The Republican journal., 1904-08-11
A GETTYSBURG VETERAN.
Left for Dead ON the Field. Is Minus an
Arm, an Eye and Three-Quarters of his
Lungs

Left for Dead ON the Field. Is Minus an
Arm, an Eye and Three-Quarters of his
Lungs.
One of the first Grand Army vlsi-
tors. to the convention is man who
was left for dead two days on the bat
tle-feld of Gettysburg, carried in the
dead wagon to the trench where the
soldiers were buried. and for weeks
lowered between life and death, appar-
emily a doomed man. He is Capt.
John F. Chase of St. Petersburg, Flor
ida, and while he has only one arm,
one eye, and quarter of his old breath
ing capacity, he is still very much alive,
and preparing for the greatest time of
his life at the biggest Grand Army con-
ventiOn ever held.
81 want to let the boys know l am
here through the old war paper, The
Boston Journal" said Capt. Chase, as
he shook hands with all the staff in the
Journal Office, and spoke of the great
convention-"the biggest gathering of
the most famous army the world has
ever seen or will see"
ROMANTIC STORY.
''They all know my story" he went
on, wounded forty-eight times, left for
dead and unconscious for five days, SO
torn and shattered by shot and shell
the doctors could see through me, and
with seven ounces OF iron picked out
of me, when they found to their amaze
ment l might get well.
Il was in the Fifth Maine Battery,
and was one of the last men working
the guns after our horses were all shot
and most of our men dead. did not
get my medal from Congress for my
small part in that battle, but for being
one Of the last two men to keep firing
our last two guns, when the Fifth
Maine Battery was almost wiped out
at the battle of charlottesville, just
two months before the Confederates
came near cooking my goose for me at
Gettysburg. 1t was not their fault
that they did not for they sent enough
cold lead and iron scraps into me to
kill a dozen men, but the old man is
still here. | don't see how | stay on
living with nearly all the rest of the
boys gone, and | expect this to be my
last convention, but | won't give up
heart till l stop breathing for good
GIRL TILTED HIM.
"My first visit to Boston was on my
ing eight months in the hospital. The
newspapers told how terribly | had
been wounded, and while l was sur
prised and glad when they told me 1
would pull through, | had one bitter
disappointment. My best girl-for we
all had one-stopped writing to me
when she heard how badly | was dis
figured, and that hurt me worse than
the rebel shells OF the surgeons knives.
"Of course my mother and my sister
! wrote, but l felt very badly as boys
will feel, over the way [ had been
treated by the one cared for most l
was only 10 years old then, but big and
strong for my age, weighing POO pounds
before | was wounded, although l was
a skeleton of eighty-seven pounds when
discharged.
Before | went home | fixed up in
Boston, got a false arm, a false eye,
had my hair treated, for | had fear
full attack of erysipelas, and when |
started for home | wasn't such bad
looking fellow after all My sister had
arranged little reception, and the old
friends were gathered to welcome me
when | got home, and among them was
my faithless sweetheart.
SQUARED ACCOUNTS.
She was surprised tell you, to see
how different looked from what she
expected, and she tried to make amends,
but | treated her just like my other
friends, and would have nothing more
to do with her. A girl who will for
sake man in trouble will never make
him good wife, and the mother of my
seven children, who was proud OF my
scars instead of ashamed of them, was
a far better wife than my first sweet
heart would have been
''They tell me that when l came to
the first words l said were, Did we
win the battle?" and John r. Sweeney,
a Maine miller, wrote a song on that
question, of which am very proud"
Capt. Chase, who prefers to be called
''The Cannonees," will have his head
quarters at the American House, and
| meet old comrades there while in Bos-
ton. He will lecture in Harwich on
Sunday, and will be prominent figure
at the smoke-talks Of the veterans
Boston JOurnal Aup I'D