Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-06-03
THE FIELD OFBATTLE
INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES or
THE WAR.
The Veterans of the Rebellion Tell of
WhistIing Bullets, Bright Bayonets,
Bursting Bombs, Bloody BattIess

proper place in history" said w. r.
Dixon, now in the treasury at Washing
ton, TO a reporter recently.
What was that? the reporter asked.
"fhe explosion Of a transport on the
mississippi River at o'clock in the
morning. twelve miles above Memphis,
will 200 soldiers, nineteen women
and ont child on board. / was one Of
the number, and have perpetual re
minder Of the occurrence In wounds
received at the time and rheumatics
from five hours in the water. OF the
200, 1.700 were lost oh, it was terri
bic. And somehow a strange fatality
seemed to follow that body Of men.
Let me relate the Incidents in their
order:
"On the 18th Of December. 1864, 1
was captured by the Confederates at
Nashville Tenn. and with others sent
to AndersOnville Early in April ar
engagements were made for an exchange
Of prisoners, and, accompanied by a
Confederate guard and officers, the An
dersonvllle contingent set out for Nicks-
burg, where the exchange was TO take
place. Before reaching Nicksburg-
shortly after leaving AndersOnville, in
fact-we had a frightful wreck. with
the train going at the rate Of forty-five
miles an hour. We got together again,
and, would you believe 1t, there was
another terrible wreck, worse than the
first. and with the train going at full
speed. What the casualties We're in
those wrecks l never knew. but they
must have been numerous.
I'VE reached vicksburg at last and
were waiting for an equal number of
Confederate prisoners 10 arrive in ORDER
to effect an exchange when news can e
Of the fall of Richmond and the as
sassination of Lincoln. when our guards
ard officers left without waiting for the
exchange, and we-2,2C0 Of us-were
ready 10 take the transport to be dis
tributed to our various destinations.
We had been In Yicksburg long enough
for the boys to write home to tell their
people of their coming and to receive
answers to their letters; so all was JOY
when the time was announced for us to
take the transport, the Sultana, big
side-whe,I steamer. and 300 soldiers.
| nineteen women and one child left
| yicksburg for their homes-with only
500 to reach them and but one of the
nineteen women. As it happened, ii
looked like offering a premium on sac
ritice to load that boat with over two
thousand souls. They were h'tddled on
all the decl.s so thick that there was
no passageway between them.
Nothing occurred, howe Ell, before
reaching Memphis. We landed there
about midnight for supplies. and then
| proceeded up tue river, when about >
O'Clock in the morning and about
| twelve niles above Memphis, some
thing did happen. and all at once. Oh,
( it was terrible. terrible! The explosion
4 the shock. the CULVER; boilers. pieces of
/ boat. shattered timbers. bodies whole
and bodies in fragments-arms, legs,
one here. another yonder; headless
/ shoulders and shou'derless heads. An
/ sickening, sickening! And the shrieks.
1 the groans, the cries for help. 1t was
+ pitiful. No language can describe ii as
/ It was How many persisted in midair
/ and how many found death after strug-
Cling with the cold and muddy water
| OF the Mississippi, only lie recording
! angel knows. But of the eco lives
/ LOO were lost. 1t seems to me that no
/ calamity of the war was so dreadful.
! shocking. Every soul left the boat.
Such as were not blown overheard
Jumped. and to destruction, for they
seemed to 90 in heaps and were
/ drowned in groups and hundreds, as,
/ instead of separating, they chung to one
/ another. and so each helped to drown
( himself and his fellow. As for myself
had presence of mind enough to Sc
[ !act vacant place in the water sway
from the rest, who appeared to huddle
all together. and jumped as far out as
/ could | struck out 10 get clear of
any struggling form, for contact meant
death for both, or for as many rs might
be together.
i / was fortunate enough to secure a
small piece of plank about four feet
long and six inches wide. and with this
under my left arm l used my right for
swimming SIngularly, I never came
in contact with single person. al
though the river was full of the five
hundred who were saved. | drifte,l
with the current and was ioated back
bv the eddies. so that after five Of the
longest hours mortal ever spent. as It
seemed to me, found myself off Mem
phis. and would have passed on with
ont knowing il had | not heard the
voices Of rescuers who had been pick
~ up bodies and swimmers from tbs
wreck. l called to them and they came
out tn me and hauled me in the boat
when ! collapsed. / was practically
dead from cold and numbnesS and l
nm satisfied | could not have held out
ten minutes longer.
Il was just able to sit upright in tha
bottom of the skif, and as we ap
preached the wharfboat at the landing
what do you think | saw? The little
child, the only one on the boat \
swimming survivor had saved it on q
piece of timher-t that is, saved il
through all the perils Of that awful
night Journey on the bosom of the great
Mississippi and brought it to Lpt
wharfboat at Memphis. twelve inter
mlnable miles they seemed. and i've al