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I* «A \rONDKRFl L OLD SOLDtRU.From the Si. Louis HcpuMicac.** *Tha %sh I^WR^now doing guard duty inthis city, as is well known, is a regiment of exempts—few, if any of its members being under forty-five years of age, and many of them over eighty. Take them all together, they are a band of hardy veterans, whom the exigencies of the ‘‘.situation’1 have fired with a zealous patriotism well worthy of imitation by younger men. But the most ro-: markable member of this regiment is a pri- j vate of corapiny H, named Curtis King, .whose history and description is truly curious. .H* te over eighty-one years of age, tw •ix feot two inches in hight, of brawny and ! jjt stalwart frame, baring his bosom to the cold *. winds of winter without endangering his ;ml health, and moving in his rounds of duties with the celerity of a youth of eighteen. Owing to his great age, and the fact of his | jai being blind of an . eye, he found great difficulty, when the regiment was forming, in getting permission to cnijst, two or threelipreldoVC!BebtcThcompanies refusing to take him; but at length ;ththiadlt;he was successful, and since the regiment has been on duty he has proved one of the most efficient men hi it. He is, and has been I from his youth, a Democrat of the old Jackson school, and even notv indulges industrious invective against the Abolitionists, lie was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, and claims to be a lineal descendant of Pocahontas; and this statement is verified by hispby. iognomy, which betrays the charncteris tics of an Indian. He has been twice married, (first when he frag only 19 j ears of age)and is the father of twenty-one children, oneof which was, two weeks sines, only fifteen months, when it died, lie claims to be able to repeat every word of the Bible from theiwenothiis 1mepciquHiou(beiI.dIoftothebeginning of Genesis to the end of Revelations, and can neither rend nor xcriU-^n daughter having read the book to him, his wonderful memory enabling him to retain it after committing it to memory. The daughter commenced her reading to Kim at five yearsof age, he being then twenty-six. In 1815 he emigrated to Ohio, resided there some twenty-five years, .and then removed to Wapello county, Iowa, where i is home now is,'and where he enlisted, Mr. King’s family is somewhat celebrated for longevity, his mother having lived to the age of a hundred and three, and. one grandfather to one ; s(a hundred and,five years. . I ,.The history of this country is familiar to | oi him, and his citation of historical points and , wc the connection with them of great men who des flourished during the latter part of the last century, are wonderful accurate—remetnber-ing as he does, Washington, Jefferson, Randolph, and the Adamses, c. Ho has often aeon Washington, and remarked as a characteristic of the “Father of his Country,’’ that he never saw him smile; that he Seemed to have little sympathy in the enjoyments of other men. The father of Mr. King wasnoitiewilforbycorsoldier of the Revolution. ]NebyAbout twenty of Mr. K.’s grandsons and so mo four or five great grandsons ar,‘ now in the United States service, and the old man indulges a laudible pride in the fact j * n that not one of his family is disloyal. Eleven j mo of his grandsons responded to ihe first call I r of the President for volunteers. One of his ’ daughters, who resides in Ohio, weighs 325 pounds. He himself never took a dose ol tnocliciue from a doctor, nor did any one of his family while they remained under Ins control, he being what is called a “root doctor,*’ and having done the physicing for his own people by the use of root and herb teas; bis “practice,” too, was successful.The opinion of this aged veteran upon the war, though he gives it in somewhat homely and antique figure of speech, is not to be ignored as devoid of good foundation. When askod his idea as to the result of the struggle, he replied : “Well, 1 think the longest polewill knock the persimmon. It may take a longtime; but the North has has got the most men and the most money, and it is bound to come out first in the end. And,” he continued, “if the young men will do as I intend to, the rebellion will be put down,Wlt;reswi 1CoirJSinlar:iui|hasmevev%ronedeedo\an)hoitheancsteithefor I am in for war, or as long as I last.”— j r‘? ,vThe cheerful and contented disposition of this old mao might well be taken for an example by younger soldiers, to. say nothing of his strict observance of discipline, or the efficiency and value of 6ucli men to the service.tithpaytiriOTVI
Newspaper Details
Cedar Falls Gazette
Cedar Falls, Iowa, US
Fri, Feb 06, 1863
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Musser P.
IA, USA 10 Jun 2020
Other Publications Near Cedar Falls, Iowa
Cedar Falls New Prairie Primer
Cedar Falls Semi Weekly Cedar Falls Gazette
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Cedar Falls Gazette
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