Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1915-12-16
PITIFUL TALE OF
AN OLD SOLDIER
Falls Into Hands of Omaha Sharks
Who Fleece Him of His Earthly
Possessions


OF the misfortune that has bofallen
George Wilson, an old soldier and
farmer in Lincoln township. f. l..
BoDenmoyer, a neighDor for many
years, had an interview with Mr.. Will
son for The Republican recently and
the following is the tale Mr.. Wilson
relates concerning the difficulties in
to which he now finds himself.
George Wilson aged IA years, a
former Audubon county farmer and
veteran of the Civil War has within
the past three years turned $4,000
worth of land and money into the
hands OF gang of Omaha's swind-
lers and today is penniless in the
world, without any means of making
a livelihood for himself. Mr.. Wilson S
life has been a struggling one ana
from boyhood has been full of var
led experiences and hardships.
His life's history reads like
romance, and no doubt will be OIL
great interest to the numer Gus read
ers of The Republican as the follow
ing sketch will show.
He was born in the state of New
York Jan. l, 1912. Early in 1861
he enlisted in the regular army, be-
ing a member of General Sycies bri-
gade and was Immediately sent to the
front, being attached to the Army
of the Potomac, then commanded by
General Mcclellan.
He served the entire four years of
the war, being in turn in armies un-
der the command of Mcclellan, Burn
side, Pope, Hooker and Meade and
fought bravely in twenty-one battles,
among them in the Pennsylvania cam
paign being, Yorktown, Williamsburg
Five Oaks, Seven Pines, Seven Days
Battle, Gaines Hill, Antietam, Bull
Run, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville
and last fall, Gettysburg
He has a remarkable memory of
those days and can describe in de-
tail a more vivid picture of each of
those struggles, and of the life of a
soldier than one could learn from a
dozen of the best historians. In fact
the writer has gained more informa-
ton about the Civil War from listen
ing to his conversation a few hours,
than from years of study in the best
histories of the United States.
His regiment being one of the first
to be in fighting trim, soon became
a favorite in armydom and was al
ways sent into the most dangerous
and decisive parts of battles; many
times after other regiments had fail
ed. His regiment was seldom defeat
ed and whenever ii was Mr. Wilson
was not adverse in admitting it. It's
work as a whole nobly ended in the
Devils Den at Gettysburg July End,
1862 where 1t was virtually annihi-
lated.
He was with Mcclellan in the
siege of Richmond and states that
he well remembers how near they
were to the Confederate capitol, but
proudly admits that they were whip
ped by Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
At Antietam he nearly lost his life.
He was in the terrible carnage when
whole ranks of the boys in blue were
butchered by the terriffic fire from the
Confederate cannons. One man in
front of him was killed, one at his
side and another behind him, while
he himself was shot in the leg, but
fought bravely on until his command
er sent him to the rear as being dis
d
mander and dearly beloved by his
soldiers, and Mr.. Wilson declares that
this devotion between general and
his men was a great factor in the
Union victory at Antietam.
The soldiers lost heart, when af-
ter this battle the command was CIV
en- to Burnside. They never regained
full confidence in leader until
they found it in the person of Meade,
one year later. After Anteitam
came Fredericksburg where our hero
was nearly taken prisoner. His COM
pany was chosen to make an attempt
to capture dangerous position where
the enemy was protected by timber
and fallen trees. Wilson could hard
ly walk on account of his wound so
General Hancock left his horse be-
hind and ordered Wilson to go back
to look after the animal. He did as
ordered, but being worn out by loss
of sleep for many days and nights,
soon fell into peaceful slumber. He
awoke very much revived, but the
horse was gone. The cannonading
had ceased to roar and it was just
getting dawn of another day as he
had slept a part of one day and all
of. one night He noticed few
scattered soldiers patrolling the bat
tlefield but they wore uniforms of
gray and carried flag decorated
with the stars and bars. He looked
far to the southeast through an OPP
ening in the forest and beheld flag
planted on top of hill; but was IL
free or slave 1t was too far away
for him to tell and to make the stu
alton all the more delicate the Rap
pahannock river was between.
The whole situation was taken in
at glance and Wilson, though bad
ly wounded, soon decided upon his
course: He threw away his KNAPP
sack and most of his equipment,
strapped his musket across his back,
plunged into the river and swan to
the other shore. Was he running
away from foe to Join foe or friend?
He could not tell. Upon drawing
nearer he found to his delight that
the flag belonged to the Union, and
that he was safe. Upon reaching
the summit of the hill he was more
delighted to find the flag was not on
ly flag of the Union army, but that
1t was the flag of his own company.
His comrades soon fiocked around
him, grasped his hands and cheered
for one whom they thought was dead.
The army then encamped for the
winter and both sides awaited the
terrible struggle which came the fol-
lowing summer. The next June they
entered Pennsylvania and moved
northward nearly on parallel with
the route of the army of Robert f.
Lee. Wilson says the boys foretold
that terrible battle was coming, but
thav could NOT tell exacfly when or