Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1899-07-06
SOLDIERS STORIES.
ENTERTAINING EMINlCENCES
OF THE WAR.
Graphic Account of Stirring Scenes
Witnessed ON the Battlefield and In
Camp-Veterans of the Rebellion Re-


"Our regiment was sort of an Or
pnan," said the Captain. We were
credited to a state in which very few
of us belonged, and there was no
strong-willed Governor like Morton or
Brough to look after us. After our
three months organization went to
pieces, we were sworn into the United
States service, ''for three years, or dur
ing the war" The boys believed then
that the government could hold us I'M
til the end of the war, even if the thing
ran on for ten years. In proof of this,
the jokers of the regiment used to point
the timid fellows to our belt plates,
which were marked ~. s." instead Of
80. V. l." or II. V. L." as were the belts
worn by the men Of other regiments in
our brigade.
"Our three years term expired on the
march to Atlanta, and as the time for
discharge approached many of the men
became greatly excited. One boys
mother wrote him that she had been
reliably informed that Sherman was
going to hold all the men until he cap
tured Atlanta, even if it required two
years. Another mans father wrote
that he heard Lincoln had decided to
discharge no more volunteers until the
war was over. If this was true the
writer thought all the men in the regi-
ment ought to throw down their guns
and get home in time for corn blowing.
The boys talked loud about the injus-
tice of holding them in the service, but
every morning the bugle sounded i'll
the old way, and the boys had their
march and skirmish.
"a few days after the battle Of Resa-
ca the regiment was ordered from the
front and instructed to board waiting
train. Then there was protest loud and
long who was interferin'? the indig-
nant men wanted to know. Who was
sending them to the rear when there
was fighting right under their noses?
They wouldn't go until Uncle Billy said
so, and there was delay until staff
officer rode back to say that Morgan
was in the rear and the regiment was
ordered back to show the new regl-
ments how to take the rebel. raider in
out Of the wet.
"This stirred up considerable enthu-
siasm, because nearly every soldier in
the army of the Cumberland had
score to settle with Morgan, and the
men marched to the train with all their
belongings. AS night came on the boys
began to figure out that we would
strike Morgan near Chattanooga. But
when we crossed the river at Bridge
port they thought he must be cutting in
about MurfreesborO, and they went to
sleep, so as to be ready for business.
| When they found they were in Nash
vile, and no Morgan, they began to
smell rat, and when the next day all
| the men on detached and special duty
and all the teamsters reported to their
| companies, the men said one to an
other, The iig's up
eve took steamers at Nashville, went
down the Cumberland and up the Ohio
to Newport barracks, where we were
mustered out on the day our term of
enlistment expired. Some of the men
re-enlisted without going home, and
others who got home for corn blowing
didn't stay to do it, but entered the
new infantry and cavalry regiments.
The father of one young man boosted
that he had Written General Sherman
an abusive letter about holding the
regiment in the service beyond it's term,
and the next day the son disappeared
Two weeks later he wrote from in front
of Atlanta that he re-enlisted in regi-
ment of his old brigade for three years,
or during the war"
ION one OCCASION" said the Colonel
81 received letter from an acquaint-
ance living in my home county, stating
that the writer's son was at home, tell
ing extravagant stories of the hard
ships and dangers of camp life. He
feared the boy was Sinking, and he
asked me to write plainly about the
case. The young fellow had not been
with the regiment a year, and was re-
ported home on discharge furlough.
This explanation was written the fa-
Their, who sent the young man back to
the regiment where he did good ser
vice until the close of the war. This
young fellow told me. not many years
ago, that his fathers action in tearing
up his discharge furlough and sending
him to the front made a man of him.
'He had played the sick man in hos
pital and convalescent camp until he
had lost all nerve. Then he had gone
home, and, to save himself had told
extravagant stories of the sufferings
and abuses in the army, and in so doing
misrepresented his comrades and I'M
duly alarmed their relatives and
rfriends A few days before he left
home for the front he met wounded
man of his company, home on fur
Tough, and received such a tongue-lash-
ing that he was glad to leave the neigh
borhood. Smarting under the reproach-
es of the soldier who had really been
;,1I >o4 +ho who ho1