Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-02-05
HENRY HUDSON, oTTuMwA MAN,
WOUNDED AT SIEGE OF Wcks-
BURG, NOW THREATENED
WAS TWICE HIT
WHILE In TRENCHES
Aged Survivor Of Struggle Grows Re-
miniscent When He Recalls Deadly
siese-Helped Dig Tunnel.

| fofIy-tWO years ago, during the
| siege of Vicksburg. tragedy occurred
SO slight in comparison with the dis
asters hourly being enacted on the
battlefield of one of the greatest bat
ties of modern history that it passed
at the time unnoticed. Yet now at
life's sunset, the victim of that tragedy,
Henry Hudson, residing on Queen
street, finds the little sunshine life still
holds shut out by the threatened loss
of his eyesight from an injury re-
ceived in a powder explosion during
| that siege. Mr.. Hudson's face lighted
remin1scently as he spoke of those
memorable days.
I'VE were lying FIVE and six in
trenches along the hillside in front of
the fort protecting Vicksburg. The
rebels were pouring in an almost con-
tinual stream of fire into our lines. We
were returning it wherever we saw it
would do the most good, the shells
screaming and bursting above and
about us. l received wound in my
right shoulder at one time, laying me
off from duty for time. Our guns
were the old-fashioned kind, often ex-
ploding and blowing the powder back
into our faces. 1t was on one of these
occasions that l received the injury
that now threatens to deprive me of
my sight.
Helped Dig Tunnel.
81 was one of the men detailed to
help dig the tunnel by which Grant
| finally secured the evacuation of
| Vicksburg. I have often wondered
since what the sensation of those John
MES must have been in the days dur
Ing which they waited for the compile
ton of that tunnel. l wasn't seventy
five yards away when Fort Smith blew
up. The rebels were thrown bodily in
every direction. One old negro who
| lighted near where stood, escaping
serious injury, rubbed his head in a
dazed manner and exclaimed:
go Gawd, gennelmen, done met
Massa goin up es | wah comm down"
Mr.. Hudson was born September
~, 1887, in Highland, Ohio, near Pc
tersburg. His father Enoch Hudson,
was farmer At the age of eighteen
he left the farm and went to Kewanee
to work in the coal mines. In August,
1862, he enlisted in Company F, 14th
Illinois infantry. remaining in the SER
vice until the close of the civil war.
He was honorably discharged at Chi
cago in August, 1865. Mr.. Hudson re-
turned to Kewanee, H., where he mar
ried Jane Weyson. Eighteen years
| later the family moved to Ottumwa
where they have since resided.
Breach Observation-Disclosures Survive
| Though the breach that threatened
the life Of the nation in the days of
81 is healed, the patriotism and bra
very Of it's defenders will live in mem
DRY forever. And through the mists
of almost half a century Gettysburg
and Vicksburg arise, immortalized, the
greatest victories of any war since the
beginning Of governments. For those
who found resting place on the bat
| tie fields, Vicksburg and Gettysburg
stand their greatest monuments.
And the g. A. R., that grand old or.
ganization, stands a staunch remnant
of once mighty army, who forsaking
homes and firesides, fought father
against son and brother against broth
err, in order that Old Glory might wave
uninterrupted from the source Of the
Mississippi to its ocean ending. And
on the day set aside for national COM
memoration of the sleeping heroes and
the "boys In blue follow the flag
again as they go to place their tribute
of flowers on the graves of the sleep
ing heroes. the empty sleeves and the
crutches in the thinning ranks bring
more fully realization of the debt
that is owed to the few that are left.