Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-06-15

the Captain. "In all my service in
West Virginia up to January, 1862, l
had acted on the theory that commits
stoned officer had privileges in the way
Of standing in line of battle early In
| the morning. /, In common with the
other captains In the regiment, issued
strict orders for my company 10 turn
out In the morning and stand the re
qu'red time in line, but l remained In
| bed. l continued this practice after
we went to Kentucky and were assigned
| TO Nelson's division, early In 1862, and
| all the other company commanders did
| the same
THE scheme worked well for two
mornings. and then Nelson issued an
order th9& every commissioned officer
| from colonel down should appear fully
accoutered with his men in line Of
battle We laughed at this and agreed
10 stand together In Ignoring the order.
| But the next morning just after the
bugle at division headquarters sounded
reyeile, there was commotion along
| the line of officers tents Nelson was
storming through camp. shaping at
! tents with his sword and routing out
colonies, majors, captains and lieuten-
ants.
Half awake. | was wondering what
IT was all about, when Nelson roared
in at my tent: Get out OF there. you
son Of a gun: get out or will have you
shot; get out, you son of gum and
! then a slit was cut In my tent and Mel
son glared In at me swearing. | sat
/ up on my cot, and pretending to be
only half awake. took up my heavy
/ boots and hurled them one after the
other AT the opening through which the
general was peering, shouting in the
meantime L don't know who you are
and | don't care. am no son Of a
gun--take that back or ] won't bulge
Instantly the general replied: You go
| tohelsir-I take ii back. You are Il
great big, fine-looking lazy officer. dis
obeying my orders and setting q bad
example to your men. You ought to be
ashamed of Yourself
II told him | was. and if he would
excuse haste would be out with the
men In five minutes. He sat by, super.
intended my dressing, made me button
every button and buckle every buckle
aud smiled good-naturedly as took
my place In the line formed by my
shlvering men. After that he seemed
to watch me pretty closely. and / often
wondered what the old stormer had In
mind. At the crossing of Green river
think it was l came upon score
OF wagons stuck in the mud, the mules
refusing to pull under the badgering
of Incompetent drivers
"NelSon was stOrIning ut train mas.
tiers, drivers, and mules. and as / came
up at the head of my company he ask
ed In a general way: Aren't there In
your whole command captain. half a
dozen men who know how to manage
mules and pry wagons out of the mud. -
knew that there were in my com
pany at least a dozen farmer boys who
were expert drivers and who knew all
that there was to he learned about
lifting wagons out Of the mud. | called
for volunteers put some of my men in
the places Of the wrathful drivers, put
the Others at the wheels Of the wagons
and in ten minutes were were cut Of
the scrape and the mules were pulling
| steadily under the management OF
drivers who knew how 10 drive
Nelson thanked us all and referred
to us as gentlemen. The boys smiled
grimly at that and joked about it n
good deal that night in camp. The
next morning l received an orde, from
division headquarters to report with
my company at the river There |
learned that / was 10 superintand tie
crossing OF the wagon trains ard art L
| -iieF.ys4-a 1t was hard DAYS work for all
of us, but We kept things going. Mel
son rode down several times. and II
was on that occasion he was reported
| TO have said that mule was worth
more than a man. What he did say, as
| team Of mules was fioundering In the
water was Jump In, boys; jump in
| ard save those mules. Don't you know
that, as we are situated now, n mule
| IL worth as much 70 us as man Z
| Several OF the men. laughing ut the
generals excitement, waded in and
brought the mules out
after that General Nelson aud my
self became great friends. was one
OF the commissioned officers who
| crossed the Tenne ssee river with him
to the field Of Shiloh ! was with him
| In Louisville when he was shot. and /
heard almost the last words that the
| bluff old soldier ever spoke In all my
acquaintance with him he never once
referred to the time ne routed me on:
Of my tent and Inferred that he rath-
| e. liked a man who stood by his guns
and who gave him as good as he sent
| in the way Of strong language"
81 had a very interesting expert
ence," said the Lieutenant, with Gen.
araf Grant Tod bpafi IN tho faIa-