The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-02-13

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die.
William Smith, OF K0untz's COM
pany. rushed out from the Union lines
to rescue him. Through a hail of shot
and shell he made his way close up
under the enemy's works and carried
the boy back to a place of safety.
But that was the end of Kountz's
wartime career. His leg had to be am
putated, and with tears in his eyes he
said good-by to his company after
leaving the hospital, and returned TO
his home. He was then only fifteen
years old.
The Grand Army of the Republic
honored the drummer-boy in 1884, by
electing him cOmmander-in-chief.
Up to Kountz's time. the Grand
Army's commanders-in-chief had, with
few exceptions, been ma~jor-generals.
Since then the post has beer held by
men of almost all ranks. Indeed. the
officers of high rank are becoming
scarce.
The present strength of the Grand
Army is less than two hundred and
thirty thousand. In 1890 it was four
hundred and nine thousand. yet there
have been thousands of new members
elected every year. Its strength in 1890
was the greatest in its history. 1t had
been gaining every year since it's or
ganization.
1t was a magnificent army when, in
September. 1892, it held its greatest
encampment. Sixty-ive thousand men
marched through Pennsylvania avenue,
where twenty-seven years before they
had marched in the grand review at
the close of the war.
Yet even then. fifteen years ago, half
of their number were feeble old men.
Said General Green r. Raum, former
Commissioner of Pensions. in a letter
to the Congressional Committee on
Military Affairs in February: II no
tlced that a large proportion Of the
sixty-fve thousand veterans In that pa
rade suffered from curvature Of the
spine.'
While he was Commissioner of Pen
sions, from 1889 to 1893. General Raum
became impressed with the idea that
the long-service veterans of the Civil
War were not living out their years Of
reasonable expectancy. An examina-
ton Of sixteen thousand cases of pen
sioners who had died showed that, on
an average. they had expired twelve
years before their time.
To-day probably half the members of
the Grand Army are suffering from
disease or the feeblelless of old age.
There have been few sadder specta-
cles thar the Memorial Day parade in
New York City in 1907. Hundreds of
veterans in that column were tottering
Under the weight of so many years
that they could barely complete the
march. Hundreds dropped ont before
going half the distance. Nothing was
palmer to the spectators than the fact
that the feeble remnant Of the army
that saved the Union would o be
seen nc more.
Yet there are still six thousand one
hundred and sixty-five Grand Army
posts in the country, and even ten
years from now the members will east
ly. be numbered by thousands.
1t has been estimated that fifty years
from now there will In all probability
be one or two survivors Of the great
war. The youngest of these survivors
would probably be not less than one
hundred and seven years old.
Here are som facts about the ar
mics engaged in the Civil War that
will be of interest to the generations
the conflict:
The total number of Federal soldiers
in the field was 2,666,999, of whom
294, 266 were drafted; the Confederate
force consisted of about 100000 men.
OF the Federal army, 10000 were
killed in action or died Of wounds.
while 249,45S died from disease, acct
dent, or other causes; the Confederate
loss in killed and wounded during the
entire war was about $4,000. The num-
DtI VI SOliltuCl utdtlS llOLu ulStdSt
and other causes is not known.
Gettysburg was the battle In which
the greatest number of men were kill
ed and wounded, though the slaughter
| at Antietam was fiercer while it lasted.
The last bloodshed of tie war occur
red May Is, 1865, on the Rio Grande.
The last Confederate force was sur
rendered by Kirby Smith on May %.
1865.
IN the South, the United C~onfeder-
| ate Veterans is an association that cor
| responds to the Grand Army Of the
Republic In the North.
1t was organized at New Orleans in
1889, and its membership has exceeded
$4,000.
Such are some of the facts concern
ing the most sanguinary war in all his
tory. And who would have believed,
| while it was raging, that in one short
| half century the last scar would have
| passed away? Who would have been
| so bold as to say that, in fifty years,
the nation that seemed wounded unto
| death, would have recovered from its
| wounds and gone on to a future o
| glorious than even its past seemed tc
promise?
Yet these things have come to pass
i'm less than half a century.-Scrap
Book.
NOf Haired by STATURE,
Noble Prentis was a man of s,nal
sfature and the story goes that ut the