The National tribune., 1902-09-04

| One by one, as the lOcusts entered the
| stOre-house of the King in the Far East
by a chink in the wall, and extracted
| therefrom, each, his grain of corn, so We
private soldiers and non-coms, after Civ
| ing the cOuntersign at the door to the vigi-
| liant guard, stole-no, that's not the term
our soldiers never stole-they marched in
one after another in perfect time, without
haste or confusion, and, when he could not
find a piece of bacon to suit him, he Sc
lected one of the COlonel's hams, and vice
versa. The result thereof was that when
the excursion broke up and the soldiers
had departed from the steamboat each to
his own tent, the COlonel's hams were
scattered-not to the four winds, but to
, the three Badger State regiments.
We made our landing at Belle Plain
about s o'clock p. M, by which time ii
was very dark and the rain was falling.
The trail up the hill to our camp was
steep and slippery, and every slip the
wrong way, but we got there o. X, the
COloners hams and all. There was one
soldier. in his 26th year, who had two
hams to tote-small ones, the large and
beautiful having been selected before his
turn came to give the countersign. l can
vouch for the truth of the statement he
made later, in my hearing, that the man
who carried two of the Coloners hams.
though ever so small, up that slippery trail
that night, earned them
My tent-mates We're anXiously awaiting
my return, for |, being the only one from
our tent honored with an invitation to at
tend the excursion, had promised, on my
honor as n soldier, not to forget them.
but to bring back some memorial of the
expedition worthy of one honored with SO
grand birthday picnic. On reaching
our quarters. | found the boys up and
dressed, waiting to receive me or anything
7 ,s.rlf Ir,V, n,x-,t,,r I
marked laconically: MAKE ready the
camp-kettle. Cook these hams, slice up
the meat nicely, and burn the bones-to-
night; for no man knoweth what the COM
ing day may bring forth" The boys
asked no questions. but Obeyed orders to
the letter. Imperial Cesar never had his
orders obeyed with greater alacrity.
The next day Col. Farchld ordered the
baggage wagons Tone would have been
sufficiently down to the landing to bring up
the fruits of the expedition. When the
wagons returned the Colonel seemed some
what disappointed in the amount of hams
produced. and at first waXed hot, express
ing his encouragement in words wild and
incoherent, but finally came to the sage
conclusion that the division of the cap
tured meats had been adjusted as nearly
right as he could have adjusted it himself.
Thereafter, when certain shoulder.
strapped gentlemen, who were on equal
and familiar terms with our Colonel, were
inclined to joke him concerning the out
come of his Westmoreland County sup
plies, the Colonel replied philOsophically:
my hams are all right; they are guarded
by Wisconsin volunteers"
THE GOVERNOR AND THE RUN BRIGADE.
In the month of April, 1868, we were
visited at our camp in Virginia by some
of the great men of their day and genera
ton. Among these visitors were two Gov
ernors of States-GOv. Morton, of Indiana,
and Gov. Solomon, of Wisconsin. As our
brigade contained one Indiana regiment
the 19th-and three Wisconsin regiments
the I'd. 9th and 7th-these Guberna-
torial visits were intended as, and prob
ably We're, an especial honor to our bri-
gade, but / don't think we appreciated
it. The 9th Mich. was also part of the
brigade, but we were not hOnOred by a
visit from the Governor of Michigan,
which slight did not in the least offend us,
for soldiers always regard these official
visits as "a custom more honored in the
breach than the observance"
When Gov Morton visited us, the bri-
gade was ordered out, and forming in a
hollow square, listened attentively to his
address, and the incident passed from our
memory, although Gov. Morton was one
of the great war Governors, and one of
Abraham Lincoln's ablest supporters.
Probably the following day not man in
the brigade could recall a single sentence
of Gov. Morton's address. With Gov.
Solomon and his address it was different.
No man of the brigade present on that
occasion and who heard that address ever
forgot it while he lived. That speech fur
nished more fun in our camp than any
other one incident during the civil war.
Gov. Solomon was German by birth,
and, judging by his sweet German accent,
it was plain that he had not been many
years over from the "Fatherland." He
had been elected Lieutenant Governor of
Wisconsin on the ticket with Gov. Har-
vey, in order to hold the large German
population of Wisconsin in line for a Wig
orous support and prosecution of the war,
and after the death of Gov. Harvey, who
was drowned at Pittsburg Landing, Solo
mon became the Governor of the State.
Gov. Solomon was an upright citizen and
u patriotic Governor, who did the best he
could to sustain the Government and the
Administration, so far as l know, but the
way he handled Uncle Sans English was
great medicine for the blues. Probably
TO State, in or out of the Union at that
time, could compare with Wisconsin in
her ability to furnish her soldiers in the
field with amusement.
During the Antietam campaign our bri-
gade had received the honor of being
designated 1.-The Iron Brigade" by no less
person that Gen. Mcclellan himself, and
although Mcclellan had gone where the
woodbine twineth, still we proudly wore
the title he gave us, which every man in
the brigade tried to retain, and the bri-
gade did retain, ever after. His Honor
the Governor knew of this fact, and was
proud of it, as he said himself; but in his
effort to do us honor by spreading the hon
orable title over us in his little speech,
his German accent played the very mis-
chief with us and our grand title.
On the day of the Governors visit a
damp Virginia rain was falling freely, and
his EXcellency was comically attired in
gum boots with leggin attachments, and
cloak and cap of the same material, which
added zest to his Germanized English ora
ton. After we were properly arranged
in the hollow square, the Governor was
introduced by our brigade commander
Gen. Sol Meredith, when he proceeded to
address us, about as follows:
"Soltgers off der l run Prigate: l am
glat to mage your acquaintance. l am
brout to need you today and 1 am brout
always dat l am der Chief egsegutive off
der Stade dat has der honor off sending
to der var dhree regiments off der vamus
run Prigate. Venever, in der gabacity
off der Chief egsegutive off der grade
State off Vinconsin, 1 address der officers
und der men off new regiment vat ist
going to der vrOndt, l always say to dhem,
'dhere list a pride egsample in der East
worldly off your broutest emulation
"Now, soltgers off der l run Prigate, /
dhank you in der name und in pehalf off