Show TOOK 1 PLACE ON ARMY young pennsylvanian sent fo fd 1 do 00 duty from which P president resi was De barred GRAVE AT stroudsburg STROUDS BURG PA 1 8 umer field staples the N hirs me of the substitute who was in person at the front while great statesman ruled at washington abraham lincoln had bad a substitute who served as is a mender defender of 0 the union through the bloody and epoch making period of the civil war this assertion has been made mada many times before it has aroused bitter controversy in various quarters it has given birth to columns of print both in support and dental denial of its truth the exemption of the president of the united states from the taking up of arms or serving on an actual field of battle to Is provided tor for by a special statute drawn up to meet such a U contingency but there Is nothing to prevent the nations chief executive from sending forth a substitute to fight in his place although lincoln aas is as the only occupant of the white house who nho ever took advantage of this tact fact writes rites prof bernard J cigrand rand the man who represented in his person that of the martyred marty red president was john summerfield staples whose body lies at rest in a little cemetery at stroudsburg Strouds burg pa the tombstone above his grave photograph of which Is here reproduced testifies not only to staples war record but states in granite letters the fact of his having served as abraham Lincol ns substitute the tion in question reads as follows J Surn staples staple a private of co C 16 hegt P V also a member of tho the 2 reg re D C vols vola us as a substitute for or ABRAHAM LINCOLN died jan 11 21 IM aged 43 years 4 mos moa 23 25 days dayn his grave also bears the G A K R marker a metallic star upon which the words post appears A small american flag flutters in the breeze but the outside world seems little in X J Surn summerfield staples formed as to the career of this patriotic and distinguished soldier boy there are several people still living in stroudsburg Strouds burg who knew staples and remember that to him belonged the unique distinction of representing lincoln on the field of battle battie among their number are J T palmer postmaster and principal 0 of the public school C L drake editor of the stroudsburg Strouds burg times and representative A mitchell palmer of pennsylvania it was characteristic of lincoln that lie he kept the matter from the public press and a like modesty seems to have imposed silence on the young soldier one does not have to make a very exhaustive study ot of Lincol ns character la in order to understand tho the motive which led him to send a substitute to represent him in the scenes of tho bloody drama then being enacted throughout tho the land ills conscience was not of that easily variety w which contents itself with allowing things to remain as they are arc without indulging in exertion for the common good ills his was the hand which was steering the ship of state through tempest and crush of hostile guns yet great as was the task assigned him he perceived with the eagle eye that watched the course of action a post still unfilled an unoccupied niche where a combatant could be placed to strike in behalf of the union to that post he resolved to appoint a representative senta tive that he might be practically in person as he be was already in spirit on the red held field of carnage it was done quietly la in that simple unostentatious manner that distinguished all of Lincol ns acts whether in official or private life ile he never played to the gallery and the verdict of his own conscience was all ho he cared about copyright by W G chapman |