The National tribune., 1902-03-06

AlltllNuu NHtitldios ttlhAi- ho Va III
brilliant. galaxy of men who have wo
their stars, and included in this list W
find the well-known names of Gems. Miles
Brooke, Otis and others.
The pages of history for hundreds ant
even thousands of years are teeming witt
the heroic deeds of Major-Generals, Brig
adier-Generals and Admirals and Yice-Ad
mirals, but the historians who speak o
the heroic deeds of the private soldier ar
not many. 1t is my proposition to la!
before the readers of The National Tri
bune my tribute TO the American Private
Soldier. In this connection | may state
that America furnishes Generals and Ad
mirals who are the equals in capacity OF
any Generals and Admirals in the world
America also furnishes statesmen and pro-
fesSional men who are the equals of the
most superior statesmen and professional
men in the world; but America furnishes
one class of men who to my mind are far
the superiors of those of the same class of
men furnished by any other nation on
earth, and this is the American private sol
der. This for the reason that the spirit
of patriotism runs hotter in the blood of
Aut -AiIltlltdl l'tbiilt ludi IL hbtS III iuuL
of any other people on the globe.
\ fair example of this was demon
strated during the Spanish-American War,
as told by Col. Theodore Roosevelt. He
tells the story of only Il few months pre-
yious to the war, partaking of the hospi-
1ality Of one of the multi-mllionares of
New York City. a man worth. maybe,
$50 100000. who invited Col. Roosevelt to
accompany an expedition on his yacht
built at a cost Of maybe. S500000
manned by a complete crew, and entailing
an expense of, maybe. $3.50 a day to run
it.
As stated above this man was n multi
millionaire, and could afford the large ex-
pense he had gone to for the amusement
of himself and his friends: but Col. ROoSe-
Welt tells that the next time he saw his
New York friend after paItaking of his
generous hospitality on board his yacht.
the multi-milionaire was peeling potatoes
for his mess of Rough Riders" in Cuba,
and he went up San Juan Hill with Ais
comrades, driving the Spaniards from
their last foOthold ON this continent. He
was serving his country at the munificent
salary Of SIC per month; and this is only
fair illustration of what the American
private soldier will do when his country
needs him.
In speaking of the heroism of the pri-
vate soldier of my own regiment. | wish
il distinctly understood 10y the readers of
The National Tribune that / do not in
any way disparage the heroism of the pri-
yate soldiers of other regiments, and there
were heroes almost without number but
1 know more about the boys of the 18th
Ohio Cav. than | do about those of other
regiments, and L desire to go on record
as telling of the heroes have known, and
let the other fellows tell of the heroes
they have known.
a REGIMENT WITH ], 200 LIEUTENANT
COLONIES.
Our regiment, the 9TH Ohio Cav. was
peculiar in some respects. and one of these
peculiarities was that we had regiment
with 1,200 Lieutenant-Col | trust
that no reader of The National Tribune
viii smile at this statement. but wait an
til | get through. In explanation ! may
say that the Governor of Tennessee made
a request upon the 9TH Ohio Cav for two
men to serve as officers in Tennessee reg
iments, and we gave him two enlisted
men, viz, Il. u. Stacey, of Co. Il. and Dan
iel NJ. COffman. Of Co. l.. and straight
away the Governor OF Tennessee appoint
ed them Lieutenant-Colonelso of Tennessee
Volunteers.
Now, it was not our proposition to al
low the Governor Of Tennessee to depIete
our regiment by making them all Lieu
tenaHt-Colonels of Tennessee regiments.
but in view of the fact that the 1893
men who We're left TO us were fully equal
20 those who were promoted. we have al |
ways looked Hpon the 1.19S remaining to
us as of equal rank TO the two who were
promoted into Tennessee regiments. |
Hence we had II regiment with / 200 Lieu
tenaEt-COlonels.
Of course. these men did not get the pay
of Lieutenant-C Colonies, but the American
soldier is not particular how much pay he !
gets; all he asks is a good opportunity ,
for fighting. and in this regard the men
of the 1th Ohio Cav. had ample oppor-
tunity. even though their pay did not ex-
cee1 SIG . month.
CoRP'L OBEDIAH MUTT.
Popularity aud generally known as
"Obc" McNutt was a private soldier in |
my company tDi. Of the Ith Ohio Cav. |
When lie enlisted he was not yet Is years /
old. and be was not old enough to vote /
Mt the end Of the war. There was one pc |
ruliarity about tIiiS boy-sOld;er that made |
him an important factor in the company, |
and this was that he had an infectious |
laugh, not a loud laugh. or a bOisterous |
laugh. but one Of those chuckiing laughs /
that set everyone else laughing who heard |
It, and put the whole company IN good |
humor. no matter what the discourage |
ments Of the day or night might be-
On one occasion. during the latter part |
Of the war. Forrest. The Wizard of the |
Saddle" with his many thousand horse |
men. came down On us like the wolf on |
the fold This occurred Oh the evening |
of Nov. %, 1864, and in the dusk Of even |
ing there was q niX-up between Forests |
men and ours.
One Of the soldiers of my company was |
separated from his company. and he rode |
up to a moving column. seeking his own |
and asked what regiment he was address |
ing. He was somewhat surprised when |
the answer came. The Sd Ala. and rec |
oguizing the fact that he was addressing |
his enemies instead of his friends, he did |
not join that column.
In the miX-up with Forests cavalry at |
nightfall we We're slowly driven back by |
numbers and in the tumult |
that followed we We're cut off from a |
picket post of 20 men of our regiment. |
10y Lieut.. James T.. Little.
During a lull in the fighting an order |
camc TO me. as Captain of the company, |
10 send man. if possible, through For |
rest s lines. warning Lieut. Little and his I
plckets of their great danger, and telling |
them TO get out of their trouble as best |
they could before being surrounded by |
/ orrest 5 army and to rejOi9 us by circing |
Forrest as quickly as possible
II seemed to me that to try to get |
through Forests lines was too danger |
Gus duty to detail man for. and | |
therefore asked for Il volunteer. The first |
man To ride out was Obediah McNutt. and |
lac WAS Immediately followed by his mess |
mate, Del Mount. Instructions were |
hastily given these two boys 10 20 through |