Mexico weekly ledger., 1899-03-30


our civil war-the bloodiest chapter in
the book Of time-and when it is writ
ten the Kentucky and Missouri heroes.
both Union and Confederate, will be
enrobed in immortal glory.
1t is said that figures win not lie,
and here they are: To the Union armies
Missouri contributed 109, III soldiers;
Kentucky, rs, 760; Maryland, 46, 63S T;
Tennessee, 81. 092 and West Virginia,
SO, 06S-making a grand total Of 294,-
Sos.
Now, suppose a case. Suppose that as
the sun was setting on the CORY field Of
Shiloh, When Albert Sidney Johnston
died. all the Kentuckians Missourians
and Tennesseeans had been suddenly
subtracted from the Union army and
transferred to the Confederate side. Can
any SANE man doubt what would have
happenedf AS certain as fate Ulysses
Simpson Grant and the remnants Of his
army would have been captured or
driven into the Tennessee and Beaure-
gard would have fattened his famished
soldiers ON the fertile prairies Of Illinois
and Indiana All the Buells and Nell
sons in Christendom conld not have
saved the silent soldier had it not been
for the Kentuckians, Missourians and
Tennesseeans fighting for their country
there. and without Grants bulldog te-
nacity the history Of vicksburg, Mis-
sionary Ridge, Cold Harbor. the VIII
derness and Appomattox never would
have been written, for the all sufficient
reason that there would not have been
any 10 write.
LiaeOIn's Wise Words.
Suppose another case. Suppose that
George Il. Thomas had gone with his
state, as all his brothers in arms from
Virginia did. and that when Pickett
made his spectacular charge at Gsttys-
burg Thomas had in the nick Of time
re-enforced him with the ae4. $50 vet
eran Kentuckians, Missourians, Mary
lsnders, West Yirginians and Tennes-
seeans then fighting in the Union ar
mics, can any human being fail to under
stand what would have been the result
Meade's grand army would have been
ground 10 powder, Philadelphia, Balti-
more. Harrisburg, Washington, New
York. would have been taken, the ma
tons Of Europe would have run races
with each other 10 recognize the indie
pendence Of the Confederacy, and more
aid than be needed would have been
freely rendered jefferson Davis to en-
able him to realize the aspirations Of
the south for a separate government.
In taking a retrospect Of the conduct
Of the border states during the war
and of how the Shareholders therein
fought yaliantly for their own undoing,
l am forced TO the conclusion that when
Abraham Lincoln said in his first in
augural address, 81 have no purpose,
directly or indirectly, 10 interfere with
the institution of slavery in the states
where it exists; / believe I have no
lawful right to do 50, and l have no
inclination to do 80" he did more for
the preservation of the Union than was
done by all the speeches, great and
small, delivered since the confusion of
tongues at the tower Of Babel, for that
n declaration held hundreds Of thou
sands in the border states faithful to
the Union who otherwise and naturally
would have gone with the south. The
KentuckiAns and Missourians belong to
that class who, having put their hands
to the pillow. do not look back, and they |
fought on after the emancipation proc
lamation as bravely and doggedly as
before.
1t may be that the fact that Abraham
Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were both
Kentuckians, born within a few miles
Of each other, added fuel to the flames
throughout Kentucky and Missouri and
wherever the Kentuckians had settled
in large numbers The accident Of their
birth in the same vicinity contributed
to the awful tragedy the element Of
feud, inherent in the Kentucky charac-
ter.
At any rate, Lincoln understood the
Kentuckians and Missourians better
any other Republican president,
and to the day Of his death they had a
place in his sympathetic heart.
More than all this, the border state
men fought, whatever their rank.
An Incident Of Battle.
The only instance on record during
the entire war Of one field officer killing
another in battle was at Mill Spring,
General Speed Smith Fry of Ken
lucky, a Union soldier, shot and killed
General Z~ollieoffer, commanding a bri.
sade Of Tennessee Confederate. The
parallel to this sanguinary per-
iormanoe in all our military annals was
the killing Of Tecumseh, at the battle
the River Thames, by Colonel Richard
NJ. johnson. another Kentuckian, popu-
called Old Dick
Ed Porter Thompson Of Kentucky, a
Confederate captain, hobbled into the
battle Of Murfreesboro on his erutcheA
md for two days fought side By side
those possessing the soundest and
most stalwart legs, thereby riyaling the
lar resembling feat Of Charles XII Of
sweden at Pultowa and General Joseph
Wheeler at Santiago Of being carried
INTO battle upon a stretcher.
One OF my own constituents, p.
Wells is the only soldier, living or
lead, 40 far as history tells, that ever
lad a wooden leg shot off in battle, for
he reason, perhaps that be Is the only
older who ever went into battle with a
wooden leg. He survived his wound 10