Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1908-06-03
Captain Merry Talks of vicksburg.


on that river town. on May 22nd
1863, Captain j +. Merry. presi
dentof the 2lst Iowa association
was present and conducted the ser
vices held at that time. In an in
terview with Captain Merry, he is
quoted as follows: Il received
Thursday morning "a telegram from
Capt. Win. L, Rigby of Vicksburg
who formerly lived in this city
stating that Gen. Stephen d. Lee
died that morning. In this con
nection, at the time of the reunion
Gen. Chas. Harris of Omaha
who commanded the Second Bri.
gade, l4th Division, 18th Corps OF
the army of the Tennessee in the as.
sault on the Confederate railroad
redout, which was commanded by
the Confederate general, S. d. Lee
attended the Brigade reunion held
at vicksburg May 22nd. General
Harris and General Lee were ella 80.
mates at West Point before the wal
and they had not met since the war
until at the recent reunion Of Cen
eral Harris's brigade, when together
they went out to the old fort and
for an hour talked over the con.
ditions as they were forty years
before. General Lee made the adj.
dress of welcome at the reunion, and
of the many addresses | have heard,
he made most vigorous, enthusi
astlc and patriotic to those veterans,
who assaulted his works As years
before, and l can hardly realize that
the telegram received from Cap
tain Rigby that the General had
died that morning, can betrue. The
old veterans, who have returned
from the reunion, all speak in the
highest terms of General Lee and
they will be grieved to know tina,
they will never see him again, but
they will also be glad that they at
tended this reunion and heard his
words Of welcome.
Col. Harvey Grahm of Chicago,
who, during the assault was lieu
tenant colonel, of the 22nd Iowa,
was the officer in command to
whom Gen Lee surrendered July 3,
1863. He is now 80 years old, but
he attended the reunion and he and
Gen. Lee were SO drawn to each
other that they exchanged buttons
Gen. Lee taking Col Graham's
Loyal Legion button, and Col
Graham accepting Gen. Lees con-
federate button, not to be worn, of
course, but kept as souvenirs of
that occasion.
Lieut.. w. II. Needham, who now
edits q paper at Sigourney. Iowa, is
the only Survivor OF the little band
of heroes who succeeded in getting
inside the Lee fort May 90, 1868.
Six of them were killed in the fort,
and the others have gone to their
long home, he being the only one Of
the party left. He attended the re-
union and his address on the as
sault on Vicksburg was listened to
with great interest. While Gen
Lee was speaking, there was one
veteran in the audience whom he
wanted to come forward and stand
beside him and that was Lieut..
Needham, and when he came for
ward, Gen. Lee spoke as fellows:
Ny friends of the North and my
friends Of the South, l want to in
troduce to you one of the blavest
men God ever made Lieut.. Need
nam, who walked over the bodies of
his dead comrades in his assault
upon my fort May %, 1868.
"The 2lst Iowa enjoyed the dis
tinction Of having the largest num-
Der Of veterans present Of any of
the four regiments. There were 33
veterans and IA ladies and 3 sons
of veterans, making so in all from
the 2lst. Their reunion was held in
the Office of the National Park Com
missioner and was addressed by
several comrades, some of whom, be.
fore they reach home, will have
travelled 5000 miles. The officers
OF the association elected for the
coming year, are S. L. Richards,
: president; Myron Knight, vice
president; and G. Maxan. secretary
and treasurer, allo Edgewood, and
-Edgewood, on invitation, was the
selected as the next place of meet
ing, the time to be selected by the
officers, which will be some time in
1909, and the veterans all expressed
themselves as confident that Edge
wood would give them as good q
time as they ever had
The Vicksburg Herald, in its
write-up Of the reunion, says thet
Gen. Lee, on being introduced by
Capt. Merry, who presided over the
reunion, made this statement:
There is one Union soldier, Capt.
Merry, who can always command
me. He and made the first 9TH OF
July speeches that had been made
at Jackson, Mississippi, since the
war, and we have been associated
together in the Park and other
work for many years"
Capt. Merry says that while all
Of the speeches and papers were
good, that in his opinion, the best
address made was that by the Hon
M. w. Harmon of Independence
who enlisted at Hopkinton, August
1862, in Co. X, 2lst Iowa. Every
member Of that company who was
present, and, in fact, every man Of
the regiment and brigade, were de
lighted with Judge Ha1mon's ad
dress, Iowa at Vicksburg."
There were ITO in the party AM
the Captain says that in the q
years he has been visiting Mississip
ho >, a,ar -, &,,1 l,oc.&,f,,