The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-02-21


scouts, ever vigilant, ascertained this
fact. and reported it to General Grant
/ at II O'Clock of the morning of the day
at l o'clock in the afternoon of which
the attack was to be made
1T became necessary to countermand
. the order previously given and to di-
rect a different movement of the forces,
and the code was useless. It was nee
. essary to send a written message 10
Sherman, who was, by a circuitous
route, fourteen miles distant. and two
/ messengers We're dispatched by that
route. But there was grave doubt as to
whether they would reach General
! Sherman in time, and volunteers were
called for who should go through the
Confederate lines, it being only six
miles across by that route.
The boy of whom I speak volun-
teered for the service. With the mes
sage wrapped in tin foil, secreted in his
mouth. ready to be swallowed ip case
he was captured. and clad in noun
taineer's dress of gray, he started upon
his mission. He took his life in his
hands, for if captured he would have
been shot as a spy. By his wit and his
quickness and his bravery ne succeeded.
He went through the Confederate lines,
claiming to be a Confederate dispatch
bearer, he escaped detention. AT the
last he was three times fired at. He
went down into the jaws of DEATH he
went down into the mouth of hell He
reached Sherman, he delivered the mes
sage, and the proposed attack was
abandoned. although Sherman, as di-
rected, kept up a heavy cannonading
in fn TQy-aer Tha
noticed as he was passing through the
Confederate lines that Bragg was weak
ening his right in order to march his
forces to the left to resist the supposed
attack of Sherman. He reported this
fact to Sherman, who thereupon, with
Sheridan; made an attack upon Bragg's
weakened left, and then came that cele-
brated attack upon the rifle pits, which
ended when the sun went down with
our flag floating upon the heights of
Missionary Ridge.
Gentlemen of the convention, While
in the history of our war the names of
the generals who commanded great
and of the heroes who exc
cuted them, will go down to posterity,
there is another book, not written by
man, in which the name of that six
teen-year-old boy will be written in let
ters of light.
He fought through the war, and re-
manned in the service until mustered
out when peace was declared. During
the last six months of his service, he
carried a volume of Blackstone in his
knapsack, and thus began the study of
law. After peace was declared he con-
tinued his studies. He was admitted
in Iowa. He has practiced for twelve
years in San Francisco. He has estab-
lished an honored position at the bar of
California.
Gentlemen, I present to you for the /
office of Attorney General, not in the
name of any slate or combination; but
present to you, in the name of the sol /
diers of this Republic-hitherto neglect !
ed in this Republican convention /
present to you, in the name of those :
who unvexed the current Of the Missis- J
sippi, who battled above the clouds at !
Lookout Mountain, who sang the song +
Of triumph from Atlanta to the sea; /
who carried our banner, blood-spotted !:
and bullet-shredded, but flying still, tri- j
lmphant over all this land-I present
to you now for nomination the I'M i
starred, unepauletted hero of Mission
ary Ridge"
AAA
The story was a simple one, simply !
old. There was no ornateness and no !
attempt at oratory. 1t was not an in
lredible story, for there were many
such instances of unrewarded and I'M
accorded heroism during our civil war.
rhe personality of the speaker had lit
lie to do with the narration. He was
behind his theme, and not in front of it.