The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1905-09-10
HERE'S THE STORY ABOUT A
MAN WITH A REAL HISTORY

(By Lieut.. Col. J, A. Watrous. Z. s Al
There is a man with an interesting
history
In the course of the day that man
with an interesting history called Of
the office on business. He is a re-
tired army officer and found him all
that our mutual friend had said he was
a man with an interesting history.
He was born in Virginia, a little
over. eighty wears ago He belonged
10 militia company from early in The
s4o's and was an active member when
the war with Mexico began He
promptly signified his intention 10 par
ticipate in that war by becoming
private in tfie0Fifst Virginia infaritry.
one OF whose majors was the late
Jubel A. Early whom General Lee used
to call his bad Old man. the confedef-
ate who made General Sheridan SO
much trouble in the Shenandoah val
ley the fall of 1864 His name Is
Roberu Pollock He Participated in a
number of the severest battles and
was present at the storming Of the
City Of Mexico. After time he SER
yea iii the brigade commanded by Col
onel jefferson Davis of Mississippi
regiment. Davis was a good officer
too. said this veteran pf the tvo wars,
ebrave, energetic. aggressive and snc-
1 cessftil. H4sSf
II oh, gestaT mats IA good many p
q the officers oE the regulars and vol
unteers who became famous iii the
war which followed fourteen years
later. was on duty one day with
lieutenant Grant and. also ffeuiiently
met Captain Robert r. Lee. Lieutenant
James Longatreet. Lieutenant Charles
s. Hamilton and good many others
bur IL IA 50 long ago that ! can not
readily ennlnerate them The day
was with him il do not think Grant
spoke hair dozen words, but he was
active and seemed to be constantly
thinking deeply about something
met him in Oregon and California at
ter the war when he was a captain
also met Sheridan at Vancouver bar
racks early in the sos, and old Gener
al Harvey.
when the war of the rebellion
came Il met an old friend and w
agreed we would organize regiment
He was to be the colonel and | TIL
lieutenant colonel. The work of re
cruiting for one reason or another dil
not progress as rapidly as ! thought
should, and | decided to go to an
other state and help TO get up a ns'
regiment. That succeeded better
was the first lieutenant colonel q
that regiment. and finally became ID
colonel--the Third California.
''All of the, field and line officer
u &made repeated sefforts ao4get transfer
ssst'ed to THE eastbut they persisted Ii
keeping us On the coast to fight IT
dams We had number of sever
engagements and lest quite heavily
hut IL was not Of the kind Of fightin
we had enlisted to do Our appeal
became so emphatic and SO frequsn
that word was received that Ii Cal
fornia would raise sufficient amour
Of money To pay the expense Of trans
porting the regiment to New York
would be given chance to join tn
Army OF the Potomac. We were COZ
fident that that could be done.
"A should have roid you thatasm
II regiment was made up very largely (
men Ok standing men who had mad
fortunes that they were a great man
rich men tin''itss and that the majorst
of them were passably well fixed.
I'm one day we raised in thi
regiment 100000 to defray the o
nense Of carrying il 10 some pla,
where we could do some real man-fas
ion fighting, and the man who mar
the largest contribution was a priva
soldier who gave $1,000. II was n
long before we had a sufficient amou
raised and reported the fact, but
seemed to have gotten pigeon-hol
and we remained Oh the coast un
the war was over much to our dislil
and disgust.
n have told you that Captain Polio
became colonel OF California re-
fnent AT the end Of the struggle
was offered and accepted a position
the regular army ais first lieutenant
the Thirty-second infantry, and be
inained In the service until 1873, VIII
ho WAS retired as acaptain, Most
Nh time was served In the Twenty-ii
"a