The Worthington advance., 1901-02-22
cApr1UR ID | RE 81 ArLAllrA 4.


than Gen. John Coburn, of this city. *
just and wise Judge, : useful member
Of congress and 9 public-spirited citi-
zen, the encomium of "well done, thou
good and faithful servant" may well
be credited to him.. now, though he IL
yet in the full flush Of lusty manhood
and probably will be spared to the com.
munity TOR many years, says the Indi-
annapolis Press. He resigned a seat on
the bench to fight his country's battles.
Returned to his first sphere of useful.
ness after the war, he was elected to
the house Of representatives, and while
a member Of that body successfully
fought to have Spanish retained in
the curriculum at West Point, to have
headstones placed at soldiers graves
and to deny promotion to soldiers who
were inebriates. He also promoted tho
soldiers orphans home.
1t is not generally known that It IL
to Gen. Coburn that the honor of hav-
ing captured the city of Atlanta dur
ing Sherman's march to the sea should
be accorded. Let Gen. Coburn tell his
own story Of the surrender. He says:
During the march to the sea was
serving directly under Gen. William G.
Ward, one of the blestgenerals of the
civil war. The day previous to the sur
render he had sent out Col. Higgins to
make a reconnaissance in force, but Hig-
gins had been driven back with consid-
cradle loss. was then ordered to take
out large force of men and ascertain
the position of the enemy, so that we
could push on toward the city. We
started before daybreak and went on
toward Atlanta. We proceeded along
cautiously until we came to the con-
federate breastworks in front Of tho
city. Meeting no opposition, and in or
der to avoid any ambush ordered a
skirmish line to proceed cautiously
and learn if possible the force of men
behind the breastworks. In half or
three-quarters of an hour the detach-
ment returned and reported to me that
the works were deserted. then Or
dered the whole force to proceed to the
city of Atlanta, and sent on ahead a
small detachment commanded by Capt.
Scott, brother-in-law of Gen. Har-
rison, and Frank Crawford, of Terre
Haute, and other officers. The entire
force followed this detachment.
when we had penetrated the city a
few blocks one of my orderlies called
my attention to q group Of men up q
side street, standing under tree and
waving white flag. rode up toward
the party with my staff and was con.
fronted by Mayor Calhoun. He sur
rendered the city to me and asked pro-
lection for life and property. asked
him it there were any armed men in the
city. "Yes, said he, Gen. Ferguson is in
command of a brigade of mounted men,
'Well,' replied, you see we are going
into the city, and if we meet opposition
we shall fight. If our progress is i'm
peded, if Gen. Ferguson stays and
fights, cannot promise you protection.
In that event do not know what will
happen. We shall not offend peaceable
citizens, and there shall be no molesta-
tion of property. We are not on a loot
ing expedition
II accepted the surrender of the city,
and rode on with my staff. Going fur
ther into the town I found that Gen.
Ferguson and his entire brigade had
fed without firing gun, although his
force was much larger than mine. I
saw Mayor Calhoun once more and told
him where my headquarters would be,
and assured him that if any of my men
were guilty of conduct unbecoming
union soldiers, if he would report the
circumstances to me would see that
the offenders were punished. at once
sent messenger to Gen. slocum, who