The National tribune., 1904-06-30
PICKET SHOTS
From Alert Comrades Along the Whole
Line.

From Alert Comrades Along the Whole
Line.
EARNED A PENSION, SURELY.
o.: Il like very much the in
terest The National Tribune evinces in the
soldiers and their widows.
1T seems strange to me that the men
who received Medals of Honor for their
bravery in battle want pensions of $40
month, when there were thousands and
who starved to death in rebel
prisons in preference to taking the oath
Of allegiance to the rebel Government or
to take the oath of parole and go outside
of the pens and work for the rebel Govern
ment, by either of which they could pro-
cure rations. 1t would be vastly less tor
ture and less terrible to be shot to death
in battle than to hunger and starve and
slowly and painfully die in want and filth
.starve to death in prison, unsheltered
Those who died in battle were spared
months of agonies endured by those who
were confined in rebel pens.
Now. was three months in Anderson
vile, without shelter, blanket, overcoat or
enough to eat, or food that was fit to eat.
l was stricken with typhoid fever after a
hard campaign in Virginia, about the holi-
days Of G2-63, and for most of the re-
of that Winter l lay in Ward G.,
Armory Square Hospital, Washington, d.
c., until able to be transferred to Clcve-
land. O., to convalesce. / was told that
was go very low that my recovery was
considered impossible. l finally reached
the regiment at Goose Greek, Va, on its
way to Gettysburg; and when l did l was
not able to walk, but had to crawl about
on hands and feet! am now unable to
work; always feeling effects of that fever
and of my prison hardships and army ex-
posures and services. l have not been able
to farm since 1893; several times l have
been rejected when / applied for pension.
You see how much our Government loves
the soldiers who saved it and caused so
great prosperity to the people and the Ma
ton! But expect to ever take and read
The, National Tribune, because it is the
soldiers friend"
CONCERNING PENSIONS FOR LOST LIMBS.
&. w. NJ. Smith, Corporal, Co. ID, 18th
ILL.,. Quincy, ILL.,, writes: Il believe it to
be duty of every patriotic American
citizen to protest against injustice done to
those veterans who lost an arm or leg
since the close of the rebellion. They were
good soldiers, they are good citizens. They
served the country till its assailants were
subdued; returned to the pursuits of peace
from which they had withdrawn to defend
the flag of their country. Later misfor-
tune befcll them. BY the undying graft
tude of the Government they saved they
were, % years after the war, voted pen
sion that must not exceed $12 a month !;
which was good-as far as $12 would reach
to support man incapacitated for labor.
The men who lost limb in the service
have been better cared for. Ever since
the war they have received enough to at
least sustain life upon; and the last Con-
gress raised the amount $40 month for
each of them: but in its great wisdom and
regard for the country's sa-
viors, it saw fit to erase from the same bill
the clause granting the sum of $50 per
month to ex-sOlders suffering the same
injuries, received, however, since their dis
charge from the service.
Consistency thou art q jewel We
would ask, which of these two classes of
ex-soldiers rendered the greater service for
the country? Those who were disabled in
the first vOlley and carried from the field,
or those who brayed the battle and the
breeze until every rebel had laid down his
gun!
"Pension every honorably discharged SOL
der according to his disability, and justice
will have been done."
STONE RIVER WEATHER.
!. w. b. Moorehead, 21st Ohio, writes from
Toledo, o.: I'm your issue of Feb. %,
Serg't. Scott, 18th Ohio, says that during
battle of Stone River it showed. | was in
that battle and l can't remember of it
showing. l know we had some bad wealth
er, and we suffered great deal. We were
in Negley's Division, Third Brigade-74th
lnanded by Col. Miller. The 21st Ohio
lost at Stone River, "a killed and 40
wounded. great many of the wounded
died soon after. l would like to hear from
any one who was in that fight, especially
Negley's Third Brigade. Tell us how the
weather was, if nothing else.
I'm the Spring Of 1863, while we were
camped near Murfreesboro, there was a
citizen hanged on scaffold near our
camp, by order Of Gen. Rosecrans. Can
any one tell what he was hanged for?
enlisted Sept. Is, 1861; was discharged
July p, 1865; was with regiment all the
time of it's service"
TO REMIND sTAY-AT-HoMEs.
Lieut.. II. Warren Phelps, Co. III, 95th
Ohio, Columbus, Ohio, writes: II wish
you would send to my address several copies
of your issue of Dec. II. The statement
in it about the dependence of U. S. Govern
ment upon the soldiers and sailors to take
the Treasury notes is interesting. l want
to call it to the attention of some people
who are now defaming the ex-soldiers and
sx-sailOrs for being pensioners, and who have
robbed them whenever they had opportun-
ity. l wish to remind them of the fact that
there was time when they were depend
ent upon those men not only to keep the
enemy from coming North and destroying
homes and property, but to keep up the
good credit of the Government by taking
at par, without murmuring, the Govern
ment's paper deprecated as it was while
they, the people at home. were demanding
gold, or its equivalent, for their produce,
which the Government purchased at sell
er's prices, unstintingly, for the use of the
men in the field and on shipboard."
UNKNOWN.
Comrade Fl. c. Thompson, of Salem,
Ind, gives a slight clew in the following
letter to the disappearance of a soldier
Can anybody help locate the relatives?
Sometime in July or August, 1865, a
regiment of Illinois soldiers passed through
our town on their way home to be mustered
out of the service and paid off, The
train stopped at the station and some of
them reported they had lost a man some
where, but did not know where. In short
time sonie one reported that a man had
been killed at q covered bridge a short
distance east of town. Some Of our boys
went up there and found that a soldier
had been knocked off the train and killed.
We brought him to town and had him bu-
ried in our cemetery. There were no papers
Or anything about him to identify him, only
we know he belonged to the Illinois regi-