| Show gissia ABOUT FAMOUS washington march 3 1888 1898 1 I rode from the capitol to the treasury the other gutber day in a street car which contained five noted public men who have faced death one was general joe wheeler the famous cavalry leader of the southern confederacy who does not weigh more than pounds but who had seventeen horses shot under him during his bis military Y service another was senator daniel who served in the confederate army of northern virginia and was left tor for dead on the battlefield and who limps today from the ter terrible Tible wounds he then received A third rd was general joe hawley whose toua famous military record is known to al all and a fourth was justice brown of the supreme court while the fifth was the general the army nelson A miles who has bag fought in front of every kind of a weapon from the cannon of our civit civil war to the winchester rifles and tomahawks of the indians indiana general wheeler had a most exciting service throughout the war he has told me low bow his horses were shot under him again and again and how he escaped without in injury Jully although he always rode at the head of his troops of all the commanders under jefferson davis he stuck closest to him he was with davis when the cabinet moved from richmond to cokes borough N C and he then had eight brigades of cavalry he told davis that the soldiers considered the war was over and that he had trouble in holding his troops together davis did not agree with him and he ordered horseshoes horse shoes sent there to equip his troop for flight through the south A short time later however when he got ready to fo fly wheeler was about the only commander who could get soldiers to go with him and it was little general joe who followed the confederate president with a troop of BOO men davis and his bis cabinet soon saw however when their hope was a forlorn one and they sent orders to wheeler to disband his troops and take care of himself this wheeler did and a short time later was captured by the milon troops and was sent with jefferson davis north to prison alexander alexamder stephens and postmaster general reagan were taken with him and on the way north general wheeler says that stephens thought he was going to sure death he said as much to general wheeler and the general replied well yr mr stephens if this is to be your fate what roust must be that of president davist davis t alexander stephens raised his hands and replied oh dont speak of that his fate is too horrible to don con alder aider general wheeler said he had no idea he would be killed and the way he joked about the matter of their joint imprisonment horrified alexander stephens every one knows of the narrow escapes of justice stephen J field you have read how when he was a young man in california he h e carfeld a revolver iver in his pocket and practiced at a tri mark aric shooting through his hia clothes in order omer to be able to defend himself toil have heard how he accepted challenges to fight duels and at one time that the duel should be fought in a room twenty feet square land and that himself and abd his opponent 4 WV tot td be armed with colts re i and d bowle knives and you have tea heard Tiow one of his deadly ene mies hales was killed when he was just juat about to shoot the aged justice a few years ago justice brewer who by the way is a causin of justice field faced death when he was a boy in asia minor going with his missionary father among the cholera patients and no one can look at the heavy iron jaw of justice brown and suspect him of cowardice think othe nerve of a man who when awaked from his sleep saw a burglar with face masked standing beside him the burglar had a pistol in one hand and a dark lantern in the other the lantern cast its rays on the awakened mans face as he looked into the muzzle of the pistol and heard the burglar exclaim that if he would give him the keys of his safe and his cifes diamonds he would not make noise enough to awake a baby all right said justice brown for it was his head that was looking out of the nightcap on the pillow and with that he put his hand under his head as if to get the keys but instead pulled out a revolver and as quick as i thought sent a bullet through affe man mana the burglar dashed out of the room and down the stairs the judge following and firing at almost every step at the bottom of the stairs the burglar turned and returned the fire and there the two men inen stood firing at each other until their revolvers were empty the noise brought in the police ani the neighbors but in the meantime the I 1 burglar lad escaped later an he was captured but her he was so badly wounded that I 1 am told he lived but a short time I 1 have known a num number berof of men who have been wounded in ili battle and I 1 have asked several of them how they felt celt when the ball went into them one of these men was gen nelson miles he told me that the flesh wounds he had received he had hardly felt until some time after but that whenever a ball struck a bone the sensation was terrible at chancellorsville he received a wound which paralyzed him from his waist downward and for weeks every one thought he would die the ball his waist belt plate and deflected going off into the body and breaking the bone of his hip nine pieces of bone were taken out but one was left at another time he was shot in the neck and a third time in the shoulder the bullet first striking the edge of the blade of his sword and being cut in two by the blade one half of the ball going into his shoulder gen charles IF manderson was a mere boy when he went into the army but be h wash basone one of the bravest of our soldiers and he rose to be a general and participated in fifteen different battles he was terribly wounded at Love joys station thirty miles south of atlanta his wound being very much like that which caused the death of president garfield in chatting with gen manderson at omaha the othel day I 1 asked him how he felt when the ball struck him he replied 1 I felt as though a red hot cannon ball had gone through me still it was only a minie bell ball it had struck my spine As I 1 was shot I 1 fell backwards my sword dropped from my hand and a moment later a tingling sensation passed through my body did you faint I 1 asked no my feeling was that of great weakness but I 1 retained consciousness I 1 tried to rise but I 1 could not do so I 1 was you know in command of my deml brigade consisting of the ath kentucky the indiana and tho ohio and we were charging tho the enem enemies leal works As I 1 fell some of the men ran out and bore me back to the line they stretched a blanket between their guns and upon this carried me to the rear there a surgeon examined me and upon my asking him whether I 1 was going to diche said that if the bullet had not gone into the in gerior walls of the body I 1 might uve but that I 1 would probably be par that night I 1 was carried to atlanta and later on jolted in a hospital train to chattanooga and thenon to philadelphia my wound j but I 1 have been troubled with it more boore or less ever since then surgeon gen eral baxter once told me that he believed if president Gar garfielda Garft elds fields wound had been left alone as mine was 1 he probably might have recovered 1 general russell A alger now see aft detary of war had a number of narrow escapes during his service one of the most desperate engagements was at S bonneville booneville Boo I 1 oo neville miss in july 1862 it waw waa shortly after his appointment as tary of war that he told me the story of his engagement it has never been r T 1 fished but I 1 think my memory wm enable me to give it substantially as ag t ba told it to me he said i 1 I was captain at the time under col 1 phil sheridan as commander we i had altogether about men and were 1 at Boo bonneville booneville neville when about coni con i federates under Gen Chalmers attack attacked eO us the evening before the battle jl remember I 1 did not at all feel we well 11 t was suffering from jaundice and was yellow as saffron I 1 was lying dowitt 1 in my tent when sheridan came in SO fife was then only a colonel hut but he had tart sl same came habits that he afterward played he was you know very quiet and backward except when a ss inight fight was at hand then his wholes whole ture iture seemed to change I his its eyes w V iglash flash he would become profane would use expressions which he na ngew r uttered in his quieter moments Z S poked me how I 1 was I 1 replied that 11 did not feel well but that I 1 could d anything he wanted done liew waitt Wf itt said he 1 11 I do want a job done gell chalmers is coming against us his army he is almost upon us and we must stampede him I 1 gritl I 1 you to take all the men you c can boehs and quie tely move around back of wita rebels and within an hour from wy now I 1 want you to charge into them a yell and knock h out of them W oft will hear your yell and will charm at them in front at the same time after a few words further VA W shook hands col sheridan saying lift be thought it might probably be for forwe tw last time I 1 called my men together to we were about a hundred in all w went we nt around through the woods and got behind the confederates and theft made a dash right up the road was filled with them we gave a WU as we charged we had men in that woods at the sides of the road aoa the cheer went up from us all aft wo galloped down on the surprised cn federates we went so fast that in VAU ing between two confederate T remember I 1 had both tar my knees skinned we lost halt half oui our foam within less than two minutes but 04 r ush rush and surprise was such that W stampeded the rebels and went algoet through them in the meantime sher dan had attacked in front and aft forcing them in the back we coufol see them coming and I 1 ordered lolen to turn and retreat as I 1 saw we werft being swallowed up by the men coming toward us the road was filled ailed and we had to go into the woods to get away my horse carri edme against aga biot the limb of a tree which caught in the ribs riba twisting and breaking left leg I 1 had no use of that leg for the next ten years but it is now IX 4 right agala the blow knocked me alf 99 my horse hoi se and as I 1 stood there 1 I 24 re calved several thrusts of the rebel hk 01 diers going past me I 1 was a we fairly 90 good od swordsman however and paa bawled them then I 1 noted an old tyee tree with some grape vines about it ft 1 I threw myself down into the vines anh fainted I 1 must have I 1 sin lam there for an hour BOUT ft A r I 1 when I 1 came to there was no ond a aay r it was very quiet I 1 dragged sio up and crawled along to SS load I 1 was staggering down this ahen J I 1 saw some cavalry coming I 1 it might perhaps be the rebels MO I 1 llila taid behind a tree As they came however I 1 saw they were our it was the second iowa I 1 came cae out and as the men saw me they gave eave a cheer they carried me my b X to camp and after a time I 1 got almin it was that battle that sheridan a brigadier general it WAS wag upon his recommendation toy tny services in it that I 1 was pro ted to be major and later on made SSt tenant colonel of the sixth michl michi Itao ot Sr cretaro tary sherman has never been in army but had he entered the ser it he be would undoubtedly have shown bravery as did his famous as the general he has never been abrald of danger during his first daya assa in congress now almost forty rs ago he went out to kansas to SS e testimony in the congressional in tI gatIon of the kansas nebraska tW the western frontier was ruffians assassins Assassin taen filled with a were freau frequent ent and congressman rhian an was aga again I 1 n a and nd again threat ift with death he told me once that p committee often found warnings which aich was ornamented above w paper oa oer coffins and pictures of skulls and a bones now and then the wit sa swore voc vociferously at the cou oien etl and nearly every other man a revolver at his belt when sher re turned returned to washington he had a ice ce to show his nerve one of the hern ern bemb members ers remarked one day A sherman S was speaking that one Sher shermans e mans statements was a lie n did not hear the remark but ada rda reported to him and the next he arose to question a privilege wright was probably 8 s that t and nd did not know what he was I 1 As s he be did this wright looked i him I 1 rather insolently and sher picked up a box of wafers and VES wit it in wrights face wright tried raw aw his pistol to t shoot sherman the e members of congress about Vre prevented vented him from doing so wone one expected a duel as the outa of this trouble and sherman was upon by one of the southern toe sobers wo and ad asked what he would do rite no were challenged he replied that yas s not a duelist but that if alt attacked atta him he should beware consequences the secretary of im A a good shot and he once said lie fie never felt cooler in his life than a he walked up to the capitol the oring with a pistol in his pocket r ilia hand band on the trigger he had ip p his mind that it if wright ap aed d him that day in a manner manner to ed T it he would shoot him dead 1 not djoi see wright until he left the jl that evening As he went down to go home wright came out od passed down the opposite side aide nan had a friend with him and ht t was likewise accompanied by end aud sherman kept his hand on astol and his bis eye on wright as he ad down the steps wright saw sherman meant business and he id on without doing anything he adfor d tor some time in congress but hip hencher saver again called sherman a liar an iKer wan foans Is ac action tion as regards wright according to the same policy pur a iam by many of the northern con men just before the war sec tamia reeling was so keen that duels seraf of most every day and the tha t ways p who could be bulldozed had no whatever some of the southern bwy fit seemed to take plea pleasure in iff intimidate their fellows and these e se was bob toombs of geor bombs ambs found hla big match how impett en wade the late edwin r of the cleveland leader 4 and a great friend of wade told me the story said he ben wade once took occasion to abuse toombs in a speech sent one of his bis friends to wade with a view to arranging for a duel the friend said 11 1 I am requested to say senator wade that senator toombs considers the language you used today a great insult to him he demands that you make a retraction or abide by the consequences ben wade looked the messenger in the eye and then coolly replied my dear sir I 1 want toombs to challenge me we northerners have held a consultation about the bullying action of you southerners we have decided to kill off four or five of you and I 1 have picked out old toombs as my man you may tell toombs to send in his challenge I 1 shall of course have the choice of weapons and me if I 1 dont take my old rifle and lay toombs out the first crack general toombs was not used to the I 1 rifle although he was an expert with the pistol and the challenge was not sent FRANK G CARPENTER |
