Evening journal., 1907-10-05
What | Know About
Delaware Politics and
Other Things
SEVENTEENTH ARTICLE.
BY Washington Hastings

Regiment the Bloody tlith they used 70 cal
Il, has never been accorded decent treatment"
as my friend put it, either by our people at
home at the War Department. especially at the
Pension Bureau, at Washington. Without expressing
any opinion at this time-because l have not looked
into the matter and have no opnion-on the question
of whether the old Vets" Of the Fifth"
entitled pensions any the various acts of
Congress. do think "a respect the opin
ion Of manllnd at least for that portion Of mankind
which is represented by the old members Of the
Firth Regiment requires at any rate, permits that
should state briefly possible the in regard
to that organization remember them, or may say,
know them for 1 member of it, Those facts
are. Approximately follows:
Early in the fall Of 1s62--n November thinls-a
prominent and influential gentleman OF Whining
ton extensively engaged in business while unqueston
ably patriotic, and loyal to the government did not
like many other of his fellow ctzens-wish to engage
extensively in the business Of warfare at that time
So he obtained permission from the Secretary Of War,
Mr.. Stanton raise regiment of volunteers TO
for months the purpose protecting the du-
Pont Powder Mills-then about the only Of
ply of gunpowder for the government
The regiment duly and promptly raised, mus
tered into the service by regular mastering officer
precisely all the other regiments were, fully armed
and equipped even to "cantoen,' each company pro-
vidod with headquarters ana instructed in the
ue OF ana drilled every night in the week ex-
cept Saturdays and also except the weeks which
it actually in the field when 1t was drilled all
the time II thought and 10 ITS hearts content Ihere
was some OF a verbal and tacit understanding
that 1t was not to called upon service outside
Of this State; but It only verbal and indefinite,
II It was had all. and there not word
20 that effect either verbal otherwise, when the
regiment was mustered into the service
This understanding" however attractive to many
volunteers. and the ranks were quickly filed l must
confess that attracted me- for did not wish TO
TO war. 1 had many to advance for this re-
ucance the principal Of which perhaps that there
was a young living here then who said that she
did not wish to go; df she had happened to have
said that she did wish me to go l suppose would
have found other excuse, but she ddnD so
made haste TO join the Fifth.
Tho regiment called out the nrst Of July,
1863. and in active service until the twelfth of
the following August; when It's nine months term on
service having expired, IL mustered out How the
Bloody Fifth would have acedlf it had ever been
fortunate, or unfortunate enough 70 be unoer hre
cannot say but do not believe that ii would have
run away.
The JOY OF the people of the North and think 1t is
safe to the satisfaction of the people of the South
or at least of vast majority Of them az the termna-
tion OF the war. was i'm very few days suddenly
turned into heart breaking grief by the assassination
OF President Lincoln by the hand of Drained
fanatica idiot
To say that the people were wild with excitement
indignation would be to but family express public feel
ing not only I'm this country but the world over Ven
geance, dire and swift demanded and 1t was feared
by many conservative and thoughum men that acts
of retaliation would be resored TO and that many of
the leading men in the South would be arrested and
summarily put to death But this second calamity was
fortunately averted by the wise counsels which pre-
vailed IN the Cabinet of President Johnson aided by
other Statesmen of eminence ana OF substantial char
acter Unfortunately-as nobody thought then but as
everybody thinks nowJeferson Davis the fleeing pres
ident of the Conederacy had been captured by tedera
soldiers in Georgia and was taken TO Fortress Monroe
and placed in irons; and his speedy trial by court mar
tal and execution, were vehementy demanded by many
principally in this community, by men who had taken
no active part in the war;
1t also insisted that General Lee and other prom
nent Confederate officers and men should also be ar
rested and placed on trial for treason But General
Grant sul commander OF tho army quietly said that
far General Lee and the officers of his army Of
Northern Virginia concerned the terms which he
had granted TO them at AppomattoN must hold good!
! And hold good they did,
But eventually, the nature and conditions Of the
assassination of Mr. Lincoln becoming understood, and
the fact that prominent important man in the South
elsewhere in manner conhrcted with ii. but
that Il was simply deviish plot Matched by very few
insignificant notorety seeking adventures, led by a
rum-crazed Bohemian actor who shot like dog in
capturing and his oo-conspirators-t they can even
/ be dgnhod by the name-hanged, the good sense OF
the American people re-asserted itself as it always
! docs and Mr. Davis was released from imprisonment
and died at good old at his home in louisiana,
and General Lee spent the remainder of his life the
was ever afterwards disturbed by the Government
participation in the Great Rebellion.
Through the kindness of a friend who invited me
10 accompany him as his guest, was enabled to Wit
the grand review Of the Eastern and Western armies
Washington in April 1865, just prior to their being
mustered out Of tho service.
It was the sight Of life tmei and such sight as
never before and probably, never again will be af-
forded in the lifetime OF man then living or living
now. or to live for generations to come
Through tho courtesy OF william Hemphil Jones. then
Third Auditor OF the Treasury, and formerly we'll
known citizen OF Wilmington, friend secured for us
remarkably good for ordinary people for both days
Of the review in the first back of the section oc
| cuped by the President and his cabinet and other
dignaries Of the land; not twenty feet away
and saw it an under the most comfortable and advan-
tageous conditions imaginable The sight Of these veteran
troops fresh from fields Of battle and blood with their
tatered and torn battle lags end other trophies must
have been 20 appreciate and understand but cannot
be descrihedat least, not by lremember that the
commanders in chief Of the two armies. Meade and
sherman and those of the several corps and divisions
after passing the Presidents stand, and while their COM
mands passing in review. dismounted a point
where stands the State, War and Navy Department
building and returned foot TO their respects 60 the
President and his friends This impress
sive and interesting and certainly will be forgot
ten by who Witnessed it,
one OF the remarkable episodes unique
and extraordinary occasion the meeting the re-
viewing stand Of General William sherman and Sec
retary Of War Edwin NJ. Stanton, about which there
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