Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-08-14
IOWA SOLDIER POET
Gen. S. H. M. Byers Gives Vivid
Descriptions of His Experiences.
AUIHOROf SHERMAN'S MARCH TO SEA
Was a Prisoner in Columbia, S. G.,
When Verses Were Penned-Even
Rebels Liked Song Prominently
Connected With Foreign Service.

Connected With Foreign Service.
S. H. M. Byers, the Iowa soldier
poet, who is we'll known in Ottumwa
and who during the spring inaugural
ed the contest among the school chill
dren in the state in which Ottumwa
secured second place, delivered an adj
dress before the Woodbury. county
teachers institute recently, in which
he gave some vivid descriptions of
the experiences which came to him
during the years of the war OF the re-
! bellion. A brief outline OF his re-
marks is given in the following:
SIS for His Great Song.
The adventures of Major Byers
while he was rebel prisoner at vari-
Gus places for eighteen months sound
i like romance. He had all the mis-
fortunes of union war prisoner and
some of the splendid good fortune. Had
he not been captured by the rebels in
the charge up Missionary Ridge, he
never would have written the song
which won him the honor of bearing
dispatches from General Sherman to
General Grant, telling him of the
march to the sea- 1t is also probable
that he would not now hold the dis
tinction of having occupied an lmpor-
tant diplomatic post longer than any
;, other man if his reputation for writing
the song had not appealed to Presi-
dent Arthur, and all the presidents
who succeeded him, until the close OF
: President Harrison's administration.
Major Byers first was appointed Unit
ed States consul to Rome by Presi-
!, dent Arthur and was reappointed to
Switzerland by the succeeding presl-
dents.
:. Though he never received but So
u from any of the numerous publishers
who sold over million copies of the
0 song after the close of the war, Major
. Byers is not bemoaning the fact, and
!, is only glad to have contributed some
: thing which now occupies high
n place among the patriotic songs OF
!, America.
= Wars Were Different.
$ "The recent short war in which in
e ferior officers were made generals al
t most in a day, gives but little idea tc
e the people of this country of the
d bloody struggle in which nearly mil
e lion men were killed and whole sec
# ton of the country wiped out fol
It nearly twenty-five years almost as
It completely as If it had been swallow
d ed up by the Atlantic ocean," said MI
y Byers in beginning his lecture.
s my experience as prisoner bega1
it on the day of the charge up Mission
d airy Ridge. The brigade of which tn
Is Fifth Iowa was a member. and
which l was adjutant, was ordered t
cross the Tennessee river and marc
e across an open meadow to assault tn
g. ridge. The meadow was swept by tn
% fire from 500 cannon and thousands
IS muskets in the hands of the veteran
IS of the rebel army. The meadow wa
n crossed by the union troops and W
h. were just about to ascend the mouI
r. tain when the rebels came sweepin
N down upon us and before We coul
a stop them they had driven the rest G
N The brigade down the hill and captul
IL ed the soldiers in the front ranks.
ut was taken with eighty other member
ly of the Fifth Iowa, only sixteen
ly whom ever left prison alive.
81 Captured by confederates.
ou cat first | concluded to lie anon
e. the wounded, hoping to escape dete
at ton, but when l saw they were shoe
nj ing all the union soldiers, | waved
~ newspaper as signal to surrende
es They evidently did not like the part1
We ular paper l held up, for | was imm
IN diately fired upon. | then ran to Al
We other group of soldiers where | we
Is Is captured by a group Of Georglans ar
! taken to the top Of the mountain
IN There 1 had the satisfaction on tt
:, following morning of seeing Grant
lh army rout the enemy.
Us ''The prisoners were immediate
ne started toward the south. the
re- made a vow to escape from impriso
10 ment which l finally did, though
ny took me sixteen months to carry
as out. We were first taken to Allan
M in dirty stock cars whence we we
us us transferred to another railroad al
ny taken to Libby prison at Richmon
ny Our experiences there during t
lto winter were something awful, but v
: finally left it on account of the uncol
- Portable feeling that Richmond W
~ liable to be taken by storm We we
est again loaded in stock cars and TAX
7m. further south, this time to Macon, G
Disguised in the Gray.
list 81 determined to escape from Mac
ate and was along the line of the stocka
one night looking up the chances
- getting away, when shot rang
of the darkness and Captain Gesn
of a New York company, who "
standing near me, fell dead. The qua
a 1.,,1 -