The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-04-19
SOLDIERS STORIES.
ENTERTAINING "REMINISCENCES
OF THE WAR.
Graphic Account of Stirring Scenes
Witnessed on the Battlefield and in
Camp-veterans of the Rebellion Re-

Witnessed on Battlefield and in
Camp-veterans of the Rebellion Re-
cite Experiences of Thrilling Nature.
did Captain Fowler" said the Doc
tor, "ever tell you the story of a letter
that came to him six months late? In
the course Of one Of tho most active
campaigns Of the war Mrs. Fowler, at
her home in Wisconsin, vas FRUSTRATED
with a dangerous illness. Her physi-
clan felt in duty bound 10 tell Mrs.
Fowler's mother that the chances were
against the recovery of her daughter,
and advised that a letter De written
ar once to Captain Fowler, asking him
to come home.
1T so happened that this very trying
interview was held in a room adjoining
that occupied by the sick woman and
at a table In a corner Of the room
entirely beyond her line of vision The
| door between the rooms was open, how
ever, and the mirror on a bureau In
| the room in which the doctor and the
mother sat was in just the right posi-
ton to reflect their figures into q mir
ror in Mrs. Fowler's room, in which
the invalid could look without chang
ing her position.
while the doctor and the mother
talked in excited manner about the pa
| tient in the next rooYu, the patient
saw their faces and every movement
reflected in the mirror. She knew by
the expression on her mothers face
that the two were talking of her case,
and she OWNED that the doctor was
insisting that Captain Fowler be sent
for. Then she saw her mother take
pen and paper and write a letter, seal
ii, and address it. Before the letteli
was mailed Mrs. f. told her mother
that she knew what the doctor hac
advised and knew that a letter had
beer written to her husband advising
him to come home.
"She insisted that the letter must not
be sent, because Mr.. Fowler could not
come home at such a time, and the only
effect of the letter would be to make
him miserable. She was so earnest
about the matter that the mother de-
stroyed the letter b had written and
promised not to write another. She
told the doctor, however, of her expert
eEce, and he wrote to Captain Fowler
himself. That letter was In mail that
was captured by John Morgan, and in
due time was recaptured by the Union
cavalry. 1t did not reach Fowler un-
til six months after it was written, and
then his wife had entirely recovered
from her illness and there was no cause
for uneasiness."
"That reminds me-" said the Ser.
geant, 'of an experience in hospital at
Nashville after Shiloh. / was in the
~convalescent ward, recovering from q
wound, and had become well acquaint.
ed with a jolly fellow from my own
county. One day, while he was reading
the Nashville morning paper, he cried
out in alarm. When / went to him be
pointed, with wide eyes. to the list d
deaths, and in it was his own name
He said that would scare his pool
mother to death, and was in great dis
tress.
Il advised him to write his mother
at once, which he proceeded to do IL
this wise: Dear Mother-I take my
pen in haste to tell you that the state
ment published In the Nashville papers
this morning that / am dead is thu
most. scandalous lie you ever heard of
Don't you believe a word Of 1t. l an
alive and kicking (with one foot), and
am well cared for. A>man who know.
me well will swear that l am not dead
and l can get the affidavit of the doc
tor If you want 1t. But what's the use
If any man says l am dead, bet hin
a hundred dollars l am not, and sen(
your winnings to me- Thirty years af
ter the war / saw that letter in thu
hands Of the daughter Of the man whs
wrote it. 1t had come down to her a,
q precious gift from her grandmother.
Speaking Of things happening aftel
the war;" said e. A. Gardner, of New
Hampton, Iowa, reminds me OF a cas-,
In point on the Red River expedition
Our officers mess had some chicken,
cooked, ready to eat. When the cool
went for some water the teams cam,
along and n of the teamsters put thu
chickens in his wagon and went OF
without remark. When the loss of thu
chickens was discovered the officer,
ragged, but that wasn't the end of tn
story.
twenty-five years after the war tn
teamster who stole the cooked chicken
was at a G.. A. R. camp fire and hear,
a comrade tell Of his bad luck In losin,
chickens ready to eat through som
light fingered teamster. He added tina
if he ever learned who the rascal wa
that stole his chickens he would chok,
them out Of him. While the teamste
was thinking of what ought to be sal,
next, another comrade stood on his fee
and said: I didn't steal the chickens
but I helped eat them, and I am keel
to swear they were very good. But a
to choking them out Of anybody, tina
can't be done, because, don't you SEE
they were eaten twenty-five years ago
while we were in the rear of vicks
burg after u trip to Jackson, the boy
learned a good deal about baking. THE
made what they called outdoor oven
by digging holes in the side Of a ban
or hill. They would build fires in th
holes, and when the earth was he
rake out the fire and put in the doug
or whatever was to be baked TIL
success was surprising, and one Of th
boys came to the conclusion 1t woul
be no trick at all to make and bake
lemon pie.
LAS he was short on -four the boy
suggested that he pound hard tack Int
D powder and use hat with the f1ou
P%owdering hard tack proved slow worl
and the piemaker broke the crackers
pieces and put them in on the theor
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