USA > Ohio > In the 50th Ohio serving Uncle Sam : memoirs of one who wore the blue > Part 18
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Along in the evening we stopped at some town in Illinois for supper. I took my squad to the door of the dining hall, and inquired of the proprietor if our tickets were good there, and he answered me, "No, sir." I do not know if my men heard his answer or not, but I turned to the squad and said, "Come on, boys," and we all filed in and took seats at the table, and all did ample justice to the fine supper that was placed before us.
Supper finished, we marched out, passed the proprietor, and handed him our tickets, and he never changed a word with us. Of course, the tickets were good for the money, and I knew it, but the proprietor did not want the trouble of collecting the money on them, so he thought he would bluff me. But that was one time his little game of bluff did not come his way.
Reseating ourselves in the cars, we were soon on the move again. I got very weary and sleepy after midnight, and snatched a few winks of sleep as we steamed along.
As daylight appeared, we were nearing Indianapolis, and received the cheering news that Jeff Davis had been captured, arrayed in petticoats. This news raised quite an excitement on the train, and we began to think now that surely peace was near for our unhappy country.
In due time we arrived at Columbus, Ohio, and my squad was sent out to Camp Chase. I have always been sorry that I did not keep a list of the names of those boys that came through with me from Memphis to Columbus, but we were all thinking more about getting home at that time than anything else, so we lost sight of each other at Camp Chase, to meet no more in this world, for I think it is quite likely they have all answered the last roll call. But I hope to meet them again when we fall in for that grand Inspec- tion on the other shore.
On my arrival at Camp Chase I had the good fortune to meet Comrades Jack Culp and Alex. McCradie, of Co. "K." They had been mustered and received some pay, but the mustering officer was gone when I arrived there, so I received no money while there.
Coming up the Mississippi, I had eaten a little too hearty of cocoanuts ; my stomach being weak, the nuts were too rich for me, and now at Camp Chase the drinking cups at all the wells were cocoanut shells. I could hardly drink the water out of them, and . have never had much use for cocoanuts since.
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Knowing now that I was to be discharged and sent home, the time passed very slowly ; every day seemed a week long.
McCradie and I took a notion to have some eggs one day, so we purchased about two dozen, and also half a pound of butter. The butter was strong enough to walk, if it could have been furnished with legs and feet, and it was not the bald-headed quality either. We borrowed a kettle from one of the cooks, and soon had our eggs cooking.
We got some bread, salt and pepper, and prepared to have our feast. Well, we boiled the eggs till they were blue as indigo and hard enough to use for base balls; then we sat down and feasted. And I wonder today yet how we ever lived to get home after eating that mess. If those eggs had been in my stomach when I was trying to swim the Mississippi, I am sure these reminiscences would never have been written, for the author would have gone to the bottom like a chunk of lead.
I am glad to have it to say that Comrade McCradie arrived home safe, got married, and raised a large family, but am sorry to say that when I visited him at his home in Millville, Ohio, in 1904, the poor man was dying by inches ; a cancer on the side of his head was eating his life away. This is August, 1905; I have not heard from the comrade for about five months, but from his condition then I think it likely he has answered the last roll call and passed over the dark river.
On Saturday, the 20th of May, I received an honorable dis- charge from the United States Service by an order from the War Department dated, I think, May 11th, and Comrade Culp and I came to Columbus and boarded a train for Cincinnati, which place we reached Sunday morning, May 21st, just as the dawn began to light up the eastern sky.
Comrade Culp's home was at Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio, but as it was Sunday there was no boat up the river before Mon- day, so after getting our breakfast I invited Comrade Culp to go home with me to Ludlow, Kentucky, and remain till Monday. He gladly accepted the invitation, and it was not many minutes until I was at home, sweet home.
I learned by inquiry soon after crossing the river at the Ludlow or Fifth Street Ferry that my people at home were all well, and that filled my heart with joy and thankfulness.
I shall not try to describe my feelings as I drew near the old home. At last I am in sight of the door, and saw my two little nephews standing out in the front.
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As soon as they caught sight of two boys in blue approaching they skipped into the house and told my mother. In a moment she appeared in the doorway and began clapping her hands for joy and gladness, and as I quickly reached her she clasped me in those blessed arms and pressed me to her motherly breast.
Dear, kind God! Blessed mother! Who can tell what a heavy burden of care, anxiety and trouble rolled off of that motherly heart at that moment, and what a wave of joy and gladness took its place ?
I went into the army against my mother's will, and had she died before my return I would always have regretted it. But thank God! He spared both of our lives to meet in a grand reunion. Father and sister were at church when I arrived, and they came in directly, and then what a happy reunion we had. What a warm greeting I received from one and all.
I was in my old home once more, and was surrounded by loved ones. What a happy boy I was! The suffering and privations of the last five months were for the time forgotten. I was a free boy or man again ; free to go and come where and when I pleased, and no one could say me nay. There were no guards to bother me, and there was no dead line around me. I was free as the air as long as I kept within the bounds of the law.
Home again! What a sweet thought that was to me. Home again, surrounded by loved ones and friends, who were vieing with each other to do me honor. All were anxious to hear me tell of the marches I had made, the battles I had been in, my prison expe- rience and, last though not least, they wanted to hear my story of the Sultana wreck, and how I made my escape.
Monday morning I went with Comrade Culp to the steamboat landing to see him off, and then bade him good-bye. I have never met him since, but heard he arrived home safe. Comrade Culp had a kind heart when he let whisky alone, but, like many others when under its influence, it would cause him to mistreat his best friends.
Monday evening a bevy of six young ladies called to see me, prompted by curiosity, of course. Now the reader may think that the experience I had passed through, and the trials and hardships that had come my way in the past three years ought to have knocked all the timidity and bashfulness out of me, but I am sorry to have to put it on record that it had not ; and when they told me I must go in and face that delegation of ladies I felt as though I would
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sooner face one of General Hood's masked batteries of twenty- pound rifled Parrot guns.
In fact, I felt like calling for a pick and shovel and digging a gopher hole for myself and crawling into it. Where now was all my boasted nerve and courage? Gone glimmering. But like the soldier under fire for the first time, I pulled myself together and entered the room, and as I stepped across the threshold six pairs of eyes were focused on me and I felt myself blushing to the very root's of my red hair.
And to make it still more trying on my nerves, they were all strangers to me. I had to be presented to each one of them per- sonally. Talk about charging forts, batteries and breastworks! Why, the ordeal that I had to pass through in that room in the few moments that it consumed to present me to the owners of those six pairs of eyes required more real courage than it did to charge the rebel rifle pits in front of Atlanta, Georgia.
I never could tell how I got through it all; it made me feel all over in spots as big as a United States army blanket. I managed to get through some way, and found myself still living.
One of the ladies, a fine, portly lass, seemed to take delight in causing me to feel still more embarrassed by her cruel shafts of wit, directed at me, of course, in a spirit of mischief. But I lived to see the day when I more than got even with her, and we became very intimate friends.
But notwithstanding the raid those bright eyes made on me I was happy ; I was at home in God's country, under the bright folds of Old Glory and, best of all, the white dove of peace was again hovering over our beautiful country.
The hostile armies that had been fighting each other for four years were now being disbanded and sent to their homes, to take up again their respective vocations that they laid aside when they entered the service.
Our sympathies go out to those who wore the grey, who bravely marched and fought under the Stars and Bars for a cause their leaders made them believe was just and right.
Let us not be harsh with them; they have been deceived; the right has triumphed, and those who fought so bravely under the Stars and Bars have been compelled to lay down their arms and see their flag lowered in the dust and to hear their leaders say, "Our cause is lost." They see Old Glory, the grand old Stars and Stripes, the banner of the free, floating freely over every State in the Union once more.
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The common soldiers under the Stars and Bars that were in the ranks and did the fighting are not so much to blame. Poor men ! Many of them were thrown upon the world, without a home and without a penny. Let us be lenient towards them ; let us wel- come them back into the Union like our nobler Lincoln, with charity for all and malice toward none.
Even our glorious old flag, the Red, White and Blue, as she displays her beautiful colors in the bright May sunlight seems to say "Let us have peace;" but the leaders who brought all this misery and suffering not only on their beautiful Southland but also on the Northland, will receive their reward-if not in this world, surely in that which is to come.
Those never-to-be-forgotten May days passed by on eagle's wings as I swung around the circle, visiting my relatives and friends. Everywhere I was greeted with a warm welcome, and every one tried to rival the others in doing me honor, and I was no exception as my old comrades who may read this can verify.
We who wore the blue were received at home with glad hearts and were given a royal welcome by every lover of our dear old flag, and none of us will ever forget while we live those happy days. Forty years have passed by since the eventful spring of 1865.
What giant strides our glorious country has made! When Spain had the boldness to insult our flag, what did we see? We saw the young men of the Southland rally as quickly to wipe out the insult as did their Northern brothers; and more, we saw some of the very leaders who wore the gray and fought bravely for the lost cause from '61 to '65 step quickly to the front and volunteer to lead their sons to victory under the protecting folds of Old Glory.
They were proud and anxious to wear the blue, and did wear it with honor, and while we still have a few in the North as well as the South who hold malice, and have a bitter feeling against each other, yet, thank God, it is fast dying out.
And whether we look to the East, West, North or South, we see a united and prosperous country, all under one flag, and that flag honored and respected on every land and sea, and we of that grand old Grand Army of the Republic are proud that we were the humble instruments in the hands of a just God to make this pos- sible.
(Yes, this country owes the honor of what it now enjoys to us whose ranks are thinning, the old Grand Army boys.)
Our numbers are fast decreasing, day by day, as the years pass
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by. Soon, ah! how soon will the last member of the Grand Army of the Republic be gone, and that grandest organization this world ever saw will have passed into history, but as we go hence we will have the comforting assurance that we have tried to instill into the minds of our children a true spirit of patriotism, and feel that in the hands of our sons the honor of the country and flag will be safe.
In the forty years that have come and gone since the great Civil War came to a close the writer has witnessed many changes. He has lived in an age when many improvements have been made. Inventions after inventions have come to the front, until we are almost forced to conclude that there is nothing so hidden but what the ingenuity of man will search it out and compel it to do his bidding.
Yes, we are living in an age of inventions and improvements. A fast age, for millions are won and lost in a day. Our nation is enjoying an era of prosperity that has never been surpassed by any other nation under Heaven.
And I sometimes wonder if this great success, this great pros- perity that we, as a nation, are now enjoying, will not prove our ruin. Will we in our pride, haughtiness and selfishness, forget the All-wise God who rules over the destinies of nations? Will we not in our mad race for prominence and riches neglect to render to him that homage which is His due, and will it not cause Him to bring a curse upon us?
God help us to be more humble in his sight, and not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think.
As for my own life personally since the close of our great civil strife, I have had a checkered career. I have seen both the dark and bright side of life. I have known what it was to be happy and what it was to be cast down with sorrows and sadness.
While I was blessed with the good fortune of being happily married three times, yet I was unfortunate in that I lost each wife by death, after enjoying a period of happiness with each. I have raised four daughters and one son, of whom any father might well feel proud. They are a comfort to me as I travel down toward the sunset of life.
Unhappily though, by my misfortunes, I have not been per- mitted to extend to them that care and help that it would have been my delight had I been blessed with the means.
Having no education and no trade, I had to carve my way through life, principally by common labor, and meeting the reverses I have, I did not succeed in accumulating any of this world's goods.
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I have tried in my weak way to do my duty to God and to my fellow man, as I saw it, believing that a good name was more to be desired than riches.
As I look back over my life, I can see I have made many mis- takes that had I my life to live over again, with the experience I now have, I certainly would try to avoid, but this can never be.
The past is gone beyond recall. I can only hope that I may be forgiven for the mistakes of the past, and pray God that He may so direct my future steps that I may always be found walking in that narrow way that leads to eternal happiness.
And now I must bring my little story to a close, and it is almost with regret that I write it.
While some of the scenes I have tried in my blundering way to describe were very sad, others were pleasant; all of them in the hands of one who was well educated and a fluent writer could have been made very interesting, but I have done the best I could under the circumstances to entertain my readers, and I trust, in the kind- ness of their hearts, they will pardon my shortcomings and overlook my rude way of expressing myself, and this I believe they will readily do when they consider the source.
I pen these concluding lines on my sixty-second birthday. I well know that long ago in the journey of life I passed over the heights and am now traveling down the western slope towards the sunset. A lonely old veteran, I wait and listen for the final call of the Orderly who shall summon me to answer the last roll call.
May the Father above help me to so live the remainder of my days that I shall pass the final inspection and be considered worthy to stand in the ranks of that grand army above on the shore of the beautiful river, where God himself shall be the Supreme Com- mander, is my prayer.
Kind reader, my task is finished. If I have succeeded in help- ing you to pass a pleasant hour or two while reading these remin- iscences, I shall feel myself amply repaid for my labor.
CORPORAL ERASTUS WINTERS.
..
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-
OLD GLORY
"From bleak Alaska's frigid clime To Southern tepid tide, From eastern coast to western shore, Long may our land abide.
"One hope, one aim, one land, one flag, One country naught can sever, We now with one accord proclaim The Stars and Stripes forever.
"We pledge allegiance to our flag, And all that flag denotes. O God of nations, bless the land O'er which Old Glory floats."
-Professor Wilkinson.
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FIELD AND STAFF OF FIFTIETH OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
Col. Silas A. Strickland-Brevet Brigadier General.
Lieut. Col. Geo. R. Elsner ; killed in front of Atlanta.
Maj. H. S. Gillispie.
Adjt. Jerome F. Crowley.
First Sergt. G. R. Crawford.
Asst. N. B. Cole.
COMMISSIONED AND NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS OF COMPANY "K"
Captain L. A. Hendricks.
1st Lieut. O. S. McClure.
2nd Lieut. E. L. Pine ; died of wounds received at Nashville.
1st Sergt. C. A. Vanduezen.
2nd Sergt. John Lindsey.
3rd Sergt. Jos. Chamberlain ; color bearer of regiment.
4th Sergt. Samuel Lousey.
5th Sergt. Jas. Kelso.
1st Corp. Carlton Paris.
2nd Corp. A. M. Weston.
3rd Corp. P. F. Pecheny ; wounded and captured at Franklin. 4th Corp. Frank Fox.
5th Corp. David Noble ; color guard.
6th Corp. Erastus Winters ; captured at Franklin.
7th Corp. Henry Fox ; lost an arm at Franklin.
8th Corp. Jos. Corson ; wounded three times ; died in service.
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PRIVATES OF COMPANY "K"
Simeon Arthur. John Arthur.
Jeremiah Ammerman; bass drummer.
Peter Albiets ; killed at Franklin, Tenn.
Charles Adams ; teamster.
Milton Blizzard. Stephen D. Blizzard.
John C. Bennet.
Vincent Brisalier ; wounded before Atlanta.
Christian Bearman.
John Brown. Edward Brown. William A. Baker.
John Bryant. John Bernard.
William Coler. Chas. B. Crane. Wm. Childs ; mail carrier.
David H. Cohen; hospital steward.
Andrew J. Culp; captured at Franklin.
John Clotter ; killed in front of Atlanta.
Wm. Dean; died of wounds received in Georgia.
Geo. Dean ; died in service ..
Thos. Dodge. David N. Deams. Thos. Easterling. Geo. W. Flowers.
Chas. Goodwim.
Chas. Fenny. Henry C. Hall; died of wounds received in Georgia. John Hahn; died of wounds received at Franklin. John F. Heberlein.
Wm. Harbold. Henry Heath; wounded at Perryville; died in service. Jas. Johnson ; teamster. Jos. Kedler. Jacob Klineman. Albert Kirgin. Henry Liebrook; died in service. Jas. Lacy. Henry Merrill.
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Alex. McCradie ; captured at Franklin. Richard Marsh. Robert Manifold. Owen Osborne. John Orton. Andrew J. Pouder ; captured at Franklin. John Pouder ; killed on Atlanta Campaign. Jas. Prickett.
Coleman Quinn. John F. Reynolds ; killed at Franklin. Lane Ready. Samuel Redish. 1 John B. Spahr ; musician. Luman W. Smith. Wm. Sparks. Jos. S. Sheak. Jos. Spencer.
Thos. Sherin ; killed in front of Atlanta.
Thos. Shy; died in service.
Peter Shilling ; captured at Franklin ; lost on Sultana.
Peter Steffin ; wounded at Franklin.
1 Henry Vanzant.
Garrett Vanzant ; teamster.
Henry Venant ; captured at Franklin.
Stephen Vanozdal ; assistant wagon master. David Wisenberger.
Edward Wisenberger. John Willey ; died in service. Jackson Walters; died in service. Laborne Winchester ; died of wounds in Georgia. Jos. Yates.
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