The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-01-09
MEMORY OF COLONEL MALTeY

!
died at St Luke's Hospital, Chicago. a
little snow-haired Woman who had borne
ilfes burdens for just the tilne allotted
by the Psalmist. If during the days that
! this woman lay i'll at the hospital OF the
Beloved Physician her eyes wandered
about the walls of her room they proba-
Dly for the first time in forty years, when
within any room chosen by their owner
as an abiding place. failed TO rest upon
the folds of an American flag.
The flag and a husbands memory were
| the most cherished things in the life of
! Mrs Maivina ~ Maltby. Neither was
ever long absent from her mind. In the
pariOr of every residence which she oc-
! cupied and IN her own particular room
were picture and q soft silken banner
OF her country. In Mrs Malt5y's heart
| there cwelt great pride in the memo
ries which her mind treasured. How
| forgetfui are people and how forgetful al
| ways are republics. Mrs. Malvsna a.
| Maltby was the widow Of Jasper a Malt
| by, of Galena, H., colonel Of the Forty
fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. more IA
nil.arly known in the darker DAYS OF the
/ country's history as the '.Washburn Lead
| Mine Regiment"
How many men are there to-
day to whom this means anything
unless it were coupled, as it is above,
with some specific information? Yet this
| man Jasper a Maltby was chosen by
! General Grant, on the advice of AIcPher-
son and Logan, to lead. with his single
/ regiment, the most desperate enterprise
/ al the siege OF Vicksburg. and, as the
| historians have ii, one of the three most
/ desperate enterprises Of the entire war of
| Secession.
There are today a few surviving mem
| bers Of the old Forty-fifth Illinois IN
whose veins the words Fort Hill Mine
| will make the blood tingle. It was only
a week before the glorious Fourth on
which Pemberton surrendered the con-
/ federate city. IN LOgan's front lay Fort
/ HILL 1t was decided at a council by the
generals that its sapping and mining and
the subsequent Selling and holding of the
embrasure made by the explosion would
1 be Of tremendous moral and strategicaI
value to the Union cause. The place was
commanded by confederate artillery and
! by sharpshooters. in a hundred rife pits.
1t was known that if the explosion Of
Fort Hill were a success that few of the
men who rushed into the crevasse could
I hope to come out alive. II would be
what the Saxons called a deed of derring-
/ 90 Owing TO the limited space TO be oc-
cupied only q single regiment was to be
named TO jump into the great yawning
hole after the explosion and to hold it
against the hell fire of the enemy until
thrown up.
There were as many volunteers for the
enterprise as there were colonies of regf-
ments in Grants army. The choice fell
on Jasper A. Maltby and his following
of Illinois boys. Maltby had been wound
ed twice and had shown desperate valor
IN several of the engagements leading up
TO the final investing OF Vicksburg. He
had been tried as by fire and there was
no dross in him.
The time came for the explosion. The
Forty-fifth lay grimly awaiting the
charge into deaths pit. The signal was
given; there came q heavy roar and a
mighty upheaval. Sinelnce had barely
fallen before there rose one great rever-
berating yell, and the Lead Mine Regi-
ment, led by its colonel, Jasper A Maltby,
with his lieutenant colonel, RIelancthon
Smith, at his elbow, hurled itself as one
man into the smoking crater. The lieu
tenant colonel was shot through the head
and MORALLY wounded before his feet
had fairly touched the pits bottom. The
colonel was shot twice, but paid little
heed to his wounds. A battery of confed-
crate artillery beiched shrapnel into the
ranks and the sharpshooters seemed fair
~ to be firing by volleys. The question
became one of getting some sort of pro-
lection thrown up before the entire regi-
ment could be annihilated. Certain men
in the pit were told to answer the
sharpshooters fire and to make il hot for
the cannonaders in the rebel battery
They did what they could. but it avaiied
little to save their comrades, who were
toiling TO throw up the redoubt. Men
fell on every side. The colonel making
himself always conspicuous, received
third wound.
Beams were passed into the pit, and
these were put into position as a protec-
ton by the surviving soldiers. The joists
were placed lengthwise and dirt was
quickly piled about them. Colonel Malt
by helped in the lodging of the beams.
He went to one side of the crater where
there was an elevation. There he stood
fully exposed, a shining mark He put
his shoulder under a great piece Of tim
Der, and, weak with wounds though he
was. he pushed IL I'D and forward into
place. The bullets Clipped the woodwork
and spat in the sand all about him. One
confederate gunner of artillery trained
his great piece directly at the devoted
leader A solid shot struck the beam
from which Colonel Maltby had just re
moved his shoulder, and split it into
kindling. Great sharp pieces Of the wood
were driven into the colonel's side, and
he was literally hurled to the bottom Of
the black pit.
The action was over shortly, for the
gallant Forthwith succeeded in making
that deaths hole tenable- Then they
picked up their colonel. he was still alive.
though the surgeon shortly afterward
said that it would be hard work to count
his wounds They took him 10 the field
hospital, and before he had been there
an hour there was clicking over the wires
to Washington a message carrying the
recommendation that Colonel Jasper A.
Maltby of the Lead Mine Regiment be
made a brigadier general OF volunteers
for conspicuous personal gallantry in the /
face of the enemy.
A week later Grants victorious forces
marched into Vicksburg. The thing was !
done. 1t had been Colonel Nfaitbys heart |
born desire TO March into Vicksburg at !
the head Of his regiment. This desire /
was known. There was a request from 4
General Logan that the surgeons hold a /
1t was held. The result 1
or it vas that Colonel Maltby was placed !
on cot in an ambulance which was !
drawn into the conquered city, while fol- /
lowing it came the surviving members Of /
the Forty-afth Illinois. Maltby had his |
wish.
Colonel Jasper a. Maltby. or General /
Jasper A Aaitby, as It soon became. |
lived until the end OF the war, but TO 4
system could long Withstand the shock
and pain of those gaping wounds. he
died IL the very city which he had /
helped to conquer. Since then = Gag
and a precious memory were rarely alb
sent from the life which finally flickered i
out when the white-haired little widow
died a. s. Luke's Eospital.-Edward =.
Clark.
An Enterprising Agent.
'fThac<eray IN the United states. By
r.-.re c.. xv5Fsou IN me January Cen /