Year: 1876




would be trouble So in April we organized
together, number of our officers, and
formed club, laughter all drew our pay,
and got all the money we could. | put in
this all my money, and everything that I
had, and borrowed every dollar that | could
We all put in this money, our pay as
soldiers, and made purse of it, and sent
man to Wall street to sell gold short at
sellers option on ninety days, and put up
our money as margins. 1t was simply a
bet on our part that we could take~Vicks-
burg, and that we would do it, and bet
on Wall streets part that we couldn't and
wouldn't. We staked our lives, too, on
top of the bet. We did take Vicksburg.
[Great cheering, frequently repeated The
river went down and we went in. Renewed
cheers.[ We won our bet and Wall street
lost. Laughter. We made money, |
made money, lots of it, and | am glad of it.
1t served good purpose to the Union, too,
as well as to our pockets. 1t was not known
the day our gold was sold whose it was
But the next morning it was announced in
| the New York press that it was the money
of the Union officers before Vicksburg, their
bet virtually that they would take Vicks-
burg. In twcnty-four hours gold went
down fifteen cents. Cheers Some of the
noble men who fell in the capture of Vicks-
burg were in ''the club" and their families
to-day are saved from poverty by the profit
of this soldiers bet with Wall street. Sub
bued applause. You may call it bet,
and morally wrong, if you choose. | am
willing to accept the responsibility of it as
it is. [AppIause.l So l did speculate in
gold while was actually at the head of my
division, and that one charge is true
Laughter.


THE BURNING OF RICH REBEL HOUSES.


Another charge is that I am a house
burner. The news that [ have left the
Democratic Party seems to have got away
down in the old rebel country, and some
one down on the Lower Mississippi writes
to St. Louis paper, wondering if | am
the Gen. Tuttle whose troops, on the march
from Miliken's Bend to Grand Gulf, burned
SO many fine houses on Lake ST. Joseph,
among them the finest residence in all the
Southern country, that of Col. Bowie, the
inventor of the famous Bowie knife [ am
the man, [much laughter and applause the
same Gen. Tuttle who with his boys went
along there. Nearly all the houses were
burned before my command came up. The
| Bowie mansion was not. | was in it. 1t
was the grandest house [ ever saw, or read
about. This house and furniture are said
to have cost 100000. The upholstering
was grand beyond all description. | found
number of Union soldiers in the house,
belonging to Steele's division, which was
just ahead of mine They were lounging
around in their muddy boots, enjoying the
luxuries | sent them on to their com
mand, and passed on with the head Of my
division. My command was probably five
miles long the road After about half of
the division had passed, and l was about
two or three miles away, [ looked back, at
tracted by an immense blaze, and the Bowie
house was gone.


suppose it was burned by the some of
my boys. | do not doubt it. Some Of my
soldiers-of Iowa regiments, foo-were just
out of a rebel prison, with all OF its tor
lures fresh in their minds-and this was
their first march. They remembered we'll,
and they probably know something about
it. Our orders were all against burning
the houses. I suppose we could have pre-
vented their burning if we had made it a
speciality. (Laughter) But we had an
other speciality on hand just then. IRE
newcd laughter. This is my record as a
house-burner.