The National tribune., 1908-01-09
Fin. Of the 18th Pa.

G. D. Hamm, New Bethlehem, Pa.
is somewhat mystified by the state
ments as to the flag of the 18th Pa.
and also the cOlors of the 26th Tenn.
He was Sergeant and Color Bearer, and
carried the colors of the 18th Pa. from
the time the regiment left Pittsburg
until after the battle of Stone River.
The flag then being torn with shot and
shell and the staff shot off, it was sent
back to New Bethlehem. After the
war the regiment gave it to him to
keep as long as he lived. A year ago
last May 1t was burned up, and he was
frightfully burned trying to rescue it.
To-day he is so disabled that he cannot
put on his own clothes, and can hardly
eat at the table. He also has rheuma-
tism, and lost his house and nearly
everything in it by the fire. After the
fight at Stono River a new flag was sent
to the regiment, which he carried until
he was mustered out, serving three
years and two months. Some years
after the war. he was sent free pass,
with instructions to bring the flag to
Philadelphia and turn it over to the
Governor of Pennsylvania. An account
of this will be found in Bates's History.
Gen. N. p. Banks.
Charles Bissell, Hannibal, N. Y, says
that McElroy is quite correct in his
speaking SO disparagingly of Gen. N.
z. Banks. His men called him Corp'l
Banks for putting them into battle in
companies instead of corps. The Red
River affair was the worst blunder of
the war. The Nineteenth Corps was
back II miles when the battle of Sa-
bine Crossroads was brought on. Capt.
VIM. NJ Stork would not be an admirer
of Gen. Banks If he had been on the
Red River campaign. The comrade re-
members the General on April 8, 1864,
when he dismounted and with drawn
sword tried to stop the men retiring
before the fire of Louisiana brigade.
Col. Moulton, who led the Confederates,
was killed, and Gen. Dick Taylor said
that it was a dear victory.
why They Did Not Shoot.
Editor National Tribune: Will you
tell me why the rebel General, Page.
let boat full of Union soldiers pass by
Fort Morgan without firing a shot at
them? I watched the steamer pass the
fort, and not a shot was fired. 1t was
some weeks after the capture of the
18th Ind, Madison, Ind.
What our comrade probably alludes
to is the passage Of the Metacomet to
Pensacola the night after the battle in
Mobile Bay, with the wounded of the
fleet and of the rebel ram Tennessee to
the hospital at Pensacola. This was by
understanding by the officers on both
sides.-Editor National Tribune
Ex-Prisoners Of War.
NJ. P. Julian, 115th ILL.,, Chester, Ark,
takes exceptions to the statement that
Andersonville proper lasted scarcely
more than four months. He thinks that
such statement has a tendency to di-
minish the feeling as to Andersonville.
He was there from the latter part Of
1854 until the close of the war in April,
1865. The longer the war lasted the
more inhuman became the prison keep
ers, for the reason that provisions were
scarcer and the heart grew more cruel
from the practice of barbarity. In pro-
portion the last six months of Anderson
vile were worse than from May to Sep
tember, 1864.
A Correction.
S. R. Rowley Co. D. 22d Wis, Mary
vile, Mo-, says that regiment was or
ganized at Camp Utley, Racine, not
Milwaukee. He was with the regiment
from the time 1t left the State until
June %, 1864, when a shot received at
Kenesaw Mountain ended his active
service.
History Of the SGD Ill.
Mrs. Worden Hathaway, Carson,
Ore, wants to know where she can get