Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-12-29
DAILY SHORT STORY
Under Two Flags.
IOriginal.l

u1nner, 'nuu no pafallel IN the clV1i
war, not among generals or even Off
GERS of high rank, though knew a case
of captain who fought on both sides.
But the change was not from disap-
pointed ambition. II was from love-"
"Yet it was all the same inexcusa-
BILE"
There was strong temptation, and
the man was very young. You can
| judge better after hearing the story.
Henry Morgan was but eighteen
when the war came OH. Living in Ken
lucky, where families were divided his
father and mother were UniOnists
while his sister and brother were Con-
federate sympathizers. Henry was
more thoughtful than most men of his
age, and his fathers arguments made
deep Impression on him. When, there
| fore. II Union regiment was organized
in the neighborhood. he enlisted. He
was much troubled ut the contemptu-
GUS treatment of those of his own age,
especially as he had followed his judg-
ment rather than his sympathies. How
ever, his little sweetheart Lille Storms.
stood by him, as she would have done
under any circumstances, and this was
great comfort.
Henry Morgan proved To be nat
ural fighter. He was one of the very
few men who are unconscious of fear
His GOODNESS under fire made him first
4 lieutenant. then Il captain.
when Bragg was marching on
Louisville i'll the fall of 1862. Henry
passed through his old home. The
meeting Of the lovers was delightful.
absorbing. but it only rendered their
separation more painful. Lille held to
| her lover as if he were going to certain
death, begging him to do anything to
avert the recurrence of the long alb
| sence they had endured. The Union
troops marched on. but Captain Nor
gan remained. Then came II detach-
ment of the Confederate army which
| occupied the place and captured him.
1t was a relief both to him and to Lii
lie, since Henry was put on parole and
permitted to remain at home. Among
the men who had captured him were
many of her old friends, who convinced
them that the recent Confederate sue
ceSSeS precluded the possibility of the
north ever restoring the Union. This is
| not remarkable when ut that time
some of our most prominent Union
generals were of that opinion. Proba-
bly, what influenced Henry most was
| that the southerners would probably
never be driven away from his home
again and he would not have to endure
a long separation from Lille. Yielding
to the persuasion of all except his IA
ther, who was absent from home, COM
manding a Union regiment, he accept
| ed the appointment of captain in the
| Confederate army. Lille, not fully
realizing what he had done, was de-
lighted.
while we were lying at Murfrees-
boro in the spring of 1863, in one of our
brushes with the enemys cavalry Hen
ny Morgan was captured, recognized,
tried for desertiOn to the enemy and
sentenced to be shot. | was acting as
provost marshal ut the time and had
charge OF the prisoner. y few days
before his appointed execution he sent
for me. Dwelling on his unnatural
taking off. he was planning To render
it as light as possible TO his sweet
heart. Could she not he led to believe
that lie had died in battle. or, better
yet, be left under the impression that
ne was among the missing and would
some day come back to herr L nave
never seen case of such unconscious
ness of the disgraceful act for which
he suffered. He gave me the whole
story, not the bare synopsis l have
given you. but much To show me that
he and Lille Storms were actually
what with married people is often an
empty name one At any rate, her
misfortune had obliterated his own.
He begged SO hard that after consul
tation with the general commanding
consented on his making written re-
quest, to a secret execution and prom
ised him that | would do all in my
power to prevent the fact of his iden-
tity being known.
''The papers in his case were sent to
Washington for approval, and before
they were returned we had moved on
Tullahoma, from there advancing to
Chattanooga, where they were handed
to me approved. \ few days before
the day fixed for the execution came
the battle of Chickamauga, in which
all of the Army of the Cumberland eX-
cept Thomas corps was routed.
never saw Captain Morgan again.
Whether he fell into the hands of the
Confederates and fought during the
rest of the war with them L don't
know"
gentleman on the opposite side of
the table had listened to the recital
with singular and at times a panied
interest.
Gentlemen" he said, Il can tell you
what became of Captain Morgan. At
Chickamauga he fell into the hands of
Confederate Colonel Elliott Brown, an
1,.,
told his story. Colonel Brown advised
him to go and state his case to his IA
ther. He did so, and the visit led to
Colonel Morgan securing a pardon for
his son, who served the rest of the war
fighting for the Union"