Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-12-27
SOLDIERS STORIES.
ENTERTAINING "REMINISCENCES
OF THE WAR.
Graphic Account of Stirring Scenes
Witnessed on the Battlefield and in
Camp-Veterans of the Rebellion Re-
cite Experiences of Thrilling Nature.

Witnessed on the Battlefield and in
Camp-Veterans of the Rebellion Re-
cite Experiences of Thrilling Nature,
On the morning of the Goth of Sep
tember, 1864, the people of the North
were treated to an extraordinary
amount of news, even for those days.
Ii daily of that date could be easily
found now | would like to look It over
and see the startling intelligence that
was reported. For it was on that
morning that the news of Sheridan's
great victory ut Winchester came; and
In the same breath the people were in
formed of an audacious and very near
" successful attempt TO release the
Confederate prisoners on Johnson's
island, off Sandusky. sieZe the United
States gunboat Michigan. make Con
federate cruiser of her, and hold Lake
Erie, and perhaps the adjacent waters
under her dominion.
l was one of Sheridan's army, and
the Importance of the victory mt Win
chester was very clear to me, as it was
to my comrades. The event that had
happened near Sandusly on the same
day Sept. 10, 1864, when we learned
of ii, did not seem To us to be a matter
or much Importance. We were in
clined TO think it madcap attempt of
few refugees IL Canada, which new
er had any chanc, of success; and we
Were not much q sturbed by the news
We did not real. * the gravity of that
situation, as did the people of Buffalo
Sandusky, Toledo and Detroit. Those
good citizens awoke ON the morning of
the 10th to the knowledge that Il dar-
ing Confederate raid right among their
homes had just missed success. when
the consequences of success would
nave been To release a powerful body
OF the enemy right in the North. put
the cities and towns of Lake Erie mn
DER tribute, drive of all commerce and
travel from the lake, and create such
terror i'm the North as would p1l be
created by n great Confederate victory
IN the field. A scare" was caused
Ike To nothing else in the whole course
''NA' hppliN were hurried 10
these points; before their arrival the
citizens patrolled the streets with
arms, and the excitement was M fever
heat.
There WIS good cause for II. The
daring MIXTURE of that attempt to seize
Lake Erie, with all the tremendous
consequences tLat would be sure 10
come from that stroke, are not we'll
known to the veterans, as they should
be 1t was an important phase of the
war that they did not see, and which
they should have in mind. Briefly
stated the plan was this:
The only United States vessel on
lake Erie was the Michigan. d steam
err carry eighteen guns. She was at
this time lying off Johnsons Island.
m Sandusky Bay, which since 1862 had
been used as prison for captured
Confederate officers, there being on
Sept. 10, 1864, almost 2,4OO of them
there. The guns of the Michigan com
lnanded the island, and no attempt Mt
revolt ON the part of the prisoners
could be made while this was so. But
II the Michigan could be captured. the
prisoners could easily overcome their
guard; they could arm themselves
cross TO the mainland. get horses and
rlde southwark at will. plundering and
destroying as they went-for there
We're no troops in Ohio to stay them.
And the steamer with n Confederate
crew aboard could shell any CITY on
the lake, If that We're thought hest
and could do infinite damage To the
Union cause, besides the moral effect
OF such victory. II would he ,nuch
like blockade of the lake ports.
The Canadian ports were at that
time swarming with refugees. fugi.
lives from the draft, and Confederate
officers and agents. The plan which
has been outlined was concocted by
Jacob Thompson, the crafty secret
agent of the Confederacy in Canada.
lie gave the charge OF II to one OF
those daring men whom the Confeder-
ates had ready everywhere that audac-
ity and devotion to their cause could
he used
John Yates BealI. who undertook
this astonishing enterprise. and paid
the penalty Of failure with his life was
in many respects an extraordinary
man. He was at this time in his thir-
ty-second year. He was a native Vir-
ginian, graduate of a university, and
at the outbreak Of the rebellion owned
plantations and slaves worth mil
lion and a half of dollars. He was an
officer of the Second Virginia Infan-
try. which formed part Of the stone
wall Brigade" He had seen much
service, and was particularly chosen
for the command Of this expedition.
On the morning Of Sept. 10 the
steamer Philo Parsons, plying between
Detroit Sandusky and the islands. was
boarded at Sandwich and Maiden by
twenty-four men, who brought an old
trunk with them. There was nothing
peculiar in their appearance, and they