The National tribune., 1902-03-06

| uniform consisting solely of his blouse. q
pair of trousers and pair of boots. The
weather was exceedingly hot, and Joe had
discarded his drawers, his shirt and his
socks; but he had his carbine and revolver
in good working order
Joe was one of the boy heroes of the
| civil war, and l am glad to say that he
| is still living and Il respected American
citizen. His home is in Cincinnati. His
messmate and friend was Jonathan Ken
nedy, who at the early age of 10 years
gave up his life for his country. Joe
Dresbach has written a sketch Of this
comrade, which | am glad to present here
with:
BOY HERO.
jock as we called him, was my mess
mate, and | loved him. Even now, after
a lapse of nearly 40 years since / laid
him to rest in his narrow grave, / pen
these lines with tear-dimmed eyes and
swelling throat. We shared together the
fortunes of the blessed old 9TH Ohio Cav,
and on more than one occasion | feared
his life would pay the forfeit of his stead
fastness; but the God of Battle saved
him from all dangers till almost the last
battle of the four years of strife; then,
alas, the fatal bullet and he died in my
arms.
In the cavalry engagement with For
rests Rough Riders, on Nov. %, 1864,
which may truthfully be spoken OF as a
sort of nightmare cavalry. Jock was
riding by my side in the dusk of the even
ing, when the flash of the guns of For
rests men seemed to he almost in our
faces. | heard the thud of the bullet
which struck Jocks horse. and the gallant
steed dropped dead in his tracks. The
enemy was right onto us, and / had no
time TO take Jock up behind me, but 1
refined in n second, and saw him land on
his feet all right as the horse went down.
yelled 10 him to take TO the woods
Kennedy, instead of taking to the
woods, crawled under panel of the fence
which had been thrown down by us, as
we always did when on picket, so as to
be able 10 handle ourselves in case of an
attack. The enemy went into camp
where our reserve picket had been. and
built fire within short distance of
where poor Kennedy was in hiding. He
could hear every word they said.
"One of the 'Johnnies' said, Il saw
Yank 20 down out here, and I'll 90 out and
see if can find him. He walked through
the gap in the fence over the spot where
KENNEDY lay, and took the saddle and
bride off Kennedy's dead horse. and
brought them back to the fire to 20
through them. The Johnny said, Il don't
see the "Yank;" | think he got away
My partner said he lay quiet for a
while, then crawled out from under the
fence and away from the light of the fire
and got into the woods, which concealed
him. He worked his way to the place
where the enemy's horses were tied they
not having been unsaddled yet. He picked
out the best horse the darkness would al
low, mounted it, and rode right through
their camp until he came to the pike,
which he followed until he struck the
Kidgf n tho f,i.I-otc yt-ba IoI
ed him, but he had no time to stop and
give the password. He gave his horse
the spur and went by so quickly that the
Johnny thought he had important dis
patches for someone. He kept right on
through the reserve pickets and was halt
ed by the advance videt, with whom he
exchanged shots, and came into camp all
right, and with as fine horse as ever
was IN the regiment
Jock was n gallant soldier in every
sense of the word. He was wounded at
Pulaski, Tenn, and was killed at Colum-
bus, Ga. God bless his memory, say |,
Tor he was my friend and my partner, and
was always ready for duty, and / write
this TO do honor to as brave a soldier as
ever fired shot for the flag"
DINING WITH THE GOVERNOR OF INDIANA.
1t is not often that so humble a person
as Captain of Cavalry is invited to dine
with so exalted n person as the Governor
OF State, but it was my privilege to dine
with the Governor of Indiana one time.
1t was this way: have heretofore spoken
of the Persimmon Brigade. This com
mand was, If | remember correctly COM
posed of the 115th 1l6th, 117th and 11Sth
Ind, and included a large number OF boys,
apparently, not over 1G years of age.
In the Winter of 1868 1864 we frequent
ly met this noted brigade and at times be-
came quite chummy with them Rations
became mighty scarce in those days over
in East Tennessee, and occasionally some