Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-04-13
SOLDIERS STORIES.
ENTERTAINING "REMINISCENCES
OF THE WAR.
Oraph1c Account of Stirring Scenes
witnessed on the Battlefield and in
Camp-Veterans of the Rebellion Re-
cite Experiences of Thrilling Nature.

49, wei tell you the story or letJer
Inat came to him six months late? In
the course of one of the most active
campaigns Of the war Mrs Fowler, at
ner home in Wisconsin. was Frustrated
with dangerous illness. Her physi-
clan felt in duty bound TO tell Mrs.
FoWler's mother that the chances were
against the recovery Of her daughter,
ana advised that a letter De written
at 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 table i'll Il corner of the room
entirely beyond her line of vision. The
door between the rooms was open. how
ever, and the mirror on d bureau in
the room in which the doctor and the
mother sat was in just the right posi-
ton to reflect their figures into a mir
ror in Mrs. Fowlers room, in which
the invalid could look without chang
ing her position.
While the doctor and the mother
talked i'll excited manner about the pa
tient in the next room, the patient
saw their faces and every movement
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 letter. seal
1t, and address it, Before the letter
was mailed Mrs f. told her mother
that she knew what the doctor had
advised and knew that a letter had
been 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 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 she had written and
promised not to write another. She
told the doctor, however, of her expert
ence 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 I'M
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 a
wound, and had become we'll 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 he
pointed, with wide eyes. to the list 6r
deaths, and in it was his own name.
He said that would scare his poor
mother to death, and was in great dis
tresS.
Il advised him to write his mother
at once, which he proceeded to do in
this wise: Dear Mother take my
pen in haste to tell you that the state
ment published in the Nashville papers
this morning that l am dead is the
most scandalouS lie you ever heard of,
Don't YOU believe Il word of it. l am
alive and Kicking with one foot). and
am we'll cared for. A man who knows
me we'll will swear that | am not dead,
and / can get the affidavit of the doe
tor if YOU want it. But what's the use?
If any man says | am dead, bet him
a hundred dollars | am not. and send
your winnings to me- Thirty years at
ter the war | saw that letter in the
hands of the daughter of the man who
wrote it. 1t had come down to her as
a precious gift from her grandmother"
speaking of things happening after
the war said +. \. Gardner, of New
Hampton. Iowa, reminds me Of Il case
in point on the Red River expedition.
Our officers mess had some chickens
cooked. ready to eat. When the cook
went for some water the teams came
along and one of the transfers put the
chickens in his wagon and went on
without remark. When the loss of the
chickens was discovered the officers
ragged. but that wasn't the end of the
story.
",rwenty-fre years after the war the
teanSter who stole the cooked chickens
was at G. A r. camp fire and heard
a comrade tell of his bad luck in losing
chickens ready to eat through some
light fingered teamster He added that
If he ever learned who the rascal was
that stole his chickens lie would choke
them out of him. While the teamster
was thinking of what ought to be said
next, another cOmrade stood on his feet
and said / didn't steal the chickens,
but | helped eat them. and | am keen
to swear they were very good. But as
to choking them out of anybody, that
can't be DONE because. don't you see.