The Meeker herald., 1907-10-26
AN OLD WAR LevrER.
Recalls the Esd Story Of Wsundins II
Gen. Wallace At ehiish.


ones which most touch ne are tho
faded yellow letters from soldiers At
the front or in hospitals. and those
other letters from home to tho SOL
oilers, showing the marks and creases
caused BY being carried long In pocket
and knapsack. until by some chance
they drifted back home again across
the lines Of faction and war, writes
Ada c. Sweet, in Chicaso Journal.
} One Of the most pathetic and yet
nobly strong letters l remember to
have read. IL one from Mrs. Wallace.
widow Of the gallant Gen. William H.
Wallace, who met death at Shiloh,
after helping Prentiss to hold the GEN.
ter ali Of that terrible first day, when
the whole union army was cTumpled
up and crowded almost into the Ten
nesses river, only escaping by holding
Pittsburg Landing until morning
came. with Buell's advance ON the
field, and the dispirited troops of the
day before ready for q new trial be-
fore the grim gods of war.
Mrs. Wallace. worried and anxious
at home, had started to visit her hus-
band in the camp at Shiloh. and she
arrived at Pittsburg Landing on the
steamer 'Minnehaha before daylight
Sunday morning. April 6. 1862. The
letter am describing was written by
Mrs. Wallace some ten days after
the battle to near relation.
She describes her arrival-the visit
was to be a complete surprise to her.
husband-and she remained on board
Of the river steamer. after sending
word to him that she was there. and
as she waited him, as the sun rose
over the spring landscape. she heard
firing, but thought nothing of 1t there,
near the great war camp. where thou
sands Of men were being drilled and
trained In the uses of war.
Before very long she saw wounded
soldiers being brought on board Of her
steamer. and then came more and
more, pale. bleeding and panic-strickl
en-, and they all told the same story
of the early morning attack and the
driving in Of the outer lines. and occu-
patton by the enemy, Of the outer
camps.
Her husband, she was told, was ON
the field, In the very center of the rag.
ing battle. Vainly she tried to get an.
other message to him. He was In the
ornets' Nest" where NO one could
penetrate. Before noon the boat was
crowded with wounded. and Mrs. Wal
lace tried to comfort and assuage
their sufterings.
In the afternoon the Minnehaha was
used to ferry over Nelson's regiments.
the advance Of Buell's Reinforcement.
At last. when the boat landed ON the
Pittsburg aide. message was brought
to the anxious woman. Wallace's d.
vision, they told her. had been falling
back. Wallace leading 1t, just having
been hanked by the enemy. Just clear
Of the "Hornets' Nest" and ~ his
command came into tho road to the
Landin& Sthe general had bssn shot
and had hlJsn from his horse and left
for dead. One Of his soldiers, an or
Derby. zone who loved him." had car.
ried the body more than quarter Of
. mile. and then to avoid death and
capture. had to lay him down out of
the way Of tramping feet, and leave
him.
All night Mrs. Wallace nurssd the
wounded on the steamer, and at ten
o'clock Monday morning word came
to her that the general was still
breathing. and that he was to be
brought to her. Her dead was alive,
and she rejoiced. She was allowed to
take her husband to Savannah, few
miles away. on the river. and to nurse
him fQE four days, before he breathed
Ills last.
Gratefully she tells in her letter Of
the comfort 1t was to both that they
could have these last days together.
The general could not speak, but be
showed to the last minute that he
knew bis wife. and by the faint pres
sure of his hand that she held told how
much II was to him to have her by
his side. -. II. ~-'
Such 10 the story told by the faded
letter; to read 1t brings home to the
heart and imagination what the men
and women OF the country suffered
and endured. more than a generation
ago. that the union might live. Rev
erently / refer to this old letter from
one of the women of Illinois. The
survivors of Shiloh will hear of 1t with
mournful interest. am sure.
One Use for = Newspaper.