The Palatka news and advertiser., 1913-07-18
AFTER MANY YEARS
CANE TAKEN In WAR
Is Returned to Mrs. Hickman
of this City. its Rightful
Owner.

his wrinkled 'front.'" indeed, and in
proof of this we only need to point to
the recent Gettysburg reunion, where
the battle flags of the Confed-
eracy, tattered by shell and moth
eaten, were carried by veterans side
by side with the battle flags of the
victorious Union in the hands of the
victors.
The spirit was fraternal. The men
who engaged in deadly conflict fifty
years ago clasped hands in mutual,
deep-seated admiration and friendship.
This better understanding, this fra
ternity of feeling, is bringing about
some wonderful happenings.
One of these has to do with a Pa
latka war incident, which the follow
ing letter will explain:
Hartford, Ct, July 8, 1913.
7. NJ. Kirby, Postmaster,
Palatka, Florida.
Dear Referring to enquiries
made last winter while in Florida,
concerning Col VIM. H. Hickman, /
beg to say that some time ago there
came to me gold mounted cane
marked on top 81. w. H. to his broth.
er," and on side of top, "Col. VIM. H.
Hickman, PalGtka, Fla, 1855"
The only information / could OBJ
tain concerning it is that it was found
between two beds in a deserted house
when the place was occupied by Union
troops. take pleasure in being the
medium for its return and have for
warded same by express, prepaid, to-
day to you WITH request that you give
il into the hands of the heirs of Col
Hickman, one of whom, a grandson,
YOU informed me is in your en-
EioN. have no knowledge of the
party who found the cane nor of the
party in possession of it all the years
since. My own service was wholly in
the Army of the Potomac.
Yours very truly,
ISAAC T. KINGSBURY,
Late Adiutant 32d Mass. Vol. Inft.
Postmaster Kirby has restored the
cane to Mrs. Hickman, and she in
Stantly recognized it. 1t is peculiar.
The gold top represents hand, and
the engraving is as plain as when
freshly cut.
Col. Hickman came to Palatka
soon after his marriage, in the early
EOS; he owned a plantation which
was called Bluffton, down the river
at the point now known as Fairview.
In 1855. brother, who was living at
Charleston, S. c., left with Walker on
his famous and disastrous Nicaraguan
expedition, and before leaving sent
this cane as a present to Col. Hick-
man. The cane was therefore in his
hands some seven or eight years be-
fore he started for the front as COM
missioned officer in the Second Florida
regiment
After serving in the western cam
paign some time Col. Hickman was
detailed as a government inspector
Of meats with headquarters at Alba
ny, Ga, where he was joined by Mrs.
Hickman.
During much of the time in the
war Palatka was occupied by Union
forces, and part of the time by ne
gro troops The cane was left at the
Bluffton home, and a failure to find
it on the return of the family at the
close Of the war was looked upon as
one of those fortunes, or ill-fortunes,
Of the strife to which the southern
peonle were then quite familiar, and
little was thought of it.
Col. Hickman died in Palatka about
year after the war. But Palatka
has always remained the family home.
Mrs. Hickman, loved and revered by
her immediate family connections and
host of sincere friends, makes her
home with her daughter, Mrs. S. j.
Kennerly.
That she prizes this restored cane
that was once a valued keepsake of
her departed hero husband can be
easily understood. 1t is at least 4S
years since it was taken from the
family home by Federal marauders.
J. W. Hickman, who presented the
cane to his brother So years ago, went
On the Walker expedition to Nicara-
qua, Central America. He has never
been heard of since, and whether he
lied as the result of wounds in battle
Or as a prisoner of war in the prison
pens Of the tropics, or by tropical
fever, will always remain a mystery
whose solution will be known only
when the scrolls are unrolled "before
that great and notable day of the
Lord"