The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-01-20
PICKET SHOTS
From Alert Comrades Along the
Whole Line.
Those Guns at ChanceIIorsvilis.

| hurst, \. j., writes = J. I. James, Co. C.,
| 4th I. ). Art, Union, Kan, asks what Tegi-
ment was the last TO leave the field at Chan
cellorsville and pulled off six guns of Union
| battery 1t was the Second n j. Brigade, COM
| posed of the 5th, 9th, 7th, and Sth n. Y.,
and the 115th Pa. The battery was X, 4th
| U. S. Art. After We were ilanked we fell back
to the top of hill TO the left of the plank road.
| The rebels made dash for the battery, and
| Col. W. J. Sewell, (now U. S. Senator from
New Jersey, of the 9TH \. j., who was COM
manding the brigade, rallied the men and
charged the enemy We succeeded in bring
ing off all the guns"
Daniel w. Price, Co. A, 10th Pa, 116
Prime street, Philadelphia, Pa, answering
| the inquiry, writes g 1t was the 10th Pa,
| commanded by Col. st. Clair A. Mulholland.
The guns belonged to the 5th Me. battery,
| and were four in number"
As there would appear to be a misunder
| standing as to the incident the Editor will
say that Comrade James asked what COM
pany OF artillery it was that was in position
on the hill in front of the Chancellor House
That company left their six guns on the field,
and the regiment of infantry undertook to
run them Off"
At Fair oaks.
J.W. McCool, Riverside, Okla Ter, writes
that VIM. Fl. Doughty 18th Me-, is mistaken
regarding the 10th Pa. The command was
not where he claims at Fair Oaks Comrade
McCoo was member of Co. =, 103d Pa,
which occupied the position assigned to the
10th by the Maine command. The brigade
was composed of the 10lst Pa, 103d Pa
10th Mass, 10th Conn, and S5th \. Y.
Burning of the General Lyon.
ID. ii. Porter, Kansas City Mo-, writes
" In recent issue is statement relative to
the 66th Ill, which reyives the memory of
the burning of the steamship General Lyon
off Cape Hatteras on March 81 1860, and the
death thereby of nearly 500 soldiers, officers
and men whose terms OF service had expired,
and who were on their way home from Gen.
Sherman'S army under orders to be mustered
out. They left the camps of the army in
North Carolina the latter part of March and
embarked on the General Lyon, feeling that
their years of hard military service were over
The ship encountered storm when off Cape
Hatteras, caught fire, and was burned to the
waters edge. All on board were lost, except
only 2S persons saved. The 56th H. in that
calamity lost 1SS enlisted men and IL officers
but five OF that regiment on board escaping
Many Of the 56th ILL., thus lost were from
White County, that State one of them Capt
James {. Tanquary-h having quit college at
Lebanon, H., to enlist. The record of the
56th Ill. is a brilliant one"
A Queer Incident.
E. c. Kitchen, Surgeon, l55th Pa, Brum-
fieldville, Pa, writes: After the charge in
front of Petersburg, June Is. 1864, there was
brought to me soldier who had been shot in
the right breast. The ball had passed
through the vest pocket, entered the body
and passed around underneath the skin and
lodged against the spinal column. On cut
ting down to extract the ball, to my surprise
it was enveoped in row of pins. The sol
dier had had row of pins in his vest pocket;
the ball had caught them and carried them
through its whole course and finally lodged
against the spine. There was published
sometime since q similar case, and | have
often wondered if it was the same, or did
someone meet a counterpart"
The 1st Cal.
David Reed, Co. !, 71st Pa, Happy Hill,
Omaha Neb., writes: A comrade, signing
himself j. H. H., Soldiers Home, Cal. has
stated that the 1st Cal. was known as the
32d n. Y. ] beg leave to differ The 1st
Cal. was organized April 30, 1861, by Senator
Z. ID. Baker and Isaac j. Wistar, in Phila-
delphia, under special authority from the
War Department, to be credited to the State
of California, and was known as the 1st Cal
After the death of Col Baker, at Balls Bluff
Oct. 21, 1861, the regiment was claimed by
its native State, and became the list Pa
but was never known as the 32d n. Y"
Regiments at Fort McAliister.
w. A. Douglass, Co. ID, 47th Ohio, Samp-
sonville, Ky, thinks that COmrade Luber, of
Franklin, Iowa, in his account of the capture
of Fort McAllister did injustice to the 47th
Ohio. The fort was taken by the Second
Division, Fifteenth Corps. The 18th Ohio
entered through an embrasure made for 10
pound cannon. Other regiments entered at
nearly the same time, but by other routes.
Comrade Douglass saw many men belonging
to other regiments there. Kirk Alexander,
54th Ohio, was killed by the explosion of a
| torpedo while standing near COmrade Doug
lass.
Interesting "Reminiscences.
John II. Mansur, Signal Corps, Depart
ment of Ohio Royersford, Pa, writes: -
was glad to see communication from Sergt
Eitchman, of Benjamin's Battery (E, I'd U.-l
S., in the issue of Dec. 80 Although not
personally acquainted with him, knew him
by sight as l served in Fort Sanders during
the siege of Knoxville, at the time the bat
terry was there. During that time came to
know number of the boys of that gallant
old battery and found them to be a good
crowd to tie to.
Sergeant, do you remember the day, soon
after we took possession of Fort Sanders,
and while it was little more than skeleton
of a fort, how some rebel sharpshOoters had
taken possession OF house on the rise of
hill about half a mile out to the front OF the |
fort, and were making it very unpleasant for
all hands? Lieut. Benjamin called you and
asked if you could put shell into the house.
We all gathered at the front of the fort as
you sighted the gun and let her go, and l |
remember yet the hole it knocked in the roof
and walls of the old building 1t stopped all
further sharpshooting there.
do you remember the night when shell
got jammed in one of the guns, while loading |
in expectation of an attack, and it took |
nearly half the night to get it out a. ain ? |
Do you remember the gangs of negroes that
worked on the fort at night when first |
took possession, and how they all dropped |
fhair shayels and hid babinf a-,uty bar rrolo