Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-11-03
Stories Hbcut Governor Stcfleld
BY COLONEL J. A. wATRous.

good deal | was in thirteen differ
ent prisons. BY the time we reached
Florence / was very poor. exceeding
ly hungry and IN rags. There we
learned that by giving what was equiv
alent TO draft on a ,elative at home
we could secure a supply of eonfed-
crate money for use in purchasing ex-
ira food. | concluded TO make the at.
tempt aud drew ON my father for one
hundred dollars in confederate money.
| bought supply of goods, not forget
ting cake of soap. some pepper and
salt, loaf of bread aud few pounds
Of meat, a drawing of coffee and Ill
tie extra sugar, and that day four OF
us had feast We ate up everything
bought, and | had paid my 500
for the purchases.
II have one record that / presume
very few soldiers have. was dead
and my father buried me. 1t hap
pened this way: The correspondents
reported me dead when was wounded
and made a prisoner. My father bur.
ried to the field and was shown body,
among the hundreds still unburied.
/ that was said To- be myself. He dug
grave and buried me. He did not
know that was alive and that he had
buried another fathers boy until he
received that draft for 800. In
speaking of 1t afterwards, he told me
that his first thought was 10 pay no
attention to It, Then he reflected
that If it was not honored. they might
kill his boy. and he paid It. | have
thought a good many times what my
fathers feelings must have been when
he was shown that blackened bloated.
bloody body, on the battlefield, as he
proceeded to give 1t burial.
81 had a peculiar experience after
being exchanged and getting back to
Washington. Upon going to the war
department / found that had no
regiment, the 18th having been mus.
tered out at the expiration Of its term
of service Secretary Stanton issued
On order directing another Pennsyl.
vania regiment, with which | had
fought in the wilderness, to take me
up on its rolls. That was done and |
received nearly years pay. II Lad
been decided TO consolidate two Penn
sylyania regiments and make me lieu
tenant colonel. and not long after
reached Washington ! learned thar
the governor had issued commissions
in my favor as major and lieutenant
( colonel. Very soon, the war was over
and my military service ceased"
( Having known for many years OF
tho splendid soldier record of the gov
/ ernot II occurred to me that some.
hing should be added to this cluster
Of stories. Like a vast majority Of
I the more than a million Of boys and
young men who were mustered out OF
7 service in 1865, Major Scofield rea
lized the necessity Of prompt begin
ming for success In civil life. After
/ taking many localities under cousid
Grafton, h. concluded TO come to Wis
cousin, where he began, in a small
Say, az lumber man He prospered
from the start ard had large Inter
I ests when those days Of gloom q
= T1arly ali business men came in 1899
/ Through Major Scofeld's tireles-
work and bouudlcss energy his large
lumber enterprise, where great mum
/ bers Of men were employed, continued
in operation throughout the long per
Tod of pinehng, hard times, without
reduction Of wages. while all about
him an6 all over the country, thou
sands Of business enterprises went
10 the wall and wages went down all
along the line have compared. at
times, Major Scone'd's persistent
courageous. determined efforts q
weather that hard time storm, with
his magnificent fighting qualities dur
ing the civil war. Little wonder that