The Washington herald., 1913-05-18
Story of How Gen. Castle
mans Life Was Saved by
an Executive Order Issued
by President Lincoln.

Uf 1 lOSldSllt AhAS
A monument is to be unveiled at LOUIS
willie, KY, in June. TO the former Con-
federate soldier who set IRE TO union
steamboats, along the levee at St Louis
in 1ss. and was one of 100 in chosen
hand who made a daring attempt 10 free
700 Confederate prisoners held at camp
Douglas. Chicago.
Gen. Castleman is the man who will
he honored. his friends having raised
fund of $1,000 for the statute to be in
stalled while he still is alive.
That Gen. Castleman still is alive is
due TO the devotion of his sister, Mrs.
Samuel Miller Breckenridge. of ST. Louis
who saved him from death by obtaining
an order from President Lincoln, through
her pIeadings, staying execution until he
had reviewed the case.
Gen. Castleman was exiled from the
United States for eighteen months, being
readmitted under an amnesty order OF
President Johnson.
The bronze reproduction of the soldier
mounted on his famous horse Carolina
will stand at the intersection of Chero-
kee Road and Cherokee Parkway, one
of the most beautiful centers of Louis
vile.
1t is a most unusual statue and one
of real historic interest. For one thing,
il is erected while Gen. Castleman is
still alive and hearty with the prospect
of many years during which he will be
able to see this substantial proof of the
esteem in which his fellow-citizens of
Louisville hold him.
1t was his friends who determined that
Gen. Castleman should have his monu-
ment while he was alive, not after he
had been dead for years. They raised
a fund and commissioned R. Hinton
Perry, the New York sculptor, to do the
work which now is complete.
The historic value of the statue lies
in the fact that it preserves for future
generations a soldier who fought for
the Confederacy against the United
States and who was banished from his
country never to RETURN but who
lived to take up arms for that country
and he commissioned general in her
armies
But the incident of chief interest
which will he associated with Gen.
CastIeman's career is that in which the
principle actors were Abraham Lincoln
and a ST. Louis woman, Castleman's
sister, who persuaded the President to
protect the young soldier when the lat
ter was in a Northern prison in canger
Of death.
Lincoln'~ Letter a Treasure.
Today one of the most-treasured OF
all Gen. Castlemans possessions is the
letter which Abraham Lincoln wrote for
that devoted sister-Mrs. Samuel Miller
Breckenridge, of St. Louis.
This is one of the stories of Lincoln's
life which is not generally known, but
which undoubtedly is authentic in every
ri, bar cvi1sa
are based on the recital of facts by
Gen. Castleman.
John Breckenridge CastIeman was
born in Fayette County. Ky, IN 1871.
When the Civil war broke out he was
a youth of twenty, and with many 9TH
ers of the young men of the Blue Grass
State enlisted under Gen. John H Nor
gan in that famous body which became
known as "Morgan's Men"
In 1864 Castleman had risen o to be
major under Morgan. He was then only
twenty-three years old but with three
years hard fighting in his experience.
The Confederate armies were dwin-
ding and the South was finding it i'm
possible to get men to fll the ranks. In
the Northern prisons were thousands of
men who had been made prisoners of
war.
President Davis decided that an effort
to recruit the Southern armies from
these prisoners should be made, ana he
designated Castleman and Thomas
Henry Hines, another of Morgans
Young officers. to go to Chicago and
there attempt TO set free the thousands
Of Confederate prisoners in Camp Doug
las. The prisoners had already been
communicated with and had formed an
organization for the purpose of Coop
Grating when the attempt should be
made.
August, 1864. during the Democratic
national convention, which nominated
Mcclellan for President, was the time
selected for the attempt. About 100 Con-
federates under Castleman and Hines
gathered in Chicago. They stopped at
the Richmond House and set about
forming a plan that would give some
chance of success
A brief reConnoiter showed that the
undertaking was hopeless. The govern
ment had grown apprehensive and had
thrown 700 troops under the personal
command o. Gen. Rosercrans into Chi
cago for the purpose of guarding the
prisoners in Camp Douglas
Found Case Was Hopeless.
astleman and Hines told their COM
rades that the situation seemed hope
less and that they would better fee
They themselves were under orders and
would remain in Chicago and do whatever
they could to free the prisoners. The
three fed South.
There is another incident of Gen. Cas-
tleman's career in the civil war which is
identified with St Louis.
The charges and specifications against
John B. Castleman filed at Washington
and forming part of those under which he
was held as a prisoner in solitary con-
finement show that he took ten men to
st. Louis in September, 1854, and stopped
at the Olive Street Hotel with his body
of Confederates. They then made an
organized effort to destroy the shipping
anchored there at the St. Louis wharf.
including more than 100 steamboats, that
were then used TO supply the Federal
Army at Vicksburg with commissary
supplies and with ordnance. At that time
the great steamboat Bart Able was
burned
IN these specifications Castleman is re-
ferred to as "a daring and dangerous
enemy"
They fed from ST Louis and fingered
in the vicinity Of Chicago until one
day Castleman, while reconnoiterins in
Northern Indiana. was captured by
Federal soldiers. who had grown sus-
picious of him, and was sent to the mill
tary prison in indianapolis.
Castleman was going under the name
of Wilson and could not communicate
with members Of his family. Hines made
his way to Kentucky, however, with
word Of his misfortune and the members