The National tribune., 1902-08-28
JUSTICE HOLMES
AS A SOLDIER,
His Distinguished Fathers Search for
Him When Lying Wounded.

him When Lying W0anoeo.
Hon. Oliver Wendell Holmes, recently
appointed Associate Justice of the SUI
preme Court of the United States, went
out in 1861 as boy Lieutenant in the Goth
Mass. He was wounded in the breast at
Balls Bluff, and promoted to Captain. AT
| Antietam he was severely wounded in the
neck, and his father-Dr Oliver Wendell
Holmes, THE Autocrat Of the Breakfast
| Table" Immediately started from Boston
| to find him. He has told the story charm
ingly in MY Search for the Captain"
I'm the dead Of the night which closed
upon the bloody field OF Antietam my
household was startled from its slumbers
by the loud summons of a telegraph mes
sage. The air had been heavy all day
with the rumOrs of battle, and thousands
and tens of thousands had walked the
streets with throbbing hearts in dread an
ticipation of the tidings any hour might
bring"
CAPT. HOLMES BADLY WOUNDED.
The message the messenger brought was
dated Hagerstown, 18th, and read:
"To Oliver Wendell Holiness: Capt
Holmes wounded; shot through neck;
thought not mortal; at Keedysville.
- William G. Ledue."
DIR. Holmes found that Hagerstown was
in Maryland, and started next day for
that place IN company with the father of
Lieut.. Col. Wilder Dwight. Dwight, too,
had been srievously wounded in that fight.
DR.. George IL. Gay accompanied them.
| The trip might have been tedious one
to most people.
! Some might naturally think" DIR.
Holmes remarked, that anxiety and the
WEAKNESS of prolonged search after a
| near relative would have prevented my
taking any interest in or paying any re-
gard to little matters around me. Per-
haps it had just the contrary effect, and
acted like diffused stimulus upon the
attention. 1t is the simple truth that l
did look out of the car window with an
| eye for all that passed, and from time to
| time even laughed very nearly as those
| DO who are attacked with a convulsive
sense of the ridiculous, the epilepsy of the
diaphragm.
EEPoRTED TO DE DEAD.
| "At Philadelphia we went to the house
| on Walnut street where the Captain would
be if in that vicinity. Several of his
| brother officers were there. A bed was
waiting for the Captain, but no one knew
| where he was We went on to Balti-
more.
I'VE left the Eutaw ifonse to take the
cltS IOF fEeGeTFk, Ut.
| ucs. LAS we stood on the platform Il tele-
| graphic message was handed in silence to
My companion. Sad news. The lfeless
body of the son he was Fastening to see
was even now on its way to him in Balti-
more. 1t was no time for empty words
of consolation. / knew what he had lost,
and that now was not the time to intrude
upon grief borne as men bear it, felt as
women feel il"
LOOK THROUGH HOSPITALS.
| DIR. Holmes went on alone to Frederick,
and the search for the wounded Captain
began among the various temporary hos
| pitfalls. A wounded officer told him that
| the Cartain was not so badly wounded,
hut added incidentally. that he had heard
a rumor that the Captain had been killed;
doubtless false. DIR. Holmes hired man
to drive him to Middletown. A search OF
the hospitals there proved fruitless. He
drove to Keedysville.
| "On entering the small settlement" he
says, "a familiar face and figure blocked
| the way like one of Brnyan's giants. The
| tall form and benevolent cOnntenance, set
! off by flowing hair, belonged to the excel
| lent Maj. Frank Il. Fay, of Chelsea. who,
| like my philanthropist, only still more
| promptly, had come to succor the wounded
of the great battle"
| But Maj Fay didn't know anything Of
| the Captain. A medical officer came up.
DO you know anything of Capt.
| Holmes. of the Mass. 20th?" asked DIR.
| Holmes.
20. yes; he is staying in that house;
! | saw him there: doing very WELL"
"A chorus Of hallelujahs arose in my
sonl. but I kept them to myself" the mar
rative continues. An old woman opened
| the door.
Cart. Holmes here?'
20, no, sir. Left yesterday morning for
Hagerstown in milk wagon"
DIR. HOLMES BEGINS TO DESPAIR.
Thinking that the Captain was on his
| way to Philadelphia, DIR. Holmes set out
| for that place, but when he reached the
| Walnut street house he was informed that
| there was mot a word from the Cap
| tain His heart sank within him. The
! Captain, perhaps, had been taken i'll on
the road between HagerstOwn and Phila-
| delphia, and he set out to sweep the coun-
| try for him At Harrisburg a wounded
officer told DIR. Holmes that he conyersed
| with n Captain of the 10th Mass. that
| day. He was tall and his name was
| Holmes. His arm was in a sling and he
left on the o'clock train for Philadel-
phia.
Next day telegraph message was sent
| TO Philadelphia, but the reply came back
| day, however, came a message from Ha-
gerstown.
Capt. II. still here. Leave Z, tomor-
row, for Harrisburg, Pa. Is doing well.
Mrs. H. K"
so NEAR BUT YET so FAR.
$50, them" DIR. Holmes says, Il had
| been within 10 miles of where my wound
| ed soldier was lying, and then calmly
| turned my back upon him to come once
more around by a journey of 300 or 400
| miles to the same region l had left. No
| mysterious attraction warned me that the
| heart warm with the same blood as mine
was thrObbing SO near my own. l thought
| of that lonely, tender passage where Ga
briel glides uncOnsciOusly by Evangelnc
| upon the great river. All. me, if tina.
railroad crash referring to railroad ac-
| cident that had just happeneO had been
a few hours earlier, We, too, should never
have met again after coming SO close to-
! gcther.
The source of my repeated disappoint-
ments was soon made clear enough. The
| Captain had gone to Hagerstown, intend
| ing to take the cars at once for Phila-
| delphia, as his three friends actually did
so, and as l took it for granted he GER
tainly would. But as he walked languidly
| some ladies saw him across the street,
| and, seeing, were moved with pity, and,
| plying, spoke such soft words that he
| was tempted to accept their invitation and
rest awhile beneath their hospitable roof"