Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-10-13

III y q h q war, was
&C. John Allen, who
lived with his
parents in small village in Central
New York.
He was an only child, and his father
a prosperous merchant. Filled with
an immense enthusiasm, the young
fellow soon succeeded in filling with
his spirit enough young men of his
section to organize company, of which
he was elected captain. Possessing q
slight knowledge of military tactics
and drill, he soon had his company in
such shape that when the national
capital was threatened, the company
was at once mustered into service and
ordered South. They went by way
of Harrisburg, where they received
their arms. To many of them the
guns were strange, and they had but
slight knowledge of their use, when
the day after their receipt they were
ordered to join General Palmer s divis-
ion then marching toward the next
day famous battle of Bull Run.
Thus hurried to the front without
rest or proper nourishment, with no
knowledge of their arms, it is no won
der that in the general panic that seized
their brigade. the company should
share in the nameless fear like the rest
and hastily retreat. The young COM
mander filled with modification and
grief at the first engagement of his
comrades, and possessing himself q
cool head, tried his utmost to make
his men stand. With uplifted sword,
with entreaty and command, invoca-
tion and curse, with pleadings and
blows, he manfully tried to lead or
beat them back. But they would not
heed, and carried him with them in
the crush to the rear.
1t was while thus engaged, that the
general officer commanding the brig
ade, came up, and seeing young cap
tain going to the rear, halted for an
instant-long enough to inquire the
number of the company and regiment
and his name. The day after the re-
treat, Allen was placed under arrest,
and few days later brought before a
summary court-martial, and tried for
cowardice in the face of the foe. 1t
was useless for him to protest, his
men would not testify in his behalf,
for that would be owing to the fact of
their cowardice, and Aliens explana-
tions were not listened to against the
statement of the brigadier- general and
his staff officers. So he fell victim,
as many others did in the early part
of the war to the ambitious ignorance
of general officer as unskillful and
unused to war rs himself. He was
dismissed from the service of the Uni
ted States and his name stricken from
the rolls.
The blow was an awful one, but to
man of such noble and honorable
instincts as Allen, it was more than
terrible. At first the thought of his
disgrace so maddened him that he
would have taken his life, but there
was not drop of coward's blood in
his nature, and after the first trans
ports of grief and despair were over,
he resolved not to go home, but to seek
some western State and there enlist
again, and if he could not rise, he at
least could die brave man death on
the field of battle. Should he rise, it
would be by wiping out the fearful
stigma, and until that was done the
old folks at home or his many friends
there, should not know of his where
abouts. So either soldiers death at
once, or aname that would rise so high
that against its glorious brilliancy the
shadows that had so falsely clung to
him would be forever banished.
OF all famous troops in Sheridan's
cavalry command in the Army of Vir-
ginia, there was none that stood higher
or had more brilliant record than the
troop of Captain Henry Pettis, of the
Third Briga3e, of the Fifth Division.
Pettis himself, through the four years
of war, had had wonderful record of
service. Enlisting as private in an
Indiana cavalry regiment, he had sue
cessively risen through the grades of
corporal, sergeant and first sergeant
OF his troop, by brave and heroic acts
on the battlefield, as well as by un-
complaining and faithful duty in the
camp, on the march or on picket.
When one of the company officers
had fallen at Charlottesville, he was
promoted and commanded the troop
as second lieutenant through the bat
tie and the following campaign. And
later, at Cedar Creek, it was Sheridan
himself, who noting the wondrous
bravery of the man and his untiring
energy, promoted him captain and
assigned him few days later to his
own troop-the one with which he had
Won SO many laurels.