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It ofhave inis-t h e nof aland\ Reminiscence of the C ivil War.oys.lem.! weIn looking over some old letters in | his office, John Wesley Morton found I the following letter, he received from „s’! C. P. Board man, who was a member of ^ | Co. C, 37th Illinois Infantry, whose e J regiment was in the same brigade with the 19th Iowa. It referred to that terrible march of one hundred and twenty-four miles in less than four days from the Old Wilson’s Creek ,u.n | Battle Field in Missouri, to Prairie e to j Grove, Arkansas, over a rough and ,we hilly country; I1|tHeJod.lin-dehevaPt:t:bn«(aw(1bVm-tlt;tlbwOregon, 111., September 29, ISS4 J. W. Morton.My Dear Comrade:—I have just finished reading your letter in the Na-te8tjtIonal Tribune. I cannot help feelinglt;i,aia deep interest in reading any letter j or cbmmunication that appears occa-®nt slonally in the National Tribune,; wherein I also figured as one man inI j said campaign, battles, etc., B is also gratifying to me to learnoccasionally of one of the Old Veteran’s whereabouts, I was a member of ''[• Company C, 37th Illinois Infantry. I the served through the entire war. Howai~ | well do I remember that forced march xd to Prairie Grove, and the incidentsI on the march; one of which I will re-ev. peat here. It was midnight, and we tu- halted on a raise of ground where the *ed second growth timber was pretty!the , thick, and the leaves on the ground ier_ | was a complete mass, which made of i itself a good bed, without any stirring, |n- j such as our women folks give to our in- beds nowadays. Well, you know whenwe halted, no matter where we ahvavsm-! dropped down, and in a few minutest-lle; was fast asleep; especially in the latjiiight. When I awoke up at this par-ne J ticular time, there was not a man to j be seen anywhere. 1 was alone and , ne. the woods was all on fire around nd about me; pretty close to my cart- P ge ridge box, too. I had lain down with id- my gun slung across my shoulder, and ay when I woke up 1 was so startled at *d. the narrow esape from the fire that I «r just started right on my journev to wPit | catch the regiment, without thinkingas | whether I had had a gun or anything a else. I walked perhaps about one and| a half miles when I discovered I hadso left my rifle, or I thought I had left it where I laid down. So I started back after the rifle, tired to death, thinking as onward my backward step on paths, tro'* k°°d home I had leftThe kind father and mother and the cupbord full of doughnuts and pies.ut and a nice girl over across the way iv from father's. A bellering now and then for her soldier huckleberry that i was off to the war. that the African might live and enjoy the blessings ofliberty of the sacrifices of your comrades. and in living perpetuate the memory of that issue and the deadcomrades by voting the Democraticticket. I had got perhaps one mile on n the return after my rifle when I dis-II covered that the darned thing was ontli a: tl tlI slt;11 e lemGfle,le.aitataacoru.usveidan~n-SLCibey c beal my back. I was so near played out di that it I had had a revolver I don’tP€Indutala!TcIt know as I should have been here to- tic dfty- This is a fact that seems in-ie credible, but nevertheless, true I' !!na!1f UI with the hoys, as nois they halted for coffee at two o'clock a I)c ie m„ and I told them the story which wl
Newspaper Details
Washington Democrat
Washington, Iowa, US
Wed, Apr 23, 1919
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 10 Jun 2023
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