The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1907-07-12
THE TWENTIETH ILLINOIS.
Story Of Their scrspe and Gen. Grants
Summary Punishment.

To a group Of comrades Of the Co
lumbia post Of the c. a. r. the other
evening Capt Oscar Ludwig told an
interesting story Of the summary pun
ishment meted out by Gen Grant 10
the entire regiment OF the Twentieth
Illinois infantry, which was referred
10 as a precedent by President R00se-
Welt in his recent communication to
congress relative 10 his action in the
affair at Brownsville. Tex. where
three companies Of negro troops We're
summarily dismissed from the service
for the act OF few in attacking citi-
zens, says the Chicago Record-Horald.
Il was a member of the Twentieth
Illinois infantry for more than four
years" said Capt Ludwig. and was
with the regiment az the time Of the
vandalism cited A suffers store at
Jackson. Tenn. where eight regiments
We're assembled 20 intercept the con-
federates, was broken into and sup
plies estimated to be worth 1920 were
taken
1T was known az the time thagmen
Of all or nearly all Of the eight regi-
ments had participated in the raid for
eatables and liquid refreshment The
only trace OF the suffers supply dis
covered. however. was part Of n box
Of cigars in one Of the tents Of the
Twentieth Illinois.
An official investigation failed 10
fasten the crime upon any Of the sol
diers individually. as no one would
admit knowledge of the affair The
general feeling was that among so
many It would be impossible TO ferret
out the wrongdoers and nothing would
be done about the matter And then
no one cared to inform on his com
rades
But Gen. Grant was determined TO
put a stop to such disorder and TO sup
press any tendency to lawlessnoss
among the troops As none Of the
members would come forward to aid
in securing a satisfactory explanation
as to the presence of those few cigars
in our quarters. the entire regiment
was made to suffer.
The officer commanding the regi-
mont and the officer of the day were
dishonorably dismissed from the serv-
ice for neglecting TO discover the
guilty parties. and the whole Twen-
tieth Illinois. officers and men, were
fined pro rata according TO pay an
amount sufficient TO cover the 1920
loss TO the sutlor My share Of the
fine was s51S. The fines we're de-
Quoted from our pay
"A good deal Of good-natured fun
was poked at us by the other soldiers
for having paid such an exorbtant
profit on the suffers goods-the goods
were sad to have been worth only
$500. and not l,24O, the amount Of the
claim put in by the sutler and which
was allowed II was the talk of the
camp that some of the good things
taken in the raid found their way TO
INC 0Nlitlo lNhl N'lo. nN Ai' wy n vi
the Twentieth used TO answer the
raillery Of those Of other regiments in
this way:
WHO robbed the sutlcr?
Don't know
"'Who paid for itg
Twentieth Illinois.
WHO ate the STUFF?
Gen Grants staff
THE verdict OF the court-martial
seemed uncalled for and unjust az
that time. but all recognized that an
example should be made in order 10
check the tendency to outlawry. 10
seemed hard though, that we should
be the ones selected for that purpose.
However. there was no bitterness. no
dlsloyalty among the men, as subse-
quent acts OF the regiment on the bat.
tlefield showed Within a month the
regiment participated in one Of the
bloodiest battles OF the war. Brltton's
Lane. In which we lost in killed and
wounded one-fourth Of our number