The Washington herald., 1912-01-28
Rr IAMEs B. MoRRow.

ired that started the civil war, two re-
eruitIng officers arrived in the village Of
Bryan. There were bearded men and
wore boots. The engine that had drawn
their train through the wild forests from
Toledo was brilliant with polished brass,
had a smokestack shaped like a bell
and burned wood.
One of the officers carried a long cyl
Inder of posters, which cried excitedly IN
fat type: ITO arms! to arms!" and
which exhibited a blurred American fag,
denoting haste in printing and drying.
The strangers went directly TO the Of
fee Of Isaac r. Sherwood, editor OF the
local newspaper. who was also mayor
Of the town and probate judge Of Will
Isms County.
Tacking a poster on the side Of the
building, they opened and entered the
door without rapping. Not much was
said A muster roll, unsigned as yet
was spread on a table. The editor no
more than glanced at II in his hurry.
Dipping a pen deeply into an inkstand,
he wrote his name eagerly and boldly,
subscribing" as he now describes the
act, and becoming, thereby, the first re-
cruit in that part of the country.
Several other men put their names on
the roll the same evening. BY noon
next day, lO7 villagers had agreed to join
the feverishIy assembling Federal army.
Thus was raised. without waste OF
words or any ceremony, Company {,
Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
The editor. mayor. and Judge marched
sway leaving a wife at home. He was
a private in the ranks at Sll month
and was twenty-five years old. His en-
Hstment bore the date Of April l6, 1851.
Fought in Forty-two Battles.
The opening battle of the war was
fought forty-eight days later, at Philippi,
eighty miles from Wheeling, in the State
that is now called West Virginia. Pri-
vate Sherwood marched all night, a
knapsack on his back and musket alter
nateIy in his hand and on his shoul-
der, At sunrise the two columns Of
Federals opened fire on the Confederates
with artillery. The Confederates fed
so history bears witness. The disaster
at Bull Run did not occur until the fol-
lowing month. BY that time Sherwood
was almost a veteran.
Before midsummer he was a heuten-
ant. Lacking a week, he was a soldier
four years and six months, fighting IN
forty-two battles, some Of them bayonet
charges-Stone River, Kenesaw Mountain,
Peach Tree Greek, and Atlanta includ-
ed-and saw johnson surrender TO Sher-
man and the war brought TO an end. Al
together he was under fire IA days
Abraham Lincoln made him a brigadier
general by brevet for long and faithful
service and for conspicuous gallantry
at Resaca. Franklin, and Nashville
Horses were shot while he was riding
them, but he escaped with nothing more
serious than a ruptured eardrum, q shell
bursting on a line with his head, its
fragments carrying death in front Of him.
In crude outlines, such is the man who
introduced the dollar-a-day pension bill
in the House Of representatives. meas
ure as he explains ii, based on merit,
service. and sacrifice" and not on age
and political influence. 1t is a bill for
veterans, he says. and not for men whose
fighting was done in the main after 'Lse
offered his sword to Grant at Appomsttox
Court House. He wrote the bill, intro
duced it and managed its passage
through the lower branch of Congress.
II is now in the Senate He does not
prophesy its enactment into law. There
will be some legislation, however; OF that
he is sure.
Forty-nine pension bills have been Of
fered in the House of Representatives
during the present Congress. The sub
iect OF pensions is acutely up. More
over a great political campaign is COM
ing on. Men who are hostile TO the
Sherwood bill call 1t q grab" Men who
favor it say it is sound in principal and
patriotic in purpose. Secretary Fisher,
OF the Interior Department, estimates
that it will increase pension expenditures
from $3.50. 600, the present appropriation,
TO S2S5. 100000 a year. Gen. Sherwood
replies that the increase will be $45, 900, 900
annually and no more.
An Army Dying Each Year.
One hundred soldiers of the civil war
are dying every day. An army of S.
500 is dying every year. OF the 10000
men who bore arms against the South,
the names of 514,SS4 were on the pension
rolls on January l. 1872. Gen. Sherwood
is a Democrat His bill was passed by
the vote of ~ Republicans and 102 Demo-
Gratis. Southern members of the
House" he told me, would have sup
ported the measure had 1 needed their
help"
THE history Of the BILL" he said, DE
gins with the year 1907. The McCumber
law, enacted at that time, made age a
qualification for pensions. It was the
first act Of the kind ever written into
the statute book Of any country. The
raw recruit serving 90 days at home
camp and never under fire was really
given preference to the veteran of 80
hattles II he happened TO be the older
man, not in service but in years. Former
soldiers having reached the age of sixty
two could draw S12 a month, & they were
seventy they could draw $15 a month
and II seventy-five they could draw SO
a month.
AT the rsunions that summer held
in different parts of Ohio. there was
bitter complaint by the men who had
gone out IN 1861 and had veteranized
by subsequent enlistments-byi the men
who had done the actual fighting. Some
Of them were getting pensions of $12
month because they were sixty-five years
Of age, while men who had enlisted to-
ward the end of the war and had never
fired a gun or crossed the Ohio River
were getting from $15 to $50 a month sim
ply because they were seventy or sew
enty-five years Of age, as the case hap
pened. The penalty, you see, was on the
man who had enlisted while a boy and
served throughout the war, while the
premium was given TO the man who re-
mained at home until the war was al
most over.
A Brigade OF Fighting Youngsters.
Now, there are emergency men, as
We call them, who earned on the field
OF battle every right and privilege ac-
corded by law to the seasoned veteran.
Such men, many Of them mere boys,
helped to win the battle Of Gettysburg.
They came to us at Rocky Face Ridge
and marched with US 70 Atlanta and
the sea A brigade Of Indiana boys, fresh
from schools, farms and shops, under
the command Of General Alvin p. Hovey
a.