in the same width as the coll
umns of the papers which issued them
There was no advertisement or other news
on The slip. These extras sold for % cents
piece. From that time until the close
of the war that was the sort of extra that
was issued by the papers in the town where
l lived. =
"A long time afterward heard talk about
the man who rode the horse and who
spread the news. He was the son of the
town miller. never heard where. he got
his information, but as soon as he heard it
he mounted the horse that had been hitched
to the rack in front of the mill and carried
the news of his own accord. There were
four boys in that millers family. They en-
listed early for the Confederate cause. Not
one of them returned. The one who spread
the news was killed somewhere in the
Wilderness; at least he was known to go
into one of the engagements of that series
of stubborn fights and never came<out His
body was never identified
Il recall that at the time of the fire on
Sumter many of our people were still ON
the fence as we said. The Lincoln electors
had received few votes in the town. 1t was
Breckenridge section / remember that
the tendency was in favor of the preserva-
tion of the Union, but the people were
afraid of Lincoln. At that time they be-
lieved he had been elected for no other pur-
pose .han that of freeing the niggers and
stealing the horses And so 1T happened
that negroes and horses were locked up
often at night together. not in the same
room, of course, but often in adjoining
rooms in the outhouses. | have often
thought that if the people had understood
Lincoln in the beginning of the war as they
came to know him later many a man who
went South would have fought for the
Union. And If / am correct in that, would
the war have lasted as long as II did?
Il remember a gathering at the house or
my father one evening in which the MILF
tary genius of General Scott was discussed.
Some present had been with Scott in Mex
ico 1t was the consensus of that gathering,
and this was before the Bull Run fight, that
Napoleon came first and Winfield Scott sec
ond. What an impression that made on
my mind. / remember hearing one OF the
Scott enthusiasts say that Scott would end
the war in one fight.
Il shall never forget the news or the flrst
Bull Run fight My people had arranged to
leave the town on short vacation, but
this news kept them at nome. Ihe second
DAYS news gave more particulars. 1t told
of the rout of the Union army. And then
T saw Something in human nature which /
had never seen before, or winch l knew
nothing / saw the fence cleared. to take up
the cid metaphor. And every man and fam
ily came off to join the Southern cause.
recall that Scott was called granny, and
very soon after his name was forgotten.
The first Bull Run made recruits for the
South. Several regiments enlisted In my
town and county. Success of the South in
the first engagement of any consequence
carried with ii the doubters. And in near
Nv every instance Of this life which ! have
observed / have found that as soon as sue
cess is established those who shook their
heads became followers. and yet you and
7 have known some successes to turn out
failures, paradoxical as that may sound.