Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-08-28
William Cogger, Twice a Sol
der in Civil War, Comes
to Life"
THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN KILLED
Disappears at Battle Of Antietam, Re.
enIists Under Assumed Name, Lives
Honorable Life Since Appears at
Reunion Of Comrades of First En-
Iistment.

minneapolis, Aug. 2S.--Wllllam cog
ger has been dead for forty-six years
officially dead. The records of the
First Minnesota volunteer infantry and
of the war department say that he has
been dead since the battle of Antietam,
Sept II, 1852.
Today William .Cogger, q very much
alive William Cogger, the white haired
and bent, is in Minneapolis, the GEM
trail figure in a series of strange re-
unions. He is meeting the comrades
of almost half a century ago, greet
ing them as from the dead, and then
relieving the tension with some dryly
caustic remark on the effect which time
has had on the appearances of civil
war veterans.
The case of William Cogger is one of
the most remarkable in the history OF
the pension department.
Since he was born in England in
1870, Cogger has had three practically
distinct identities. In 1856 he settled
in Anoka and when the civil war broke
out enlisted in Company II, First Min
nesota, at Fort Smelling. Until the
battle Of Antietarn he followed the for
tunes of that famous regiment. Then
he disappeared and his name was en-
tered among those whose lives had
gone out in their country's defense
on that terrible field. To his comrades
William Cogger was dead-until to-
day.
His Story Disclosed.
Mos. Of the rest of the story was
told today to Richard Lowe of the
United States pension bureau in the
federal building.
Cogger woke UP after the battle was
over at Antietam and truce had been
declared Wounded and dying men lay
about him. His nerves were at terrible
tension From the time of his enlist
ment he had been constantly on bad
terms with his captain for reasons en-
tireiy outside his military relations. In
a daze he wandered aimlessly away
from the battlefield. Then it occurred
to him that his absence would be noted
by his captain. He felt that return to
his regiment would mean further trou-
BILE with this officer.
He went to farmhouse, exchanged
his uniform for civilian clothes and
went northward into Pennsylvania.
Then he became William Champion,
the last name being that Of a halt
brother in England. He worked in
mill. But he still wanted to fight for
his adopted country, and just ten
months after the battle Of Antietam he
enlisted in the Twenty-f1rst Pennsy!-
vania Volunteer cavalry. He served
with that regiment until February,
1864. when he was honorably dis
charged
But he cid not reveal his identity by
returning to his true name. As William
Champion he drifted to Ohio, then
Michigan and later to Houston, MINI.
Like Rip Van Wrinkle.
Two brothers, John and Charles
Cogger. liS ing in Anoka, at this time
supposed their brother had died at
Antietan. ike modern Rip Van
Wrinkle, William Cogger appeared in
Anoka and went to his brothers home
il, 1867.
He had become William Cogger
again, but this time it was not the
William Cogger who had served in the
First Minnesota. That William Cogger
was dead and the new one thought
best to let him remain so.
He had been dead" for forty-six
years when he came to life again to-
day, when he came down to Mime
apolis from his home in the White
Earth reservation.
Charles shatto Of the old First Min
nesota, messmate Of Cogger's, was in
the office of Richard Lowe in the fed
,eral building today when Cogger ar
rived. Before Shatto spoke, Cogger
smiled and hurried forward with his
hand stretched out to his old conl-t
rade.
"You look all right he said, Eek
cept you've got new teeth"
And then started the reunion which
will last for couple Of days, at least
William Cogger will receive pen
sion from the government for his
services as William Champion. His old
comrades, in recognizing him today, are
disproving the records which say that
William lCogger died at Antietam and
completing the link in the chain Of
evidence which shows that William
,Cogger of White Earth reservation is
the William Cogger of the old First
Minnesota and the William Champion
of the Twenty-f1rst Pennsylvania cav
airy.
On the Pension Rolls.
Under an act of congress of July l,
1902, men who left the service during
the war and subsequently re-enlisted,
and received an honorable discharge
from their second enlistment are re-
lieved of their first irregularities pro-
viding that they did not receive boun-
ties for the second enlistment in ex-
cess of what they would have received
in pay had they served out their first
enlistment.
lTodays Identification Of the White
Earth reservation William Cogger as
the William Cogger Of the First Min
nesota, completes the circle which
united the three identities in one man.
A wear ago he went to Pennsylvania
and met again many of his old COM
rades Of the Twenty-first Pennsylvania
cavalry.
Never in all the forty-six years UNI
til today. did he seek to meet again
his fellow members OF the First Min
nesota. But today, frail and bent with
age, his eyes sparkled and his face
was all smiles as he recalled the old
times and the old friends.
I'm mighty glad" he said. And he