Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1899-09-20
BLUE AND THE GRAY
BRAVE MEN WHO MET ON THE
FIELD Of Battle.
thrilling Srsries of the Rebellion
Old Soldie4's and Sailors Relate Remi.
niscences of Life in Camp and on
the Fieid-Incidents of the War.

sSSnSSs VI Lille IN camp and on
the Field Incidents of the War.
Il. f. Taylor, one of the best army
correspondents of the war, had an ex-
perience with Sherman which broke ND
MS association with the army. TAYLOR
wrote OF camp life, of the march aad
the battle in the vein of a poet. He
made living pictures for the people at
nome which were as highly appreciated
by the soldiers. He put his heart in his
work, and of all the correspondents,
no man vas more popular In the West
ern armies than Eenjamin #. Tavl r.
but III the Atlanta campaign he pub
lished news of movement which
sherman was taking the greatest pains
70 Keep secret. Taylor heard of the
matter in way that led him to be-
heye that it was legitimate news for
publication, and he sent it on to the
Chicago Journal
Nhea the paper containing the dis
patch or letter reached camp Sherman
ordered that Taylor be arrested and
court maftialton the general charge
OF giving aid and comfort to the en-
emy. Taylor managed to evade the
provost guards until night, when some
OF the other correspondents procured
n horse for him. and through conni-
vance on the part of officers. got him
out of camp. Taylor returned to Chi
cago, grieying over the mistake that
severed his pleasant relations with
Sherman's army He didn't blame
sherman so much as he did himself.
My impression is that in later years he
renewed his acquaintance with the
General under very pleasant circum-
stances
James Goodsell. another Chicago
man. had trouble with Rosecrans.
Goodsen REPRESENTED the Chicago
Times, and in some report, possibly of
ne bate of Chickamauga he msrep-
resented the most important move
ments and criticised the commanding
General severely. When Rosecrans'
attention was called to the letter he
said little, but the minute he had fin
ished the reading he turned to one of
his staff officers and said quietly: ''Or-
der the arrest of Goodsell and put him
ia irons. I'm going to make an ex-
ample of some one. and | may as we'll
begin with him.
"Some of the newspaper men heard
this remark, and while the staff officer
went to carry out his orders, they
looked up Goodseil. There was no
time to lose. and the unfortunate cor
respondent climbed on an old wheezy
locomotive that was standing in camp
and prevailed upon the engineer to run
him outside the picket line. Then he
made his way North as speedily as
possible. He knew that Rosecrans
when aroused was :: very dangerous
man, and his experience had told him
that in case of this Kind a Major
General commanding Il department
had large liberty of action.
I'm another case General John NJ.
Palmer of Illinois swore vengeance on
a correspondent who, in long and
vivid description of the battle of
Chicamauga, represented that Pal
mer's division was broken into frag-
ments and that it retreated from the
field ia panic The truth was that
Palmer's division did not break, and
did not change it's position until or
dered to leave its line, in the evening.
when the army retired to Rossville.
General Palmer spent Il full day in
searching for the guilty correspondent,
and found sey efal other general officers
looking for the same man. 1t is need
less to say that, informed of the raid,
the correspondent escaped"
THE trouble with correspondents in
the old time was" said the Major
that too many of them received their
impressions from stragglers in the rear
of the army, and they wrote the most
distressing descriptions of defeat At
Shiloh most of the correspondents en-
larged upon the panic-stricken soldiers
who in the course of the first days bat
tie fell back to the river. The CORE
spondents and some of the officers of
Buell's army assumed that these panic
stricken men were all that was left of
Grants army, and it was reported the
country over that the Army of Ten
nessee was at the end of the first days
fight little better than rabble.
THE truth was that the stragglers
on the river did not represent the army
at all. The divisions that made the
fight in one of the very bloodiest bat
ties on record were in line in front, and
they didn't know there was any panic.
But DE correspondents ha! their way,
and it ~cquired twenty years 10 put the
Army Of The Tennessee right before the
people. l remember when General
Prentiss came to Chicago, not more
than ten years ago, his story of the
fight in the Hornets Nest was a reYela-
ton to many men who believed they
had the story of the battle by heart.
Certain correspondents started out
at the beginning of the civil war to
write down men like Grant and Sher-
man. 1t seemed for a time that they
would succeed, bul after Nicksburg
most of the correspondents changed
front. In the first years of the war
there were no army correspondents
with knowledge of military affairs, and
a great many mistakes We're made. In
the last two years of the wa there
were scores of correspondents in the
field who had made Il study of military
operations, and who were well in
formed as to the political and general
situation. In these years the letters
of correspondents We're the history of
battles and campaigns.
Il remember that in the summer of
1861 two correspondents approached
the BrigaCiier General in command of
division in West Virginia. and ex-
planned TO him that IL he did not put
them on his staff and take them into
his mess. and give them certain priv
ileges. they would proceed to destroy
his reputation and write down his
army. They were practically
drummed out OF camp and they pro-
ceeded to carry out their their threat.
They undoubtedly injured the officer
in command. and gave his division a
bad reputation for the time being. but
the legitimate correspondents got hold
of the story ard the upstarts ware not
only retired from the lists Of army cor
respondents, but from the newspaper |
profession In the last year Of the war |
no correspondent took a dictatorial at
titude toward a commander Of aEy
grade. Every correspondent tried to |