The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-09-26
THE BATTLE FIELDS.
GID SOLDIERS TALK OVER ARMY
EXPERIENCES
The Blue and the Gray Review Incl
dents of the Late Wnr, and In a
Graphic and Interesting Manner
Tell of Camp, March and Battle.

April 20, 1862, the first public funer-
al of a soldier killed in the Civi. War
was held in Chicago. The solemn and
impressive service was in honor of Irv-
ing Washington Carson. a brilliant and
daring young cavalry officer, who had
lost his life on the field Of Shiloh.
Carson was already famous as a
scout, and had the admiration and love
of General Grant and of Prentiss, the
hero of Shiloh
While carrying dispatches from
Grant to Prentiss, who was holding
"The Hornets Nest" in the center of
the field, Carson was killed-struck by
q cannon ball, just as he delivered his
message to the fighting general who,
that first day of Shiloh, undoubtedly
saved the Union forces from utter rout
and confusion.
Carson was without family in Chi
cago, but the able and large-hearted
Andrew Garrison, In whose Office he
was studying law when he enlisted, re-
ceived the soldiers remains from Gen.
eral Grant, who had asked what should
be done with Carson's body.
A public meeting had been held, and
1t had been decided to bury the scout
with military honors and to make bis
grave In a plot Of ground to be pur-
chased as the burial lot of Union SOL
diers.
The funeral was held In tae First
Baptist Church, then standing on the
corner Of Washington and La Sale
streets, where the Chamber of Com
merce building now stands. Rev. DR.,
Evarts preached the funeral sermon to
great congregation, and when the cor
tege marched through the streets it was
in the presence Of q multitude.
With military pomp, fiag-draped cot
fin, muffied drums. wailing music and
the last salute Of musketry the soldier
was laid to rest, the first of that great
company Of loyal and grim fighting men
whose dust has been placed beneath
the sod In Rosehill Cemetery.
The spot where the gallant scout was
to lie in his grave was selected by the
younger daughter Of Andrew Garrison
now known to many Chicagoans as
Mrs. James Chisholm. 1t was neal
where the soldiers monument now
stands, but the spot Is unmarked al
present, says Mrs. Chisholm, although
she can point out the place where the
soldier lies. There is stone with TIN
name Of Carson upon it, some twenty
feet from the scouts grave.
But it matters not; there among the
ashes Of the devoted and brave, names
count for little. 1t suffices that the
graves in that part of Goods acre. are
those of soldiers.
After the war General Grant Will
one or two war comrades, visited the
grave of Carson, and paid him the trib
ute of words, earnest and tender, sucl
as are due u brave man.
Carson enlisted early in the war, il
Barker's dragons, and went to Spring
field and Cairo. General Prentiss tool
a fancy to the lank, wiry young fellow
and sent him out on some scoutin;
work. This just suited Carson's Low,
of adventure, and he made a record fo
daring and clever resource.
He rose to the rank of captain ant
became Grants favorite scout. Al
through Missouri and Kentucky tn,
name of Carson, Grants own scout,
came to be known in the armies O.
North and South. His career was GU
short at Shiloh, and so his grave wa
made here in Chicago before the dead,
clutch Of the later years of the wa
had been imagined or dreamed Of.
At Shiloh, though, the young soldie
cav grim and terrible fighting, such a
was not, probably, exceeded in bitter
ness and In slaughter at any time dur
ing the four years Of the nation
agony. Peacefully rest the ashes Of tn
brave on the slope at ROsehill.
On Decoration day flowers are al
around the place where he was laid
and every day Of the year the flag h
died for flies in all the four winds O
earth, upon all its seas, and among al
the nations under the stn."-Ada c
SWEET, in Chicago Journal.