The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1912-06-07

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CQl7E Z&A4GR c0ZE29W0CU
MEMORIAL DAY rolls around
IA each year the thoughts of the
veterans of the nations mightiest
~A conflict revert to their comrades
<A in-arms-n the ranks of both the
A( Grand Army of the living and of
\ H. the dead-and to the stirring in.
<4 cidents they themselves wit
~ p messed. To them Memorial Day
CICN// is day of recollections so vivid
OOC1~ that eternity alone can efface
them; day when their dreams
bark back to the old camp ground the bugle's
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 a Union
indivisible.
II have never been able to forget an Incl
dent that occurred 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 it presents itself with increased appeal.
On my way back to the field surgeons hos
pital for treatment-I had been wounded twice
Il met one Of our doctors applying restora-
tives to a wounded Confederate. He was a
mere boy, not day over Is. l was but IS,
and he also had been shot twice-so there were
things in common between us.
But it was his courage, his unfnching, I'M
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 we'll I'll be at you again. If there are
many more like him in the southern army l
thought, we are certainly in for a long, hard
struggle. l have wondered many times since
what became of him-whether he pulled
through or died the battlefield. I have
never been able to learn"
General Greedy made two attempts before
he was allowed to enlist you get out Of
here: we don't want babies, want men"
was the objection of enlisting officers. Finally
he found one who passed him. He served
throughout the entire war and was the first
enlisted man in the Union army to attain the
grade of a general in the regular army.
Il recolect 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 batteship 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 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 brother officer, Lieu
tenant Roderick Prentice to whom l was par
tcularly attached. He spoke to me frequently
of 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 was ideal
istic.
They saw each other but once there be-
fore the call of duty dragged them apart. l
had been transferred to the Brooklyn at Mo-
bile. After successful passage of the forts
my first inquiry 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, 1t 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
few hours.
AT New Orleans We picked up a 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 I remember quite
wildly" continued Admiral Sgsbee, hap
pened at the assault on Fort Fisher. The man
just ahead of me was killed and another on
my left. big. red-haired man, grooming hor-
ribly. suddenly clutched me-.
"'Look!' he exclaimed. Lieutenant Bache
is wounded!'
"'Why are you groaning?' asked. Are you
hurt?'
YES he answered slowly and without
even trace Of concern for himself. I think
I'm dying-but look at poor Bache!'
And he fell to earth, still calling for aid
for his wounded officer. He died shortly after
l left him, so was told"
Memorial Day to me suggests the flag"
said Corp James Tanner, known to Grand
Army men from coast to coast.
Il have listened to many eloquent apos-
tropics TO our national emblem. but never to
one that touched me more than that which
came from hospital bed. In September,