The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1905-02-17
FIRST BLOOD
of the Civil War Lost by Citi-
zen of 0wenSh0rO.
Rev. H. E. Smith Fell Wounded
and the First Man Killed
Fell Across Him.

Owensboro owns as a citizen th'
man who lost the first drop of BLOOD
shed in the civil war says the Ow
aensboro Messenger, He is Rev. H
E. Smith, of Hall street.
This honor has been claimed by q
number of men, but there is nc
doubt that MIR. Smith is entitled to
it. When Sumter was fired on Pres
ident Lincoln issued his call for 75,-
900 men to serve for three months.
The response was instantaneous.
AL over the North the young men
and many older ones sprang to arms
and single state could have supplied
the demand for troops. Massachu-
sets was the first to respond, and
the Sixth regiment was the first to
take the field. Harry +. Smith,
then boy Of twenty, was one of the
first to enlist, which he did at Gro
ton. on April IA, 1861. He was as
signed to company B and on the fol-
lowing day the new soldiers march,
ed to Boston and were formally
enrolled. Then come the order to
go to Washington for the defense of
the capital. As the train passed
through Baltimore it was stopped by
a mob and the soldiers were forced
TO leave it and fight for their lives.
Mr.. Smith says: Il enlisted in
Co. B, Sixth Massachusetts, volunteer
infantry at my home town of Groton
and joined the regiment at Boston.
On April 10 we reached Baltimore.
That city was very strong in its
Southern sentiment, and the people
held that the government had no
right to send troops across its terri
tory, when those troops came from
another state and were not part of
the regular army. We We're on the
Baltimore and Ohio train, and when
we reached Pratt street the train
was stopped by the mob. We were
ordered from the train, and in
marching through the streets we
were attacked. The first blow that
was struck fell upon me. | noticed
"a man rushing upon me with an old
saber. threw up my gun to ward
the blow from my head, and the sa
Der cut off the ends of the fingers of
my left hand. | also received a cut
between six and eight inches long on
my left leg, below the knee. which
severed the muscles and felled me /
to the ground. | hardly knew what ;
was happening. AS | fell Charles !
Whitney, of Lowell, Mass, who was
by my side, fell upon me. He was
killed instantly. Whitney was the
first man killed in the war, as his 7
tory records, and ! was the first t
wounded. {
1.-TWO women saw that | was not I
killed and they dragged me from UNI 1
der my dead comrade and pushed
me into avacant house before | re-
allied what was going on. They I
told me to be perfectly quiet and u
they made me lie down and covered a
me over with some old sacks, the 7
house having been used tot store g
grain or potatoes or something of e
that kind. | asked them if they /
were union and they told me a
they We're. The blood was flowing c
from my leg agd the women made 5
bandage out Of handkerchefs. La b
ter they got a piece Of cork and +
made compress, which was bound n
firmly to my leg. They closed the
door Of the house and no one came a
in. After dark the women got a +
hack and was taken to the depot, a
where | was placed on a train and n
taken to Washington. Here | was
placed in the care OF Dr.. Smith, the "
regimental surgeon Of the Sixth o
Massachusetts. | was young and
healthy and my wound healed rapid
ly, but was not able to do much ac-
tive duty until near the close of my y
term of enlistment, which was the u
last Of July or first Of August, 1861. =
| was discharged and later re-inlst- =
ed and served to the close of the y
war"
These statements are fully borne