The National tribune., 1902-01-09
THE SALEM ARTILlER
Open Communication Between Blue and Gray
Capt. Kirk 20 Geo. Dallas Mosgrove.

+ anu the NTdN.-Iapi. MIX 10 GeO. Dllla
r Ny Dear Johnnie" I must tell you tn
; horrible design the Salem Artillery" hat
on Mongan the day he was captured il
, Ohio. This should really have been in
| corpOrated Ill my story of the Salem In
fantry," which appeared in The Nationa
Tribune sometime ago.
Well, to begin at the beginning durin:
, the ''Lincoln-DougasB Breckinridge-B Bel
Presidential campaign. was working il
Il machine shop in Salem, O. In the
shop were 30 Republicans and tive
Douglas Democrats. | was one of tho
Rcpuhlicans-in fact | was an Abolition
ist of the blackest dye. The Republican
majority in the works." being dead sure
of LincOln'S election, determined To manu-
facture a cannon to duly celebrate the an,
ticipated Lincoln victory. When the cannon
was ready for the boring process. the two
Democrats rebelled, refusing 10 work un-
less they were promised the use of the
gun in case their man should get there.
The Republicans, feeling assured that the
)ouSlaSIteS would never have any uSe for
the gun, readily granted all demanded con-
| ccSSions, and forthwith the cannon WAS
| finished and called the 'Ruckeye," in
/ honor of the name of the ''ironwOrks.' -
! This piece of ordnance. cast iron smooth.
bore, was a crude imitation of Il light u
FOUNDER Napoleon, and. in lieu of an
!
running gear of an old draycart When
Lincoln was elected, the Buckeye" loudly
announced the fact, and thereafter it
stood around in any old place neglected,
unhonored and unsung.
| must not omit To mention that con
nected with the machine works was
! boiler shop and as the holes for riycts
were punched out" the ''punchings" made
a big pile of canister shot, and thereby
hangs the tale which it is time for me to
unfold.
On that memorable Sunday, heretofore
mentioned, | returned from the front, on
furlough, and, dressed in my best regi-
mcntals. was going to see the girl | had
left behind me. Recognizing me as an of
iicer of the regulars" the Salem mob de-
manded that | should put them in shape
and lead them to lick" Morgan, who.
they said, was coming to town. i had not
obtained furlough and travelled from
North Carolina to Salem to lick Morgan"
and, having more cOngenial business on
hand, | pcremptorily declined the hOnol
the warlike Salemites sought to thrust
upon me. | volunteered the opinion, how.
ever, that even with my leadership they
were neither properly equipped nor dis
cipiincd to lick Morgan and his men,"
suggesting also that, ia their case, dscre-
ton was the better part of valor They
then spake unto me diSdanfuly, saying
they would blow Morgan and his men into
shoe strings with the Salem Artillery-if
they could find that nOndcscript battery.
a party of the less arrogant mcekly in
quired whether | could confirm the gen
eral belief in the deadly efficacy of "cld
Buckeye" Disgustedly, | told them that
the old thing would work all right that
all they had to do was to put n few
pounds of powder into her, then lot of
dry paper or rags, then about two bushels
of the 'bGiler punchings," add some sod
ram her down tight touch her off, and
let 'er go, Gallagher or words to that
effect. However, upon second thought |
modified my instructions 10y telling them
not to touch her off, prematurely. but
to take the gun to the summit of Toler-
tons Hill, and there in ambush, await the
coming of Morgan. incidentally, | re-
marked that ''old Buckeye" would prob
ably burst aud kill the cannoneers, but
that that would be Il matter of minor i'm
pOrtance, because if they fired the gun at
Morgan's men would finish the business
by filling them so full Of holes that their
bodies would not even make good sieyes
They actually dragged forth that old
buckeye cannon and did all things as |
had ironically ordered, with the exception
that they did not touch her off" Morgan's |
merclful angel preventing his coming to |
Salem, and therefore the awful massacre
was averted.
That Sunday in Salem made Inc tired" |
had come there TO enjoy Il rest from |
wars grim-visaged front" but instead |
found myself i'll the very midst Of more
exciting wars alarms than any had ever
experienced IN the Army of the Potomac.
Some OF those fellows said they must |
fight Morgan to save their women and
children. ! told them that was ridiculous
bosh; that Morgan's men We're neither
Indians nor heathens; that they would
not modest the women and children, but
that they would capture their best
horses, If they did not follow the example
Of the good Quakers and run 'em out of
the way. L further told them that
Morgan's men were Kentuckians and that
they had more fascinating women at home
than any they could find at Salem. In
making that statement | was guilty of
prevaricatiOn and eXaggeratiOn. | was so
cussed mad that | even forgot the super
ior qualities of my own girl Some of the
Salem warriors wanted to mine the
road" and plant tOTpedoes along the |
highway but thought better of it, CON
hdently relying upon that fearfully loaded |
old Buckeye gun to do the bloody work
You can readily see how fortunate were
Morgan and his men-hOw fortune fayors |
the brave. | would have given any rca-
sonable sum of Uncle Sans currency to |
have had the fun Of seeing Morgan charge |
that artillery, and, consequently, to have
witnessed the exodus of that foolish mob.
You, no doubt noted with surprise my
statement of the prcponderancc of Re |
publicans in our machine shop" Well. |
the fact is, Columbiana County does not
know when it has enough. Garfield car
ried it by 3,T00 plurality, and the popula-
tion is not dense. Salem was the princi-
pal station on the Underground Rail
road" Upon one occasion, at least 20
runaway slaves stayed in my fathers gar,
ret three days and nights. hidden away
from their owner and the U. S. Marshal.
Salem was 'cussed and condemned from
Cincinnati to New Orleans.
L am greatly enjoying "The Crossing of
the River" and wish The National Tri-
hume was daily instead of a weekly;
and, although | did not and do not ap-
prove of the object you "Johnnies' had
in view, | have sense enough now to see
that it was simply matter of education
and environment that put you into the
Confederate and me into the Union army,
am all but sure that if my home had |
been in the South l would have been n
Johnnie" tool. u. KIRK, Captain.
101st Pa, Lima, o.