The National tribune., 1901-08-15

too interesting to be forever lost.
In the Spring of 1862, after the battle
of Shiloh had been fought and won by the
Union army. the Federal forces. under
command of Gen. Halleck, had made
that wonderful forced march from Shi-
lob to Corinth GO miles in ~ days.. The
18th Wis. was camped one and half
miles south of the town of Colnth. AZ
that time | was Captain of Co. b. was
ordered to take my company and do pro
vost duty in the town. l made my head
quarters just north of the depot, in a
large two-stOTy frame house. AT that
time all supplies for our army were
drawn by teams from Pittsburg Land
Ing. One evening just before shutdown, as
sat smoking my pipe on the veranda or
the upper story at my headquarters, one
of our company teams drove up. As the
team stopped | heard someone say,
Hello, Uncle Sam
| looked around and saw perched upon
q lot of boxes of bareback a small boy.
Then he said to me: You don't know
me. do you?" He then climbed from the
wagon and came up the stairs TO where
l was sitting. As he entered the room
/ recognized him as my brothers little
son. At that time he was about II years
of age He was covered with dust, ana
looked more like 4 Modoc Indian than
white boy.
As he came up to me and held out his
little dirty hand, / said to him: What III
the world are you doing down here, Al
bert? Does your father know you left
home?'
Il guess he knows that l am gone" he
said, with broad grin.
Il guess you ran away from home,
didn't you?"
He made no answer to that, but said:
81 say, Uncle Sam, do you think you fell
lows will have a fight here soon? By
golly, how l want TO see fight"
I'VE may and we may not. We cannot
tell that" | said. Now, you go and
wash, and | will have the cook get some
supper for you"
After he had washed and eaten his sup
per- he came and sat down by me on the
porch
A RUNAWAY BOY.
asked him how he managed to get
way down to Corinth.
.;Wen," he said, Il will tell you all
about it. You see, / wanted to go to
war, and father said | was too young and
too small, and must stay and go to school.
asked him good many times to please
let me go, but be said No, no; you are
too small; you must stag at home But
/ was bound to go. SOL went to the
depot one day and met old John Ryan,
who was running the locomotive to Chi
cago l got into the cab with him and
landed in Chicago. soon found out
IueN were IttIulllIS lHC 1DOd4N VA 1AHNN
Battery. / went To the Captain and told
him l wanted to enlist, and he laughed
at me and said: Why, boy, you are too
small. How old are youF | told him
/ was IS years old. oh, now, come,
young man. he said, you aren't more than
10 years old
powder monkeyF
"'Where did you come from?
Il came from Galena.
Ibid your father know you came
away?
"Well, ! stayed with the boys that
night, and the next day here came dad and
took me home. / went to school one day.
did not learn much that day, for | was
thinking all the time about the war. Next
night l crawled out of the window and
went TO the depot again. / found an e.
gineer there that | knew, and he took lie
to Chicago again. This time l thought
] would not stop there, so / went to the
other depot, and there got acquainted with
another engineer, and he took me to ST.
LOUIS
did you have any money!
mary a red"
Didn't you get hungryF'
''The engineer set up the lunch. He
was a boss fellow, l tell you; they are
all bully boys them engineers"
when j got to st. Louis | saw a boat
at the landing with a sign, Going to Pitts
burg Landing 1t was the John Warner.
/ went aboard. In a little while she
started down the river. We had not gone
far when the clerk came around hallow-
Ing Tickets, tickets He came to ME and
said, Got a ticketF ! told him j had no
ticket. Got money! Nary q red Get
off at Cairo. Mind that? Understand
Yes, | understand
After while | asked a man il we
were pretty near Cairo, and he said we
would be there soon. | thought l had
better go down and get acquainted with
the engineer of the boat, and stay with
him until we left Cairo. l did so, and
found him to be a nice fellow. He showed
me all about the engine. / stayed with
him for more than an hour. He asked
me what | would do if l was in charge
Of q boat loaded with passengers. and the
boat was about TO sink. | told him /
would call all the passengers on deck
and tell them the boat was about to sink,
and that they better all give me their
money and jump overheard and swim
ashore. That pleased the engineer, and
he laughed like everything. Just then the
bell rang for supper. He told me / better
60 and get my supper. He gave me a
quarter and i went upstairs to supper. /
Sat down and ate my supper, but kept
my quarter all the same.
THE next morning we got to the Land
Ing, and was about the first fellow
on shore. / went up the hill from the
river. When | got to the top of the hill
i found lot Of teams. / asked some of
the men If they knew where the 18th
Wis. was. One of them called for
Mooney, who came up. They told him
] wanted TO find the 18th Wis. He said
They are out at Corinth. belong TO
that regiment ! said: DO you know my
uncle, sam Boyntonf He is Captain of
Co. B. Yes said he; he is my Cap
tain. How far is il to CorinthY / asked.
he said: Twenty miles. He told me
that as soon as he loaded up / could ride
with him. So when be got loaded we
started, and we have been all day on the
road
After this recital of his experiences l
told my nephew to go and have a good
sleep. l gave him a blanket, and he lay
down on the floor and was soon sound
asleep.
In the morning he got up and said he
had dreamed that we had had n terrible
battle, and that | had been killed. | told
him | was glad it was only dream.
After breakfast / went with him to
store and bought him q suit of citizens
clothes. j could get no uniform small
enough TO at him. So j got q little suit
of "butternut," which, when he put in on,
made him look for all the world like
little Johnnie.
l wrote 10 his father In Galena to let
him know that his boy was with me and
all right.
The little fellow stayed with me all
Summer, going with our regiment on
g.