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2BLINCOLN SUNDAY JOURNAL AND STARSeptember 27, 1959gumSearch UnderWay for DescendantsOf 5 Nebraska Civil War HeroesBy Ron GibsonA search has begun for descendants of 5 Nebraskans who were honored heroes in the Civil War.The Civil War Centennial Commission in Washington, D.C., is looking for descendants of the 1,504 Civil War winners of the Medal of Honor, the nation’s top militaryaward.Nebraska SearchWith the help of the Nebraska Historical Society and Daughters of Union Veterans, a search has uncovered thename of one Nebraskan who Co. B 116th Illinois Infantry, won the Medal, and 4 other He settled in Bertrand.Holmes toHead StateHistoriansMedal winners who settled in Nebraska.These are the men:—Gen. Victor Vifquain of Crete and later Lincoln, the Nebraskan who won the Med-—Pvt. Joseph R. Prentice,Co. E 19th U.S. Infantry. He moved to Nebraska in 1900, died in Hebron in 1916 and is buried north of Hebron.—Cpl. Andrew Traynor, Co.al. His feat for which he re-; D 1st Michigan Cavalry. He ceived the Medal was the 1 later was a baggage agent for highlight of an astonishing the Union Pacific in Omaha war career. early in the 20th Century.—Pvt. David Johnston, Co.Medal OriginatedK 8th Missouri Infantry. The Medal, sometimes Johnston iater lived at Cen known as the Congressional tral City. Medal of Honor (although it—Pvt. Andrew J. Widick. !s awarded in the name ofSpeaker Sees Possible ‘Crash’Louis A. Holmes, a Grand Island attorney, has been elected president of the Nebraska State Historical Soci-€ty.Other officers elected late Saturday afternoon at a business meeting in connection with the Society’s 81st annual meeeting are: Frank Laten-ser of Omaha, first vice-president; Warren Wood of Ger-ing, Sc vice-president and A. R. Owen of Loup City, treasurer.In addition to Holmes, other members of the society’s, executive board — re-elected at a Saturday morning meet- i ing—are: Earl Lee of Fre- j mont, James C. Olson of Lin-1 coin and Charles Osborne of j Hastings. jAbout 175 members attending the annual banquet Saturday night heard Dr. John D. Hicks, retired professor emeritus of the University of California at Berkley, speak on “Two Post War Decades.”Dr. Hicks, in comparing the 1920s and 1950s, noted these similarities and contrasts:—“Foreign policy: In the 20s, isolationism caus e d America “to play her part in world affair badly.” In the 1950s the Russians are taking the initiative both, militarily as in the Korean War and diplomatically as in Khrushchev's visit.—“Economy: Easy money, easy credit policies of the Harding-Coolidge administrations led, in part, to 1929 crash. In the last 10 years •we’ve had 2 recessions, the stock market appears erratic, we have chronic unemployment and too often high-ranking leaders tell us there’s nothing to worry about.—“Agriculture: Farmersproblems in the 1920s, and were left to solve their own problems in the 1920s, and when they didn’t, government adopted a “grin and bear it” attitude. Fanners today areGen. Victor Vifquain . . . honored Nebraskan.Capture of Rebels’Flag Won VifquainU.S. Medal of HonorThe following account of ing his Army of Northern Vir-the incident which resultedgrnia-■and in effect the en-and not actually by Congress), was originated in the Civil War. It was much more freely given then than in succeeding campaigns.Still, there is gallantry behind each of the Medals awarded to Nebraskans. Victor Vifquain’s picture-book story is the most dramatic.Here are the others:Prentice—At Stone River, Tenn. on Dec. 31, 1862 Prentice’s company of regulars tangled with Rebels. Prentice’s commanding officer was mortally wounded and Prentice voluntarily rescued 5 his body. '*Traynor — Traynor served with a Michigan cavalry outfit that participated in Col. j = Grierson’s famous raid into Mississippi in 1863.Traynor won his medal in, § an unimportant skirmish near Masons Hill, Va., on March 16, 1864 Here is the account from “Medal of Honor,” the i f War Dept.’s history of the j| Medal: ; j§Seized Arms ' §§“Having been surprised and j = captured by a detachment of, ~ guerrillas, this soldier, with' other prisoners, seized the arms of the guard o-er them, killed two of the guerrillas and enabled all the prisoners to escape.”Johnston and Widick — Both these soldiers non their Medals during the siege of Vicksburg, where Grant’s Army of the Tennessee held the cite at bay and forced a surrender on July 4, 1863.! There were earlier at-j tempts to storm the city, and | one of these resuteci in Wi-! dick and Johnston winning the Medal. It happened May | ^ 22, 1863. The official citation | ha, on the medals reads: “Gallantry in the charge of the Volunteer Storming Party.” Attacked Under Fire A 12-foot wide ditch, 6 feet deep, guarded the base of a bluff south of Vicksburg. If the ditch could be bridged, it would be an avenue of assault. Bridging would have to be done under fireVolunteers were cailed fornil!11Gra .onCo.1 at(; mi j SOI hai terno'orianin the winning of a Con- tire Confederacy.grcssional Medal of Honor by Brig. Gen. Victor Vifquain is based mainly on J. Sterling Morton’s “Illus-lustrated History of Nebraska.”It was the last day of the Civil War — Apr 9, 1365. But no one at Blakely, Alabama knew that.The 97th Hlinois Infantry was in front of a Confederate fortress and the war was very much m progress.That very day, at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia, jTake the FortIn Blakely, near Mobile, only one thing mattered. Take the fort.If anyone could do it, it was Col. Victor Vifquam’s 97th. (He was soon to be a brigadier.)and 150 men of the Second i P*‘Division of the Army of the Tennessee answered. Widick and Johnston were among them.As soon as the 150 men left their lines and appeared m view of Confederates they were met by intense f l r e. Haif the attackers fell In theirtracks.The Belgian-born Vifquain j Only 53 survived the deshad come from Nebraska to perale charge. Of the storra-fight for the Union. He had1 bu: str trii 1been through many campaigns with Grant and Burnside.But now there was' thatRobert E. Lee was surrender- fortress.Col. Vifquain leaped to theNative Sons,ing' party 85% were killed or seriously wounded. Few escaped without some wound, and all 53 survivors won the Medal of Honor. The ditch was not bridged.The Commission is tryingto find descendants of theseheroes to honor them Apr. 18, 1962. in a centennial ceie-shoulder of his own works, exposing himself from the... ... ,.knees up to Confederate brf‘° Washington.Daughters Meet . skirmishers. ~Drew Swordu o nrncnomitc hut1 fonner goveinor. a con- Vifquain drew his sword much more prosperous, but gressmsm and the director of and st00d ot„Uned ,nst tliefarm surp lu.es,can tnot con- ,he G ^m e jorestation and, ^ whjle the Bebs tie(J t0 “de UD lth0ut 5er' Parks Commission gather to-1 their muskets at him ^oneriav at Dip CnrnhnSKPr Hm.Pi , .. . *enIch;hoithethelous consequences.Although admitting that efforts to discover historical parellels are as old as man-?ay at Cornhusker Hotel'j ,)it the c6loneLfor the 35th annual meeting of the Native Sons and Daughters of Nebraska.kind and warning that his Former Gov. Robert Coch-comnrents _ might irritate i ran_ presently state engineer “warm prejudices,” Dr. Hicks; an(j Native Sons and Daught-concluded that Americans are going to have to “use theirwits” to avoid a serious economic setback similar to that of 1929.Then—“Forward. 97th! Charge!” With this cry, Vifquain launched a charge that swept down slope and into the Rebelers president, will preside at works. Vifquain headed forthe Confederate battle flag.a 1 p.m. luncheon.Game Commission Director Mel Steen will discuss the de-Anyone knowing the where-' Co: abouts of such descendants' da-or of the Medals is asked } to write to The Lincoln Jour- j jgh nal. Lincoln. Neb., or to the C'0I Nebraska State Historical Society, 1500 R St.. Lincoln.State’s RoadWork DownbuSet1volthetarnol‘bitHighway construction pro- • 1 jjects in Nebraska this year inj It was a great honor to will be boosted to around $27,-' theJ**- . , ! velopment of a program for j ^ wwDr. Hicks a former pro- j Nebraska's state narks under ilhc C*vil Mar- and a dis: ssor and dean at the Uni- Wklalinr nassed'hv the 1959, to tose your own. Thecapture the enemy colors in. 400.000 and maintenance pro-, po:grace I jects to some S594.000 with an jr.fessorversity of Nebraska, published in 1931 “The Populist„ . ,, A Distinguished Service,Kcv olt ^ hicfl nas remained, *\w3rd will be presented to a ^or ^ crin^ battle lines the standard work ot the native Nebraskan during the Aganan pohcal and social iuncfce0n. movements of -he 1390's. !__aOvsu:UKmipr«legislation passed bv the 1959.10 lose -our own. me flag, estimated S2.400.000 highway Unicameral. * had tactical importance too. construction and maintenanceIt provided a rallying point bid letting set for Oct. 8.Since Jan. 1. the State Highway Dept, has accepted bids As Col. Vifquain cut down on S25.159.172 in construction the Rebel banner, his own un- work compared to $32,383,330 it color bearer rushed to his for the same period last year, side and planted the flag of, Contracts on all but one or pjj the 97th. . two have been let.The Chicago Times later, Maintenance work con-described the scene this way: ] tracts this year total 518.359 Fortress Fell wi;'n more scheduled for the“For a second or two Vif- October letting.quain was hidden by the folds of the victorious banner mingling in the colors of the enemy. The color bearer was killed on the spot.The Blakely fortress fell.froNebraskana In Montanali n,£bt Maj. Gen. E. R. S. jajia published bv ■ \ Canby. ViTquams division icrica] soaelx of ?The autumn Issue of Mon-the His-. . ,------- Montana.commander, sent Vifquain a coril3jns a ^ Nebraskanote of thanks and this mes- hislorv.^SC- “Observations on the Prair-' God bicss you and your js title of a collectionIanunro;inbrave boys.”Underwriters Elect Prenosilof letters written in Nebraska. Colorado and Dakota Territories in 3867 by Dr. Henry C. Perry.Dr. Perry, a medical officer with Gen. Grenville M. ■:ckheofLaiinOmaha Eugene Eucker | Dodge’s Union Pacific Rail- jVJI of Omaha is the new presi- way Commission, writes of so.presi- waydent of the Nebraska State life on the frontier with rail-Assn. of Accident and Health ; road builders.Underwriters. Other new of-VKSOIwilpoifnlIHISTORICAL OFFICERS—New Nebraska Historical Society officers (from left) are Louis A. Holmes of Grand Island, president; Warren Wood of Gering, second vice president; Frank Latenser of Omaha, first vice president and A. S. Owen, Loup City, Treasurer.\T nnmvf®fleers are Elmer Prenosil of j Off to Russia Lincoln, president-elect: Mel IBolas of Omaha, vice-presi-J Scotisbluff — Scollsbluff the dent; Ralph Steffa of Omaha,! Sup. of Schools Dr. Lauren, pla j secretary-treasurer. and War-! Schwisow leaves .Monday for lt;opc ran Johnson of Omaha, execu-j a 30-day lour and study of ” live secretary. 1 the Soviet Union, i ton
Newspaper Details
Lincoln Evening Journal
Lincoln, Nebraska, US
Sun, Sep 27, 1959
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Stuart S.
USA 05 Jun 2019
Other Publications Near Lincoln, Nebraska
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