Show 07 aa V fri 9 pax amer cana we love to sing of tl ti e old kearsarge and the amous famous fighting crew how they won the lay on the blode bloody 17 deck while high above the splintered wreck the brave old ensign flew but what of the race ot the new kear sarge sargee no ae lesser s ser laurels these with n never ever a check through billow and foam her gr my firemen drive her home peace keeper ot of the seas t know the company some men said the captain re member the incidents of the battle and forget the anecdotes ot of their assoni ates others remember the anecdotes and forget the battle incidents but judge J S anderson of the fifth wis coasin remembers remember si incidents and ance dotes some of his stories at our regimental reunions are worth repeating speaking of gen hancock reminded him of hugh 0 neil nell of ready wit hugh was coming into nto camp with havers ha acl and arms full of sweet potatoes and garden vegetables and in sneaking past hancock s headquarters was confronted by hancock himself the general asked hugh where he got the vegetables and pressed the question in such a way that hugh became rattled and in answer to the per where did you get them sir stammered I 1 draped them there upon hancock thundered don t an awer me that way sir there has not been a vegetable ration issued to this command for a month how did you draw thema hugh was himself again and answered meekly why by their tops general he was ras permitted to go his way this story was probably common property in the army of the potomac but I 1 had forgotten it and anderson bad had remembered it here Is another pertaining to an adventure of ander son himself after the battle of gettys burg in pursuit of lee troops were sent over south dauntain Maun tain A storm came on and it was very dangerous marching in the darkest I 1 ind of dark ness and among precipices and gullies late at night the column was halted simply because it could not go for ward and the tired men dropped down along the roadside and under the trees too tired most of them to take cog niza nee of the heavy rain that was falling anderson noticed a little distance a a before it on oil which were seated two or three figures with rubber ponchos over their heads and with their feet to the tire lire he went toward the fire and the men on the log sat li lae like ke statues the ram rain beating on the rubber blankets not one of them made a movement to indicate that he was alive anderson asked if he might make coffee at the fire and one of the men without turn ing his head said yes soon after an artilleryman came up to make coalee and he proceeded to maie it NN without asking permission he was in a state ot 01 mind over the biffl culty his company had met with in bringing dorwar tor war the guns and he swore at all lue officers from gen meade down for bringing men into such a place and pronounced them all thick headed blunderers in the midst of the tirade one of the men on the log threw back his poncho and gen kussell in command of the division said orderly take teat fellow out and tie him up by the thumbs until he cools off the artilleryman was thunder struck anderson looked tor for the im mediate arrest of the just then the poncho of the other silent fig ure was thrown back and gen seda wick commanding the corps said oh pooh kussell russell let the man alone I 1 don t kno know w but what he is more than halt half right anyway the artilleryman made his coffee but he was very quiet I 1 albut it and anen he returned to his battery he explained that he bad had had a very interesting conference with the general commanding the corps and the gen general genral ral COMI command nazia ng the division and that the corps commander agreed him as to the movement over the mountains chicago inter ocean old sold er ers s severest aou would id I 1 got my worst hurt said a cor at west point ky we had been marching on halt half rations and sinkers for nearly a month in septem her ber 1862 and were worn out ragged and nhen one afternoon a glorious vision burst upon us corn coin ing out of a stretch of woodland we 1001 ed across a grassy plain where were piled as high as houses all the articles in the soldiers bol diers s menu here were great stacks of hams there other stacks of shoulders and bacon just beyond were boxes of crackers corded into solid masses twenty feet high and spreading out into lines like great fortifications and still beyond the ohio river wherein gen bragg had said he would water his horse borso this was vias the scene that met the eyes yes a of buell s hungry men as they came without warning upon it there had been great depression among us that day because we felt that we must fight bragg on empty stomachs but somebody had planned better than we thought possible and here nas plenty officers and men were hilarious at once even the dign ined gen william sooy smith then commanding our ur divis on rode down to us at a gal lop op to assure us there was plenty for ill all and invite us to help ourselves we con id scarcely believe our eyed or ears ars but there right bafo before re us was such an abundance of army tare fare as we had never seen before hams in the army were reserved served le for officers and it seemed incredible that gen smith could be inviting ua us to help ourselves from that pit allf but as the thousands of men mar bed hed up in order and filled their haier sacks with the toothsome hard tack the more toothsome because of the mem ory of sinkers or flapjacks our res reg ment passed the pile of hams and on one daring private thrust his bayonet into one of the largest and carried it off oft at a right sho ilder shift another did the same and another and there sat gen smith on his horse smiling indulgently dulgen dul gently fly it if not approvingly so it came about that many of us ate more than was good for us I 1 was sick as a horse and my stomach has never been right since I 1 have always in aisted that I 1 was hurt worse norse at west point than I 1 was at stone river where a bullet went through my 7 right arm little mac mae at antietam the new york times of ii recent date contained the following comma ni catton was gen george B mcclellan McC la in command at Antie antietam tom A bet depends on the answer A certain para pam dox maintains that he lie was not and that gen hooker was possibly in some quibbling sort of way there may be a sort of plausible foundation tor for this extraordinary contradiction of what most people consider a thor hughly established historical tact fact I 1 believe that gen mcclellan himself complained of his undefined status and that had he failed his i lery cry life might have been in dangev on a charge of As I 1 understand it when most ot of the army of the potomac a w was as d detailed e to report to pope tb tte e fifth corps alone being n time tio too reach him before the disaster of the second bull RUB run and mcclellan was left in III the air as it were the frightful rout under the man who dated hia his letters from headquarters in the saddle compelled mcclellan s enemies in washington to turn to him tor for rescue and he was officially placed in charge of the defenses of washington when I 1 ee cc invaded maryland mcclellan defended washington by getting after him hotfoot hotfoot literally tor for the infantry were barefoot or nest next to it at Antip antietam tam and reorganized the army of the potomac which he had originally organized on the march and put the spirit in them whid h drove lee from south mountain and back into virginia when he rode past our marching columns in the early morning of sept 14 1862 the chebi heering rolled tor for miles along his route the picture in the aldermanic corn com cittee room in the pity hall Is really a good rep esen tation of him as he then rode past us halting here and there for a few cheery words cheth er he was demure commander comman dei or not he assuredly was de do facto md and was subsequently officially accepted as such de jure his orders were taken he fought south mountain and antietam his reports as commander were received and are part of the national archives and have been so published under congressional authority hooker was a corps commander and fought like a la tour d auvergne dAa Aa vergne as he always did but in command how could he be with seniors on the fielda A further statement that hooker did all the fighting Is s almost too ridiculous to notice As a matter of tact fact the heaviest sufferers and the most successful fighters who drove the enemy two miles were the men of sumner s second corps W L D 0 GRADY captain late eighty eighth york magher br s irish brigade boys fought in the wa war r pension commissioner ware wars said re bently in speaking of the civil war that the army of that great struggle was composed chiefly of young men this was known in a general way ot of course but we doubt if kanj man have a definite knowledge of just hov ho young the boys were who fought in that war P H cooney of a sends the tol fol lowing as tal en from the official records of the adjutant general generals depart ment at washington the figures being of the enlisted men in the amisy of the north those 10 years and under 25 those 11 years and under 38 those 12 years and under those 13 years and under those 14 vears years and under 1523 1 those 15 years and under those 16 years and under oal those 17 years and under those IS 18 years and under 1151 those 21 years and under P those 29 2 3 ears and over those 25 years and over 46 those 44 years and over 16 total men enlisted at the present time upon the same basis there are in the united states subject to service 10 idlers kansas city journal |