The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1905-03-02
THE FIELD OF BATTLE
AND ANECDOTES OF
THE WAR.
The Veterans of the Rebellion Tell Of
Whistling Bullets, Bright Bayonetsr
Bursting Bombs, Bloody Battles
Camp Fire, Festive Bugs, ETC., Etc.

Foraker forward as a presidential
candidate fifteen years ago? He did
at a meeting Of the Army Of the
Tennessee at Cincinnati in 1SS9-and
q good many Of the boys will remem-
Der with what warmth and earnest
ness Uncle Billy spoke. Foraker was
not of the same generation as Sher
man, Sheridan, Rosecrans. McCook,
Hayes, Cox, Steedman, Garfield and
other Ohioans who won high rank
and distinction in the Civil War.
Sherman was Al years old when he
took command in the Union army;
Grant was 80, and Foraker at the
same date was a boy of 15.
"Rosecrans was AZ when he was
appointed colonel Of the Twenty third
Ohio; Hayes was 80 when he entered
the same regiment; Crook was 33
when commissioned colonel of the
Fourteenth; Lyle was 35 when he
was made colonel of the Tenth; Bob
McCook was "a when he took charge
OF the Ninth; William Sooy Smith II
when he was appointed colonel of the
Thirteenth; Alex. NJ. McCook was 80
when given the colonelcy of the First;
Garfield 80 when he became colonel
Of the Forty-second, and Foraker was
ninth in 1862. He was a boy soldier
when all the others were brigadiers
or major generals, and twenty -four
years after the close of the war Sher-
man spoke of him with the pride of
the old man in the achievements of
the young.
Foraker had lots of solder expert
ence before he was Is, and was in
command of his company. Then he
went to the staff of General Slocu;n,
and it was as the fine horseman, the
dashing officer that Sherman remem-
bered him. 1t was Foraker, by the
way, who carried Sherman's dispatch
announcing the capture of Savannah
to President Lincoln as a Christmas
gift, from the army headquarters TO
the feet. Remembering this, General
Sherman, in his address in Cincin-
natin in 1889, told the story of young
Foraker riding through the pine
woods with a message from General
Slocum-riding up to him, horse in
lather and man and horse covered
with mud, like a knight Grant, boy
in years, but in appearance, in bear
ing, in speech, every inch the soldier.
{hak hok
he had loved Foraker, because he had
come to his commanding general as
fair q picture of the ideal soldier as
his eyes had ever looked upon. Then,
turning to Foraker, he said, in words
that not any one who heard them
ever forgot, L wish you, Governor
Foraker, all honor, all glory, all fame
1 wish you may rise to the highest
position the American people can give
you
sherman died in 1891, Sheridan,
Hayes, Garfield, Rosecrans, Crook,
Steedman, and others of the OLD Ohio
soldier circle are gone. Gr0Svenor,
Keifer and a very few others survive.
Mckinley, more nearly contempor-
airy Of Foraker. is gone. Foraker, the
most distinguished Of the boy soldiers
of the war, the officer who was not
Of age until two years after the close
of the war, seems to be now in the
line of promotion marked out by Gen.
eral Sherman fifteen years ago."
Speaking Of General Steedman,"
said the captain, II came to know him
very well after the war, and he told
good many stories of his campaigns.
He was an aggressive, hide-bound
Democrat, but he used to laugh over
his first meeting with Andrew John
son. When he was at Camp Dick
Robinson in 1861 a number of East
Tennesseeans, after long period Of
wandering, came into camp. Among
them were Andrew Johnson and Hor-
ace Maynard.
"They had been roughing 1t for
some weeks. and Johnson, In clothes
and in general appearance, was very
much the worse for wear. Steedman
at once invited him to share his quar-
tiers, and took him over to his tent.
An old fellow, serving as orderly, took
the general aside and said: Good
Lord. General, you are not going to
bunk with that old tramp, are youY
Steedman explained that the tramp
was Andy johnson, and that he was
to be treated with the greatest con-
sideration. The orderly retorted that
Andy johnson or Andy anybody else
made no difference with him. He
would bet money the old fellow had
graybacks.
Several months later the same or
derry carried a message from General
Steedman at Nashville to Governor
Andrew johnson at the State house.
The Governor was the pesonif1cation
of neatness, formality and dignity,
and when the orderly entered the
executive Office was pacing to and fro
with a look on his strong face that
made him very forbidding. The old
soldier presented his message, and was
astounded to hear the Governor say
You are the fellow that said l had
graybacks. Great Scott, / ought to
have you shot Then he smiled and
added: We'll, 1 did look like it,"
"Any reference to the Kentucky
campaigns" said the MAJOR, always
reminds me of the troubles the new
regiments had In the Richmond cam
paign of 1862. Many Of the regiments