Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-01-05

after year He doesn't seem to the
patrons of his Office to have any fire
In him. And yet that fellow cut and
dug his way out of a rebel prison and
made good his escape in the face of
pursuing enemies He had more thrill
ing adventures on that one trip than
most men inclined to adventure have
in all their lives. Yet he Is satisfied
to drudge away in his postoffice.
However, three robbers who at
tackled him one night as he was TAX
ing stock of stamps on hand, assum-
ing that so quiet a man wouldn't
fight, made the mistake Of their lives.
They displayed their guns under the
impression that the old man would
surrender without a word. Instead
he blazed away with a revolver right
at his hand, and ran the three out of
the building. / dressed the wound of
one Of them and he said the p. M.
was the readiest man with gun he
had ever tackled. The P. M. himself
made no remarks, but later he ad.
m1tted to me that the scrap made him
disconnected. It reminded him Of old
| times. Chicago Inter Ocean.
Captain Barker's Chicago Dragons.
Il have been trying for year." said
the Major, ito trace and locate the
nf GdYafo{n Por VIZ op'c Ghiao dY>o
| goons.. The company, with a full COM
| plement of commissioned and noncom-
missioned officers and an even hun
dred privates, was organized here in
Chicago few days after Fort Sumter
was fired on, and was mustered into
the service April 10, 1861. There was
| no regular call for dragons, but the
company was sent to Mcclellan in
| West Virginia and saw service in the
Rich Mountain and other campaigns.
''The company with the old Chicago
Light Dragons, organized in 1856 as
nucleus, was ready for orders April
| Is. Most of the men were well drilled,
and the company was one Of the very
best that went out from Chicago. It
went with Mcclellan to Washington,
but, the men declining to re-enlist for
| three years, they were sent to Chicago
at the end Of three months service,
and most Of them on muster out en-
tered other military organizations.
'Priyates George A. Forsyth, Lewis
H. Rucker and others went to Farms
worth's Eighth Illinois Cavalry as
commissioned officers, Forsyth SANDY
and Rucker and three others Of Bar
ker's old company becoming brigadier
generals. Sixty other dragons held
commissions later in the war in diff
ferent cavalry and infantry regiments.
Because they made their army repu-
tations in other commands and be-
cause their three months service I'M
der Captain Barker was lost sight Of,
it is extremely difficult to trace the
members who left Chicago with Cap
tain Barker and Lieutenants Osband
and Weber in April 1861.
"There are still living in Chicago
Jonathan Slade, Benjamin f. Felix,
David w. Clark, and other members Of
Barker's dragons Rucker, after for
ty years. service in the regular army,
was retired with the rank Of brigadier
general in 1903. Forsyth was retired
in 1890. A score Of the old dragons
are dead others are scattered in the
West and East One Of them, Jerome
NJ. Foster had peculiar experience.
When the company was ordered to
Washington he was on detached duty
at Grafton.
'The other members Of the company
came from Washington to Chicago for
| muster out. Foster, on duty as hos
pital steward, was not notified of the
| movements Of the company or of the
muster out Believing that he had
been mustered in for the war, Foster
remained in the service one year after
the muster out Of his company. Then
he was discharged, receiving pay for
the full time. But the question of his
exact military status was not settled.
| He is now at the Soldiers Home at
| Danville, ILL.,, and anxious to hear
| from any member of Charley Barker's
| dragons
II knew Forsyth very WELL" said
| the Old Timer "He was with Sheri-
| dan on the Winchester ride. One day,
while he was with Sheridan here in
| Chicago, the statuette 'Sheridan's
Ride was brought to headquarters for
| inspection 1t was an exquisite bit of
work in it's detail, and only Forsyth
had cynical smile on his face as he
| looked it over. Seeing the smile, Sher-
! idan said: Out with it. What is your
objection to it.? Still smiling, Forsyth
said, pointing to the dramatic sentence
on the base: That isn't what you
said. General General Sheridan, look
| ing Forsyth over quizzically, said:
Well, hang it, what did | say?' For
syth. chuckling to himself, replied: