Show I SOME FOURTH OF JULY STORIES REMARKARLI EXPERIENCES OF i OJIU AVELLKAOWX SiENA JL lopoiis Glimpse of the Flap A Popular Fourth of July Oration j i 1 G rant Fourth at Viclislmrjs i i j tier Fire on the Fourth Strange Part IMayeil Hy the Fourth in the Life ttf n AVclIIviioiiu Army Officer I Copyright 1S93 by S S McClure I Limited The most interesting Fourth of July I incident that I recall said Hon James S Clarkson whose boyhood was past in rural Iowa and whose m turer years have been divided between journalism policies and affairs occurred oc-curred four years ago in London I was on my way to visit the tower It was the first time I had ever passed I the day out of sight of the stars and stripes I had just said to my wife who sat in the carriage beside me I that the Fourth was astrange day without a chance to see the flag or I hear a fire cracker when my youngest son Grosvenor who sat on the box vith the driver began to yell as if I possessed Before I could stop him I saw the cause of his delight It was a i huge American flag stretched clear I across the street and it looked so good to me that I stood up in the carriage and cheered along wth the boy I have I always been fond of the stars and stripes but they looked better than ever to me that Fourth I i Liiclc TcrrjJ Rusks Popular I Fourth of July Speech hIn Iowa when I was a youngster j I he went on reminiscently the Fourth I of July was celebrated in the cities I country towns and villages and at the cross roads and the celebrations were II sincere demonstrations of popular affection af-fection for the flag Oratory dancing 1 and driving made up the day sentiment senti-ment lovemaking and dancing the I nisrht Just such Fourth of July celebrations celebra-tions are held now in some parts of the country The late Jerry Rusk attended at-tended such a one in West Virginia a year or two ago before he died He was scheduled to make an address but the other speakers had been longwinded long-winded and when it came his turn he saw that the young folks espec ially thp girls were anxious to begin The dancing so his remarks were brief and to the point I My friends he said it seems tome I to-me it is about time the pretty girls here had a chance to shake their feet Besides I want to dance myself ando and-o Instead of talking I shall be delighted de-lighted if I may lead the first set Who of all you girls will be my partner That was the most popular speech of the day In less than a minute the music was heard and led by Uncle Jerry the boys and girls began to dance around the handkerchief Rusk siayed on the floor a long time before he gave his place to a younger man aUei having danced with a dozen of j I the prettiest girls in the whole crowd i General Grants Fourth of July at j YjcJ Hbul 1 Yes said Colonel Fred Grant I j leaning back in his commissioners I j chair in police headquarters when I j asked him about the memorable j Fourrh of July IStjH I remember the I entrance of the federal troops into Vicksburg very well indeed But I was I a lad of only 13 then was quite ill from camp disorders and suffering I from a most horrible toothache which I was not relieved until after we had passed over the fortifications You will II easily understand why many details that would now be very interesting have no place whatever in my memory mem-ory On the Srd of July as you no doubt remember the preliminaries of Vicks burgs surrender were gone through by my father and General Pemberton The meeting of my father who was attended by General McPherson with General Pemberton attended by General Gen-eral Bowen has been described in better I bet-ter terms than I could command even < if I could recall the details After a I I little talk McPherson and Bowen stepped aside to arrange details while the staff officers discussed affairs il among themselves After the terms had been arranged and put into writing writ-ing the conference was ended and Generals Pemberton and Bowen returned re-turned to their own lines and we tot to-t headquarters There was a feeling ofT of-T the most intense expectance al through our headquarters and indeed the entire en-tire federal camp I I was suffering so severely that I r went into the tent which I shared f with my father and laid down upon one of the bamboo cots that had been L made for us by some of the soldier boys But I was in such pain that I could not sleep and I remember well I how I lay there hour after hour on f the eve of that eventful Fourth watching watch-ing my father who sat writing at a rude little twobyfour pine table also 1 made by the soldier boys His face was lighted by the flickering blaze of a candle and the scratching of his pen as it traveled back and forth over 0 Co the paper was the only sound In the 0 I tent Finally in the middle of the night I I am not sure whether it was yet o the Fourth or notJ began to drowse I 3 c c a little in spite of my pain But I i was aroused very soon by the entrance i of an orderly with a note I I did not have to be told that the message was from General ember J ton I lost my sleepiness at once and watched my fathers face while he read the note It was not a longe one but I he read it over intently two or three times When he looked up an expression I expres-sion of great relief passed over his i features and he took a long breath Well Fred he said turning to me j i its all over We shall enter Vicksburg Vicks-burg in the morning as soon as the I formal surrender is made That was all he said and I suppose I he must have turned in soon after 11 fell into a deep sleep almost instantly I Of the actual entrance into Vicksburg Vicks-burg on the Fourth I remember only j the chief points Our men were jubilant jubi-lant of course The staff led by father fa-ther rode inside the confederate lines j to a house partly of stone and partly i of wood that was prety well riddled by shot and shell where we met General Gen-eral Pemberton who looked greatly I distressed and the papers were signed j I The talk between General Pfmberton i and my father was not long its ter ns I were courteous but hardly cordial and I all were heartily glad when the signatures signa-tures had been appended to he articles arti-cles of capitulation Then we remounted remount-ed and rode into town I remember that our horses had to jump the braast works and trenches and that the jolting jolt-ing increased my suffering Father selected se-lected his headquarters as soon as he could a dentist was brought and my aching tooth was attended to and then being very ill indeed I as put Ito I-to bed A few days later it was necessary neces-sary to send me north in order to save my life I Some oC Fourth of July Firing That Meant Business Dr George F Shrady who was General Gen-eral Grants physician during the great soldiers last illness recalls uly 4th 1862 as the most impressive Independence Independ-ence Day in his experience I had just been graduated in medicine medi-cine said Dr Shrady and was on my way to Fortress Monroe where I was to serve as an assistant surgeon The battle of ilalvern Hill had been fought on July 1 and 2 and there was I many wounded Union soldiers at the hospitals in and about Fortress Monroe I Mon-roe We went there lv boat The sea voyage part of the trip being made I on the Euterpe and our trip up to the j I fort on a smaller steamer I got my j first taste of real war on that trip j I The confederates at Fot Powhatsn I disregarded our yellow flag indicating indicat-ing that ours was a hospital boat and opened fire upon us I I stood on deck looking directly at the fort as our boat steamed leisurely leisure-ly along Suddenly there was a puff I of white smoke and a flash Then a big something came sailing through r the air right towards us You know I you can see the projectile from a big gun if you are about in its range My i first thought was that I was right in it so to say iiiid my second that Id j I like to get out of lisa way But before be-fore I had time to dodge the shot had struck the smokestack and demo ished it That made things highly interesting in-teresting and besides the sharpshoot ers kept peppering at our pilot house all the way up and taking it altogether alto-gether the trip was a right lively one When we made the return trip a few days later in the same boat we were escorted by two gunboats one of which was named the Galena after the Town of General Grants residence It was as if a school girl had been stoned by mischievous urchins on her way to school was afraid of being hurt and the teacher had sent her home between two big boys who would swagger along on either side and see that she came to no sort of harm Well as we passed Fort Pow hatan one of our gunboats sent a shell or two crashing over toward the boat It was fun to see the missiles cut off the tree branches and make the dust fly around there There were no an iswering shots The mischievous ur Ohins kept quiet They didnt like the looks of the big boys who had been sent to see the little girl home and so the return trip was much less exciting ex-citing than the trip up stream had been Importance of the Fonrth in the Career of u AVuIlKitown Ariny OHieer An army officer of such present rank and standing that he is likely some day to be a major general was recently visiting some old friends in the east who had not seen him often since he began army life and said to them that he looked upon the Fourth of July 1862 as the date of the beginning of his career and that he had some times wondered at the coincidences which thad made that day a conspicuous conspicu-ous one in his life Then briefly he told his story Soon after midnight on July 4 1S62 a country lad was awakened Iby a prearranged pre-arranged signal and looking from his window saw one of his mates waiting impatiently for him to come out and celebrate by the firing of pistols and a little brass cannon in the small hours of the night Not many minutes was the awakened lad engaged in dress ing and with an agility which was always his characteristic he swung himself from his window to the limbs of a cherry tree and by that means dropped to the ground In his pocket were a couple cf biscuits and some pieces of cold meat which he had with I I I prudence provided on the evening be fore Sharing the provisions with his mate they started munching as they went They went to a hill beneath which stood a little farmhouse which was once the home of the grandfather of a president of the United States On the crest of this hill they discharged their cannon perhaps a dozen times Then dragging the little cannon behind be-hind them they started off for the city some four or live miles distant As they passed a farmhouse they stopped beneath the windows and discharged their pistols When at last they reached the city they joined a considerable company of youngsters who were engaged like themselves Just at sun rise they climbed into the steeple of an old church beneath whose rafters some of the soldiers of I 1 the revolution had gathered in the I days of 7Galld rang the bell with igor although it was no childs play Ito I-to pull the rope j i One of them the lad with whom this i story has to < do was 17 years of age Ii I I i i of a mans stature but a boys heart and impulses ithe other was a little younger Both were very tired by 10 oclock in the morning or an hour before be-fore the formal celebration was to take place So they found seats upon two fence posts where they perched themselves them-selves to watch the procession as it j went by There was a company of boy soldiers dressed in Zouave uniform commanded > by one who has since gained fame as an artist and by another an-other whose father was conspicuous asa I as-a general in command of Union > sat 1 s-at the battle of Bull Run and who I himself afterwards ibecame l a high of ficer in VIle regular army These little I fellows with wooden guns marched with military step and in the hearts of some of them was kindled an en I thusiasm such as had led older bro thers and their fathers to enlist in the army that was far away at the front getting ready for that second great encounter upon the Manassas battle field Jumping down from the fence posts the two lads walked beside the junior soldiers looking very solemn now and wishing that they too were members of that company At last they came to the public square Here a platform had been erected and seated upon It were the member of Congress from that district and a distinguished orator from another state and perhaps half a dozen others They were there not to make the ordinary Fourth of July speech but to urge volunteers to come forward and enlist so that the new regiments might be made complete and sent to the front The older lad stopped to listen to the speeches He had not heard very much about the war Cor in his peace ful country life only faint echoes of the great conflict had penetrated at that time He heard the congressman as he urged the young men who were gathered in the square before him to come forward and enlist he heard the great orator make a powerful plea I and he wondered whether this speaker I did not feel very hot standing in the sun and swinging his arms so vio lently and speaking in such a loud voice Then he saw the congressman take from his pocket a package of money and heard him say as he did so I have one thousand dollars here Each one of the first ten men who comes forward and enlists will receive one hundred dollars and besides that the town will pay him by and by two hundred dollars more Then one man and another and still another I went forward signed his name was cheered to the echo as lie did so and received one hundred dollars Eight I men came forward speedily Then L there was a long pause before the ninth presented himself As he came I from the platform he passed the lad whose first name was William and said to him William thats the first hundred dollars that I ever had and Im going home to give it to mother II He was one William knew and was only a year or two older than him t self and not so tall nor anywhere near so strong Now the congressman pleaded and i begged for the tenth man to come i forward and enlist and receive his i I I I hundred dollars Williams heart was j I suddenly set on fire and he said t > I i himself If Hiram can enlist why 1 cannot I The hundred dollars that I I get now will be a great help to father I fa-ther and the other two hundred will I make it possible for him to pay his I i interest Then I shall be P soldier too and carry a real gun I Thus thinking but scarcely know i ing what he did William edged his i way to the steps which led up to the platform and then hesitated The eye of the congressman fell upon him Come up my son he said You too want to light for your country Come and join the roll of honor So almost before he knew what he had done William had signed the roll received his hundred dollars and was told to report upon the following day at a place which was named to him In that moment he changed from a lad r to a man He had become separated from his playmate who had gone I marching on with the boy soldiers Therefore he turned his face homeward home-ward and after awhile reached the I little farm house I William did not dare tell his mother what he had done So he sought his father who was celebrating the Fourth after the fashion of farmers who toil hard by getting in a crop of hay William went to the field and calling his father apart from the field hands placed in his hands the hundred dollars Where did you get this my son I the farmer asked I I It was given to me this morning Given to you for what I For enlisting in the army and you will have two hundred dollars more by and by The old man looked at him bewildered bewil-dered and then after a time he asked the boy to tell the story As William did so the tears came into the fathers fa-thers eyes but he said William If you had asked me this morning I should have forbidden it for I should have said that you were too young But it seems to me that if they want soldiers to fight for the flag so bad as this then some one in our family I ought to go i cannot for I am too I old I fear You havo three brothers and they are too young You shall I stand by your word William and goThen they went to the house and I when the mother was told her face paled but she took down her Bible I and read a chapter in it to her boy j Little more than two months later 1 William was in the thick f > l the fight i i at Antietam His courage and his coolness won the admiration of his I comrades Near the close of the bat j tie as he was passing through a cornfield corn-field he was struck and fell to the j ground It proved however to be a i spent bullet The shock was severe I and the wound painful but not dangerous j f dan-gerous i When William came out of the hos I pita he found that he had been made sergeant as a recognition of his cour j I age and his faithfulness A year later on the Fourth of July he lay in I i the hospital again at Gettysburg He was one of the immortal band who had received the charge of Pick j I eUs men at the stone wall His I commanding officer had seen him i fighting while the blood was streaming I stream-ing from a wound in his neck As he lay upon his cot on that Fourth of I July his mind went back to that day j i a year before when he had started out I for a boyish celebration and had re I turned to his home pledged to be a soldier and he was glad that he had taken that step He knew that army life had a fascination for him and he then made a resolution that in case he survived his wound he would remain re-main always in the army This time when he left the hospital a lieutenants lieu-tenants commission was awaiting i hlma boy of only IS I On the 4th of July 1864 William had a memorable experience He had I mt7IYFp or WoyG C i I I riw ijsii LI7s r j t I i t ggiII11I 7 I 1 IA I I QkAi 1 1 I j ii f 1L o1 1Th 5 cI 1U = = r g T T I I I ILLUSTRATIONS FROM LATE JAPANESE NEWSPAPERS fought all through the wilderness and before Petersburg and he was a captain cap-tain now Some official business brought him for the first time into the presence of Grant and Grant said to him Captain I ihave heard of you and especially of your courage at Cold Harbor I shall not forget you On the 4th < of Joly 1SG5 the young captain having been mustered out of I the volunteer service received a lieutenants lieu-tenants commission in the regular army and although he was never told so directly yet he never doubted that he owed the appointment to a friendly word from General Grant In the west whither he went with his regiment he remained many years and his old father and mother were I very proud of the record which he there made in the perilous campaigns I against the Indians Slowly by successive suc-cessive promotions he at last reached the rank of colonel and was generally recognized as one of ithose soldiers who though lacking West Point training nevertheless had those qualities quali-ties which make a fine commander |