Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 2, 1900, Page 32

DR. DON C. AYER ON DRESS PARADRE. IME HAS silvered the hair of Omaha's civil war veterans and their step I8 not as elastic as it was thirty-five years ago when they were double-quicking over southern battlefields, but they are still young In spirit and delight in telling of thelr experiences in the war of the blue and the gray. Among the camp fol- lowers who did a real service for the country were the photographers who accompanied each regiment and se- cured for succeeding generations pic- tures of the youthful heroes who wiped out Mason and Dixon's line and gave the Stars and Stripes to the whole United States. When the heroes of the Spanish war were sent upon thelr dangerous mis- sion to Cuba and the Philippines the present generation imbibed In a meas- ure the war spirit which prevalled in 1861, There was the breaking of home tles. Letters from camps In foreign lands were read with the same eager- ness In homes which sent sons to the defense of the flag. 'The plctures of gallant boys in soldier uniforms were bathed with mothers’ tears and com- pared with photographs of their sires which were taken at Gettysburg, Shiloh or Antletam. The veterans of the Spanish war have had their inning. Trophies from Havana and Manila appear every- -where and there are few homes which do not contaln the picture of some sol- dier relative or friend who helped to drive Spain from Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines. But in many of these homes there are less pretentious ple- tures—daguerrotypes with wornout covers and cracked tintypes—which have been lald aside for more recent photographs. From these old-fash- foned pictures The Bee has collected soldler pictures of civil war veterans that the youthful heroes of the blood- fest war ever waged may be seen as they appeared while fighting for the preservation of the union. The boys who followed Lawton and Fitzhugh Lee in the campalgns against the Spaniards were fortunate in having for their lead- ers men who had learned the art of warfare while fighting with and against the heroes whose plctures we print in connection with this article. ___@_ During the early part of the war Mayor Frank E. Moores was a regi- mental adjutant and acted as captain of the band, Musicians who served under the mayor called him the serenad- ing adjutant and never tire of telling how the mayor used to keep them on the jump when the regiment happened into a town of any size, “Why that man Moores wouldn't be in a town half an hour till he knew where all the pretty girls lived,” sald a drummer who served under the mayor, “and then we'd start on our rounds, Strange thing, but 1 never knew of our band serenading a homely girl” As a captain in the Eighth Ohlo cav- alry Mayor Moores campaigned through Tennessee and was afterwards in the Shenandoah valley with Sheridan. When General Longstreet started from Tennessee into Virginia Japtaln Moores was in the pursuing party. The army was not overfed at that time and had a hard time picking up rations in a country through which Longstreet had just passed. Captain Moores gave the following description of how a fire- eating southern woman made the hest corn pone he ever ate: “We came to a rude mountains near Strawberry Tennessee, and found a woman en- gaged In making some johnnycake. Two of Longstreet's men who were suf- fering with smallpox lay In the soli- tary room of the eabin, but smallpox was an old song and we were looking for something to eat. The woman sald we might have some of the cake if we cared to wait until it was baked and we were only too glad to take up her offer. cabin in the Plains, “I can see her yet, big She was a conrse- featured, Tennessee woman and THIS IS MAYOR FRANK E. MOORES. wore a homespun dress which was not long enough to conceal her bare feet and ankles., After stirring the cake up she placed it in a Dutch oven that stood on the floor by the fireplace and then marked figures on it with her big toe, much as cooks ornament a pie crust with thumb marks. Hot coals were heaped upon the oven and in a few minutes we had the most de- liclous corn pone 1 ever ate.” R “The first engagement in which 1 participated was at Franklin, W. Va,, when Stonewall Jackson attacked the brigade in command of General Robert Schenck, afterward known as ‘PPoker Bob. Poker was not General Schenck's only accomplishment—he was the most forceful swearer ever heard, At 4 o'clock on the morning of the engage- ment at Franklin we were awakened by the swearing of General Schenck, who was indignant because all the men did not get out of their tents as soon ¥ TP ] WHEN HEALTH COMMISSIONER VICTOR H. COFFMAN PRACTICED SURGERY ON THE BOYS IN BLUE. ] as the long roll was called,” said Ed- ward Rosewater. “I was with the military telegraph service, As soon as convenient 1 asked General Schenck where he wanted the telegraph station located during the engagement, “He looked at me for a moment, Then he pointed to an Ohio battery which was located in a commanding position. ‘Do you see that battery? he said. ‘I'll send all my dispatches by it “After the war General Schenck was sent as ambassador to Great Britain, He taught the British how to play poker and finally he wrote a book on the Ameriean game which' gave him his sobriquet. “The bloodiest engagement in which I took part was the second battle of Bull Run, At my own request 1 was Prominent Omaha EDWARD ROSEWATER WORKED TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENTS ON THE FIELD attached to the staff of General Pope, who announced that his headquarters were in the saddle. After Stonewall Jackson attacked Manassas I was or- dered to go to that place, but when I was ready to start 1 found that my horse had been stolen. A short dis- tance from the Rappahannock I saw an Indiana infantryman riding my horse and attempted to stop him. He evi- dently didn't like walking any better than I did, for he spurred up and was soon out of my reach. I was com pelled to walk six miles over a rough, dangerous country, and the distance seemed ten times that great before | arrived in Manassas, After the fight- ing had continued three days 1 opened a telegraph office in a box car and es- HATS OFF TO GENERAL C. H. FRED- ERICK. tablished communication with Wash- ington, “The military telegraph operators carried on their work under great difficulties in the West Virginia cam- paign. Sometimes we were located on the sides of hills, where we were ex- posed to the fire of guerrillas and fre- quently our offices were so near the firing line that shells destrc 1 the machines and killed operators. An office which I established at Moorfield, W. Va.,, was conducted under more difficulties than any other telegraph station with which I was connected. All the surrounding country was filled with Imbodens’ guer- rillas and General Fremont granted me a guard of twelve cavalrymen. 1 re- member that one of the men was a full-blooded Indian who had accom- panied the general from the far west, “Our office was on the first floor of A business building. The court house wias located across the street and was mined, so we could blow it up at any moment. At night we stretched wires across the streets leading to the office and placed soldiers on the second floor of the building. If Imbodens had at- tempted to approach the office the wires would have warned us and a volley of lead would have greeted him. No attempt was made to interfere with the office while we remaineéd there, but our successors were taken by the confeder ates and thrown into prison.” Lasam “l shall never forget the day the Twelfth Wisconsin infantry left Madi- son for Chicago. It was zero weather and the ground was covered with sey- eral inches of snow, After being in Camp Randall for some time we were notified that the regiment was to be taken to Chicago. Our march to the station was a cheerless one. There was no crowd to give us a rousing fare- well. Freight cars were backed into the station and we climbed into them and began our cold trip to Chicago,” said Frank B, Bryant, deputy city treasurer, “It took us eleven hours to make the run. “We huddled close together in our at- tempt to keep warm. Some of the men managed to sleep, but most of us - /s WILLIAM LINE. WALLACE ON THE FIRING were 8o cold that we were compelled to keep moving. In a short time we were sent to Weston, Mo., and there we found plenty of secessionists to keep us warm under the collar. We joined the Army of the Tennessee, were in the rear of Vicksburg and ended up our service with Sherman.” o— “A white flag never looked so inviting to me as it did on the morning of February 15, 1862, when [ saw by the dim light of early dawn that the stars and bars of Fort Donelson had given place to the flag of truce,” said Charles H. Burmester. “During the preceding day we had fought our way to a posi- tion near the fort and we knew we must make our way into the fortifica- tions. T'rees had been felled and were piled with branches pointing toward DAVID M. HAVERLY THOUGHT OF BEING COUNTY CLERK. BEFORE HR us. There was no through several which the guns stantly, “An attempt on the fort meant great loss of life and when we awakened that morning we expected to face the batteries and go over those walls at any cost, but the surrender. which gave to General Grant the sobriquet of ‘Un- conditional Surrender Grant," spared us from the stubborn fight which planned for the morning.” At the time the war broke out Mr. Burmester lived at St Joseph, Mo., which he characterized as a “hotbed of copperheads.” It was impossible to enlist in the union army there, so Mr. Burmester came up the river to Omaha and entered the First Nebraska {n- fantry, approach save narrow paths, upon were playing con- was ) BT County Clerk D, M, Haverly was among the men who occupied an old Veterans of N " Sk o —— KING OF THE KNIGHTS OF AK-SAR-BEN ~—~MAJOR R. 8. WILCOX. washed-out road on the battlefield of Shiloh and poured lead into the con federates with such deadly effect that they christened the spot “The Hornets Nest.” From 7:30 in the morning until 5 in the evening of that memorable day, April 6, 1862, four Iowa regiments held this abandoned road in the hope of being reinforced. They were pro tected from the fire of the enemy and held out until entirely surrounded. “I shall never forget that morning" said Mr. Haverly in describing the but- tle. “It was Sunday, and as peaceful a day as one could wish for. All th surrounding hills were covered with peach blossoms, which perfumed the air. It was daylight by 5 o'clock, and there was a terrible quiet which every one seemed to realize was but a lull before a deadly contest. In a Nlll‘l 3 CHARLES E. BURMESTER IN HIS FIRST UNIFORM. time the forces advanced into line of battle and the cannonading began. By 7:30 our regiment had advanced to the old road, where we lay during the en tire day. Although we were com manded to retreat, we failed to receive the orders, and held out until captured by the confederates.” 4 — The Thirty-eighth New Jersey infau try was recruited by John Grant, wio bore all the expenses of the compan) before it was mustered into the servic and became its second lieutenant. Mi Grant was offered the captaincy of tht company, but declined this honor. H: served under Colonel Sewell, who wi~ afterward elected United States senato! He tells the following story of how Colonel Sewell's love of fast horses once saved him from falling Into the hands of the confederates: “In those days the senator was g great lover of fast horses and was the owner of a thoroughbred that could throw dust into the eyes of any othel horse in the regiment. One afternoo Colonel Sewell, one of our majo! and several others officers and mysel! were out riding. We ventured quite « distance from camp, The major had : horse which he thougnt could outrun the colonel's thoroughbred and chal lenged Sewell to a race, “Colonel Sewell’'s sporting Dblood wanted nothing better and in a fc¥v minutes the two officers, followed b a bodyguard of thirty negroes, were fu in advance of the rest of the party. We were moving leisurely along the