The National tribune., 1906-02-15
PICKET SHOTS
From Alert Comrades Along the Whole
Line.
The Rear Guard to FRANKLIN.

The Rear Guard to franklin.
Comrade Charles NJ. Maltby. Orderly
Sergeant. Co. X. 125th Ohio. writes
Comrade d. L. Wilsey's query as to
what troops were the rear guard from
Spring Hill to Franklin. He says: AS
was small part of that guard and
kept diary. l can answer. Gen. Op-
dycke's Brigade, the First of the Sec
ond Division, Fourth Corps. was the
rear guard referred to. In the retreat
from Columbia towards Nashville this
brigade led the advance on the run into
Spring Hill just in time to shut out
the rebs. and took position on the
extreme left of the line, which held the
Johnnies In check all night while our
little army, outnumbered four to one,
moved In our rear silently on its way
IN Franklin.
AT daybreak of Nov. 80 we quietly
withdrew to the pike and formed as the
rear guard in the following order: First
line of battle, 44th and 73d ILL.,: second
line. 125th Ohio. 24th Wis. and 36th
H.: lastly. the S8th and 7ith Ill. con-
solidated and deployed as skirmishers,
bringing up the rear. In this forma-
ton we marched and skirmished TO
Franklin. The other two brigades Of
our division, under Gen. Wagner. had
taken Il position several hundred yards
in front Of the main line OF defense,
and when we passed them Gen. Wagner
told Gen. Opdycke he could fell in with
them. But Opdycke objected and
Wagner told him To do as he pleased
He pleased. with remarkable clearness
of vision, to take us one or two hundred
yards in rear of the main line behind
the Carter house, where we were maSsed
in a vacant lot and Immediately allowed
To get breakfast at = o'clock p. m. We
hf.
late hour. This little move of ours In
connection with a subsequent one un-
doubtediy saved the day at Franklin,
for il pat us in a position to meet the
charging column of rebs when they
broke over our line of works and came
surging toward us. We did meet them
In the worst mix-up ! ever saw, and
drove them back. killing and capturing
many; but from that moment the battle
OF Franklin was won. That timely move
of less than a thousand men turned the
tide of battle, and, as Gen. Thomas said
to US at Nashville. saved the day at
Franklin and saved Nashville
Not Soldiers, hut Criminals.
Comrade Robert /. Kelly. Co. c, 31th
Ind. writes from Harper, Kan. to say
that his regiment was the chief provost
guard at Murfreesboro. Tenn. in the
Summer of 1863. when the executions
took place there after the battle of
Stone River and until the Chickamauga
campaign. He says the three men who
were hanged We're not soldiers nor
spies. but citizens who had been tried
by the civil courts and sentenced to
death. They were executed by the mill
tary because the civil authorities had
no jurisdiction, as the place was under
martial law. Gen. Bragg. c. s. a.
communicated with Gen. Rosecrans, re-
hi i'm m Df
death executed at the proper time. and
"Old Rosy" complied. The prisoners
" ere three desperate criminals, and
their crime was a terrible one. They
tortured an aged couple to death in an
effort to make them divulge the hiding
place of their money. The three des-
peradoes beat the aged man and woman
on their heads with club, held them
on a red-hot stove, cut out their tongues
and finally shot them to death.
At the execution of Selkirk, one of
the three. young girl asked permis-
sion to spring the fatal trap. This re-
quest was refused. and the execution
was carried out by the regular detail
of soldiers. The young girl clapped
drop fell. She was the daughter OF
the old couple, and had been criminally
assaulted by the condemned men when
they entered her home.
"Maywood's Cavalry Was There.
Comrade G.. w. Norton. Go. p. 3Sth
| Wis, writes from Corning. Cal: 81
would like to ask Comrade III. r. Nor
/ ton. 10th \. Y. what was the matter
with the 38th Wis? In his account OF
the Ninth Corps he mentioned the 37th
| Wis, but not the SSth. Why? The
| 3Sth was with the 3Ith all the time
! from Cold Harbor 10 Appomattox. The
| fret Npa nigG
! but they we're there. / would like tC
| hear from some of the comrades of the
! 3Sth-'Maywood Cavalry.
Incident of the Grand Review.
| Comrade John r. Palmer, of Normal
| H.. who is spending some months al
Sorrento. Fla, says on May "a, 1865
while he was passing along Pennsylva-
mia avenue, Washington, ID. c., in the
Grand Review, lady handed boy g
! boquet of flowers. and told him to run
along the curbing and stick il in my
belt. The lad did Ns he was bid. II
thinking the matter over l wondered
| if the lady and the boy are still alive
and if they have forgotten the incident
We are located at Sorrento, Fla, fol
the Winter and maybe for the Summer
| There is plenty of game and fishing
close by. Sorrento is 30 miles from the
east coast and about $50 miles south OF
| Jacksonville"
| Execution at GOIdsbOro.
Comrade w. NJ. Morrison, Sergeant
| Co. c, 9th n. j., writes from Woods
town, y. j., to contradict Comrade w
J. Kreamer's statement regarding the
date of the execution of Il private II
the 18th n. Y. Cav, named Bryan. a
| Goldsboro, n. C. According to his his
tory of the regiment, the execution tool
place March 29, 1865, instead of Marcel
3. backed by the fact that no United
States troops We're in Goldsboro, where
the execution took place, until Marcl
81.
| Another Venerable War Relic.
| Col. John NJ. Crist. of Jamestown, Pa.
became the happy possessor, through
John Rogers, of an army hardtack
which had been sent to the late Lev
Heilman by a member OF the 93d Pa
The original paper in which 1t wa
packed and sent to Mr.. Heilman bear
the date of July %, 1862, and is wei
preserved, considering the time.
| Col. Christ values the token so highl!
that he has had tin box made, with {
glass lid, in which he has placed th'
"hardtack" and sealed ard labeled it.
| If the soldier lives who first present
ed it, and reads this, it is hoped he vii
communicate with Col. CriSt who vii