Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-08-13
SAVED BY A DREAM,
A Curious Incidence That Occurred
in the Civil War.
Becoming a Fisherman..A Cigar Trick. I'm.
appreciated Music.

Il had a dream once that died from,
pneumonia" said well known mar
who made a very creditable record as
an officer in the Union army to Jour-
nal reporter. 1T was one Of those per-
sistent dreams that l could not shake
Off. While under its influence I think
suffered as intense pain as | afte--
ward did when / had real case OF
pneumonia. The dream so controlled
me that l spoke about it to the men,
bers of the family, to the exclusion of
almost everything else, for several
days. In few weeks the war broke
| out, and with the young men of my
section of the country | entered the
Union army as a private, though held
a commission when the war ended.
When the day came for me to leave
my home my mother, who had packed
up about everything l thought should
need, much of which 1 had to drop by
the wayside soon after, asked me if
there was anything else that l could
think of that / would need In an
apologizing kind of way | said yes.
that l would like box of mustard for
use in case l ever got the pneumonia.
such as l dreamed of, for l forgot to
say l dreamed that after / was dead
q n I'd .to cta 4
pain. When l looked into my KNAPP
sack l found it so full of stuff that l
could not find a place for the box of
mustard, and l thought l would have
to leave it. My mother, however, said
she would manage it, That night |
started out to conquer the whole Con-
federate army, and just as | was about
leaving the door of my house a pain
struck me in my side, exactly the place
affected in the attack of pneumonia
from which l had my dream death
1t passed off in an instant. not, how
ever, until | had asked my mother If
she had found a place for the mustard
She told me she could not find space in
my knapsack. but that she had sewed
up bundle of mustard in a parchment
bag in the lining of my overcoat. /
carried that overcoat four years and
mad felt the mustard sewed up in the
breast lining hundreds of times, but
never supposed | would have to use it.
1T was four years to the day from
the date of my enlistment when | was
taken Sick, and with me a man in my
company, for by that time / was an
officer. We were bundled off to a field
hospital, neither one of US having any
idea what was the matter with us.
That night the doctor, the surgeon of
a Maine regiment. visited US. He told
US blandly that we We're suffering from
pneumonia and that the chances We're
all against us. If l could put a mus
tard plaster on you l could save you
both, he said. but as you know. mus
tard is a rare possession in this part
of the South now. a grain of il equal
ing in value a grain of gold. and scarce
at that All of a sudden the lining of
my overcoat came to my mind and l
asked if my coat was handy. | was
told it was, and in few minutes the
doctor had it ripped open. Mixing it
up with some bad bran, he divided it
up at my request into two plasters,
and my comrade and myself have been
able to eat three square meals every
day since, barring the remainder of the
war; when we were rather high toned
and only INDUCED in one regular meal
a day and ate the rest in our minds.
Though pneumonia killed me in my
dream. the same dream furnished me
with ammunition which batIled death
when he attacked us. My mother went
to heaven without knowing that the
bag of mustard she scwed in my coat
saved my life and that of my COM
radc.'