The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-03-01
Was with Soldiers eushwhaeked by
Guerilla Greasers ON tho Way
from Vera Cruz to Mexico
City.
SAW DRAMATIC SCENES
Watched Soldiers Fall In skirmish and
y His Mother Bind Up the Wounds
In the Big Wagon In
Which They Rode.

Which They Rode.
Il can remember, although I was
only six years old, sitting In wagon
on q road blocked by stones placed
by Mexicans. and seeing the Ameri-
can soldiers. who went out to chop
a new road, being attacked by Mexi.
can bushwhackers. We could sees the
fight as II 1t were on stage special.
ly arranged; and I can remember
one day particularly when a little
Irfshman, who was a good friend OF
ours. was wounded and my mother
dressed the wound in his shoulder
and bound it up as best she could y
The dramatic scenes enacted be.
fore the little boy made an impress
! sion still clear and distinct in the
mind OF the Keokuk man now eighty
| eight years old, Nicholas Mckenzie.
of zoe North Seventh street, who has
been Keokuk resident for seventy
years.
His father, William Mckenzie, be.
longed to the famous thirteenth In
fantry Of the regular army, which
4 was commanded later by w. T. Sher-
man. The family lived in Brooklyn,
N. Y, at the beginning of the Mexi-
can war, but when the thirteenth
regiment was ordered to Jefferson
Barracks for training, the wife and
three little children, one Of whom
was Nicholas Mckenzie, moved to
ESt. Louis.
A Kid Among the Wolves.
In due time the regiment was
Mckenzie left his little family and
followed the flag. The mother kept
boarders and cared for her children
until one day the father came home,
having been sent back to Jefferson
Barracks on commission from the
headquarters department. The moth
.er then and there declared:
'1f you go to war, I'll go, too
! And go she did. They journeyed
down the Mississippi to New Or
Vera Cruz. Mrs Mckenzie gained
4 permission Of the government to &C
company her husband If she would
go as Iaundress.
She cared for wounded soldiers
sewed for them and did many kind
nesses, such as is done nowadays by
Red Cross and hospital hut workers.
After brief stay in Vera Cruz the
regiment was ordered to Mexico City.
The dragons led the way, followed
by the wagon train. and in one wag.
on rode the Mckenzie family.
There was good road from Vera
Cruz to the capital city, but in those
! 1oNr Tho MayiOanG nNII0
| fight best as bushwhackers, and they
would pile stones in the road to
block the way of the United States
forces and compel the soldiers to cut
a new road.
He Saw Dramatic Scenes.
|. While they were thus engaged, the
| Mexicans attacked them from am
bush. These skirmishes are clear
and definite memory to Nicholas
Mckenzie still
There are two other dramatic In
stances he recalls.
| One when the United States troops,
| bearing aloft the stars and stripes,
| entered the city of Mexico, led by
General Winfield Scott.
i Then he remembers the soldiers,
WITH ali Their hHll6iy u dpPiASo'
! kneeling in the great cathedral in
Mexico City.
A Pioneer Of keokuk.
| The Mckenzie family lived in a
little adobe house in Mexico City
| to the end of the war, and when the
troops were mustered out they came
direct to Keokuk.
/ Three days after they arrived here
the father died.
The death of William Mckenzie
was reported in little paper pub
lished in Keokuk at that time by the
E,Ogdens. a paper which after a while
tcame to be The Keokuk Constitt1-
ton.
General Curtis, who had com.
manded an Ohio regiment in the
Mexican war, read of the death OF
Mckenzie, the soldier, and sent a
messenger to the widow to come to
see him.
She went to see General Curtis and
he took much interest in her vel
flare and that of the three little chill
ldren.
Befriended by General Curtis.
She had some money and he ad
fvised her to buy home with 1t.
+ Land titles were very doubtful in
those days, because Keokuk was on
the haIr-breed tract. General Curtis
told her of little house at 21S Con
cert street, owned by DR.. Lyons, who
had a good title This house, which
still stands, the widow bought, and
moved into it in 1S49.
The little boy, who at the age OF
six lived all through the experiences
of the Mexican war, grew to man
hood there and enlisted in Company
| A. second Iowa regiment, and fought
/ FUNERAL NOTICE.