The Washington herald., 1906-12-09
GEN. RUFUS SAXT0N.

them and it was Stanton Battery which
drove them back and forced Jackson's s
army up the Valley of the Shenandoah
II had been StonewaH Jackson's prom
ise to his men that they should have a
fine breakfast at HaTpers Ferry. After
ward he declared Gen. Saxton is the
only one so far who has defeated my
plans; fifty thousand men could not now
take Harpers Ferry"
For this service President Lincoln tole-
afterWard he was awarded medal Of
honor for distinguished service and good
conduct in the defense Of Harpers Ferry"
stanton also wrote n personal and highly
eulogistic letter Of thanks.
Gen. Saxton to-day does not care TO go
into the details Of the work he did. but,
as a matter Of fact, when he took com
mand of Harpers Ferry it was TO find an
utterly demoralized force there. The
colonel in command had already re-
moved his baggage from the town, send
ing il over the bridge into Maryland.
One regiment, stationed at an outpost,
left its position and struggled into town.
Another regiment which was sent to him
refused to move across the river into
Virginia In addition to this came all
sorts of messages from Washington, ru-
mors, reports Of spies, deserters. and
scared refugees. Banks was in retreat in
one direction and Fremont in another;
Doth of them begging assistance from
some source. Refugees and captured Con-
federates reported the steady nOTJhward
march of Stonewan Jackson who. more
than anything. wanted the great guam
titles of military supplies stored there.
besides being desirOus Of capturing a
position which gave him easy entrance
ntO Maryland and from which he could
threaten Washington. SaxtOn drove Jack
son back. and having done his work, was
re1ppOinted military governor of the
South by President Lincoln. Three weeks
! .ater the post at Harpers Ferry, under
another general, was captured with all its
stores and 10,000 men almost without a
struggle.
"Were you ever wounded during the
war. general?"
only slightly. I was struck slightly
while serving under Gen. Lyon at Camp
| Jackson, St. Louis. The Confederates
there had established themselves in a
strong position at Linden Grove, and
/ Gen. Lyon was determined to break them
up. I had been drilling a body Of re-
cruits. and was ordered to command
| them in charge on the Confederate bat
teries We set out from the arsenal al
dawn, and realizing fully the dangers OF
| the task we had been set, you can imagine
oEr feeling when instead of the storm OF
grape and canister we expected we were
greeted by the white flag. in token of sur
render. It was my duty then to escort
the prisoners to the arsenal, and as we
| moved them off the yells~of the populace
and the cheers for jeff Davis showed US
| the temper of the crowd. Several shots
were fired at US; one just grazed my
neck, another killed the sergeant at my
/ side / warned the crowd that I should
| fire if this kept up, out the taunts only
/ grew louder. One burly ru-h,tu seized
| hold of my first sergeant sdy raw re-
| cruits acted splendidly and with perfect
| IcooIness- 1 gave the order Ready and
At the command 'Aimn my youngsters
| responded in perfect time. and each man
aimed low. Had I given the word tc
| fire the slaughter must have been ter
/ rife. But there were women and children
| IN the crowd. and just at the right mo-
ment the rioters came 70 their senses
and I was enabled TO give the order Re
/ cover armsr a German regiment that
/ followed mine was not so patient, and
/ several scattering shots from these sol
diers killed about thirty persons in the
crowd. When we got our prisoners II
/ the arsenal a man named Mcdonald came
up to me and said Captain. you are not
going TO be killed in this war. I fired