The National tribune., 1906-06-14

Gen. OaA Maeauloyb First Experaenee a
Aajatant Of HIS Reginent.

Aajstaat Of HIS Regiment. Il
By Theodore F. Alien, 7th Ohio cav.)
The publication in your issues Of
May z and May "a OF 1.-The Private Sol
der as a Forager." by the brilliant
terested me very greatly and, i dare
say. Thousands OF other old soldiers
among your readers. His description
| of Sam. the "Pirooter," is exceedingly
| vivid and true to life OF many "piroot-
| ers" Of the civil war period Almost
| every regiment had q "pirooter" more
/ or less like Sam.
| The brilliant Gen. Macauley won fame
as an officer OF infantry. and it may
not be known to all that he served for
a time in thu cavalry. True, 1t was a
| brief time. but he has left q record of
| his experiences as a cavalryman, and
am tempted to send this record to you
| herewith.
| Gen. Macauley told this story himself
| at a meeting of the Army OF the Tenn
essee at indianapolis. Ind, in October.
| 1878. Gen. James Harrison Wilson had
made a speech at this meeting. in which
he had been throwing some very beauti-
| full bouquets at the cavalry, after which
| Gen. Macauley was loudly called for.
and. going to the stage. said:
Speech Of Gen. Dan Macauley Telling OF
| His Experiences rs a CavaIryman.
| ut has been alleged by those who
| know me that / have claimed upon
many public occasions to have belonged
| to whichever nation or sect happened
| to be uppermost at that moment. For
| instance. these envious people have init
| mated that when my Irish fellow citi-
Zens were in jubilee / proved myself an
| Irishman, when the Germans ssembled
l was German in all that the name i'm
plies, and that when our colored breth-
| ren-well. never mind!
| Now. in general terms, such is the
fact, and / am proud OF it. When Gen
Wilson alluded to the exploits Of our
| gallant cayalrymen my spirit shouted
within me. for was not l once a bold
| cavalryman myself? 1t appears Ike
conceit to thus blow a personal bugle.
| but possibly the conceit will be less ap-
parent as 1 proceed. I was a green
horn youngster at the beginning of the
war and almost a stranger In this neck
of the woods. but I dropped all other
matters and Joined a mob of patriots
whose sole mission was for many days
| to continuously meet and be Sworn
| in" Squires, Judges, Consta bles and
| ministers and other authorities took 2
| hand at 1t in various halls. Offices and
public squares, using unfortunately
| the military oath. the oath of allegiance
| and that more solemn one of the mar
! riage service as / now believe, until at
L III
| qualified to settle the entire rebellion
on private terms. To my surprise the
company into which we finally resolved
ourselves was combined into what they
| called regiment a new tangled and
nonsensical idea to my untutored mind
| OF army regulations. had elected me
First Sergeant and then First Lieuten-
ant, and we had sworn and resworn
eternal fidelity over our tin cups and
tin plates for several days. when mes
senger came requesting my presence at
headquarters without delay. Being nat
urally Of an obliging disposition. 1
sauntered up that way and asked Mr..
Wallace Gew Wallace) what might be
wanted. Looking at me sharply from
head to foot for a moment he informed
me that was appointed Adjutant Of the
| that? What does he do? He studied
me moment and then said abruptly,
Get your things and report here imme-
| diately.' He evidently had moved the
| previous question: so without debate I
| returned to my sworn companions in
great distress of mind and held with
| them an Indignation meeting of consid-
cradle vigor. Don't co. they said. and
/ had about made up my mind to march
| the company off into a separate COM
mand, when I heard one of them re-
mark that he thought 1t was a horse
office. Horse Office 1 shouted JOY
| fully. 'Sainted Marian, that lets me out;
l never was on horse in my life.' and
away l put again for headquarters.
| Mr.. Wallace said I, that place you
| told me Otis horse office, isn't 1T %
| Yes sir he answered in italics. Then.
I said, I can't come: 1 couldn't even
ride load Of hay; I never was on a
| horse in my life The Colonel divided
| a short and savage look about equally
| between me and his watch. and this
| time he spoke in capitals. L WANT
| YOU AND YOUR THINGS UP HERE
! IN 10 MINUTES and I once more felt
| that debate was out Of order as hur-
made close connections as to the 10 min
utes. headquarters, my traps and my
self.
Sent or In a Hurry.
"Our regiment was the first to re-
ceive marching orders in the State OF
Indiana, and If you can recall the COM
motion, the excitement, and the en-
| thusiasm with which these first orders
were received in every State and local
| ity, you can appreciate the intensity Of
| affairs here. We moved out of bar
racks and remained all one bright and
beautiful day, surrounded by thousands
| of admiring citizens fiocking to see the
heroes under the awful calcium of war
| like orders. The ladies came out in
great multitudes and gave us Bibles.
seven Of which I drew from different
| sources in the confusion. while our gen.
tlemen friends brought us knives and
daggers of savage pattern and bloody
suggestiveness I was young and fair
to look upon in those days and was in
the fullest possible uniform, with all
the golden ornaments contemplated by
law, and several gorgeous decora-
tions was afterwards grieved
to learn had not been formally
adopted. You can never realize the
abyss of horror into which Col. Lew
Wallace plunged me that happy after
noon as he dashed up on a fiery war
horse to the crowd Of ladies and gentle
men in which 1 was on exhibition. and
jumping off, threw the lines to me and
told me to jump on and ride in haste
to the State House and get certain pa
pers there awaiting me. 1 know the
horse fairly grinned as I patted him
somewhere on the side Of the head and
answered cheerfully, All right. SIR.
while I inwardly cursed him back
through five generations. The dreadful
beast stood there paving and snorting.
and I knew that to hesitate was to be
lost so called our Major &C. o. Wood
over to me and whispered. How in the
DEVILS name shall mount this atrocious
thing (which side? 1 never Was on