The National tribune., 1907-03-28
DAVE OCKER.
A Brave Bnt Erratic Comrnde Who Fell
ct VicksburE.

ut VicksburE.
Editor National Tribune: My atten-
| ton was attracted to the article Of John
Wiesman, formerly Of Battery D, 1st
| Ill. l.. A., regarding the senseless as
sault on Fort Hill. vicksburg. He re-
Iates the fact that It was the boys OF
| McAliister's Battery that tossed over
the fuse shell. and here it was that
Dave Ocker was killed. And he feel
ingiy refers to the shameful truth that
he is in the .AdJutant-General's Report
of Illinois, '61-65, branded as a de-
serter.
can possibly throw little light or
the subject by taking an extract from
an unpublished volume of "reminiscences
Just completed. 10y, ~
1.-The reader will remember that /
gave the names Of four of our boys wh1
| remained behind when we left Mem
phis. But one Of them ever returned
to the battery to my knowledge, and
that was Dave Ocker He was the Duty
Sergeant that was reduced on account
Of that escapade near Jackson, Tenn,
when the boys came in loaded down
with Odd Fellow paraphernalia.
He came back to us here at Mill
ken's Bend very grave and sober. He
had been one of the most cheerful and
sporty of the old boys, and the blues
could never make the slightest impress
sion on him He was q gay Lothario. and
never failed to make love to any pretty
young woman with whom good fortune
brought him in contact. His speech
was smooth and his manner insinuatiug,
and he would not hesitate to assure the
Southern ladies that his sympathies
were with them and their cause; that
he entered the Union service involun-
tarily and only waited a favorable OPP
portunity to go over on their side and
take with him a squad OF men who
shared his feelings and stood quite
ready to share his fortune also.
And from a few Of them he got let
tiers of Introduction to Confederate off,
GERS. He made love to scores of them,
and took great risks in his visits be-
yond the camp guards, but luckily es-
capped capture. OF his adventures in
Memphis he told the following story:
"Dickerts body was found in an old
we'll with the throat cut Henry and
himself were tried by court-martial for
the murder, found guilty and sentenced
to be hung. They were both on the
scaffold when Henry acknowledged his
guilt and cleared Ocker Of the crime.
Dave was set free, took the first
boat down the river and Joined us after
an absence of about month. 1t is
quite probable that during this absence
he was posted on the roll of the battery
as a desertei, and thru neglect 1t never
was erased. 1t was simply a case of
absence without leave for which he
was never brought to trial.
He had been thru the battles of
Donelson and Shiloh, and had suffered
quite enough thru the fright he got on
the scaffold at Memphis to punish him
for dallying aroundfthat city. Then he
went CALAMITY thru1the' battles of Port
Gibson, Raymond, Champion Hill. Jack
son, Big Black and was then rammed up
against the Vicksburg Notifications,
where he was killed. 80
"And still he is reported as a desert
er. He might better have been hung
with Henry and done with 1t. The boys
all agreed that he was as brave and
gallant in battle as he was in lady's
parlor, and ought not to have been re-
duced for that harmless escapade at
Jackson. A rebel Odd1 Fellow was no
better than a rebel Even Fellow, and
should have been shown no special IA
vors. That clannish fraternal humbug-
gerry had no proper place in our army,
and 1t was unmanlyitO give or take adj
vantage of such relations.
II would be proud, ITO command q
battery of such boys as Dave Ocker.
Had he been deserter in fact and
never returned to US he would still have
been better man than hundreds who
get honorable discharges and are now
drawing pensions, but who never got
near enough to the firing line to draw
the enemy's fire."-David Cornwell, Al