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

call and the lannon's roar And as they fondle
in memory the scenes through which they pass
ed they pay tribute to the God of battles who
spared them until their eyes could close on the
hands of the Confederate gray and the Yankee
blue clasped across the firing line In Union
indivisible
y have never been able to forget Incl
dent that occurred on the battlefield of Ante
TAM" said General A. w. Greeley, u. S. A.
when asked for his most vivid recollection OF
the Civil War "And each Memorial Day, some
how, 1t presents itself with increased appeal
On my way back to the field surgeons hos
pital for treatment had been wounded twice
Il met one of our doctors applying restora-
tives to wounded Confederate. He was a
mere boy, not a day over To- was but 1S,
and he also had been shot twice-so there were
things in common between us.
"But it was his courage, his unfinching,
yielding spirit that. impressed most. AS
he lay there, horribly mangled his eyes were
as steady and his manner as cool as though
he were idly lounging in his own home. His
nerve was not broken; nor the fear of death
on him. He seemed grateful for the attention,
but not in the least humble. Thank you, gen.
tlemen he seemed to be thinking, but when
| get well I'll be at you again. II there are
many more like him in the southern army, 1
thought, we are certainly in for long, hard
struggle l have wondered many times since
what became of him-whether he pulled
through or died on the battlefield I have
never been able to learn"
General Greedy made two attempts before
he was allowed to enlist. "You get out or
here; we don't want babies, we want men!
was the objection of enlisting officers Finally
he found one who passed him. He served
throughout the entire and was the first
enlisted man in the Union army to attain the
grade of a general in the regular army.
'I recollect an extremely pathetic incident
that occurred on board the u S. S. Mononga-
hela" said Admiral C. d. Sigsbee, u. S. N,
the hero of the battleship Maine sunk in Ha-
vana harbor just before the outbreak of the
Spanish-American war. "The Monongahela,
cruising along the Texas coast, had rammed
and sunk a Confederate ironclad down near
the head of the passes in the Mississippi river
and then steamed on to New Orleans for re-
pairs On board was a brother officer, Lieu
tenant Roderick Prentice to whom I par
ticularly attached. He spoke to me frequently
of a premonition of impending disaster that he
simply could not shake off. In fact, it marred
his joyous anticipations of meeting his young
wife hardly more than bride, at New Or
leans whittier she had fastened from the
North when she learned his vessel was to
touch that point Their devotion ideal
istic
"They saw each other but there be-
fore the call of duty dragged them apart. /
had been transferred to the Brooklyn at Mo-
bile After a successful passage of the forts
my first inquiry was for the welfare of my old
shipmates on the Monongahela and especially
for Prentice His premonition had come true.
He had been standing in the gangway, which
had been raised somewhat above the level of
the deck it seems when a shot struck the
hammock netting next to him and the flying
fragments imbedded themselves in his leg,
almost tearing it from his body. He died in
a few hours
cat New Orleans we picked up little boy
named Isaac Aiken, tiny fellow, of whom
Prentice was especially fond. The lad was
simply heart-broken as he sat by the berth of
his dying friend. Prentice urged him not to
cry and to brace up and be cheerful, insisting
that he would soon be all right, though he
we'll knew all the while that his end had come.
But the lads sorrow was nothing compared
to that of the girl-wife. She tainted dead
away when told the CHASTITY news and never
afterward fully recovered"
another incident that l remember quite
wildly" continued Admiral Sigsbee hap
pened at the assault Fort Fisher. The man
just ahead of me was killed and another
my left. big, red-haired man, groaning hor-
ribly suddenly clutched me-.
"Look!' he exclaimed. Lieutenant Bache
is weunded'
"eWhy are you groaning?' I asked Are you
hurts
Eyes he answered slowly and without
even a trace of concern for himself I think
I'm dying-but look at poor Bachei'
"And he fell to earth still calling for aid
for his wounded officer He died shortly after
I left him. so l was told.
Memorial Day to suggests the flag"
said Corp James Tanner, known to Grand
Army men from coast to coast
81 have listened to many eloquent apos-
trophies to our national emblem, but never to
one that touched me more than that which
| came from a hospital bed In September.