Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-10-04
THE BATTLE FIELDS.
OLD SOLDIERS TALK OVER ARMY
EXPERIENCES.
The Blue and the Gray Review Incl
dents of the Late War, and I'm "a
Graphic and Interesting Manner

April 90 1862, the first public funer-
al Of a soldier killed in the Civil. War
was held in Chicago. The solemn and
Impressive service was in honor Of Irv
ing Washington Carson, brilliant and
daring young cavalry officer who had
lost his life on the field of Shiloh.
Carson was already famous as
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
a 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 large4hearted
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 his
grave in plot of ground to be pur-
chased as the burial lot of Union sol
diers.
hn1 I'm hn
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 1t was
in the presence of multitude.
With military pomp, tiag-draped cof-
fin, muttled 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 near
where the soldiers monument now
stands, but the spot is unmarked at
present, says Mrs. Chisholm. although
she can point out the place where the
soldier lies. There is a stone with the
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 Gods acre" are
those of soldiers.
After the war General Grant, with
one or two war comrades, visited the
grave of Carson, and paid him the trib-
ute Of words, earnest and tender, such
as are due brave man.
Carson enlisted early in the war, in
Barker's Dragons, and went to Spring
field and Cairo. General Prentss took
a fancy to the lank wiry young fellow,
and sent him out on some scouting
work. This just suited Carson's love
daring and clever resource
He rose to the rank of captain and
became Grants favorite scout All
through Missouri and Kentucky the
name of Carson, Grants own scout"
came to be known in the armies Of
North and South. His career was cut
short at Shiloh, and 50 his grave was
made here in Chicago before the deadly
clutch of the later years of the war
had been imagined or dreamed of.
At Shiloh, though. the young soldier
saw grim and terrible fighting, such as
was not, probably, exceeded In bitter
ness and in slaughter at any time dur
ing the four years Of the nations
agony. Peacefully rest the ashes of the
brave on the slope at Rosehill.
On Decoration day flowers are all
around the place where he was laid,
and every day of the year the flag he
died for flies in all the four winds of
earth, upon all its seas, and among all
the nations under the sun."-Ada c.
SWEET, in Chicago Journal.
Old Abe Hardup for Joke.
During a conversation which took
place In the summer Of 1854, between
President Lincoln and n distinguished
Western Senator, the various legislative
nominations for the Presidency then
being made were incidentally referred
to. YES" said Mr.. Lincoln, moving
his leg with evident qualification yes,
Senator, the current seems to be setting
one way" 1T does, really, seem to be
setting all one way" was the answer of
the Senator but. Mr.. Lincoln, as you
have told me several good stories since
/ have been here, permit me, if you
please, to tell you one:
1T has always been observed that
the Atlantic ocean. at the Straits of
Gibraltar, constantly pours into the
Mediterranean with a tremendous vol
ume The Bosphorus empties into it,
at it's other end. and rivers are seen
contributing to its waters all along the