Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-05-26
lod Gaston in the ropeka Capital.

Coming across %Statehouse square
yesterday afternoon | met a n of
bent and stumbling old men. Their
heads were white with the frost of
years and there wasn't a straight back
nor an erect pair OF shoulders in the lot.
They were ordinary looking old cod
gers, gnarled by toll and hardships and
CARRIED in the Sunday regalia of the
rural community. 1 noted in passing
that the lapel of each mans coat bore
a little bronze button. l knew the but
ton was there before my eyes sought
it. 1 can tell an old soldier AS far as
1 can see him. There is about every
soldier some salient thing-some subtle
individual characteristic which distin-
cuisines him from other elderly men and
which defies the art of INSTALLATION. /
knew none of the old men in the party
of four or five. They passed without
needing me. Eut as L came abreast of
them ~involuntarily stood at attention
and saluted the bronze button and the
men who wore it. L am not much
given to sentimental display. The we'll
spring of my enthusiasm never gushes.
But the little bronze button and the
men entitled to wear it are a part of
the memory of my life. And having
paid this passing tribute to them. 1
am minded to make brief reference to
the simple annals of the soldier l knew
best.
The soldier 1 knew best enlisted
when he was 10. His discharge papers
lie before me as / write. They show
that he was mustered into the service
at Springfield. ILL.,. in August. 1861. and
that he finally was mustered out at
brownsville. Tex, in March, 1865.
Between the two dates there were
something more than four years and
eight months of continuous march and
bivouac, o only by Il furlough of
two weeks in the winter of 1863. For
four years, eight months and some odd
days he was Internationally a unit in
the broad mark at which opposing arm
les shot. In the intervals between the
strenuous periods of a soldiers business
ne fought fever, thirst, hunger and the
elements. protected from their on
slaugats n by a dog tent, or the
canopy of h skies above him. He
unlisted from a farm and went into the
army a strong, rugged, hearty youth.
he came out a rok reed. l have
oIten heard him say he never knew a
SICK day before he went into the army,
MOI a we'll n after he came out of
II. F,or Ii years before he died he was
unable to turn his hand to even the
lighter occupations of life.
l celebrate no hero here. The soldier
j. knew best was a plain man, and, as
the world measures achievement, an
unsuccessful one. He went into the
army as a private and came out a cor
poral. The civil war, doubtless. could
have been fought and won witho,'t
MIN. He had not even the distinction
common among old soldiers of having
personally repulsed Pickett's charge.
He wasn't at Gettysburg at all. I
never heard him boast of any particu-
iar acnlevement although. until the
DAY Of his death. the civil wal was his
favortte topic of conversation 1t was
not that he wished to speak of his
valor or o the stories of the
hardships he endured, but that the war
10 MN was the n epochal incident of
q plain n humdrum life. The list of
battle in which the soldier l knew best
was engaged was neither so long nor
sc inspiring as that which stands OPP
poslte the name of many another. He
was at Donelson and Henry and at
Vlcksburg with Old Grant. He was
IN the two days slaughter at Shiloh
ana helped take Spanish Fort. And he
Was also a unit in the operations
around Chattanooga. The fight of
which he talked most and best. and to
me the mos. thrilling of his army ca
reer was the one at Hatchie River
fon VIII find little reference to the
Dattle of Hatchie River in war history.
A. was one OF the minor ngagement
but 1t always seemed to me the soldier
I knew best was more closely identified
WIN II than with any other engagement
IN which he fought. l never grew
tlred OF hearing him tell how his de-
pieted regiment double quicked a dis
n OF four miles before striking the
enemy n then lost 24O men. killed
and wounded. in 30 minutes.
Once in the month of August tho
regiment to which the soldier / knew
pest belonged marched two days with
out water. The Mississippi wells had
all gone dry and the water courses
were dried Up. Along in the forenoon
Of the third day when the tongues Of
the men had begun to swell and pro-
trude from their mouths the command
was matted for a brief rest. Presently
an officer rode up and said: .Boys.
there's plenty OF water in the creek 200
yards down the road" The command
which had stacked arms, stampeded at
q word and the soldier 1 knew. said
many OF them jumped into the water
when they reached 1t.
The soldier I knew best was Shin
wrecked In the Gulf OF Mexico when
mas command was shifted from New
orleans to Brownsville. Everything ex-
cept the soldiers and the crew-the
OF the officers, their baggage
and other tmpedimenta-was thrown
overheard In an effort to save the shin.
Inat 10 to say. all Of the horses save
one was thrown overheard. The cap-
16ln or A rode n nonv NJ