Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-02-06

Sherwood enlisted as private in 1861
and served through four years and
| six months. He was mustered out as
a brigadier general While in the
1 service he collected ballots during a
/ forced march which helped to re-
+ elect Lincoln. and in a muddy uni
F., form he pushed his way to within ten
feet of Lincoln on March 4, 1865, when
/ he delivered his second inaugural ad-
dress.
i Il well remember on the 4th Of No
! vember 1864. we were on a march in
Tennessee forced march toward
the battlefield on Franklin" Gen.
Sherwood says. The Ohio legisla-
ture.' he explains. had passed law
tthey had the old ballot system then
i before we bad IMPORTED the system
| from Australia) that the soldiers in
the field should vote. The Ohio presi-
Dental tickets had been sent to me
| for my regiment, the 111th Ohio. We
were on forced march the day of
| the election Of a President OF the
| United States We were to start at
| daylight. Just before daylight I had
my horse saddled and rode back three
miles to the rear and borrowed from
| our brigade surgeon, DIR. Brewer, an
| ambulance into which / threw a camp
| kettle. Whenever we rested that day,
I VII tHdt idplu IHdTSII, tue SOlQlcTS III
! my regiment voted in that old camp
kettle in the ambulance. We counted
the votes at night by the light Of the
| bivouac fires. One-third Of my regi-
ment were democrats and yet there
were only seven votes against Abra-
ham Lincoln in tn whole regiment"
/ Gen. Sherwood is quite proud of his
distinction in being the only man in
public life today who stood near Lin
L ch1n when he inanOnrQfpd anH 10
much pleased that Elliott Woods, SUI
perintendent of the Capitol, has found
| among some old Photographic plates
one which shows Lincoln delivering
his inaugural. and Sherwood in uni
form standing in the crowd below the
barricade on the east front of the
Capitol.
II remember after the battle of
| Franklin" Representative Sherwood
says. "after Nashville and after we
had driven Gen. Hood and his army
across the Tennessee river, we were
placed on transports and carried up
the Tennessee and the Ohio to Gin
| cinnati, then across Ohio. and Virginia
on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad to
Washington. We reached this city
March 3, consigned to an ocean voy-
age to some point in North Carolina
| to meet the army Of Gen. Sherman
coming up the coast from Savannah
! Abraham Lincoln was to be inaugu-
! rated the next day, March 4, 1855 II
| was looking for a war horse in Wash
| ington, as my last horse was shot in
/ the battle of Franklin. but / was de-
| termined to see Lincoln and hear his
second inaugural address. I had never
/ seen Abraham Lincoln before. He was
| theidol of our Army.
| There was a vast crowd on the
| If the ranftn1 II
to me there must have been 10000,
| with many hundred boys in blue, and
officers in full uniform, including
Gen. Joe Hooker. / had on my old
furnished with CRIME from the red
clay roads of northern Georgia and
| the sticky mud Of west Tennessee.
My old SLOUGH hat. with a hole burned
in the crown. caused by sleeping with
my head too close to bivouac fire.
was not a fitting crown for inaugu-
ration day. but worked my way
through that vast throng to within
! ten feet of Abraham Lincoln. and
heard him deliver his last grafton on
earth. 1 heard him say:
| "'Fondiy do We hope. fervently do
we pray, that this mighty scourEe Of
! war may speedily pass away. With
malice towards none. with charity
for all. with firmness in the right.
as God gives us to see the right.
|
are in: to bind up the nations
wounds: to care for him who shall
have borne the battle and for his
| widow and orphans That was his
| last official declaration.
| Nearly fifty-six years have passed
! since that eventful day. when I,
| scarce thirty years of age. saw the
towering form of Lincoln. with a
white pocket handkerchief around his
neck. | can see Lincoln Lincoln in n, memory
man, with deep lines of care furrow-
ing his cheeks, with ine1xpressible
{, man Of many sorrows-a sad face,
a strong face. face radiant with
Inspiration Of a great soul. as he
| voiced in prophecy the ultimate des-
| tiny Of this nation. AS a soldier of
| the republic heard Abraham Lincoln
| voice his national ideals in his last
| message to the American people"
zen. SHERWOOD recalls also and
- very wildly the pail that fell