River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-05-23

at the Stephenson Post G. A. r., at Roxbury
Mass
Never so long as 1 live shall I forget that
dreadful day when lay wounded on the bat
tlefeld, from sunrise until the shades of night
had closed down the dead and the dying"
said Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota 1T
was in the siege of Port Hudson, La, when on
June IA, 1863, unsuccessful attempt was
made by Banks army to capture the place by
storm and my regiment led one of the charg-
Ing columns Just che sun was peeping
over the hills sailed forth in battle array
The Charge was given and we tore across
the open ground straight at the enemy's
breastworks When within eight or ten rods
of the intrenchments l fell to earth with
bullet in my thigh. My comrades were driv-
en- back-no man could long stand against
that avalanche of leaden death that poured
out of the fortifications-and I left with
only the dying and the dead to keep me COM
pany. Then began my long vigil in the ghast-
ly inferno. The cries Of the wounded-the
merciless sun-the torment of it all-and the
thirst, the maddening thirst! Only those who
have lain thus can appreciate its terror.
In the same battle were two other soldiers
one under the stars and bars, the other under
the Stars and Stripes-who now hold posi-
lions of unusual trust and prominence under
the same flag. The former was no less a per-
sonage than Chief Justice White, of the
United States Supreme Court, serving then as
aid to General Gardner, commander of the
Confederate forces within Port Hudson during
the siege. The latter was Senator Francis E.
Warren of Wyoming. At the time, of course,
no of the three men knew of the existence
of the others, and indeed it was not until the
past few months thy became aware of the
facts. Senator Warren, who enlisted when
but IL years of age, awarded medal of
honor for conspicuous gallantry in the
gagement
when / look back on the Civil War, as I
frequently do and especially Memorial
Day" he said as he sat in his rooms in the
Senate office building, zone fact stands out
with increasing clarity as the years roll by,
and that is that the great struggle waged
principally by boys. The rank and file of the
Union army was made up of mere lads, and
in the Confederate forces they were even
younger. They were tried as perhaps 9th
er generation of American youth has ever been
tried. The horrors, the struggles, the hard
ships they faced made men of them Nearly
all of our presidents since then and great
portion of our public men throughout the ma
t1on including the Congress of the United
States, have been those who served as officers
or enlisted men in those two armies Of strip
lings."
Wartime recollections crowd so thick and
fast Gen. Isaac r. Sherwood, representa-
time from the Ninth district of Ohio, that to
single out one of them is but to omit others
OF equal import He participated in As bat
ties, and there is not soldier now living who
was under fire greater number of days than
he. Six times he was complimented in gen.
eral orders for gallantry on the field of bat
tie. Today he is the only Union veteran on
the Democratic side Of the House. But, more
remarkable than all else, he is the only man
who entered the Union army a private and
emerged from the war brigadier general
Il suppose said General Sherwood. 'the
fight at Franklin, Tenn, November 30, 1864,
is wildly impressed my mind as any;
maybe because considering the size Of the
forces engaged, it was one of the most desper-
ate engagements of the entire war The Con-
federate loss was 40 per cent in fve-hour
battle and larger number Of their generals
were killed or wounded than at Chickamauga
of Gettysburg, where their forces were twice
as strong. My regiment, the One Hundred
and Eleventh Ohio, of which I colonel,
lost more men in that battle than any other
regiment the Union side.
My horse shot from under me three
times in the engagement. My third horse fell
in most unusual manner The bullet that