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R. M. (Richard Miller) Devens.

The pictorial book of anecdotes and incidents of the war of the rebellion, civil, military, naval and domestic ... from the time of the memorable toast of Andrew Jackson--The federal union; it must be preserved! ... to the assassination of President Lincoln, and the end of the war. With famous wor

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York, he had married a blooming Celtic
damsel, and by her had been made the
happy fiither of two beautiful children —
one, a bright, intelligent boy, attained to
his eleventh year, and another, a girl, in
her sixth year. When he removed to
Wyoming he took along with him a young



man named G-



M-



because his



evidence was necessary to enable him to
maintain his suit in the Iowa courts. And
from this source came his unexpected and
calamitous troubles.

During the summer, B and M

both enlisted in Company H, Fourteenth
Iowa infantry, Colonel William Shaw
commanding, and together went to the

front Soon after, M deserted, and

B lost all track of him. Af\er a

considerable lapse of time, a young man

named J C received a letter

which covered one addressed to M ,

This was shoA^Ti to B , and he and

C concluded to break it open. Judge

of poor B 's surprise when he found

that it was from his own wife, breathing
the m68t intense love and devotion for his
quondam comrade. His resolution was
goon taken. He obtained a furlough and
returned to his home and took his wife to
her friends, who were then in Port Sar-
nia, Canada West After the expiration
of his leave of absence, he returned to
his regiment, from which he heard fix>m
her but seldom.



Just before his discharge and return he
received a letter from his wife, dated Mar-
quette, Michigan, in which she announced
her intention of coming to Chicago to meet
him. On his reaching that city, he found
her at the Eagle Hotel, opposite the North-
western depot The two children he had
left in 1861, had become three. Upon
her bosom slumbered an infant scarcely
nine months old, the fruit of her licMon

with M . Mr. B was naturally

indignant, and threatened to take the chil-
dren and leave the woman to follow her
evil inclinations without hindrance. By
some means she pacified him, and induced
him to take a glass or two of liquor, and
he slept While thus slumbering, the
woman, he said, entered his chamber and
robbed him of about thre« hundred dol-
lars, the savings of his three years' ser-
vice. With this and his two children and
the one whose paternity he ascribed to
M , she took the cars for Detroit, ac-
companied by a miner from IMarquette,

named McC- , in whose company she

arrived in Chicago, and who, unknown to

B y had stopped at the same hotel

with her, m the assumed relation of her
brother-in-law.

The woman had not been long away
before the eldest child, the lad before men-
tioned, returned to the hotel, having es-
caped fix)m the custody of his mother, just
as the caiB were starting. From him the
father learned all that was necessary to be
known of his wife's temptaticm and &1L
He said that some time after M de-
serted he came to Wyoming, and white
there maintained the relations of a hus-
band with his mother. The citizens of
that village becoming cognizant of the
scandal, it was thought best to remove.
They went to Marquette, Michigan, and
opened a boarding house. Here the child,
the fruit of their morganatic union, was
bom. He filled the place of husband to
the woman, passing well until, tempted by
the high price of substitutes, he sold him-
self to a drafted mi^ and abandoned the



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woman he had taught to deviate from the
paths of rectitude and vulue. She re-
mained not long inconsolable, but speedily
formed another connection with the man
McC , with whom she went to Chi-
cago, and under whose auspices she robbed
her husband of his money and his child.
The guilty pair then went to Detroit, and

dually to Canada.

«

Bare Page in Woman'* History.
A gentleman in Ithaca, New York, had
an idea that women could do more with
their needles if they did less with their
tongues, and he therefore promised fifty
dollars to the Sold-
iers* aid Society of
the village, if twelve
women could be
found who would 9ew(|
all day withoutl
speaking. Fifteen J
candidates presented |
themselves, and, /ni- i
rabile dictu, fourteen
of them succeeded in
keeping quiet. They ]
were sorely tempted
by various lookei-s-
on, but only one yield-
ed to " woman's in-
firmity." Heroic
fourteen! It is
doubtful whether such
an instance of female silence, in pro-
miscuous company, was ever known be-
fore, and the fact speaks well for the earn-
estness and sincerity of their regard for
the soldiers. To no stronger test could
their patriotism have been subjected.



ond Lieutenant in the same company ; but
Jeb was now a Major-General, and Bay-
ard a Brigadier. During the interview a
wounded Union soldier lying near was
groaning and asked for water.

" Here, Jeb,'* said Bayard— old time
recollections making him familiar, as he
tossed his bridle to the rebel officer —
" hold my horse a minute, will you, till 1
fetch that poor fellow some water.**

Jeb held the bridle. Bayard went to a
stream and brought the wounded man
some water. As Bayard mounted hi*/
horse, Jeb remarked tiiat lie had not for
some time "played orderly to a Union



*Jeb"



' Btuart Playlnff Orderly to General
Bayard.

During the week of battles in front of
Washington, General Bayard went for-
ward, under a f1^ of truce, to meet and
confer with his old comrade in arms, the
famous J. E. B. Stuart, of the rebel cav-
alry. Less than two years previously,
Jeb was first Lieutenant and Bayard sec-



Costle Thunder.

General.'* The business upon which they
met was soon aiTanged, and the old friends
parted — a fight, which had ceased when
they were engaged talking, recommencing
with great fury on both sides the moment
each got back to his own ranks. Jeb's
fighting against his coiuitry's fiag was,
after all, a small sin compared with his
complicity in the horrors of Libby Prison
and Castle Thunder — those modem bas-
tiles, under the regime of Davis, Lee, Stu-
art, and their myrmidons.

Such incidents as the above, however,
attest the old adage that * none are so
bad, some good redeemeth not,* and that



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544



THE BOOK OP ANECDOTES OP THE REBELLION.



even Stuart was no exception. " Miles
O'Reilly," (the brave Colonel Halpine,)
has told many of these good things, and
has promised the public a volume full of
his fresh and inimitably piquant military
jottings, than which notliing could be more
acceptable to the '* Universal Yankee Na-
tion."



Bacy Conversation between Urs. Polk and
General Mitchell on "the Situation."

When passing through Nashville, Gen-
eral Mitchell, in company with a number
of other distinguished officers, called upon
Mrs. Polk, the widow of President James
K. Polk. The lady made no attempt to
conceal her strong sympathies with the re-
bellion, and singling out General Mitchell,
said to hiin,

" General, I trust this war will speedily
terminate by the acknowledgment of
Southern independence."

The remark caused a lull in the conver-
sation, and all eyes were turned to Gen*
eral Mitchell, awaiting his response. For
a moment he stood in silence, his lips
firmly compressed, and then, in tones of
deepest earnestness and solemnity, he re-
plied:

. ^* Madam, the man whose name you
bear was once President of the United
States. He was an honest man and a
true patriot. Ho administered the laws of
this Government with equal justice to all.
We know of no independence of one sec-
tion of our country which does not belong
to ail others ; and, judging by the past, if
the mute lips of the honored dead who
lies so near us could speak, they would ex-
press the hope that this war might never
cease, if that cessation were to be pur-
chased by the dissolution of the Union of
States over which he once presided.".

The effect of this remark, uttered in a
calm, yet firm and dignified tone, was
electrical. But Mrs. Polk, nevertheless,
on more th^ one occasion, avowed her-
self true to the whole country of which
her husband was once the elected ruler.



Merriment in the Wrons* Place.

After one of the bloody Virginia en-
gagements, the wounded among the Con-
federates received all possible attention on
the part of the Union soldiers, though the
want of suitable accommodations was
sadly felt. In one of the spots to which
the sufferers had been removed, a Federal
soldier came along with a pail of soup to
fill the canteens and plates, and stopping
before a fine athletic fellow, who, it turned
out had been married only three days pre-
viously, said :

'* Come, pardner ! drink yer sup. Now,
ould boy, this 'ill warm ye ; sock it down,
and ye'U see yer sweetheart soon. You
dead, Allybammy ? Go 'way now !
You'll live a hundred years^ — ^you wil ;
that's what you'll do. Won't he, lad?
What ! Not any ? Get out ! You'll be
slap on your legs next week, and have an-
other shot at me this week a'ter that.
You with the butternut trousers ! Sa-ay !
pardner, wake up ! "



Embalming Building before Richmond.

He Stirred him gently with his foot : he
bent down to touch his face — a grimness
came over his mood of merriment; the
man was stiff and dumb, — ready to be
buried forever from human sight, or be
embalmed for conveyance to his once hap-
py home and kindred.



Viam Oaptain Taylor, of the First Ten-



One of the features of the First Ten-
nessee Regiment, was a brave and accom-
plished young lady of but eighteen sum«



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545



mers, and of prepossessing appearance,
named Sarah Taylor, of East Tennessee,
the step-daughter of Captain Dowden, of
the First Tennessee Regiment Miss Tay-
lor was an exile from home, having joined
the fortunes of heir step-fether and her
wandering companions, - accompanying
them in theur perilous and dreary flight
from their hearths and homesteads. She
formed the determination to share with
her late companions the dangers and fa-
tigues of a military campaign; and to
this end, she donned a neat blue chapeau,
beneath which her long hair was fantasti-
cally arranged, bearing at her side a high-
ly finished regulation sword, and silver-
mounted pistols in her belt, all of which
gave her a very neat appearance. She
became quite the idol of the Tennessee



van. Just before taking up their line of
march, they all^nelt, and lifting up their
right hands, solemnly swore never to re-
turn without seeing their homes and
loved ones-



Female LovelineM at Fort Henry.

Not a single atom of Union sentiment
appeared to present itself when our army
reached the neighborhood of Fort Henry.
Even the women were as bitter and un-
relenting in their hatred of the Yankees,
as could be the most unregenerated son
of the ' chivalry.'

" / shan't run ef my ole man did " —
screamed one muscular termagant, in a
highly pitched key, as the scouts made
up — " shoot if you want to ; I just as
lieve die now as any time. You think



_ , , , _ , , you're goin to take the Fort, but you'll

boys, who looked upon her as a second get fooled-thar's a right smart heap o'



Joan of Arc, believing that victory and
glory would perch upon the standards
borne in the ranks favored by her pres-
ence. Miss Captain Taylor was, indeed,
all courage and skilL Having become an
adept in the sword exercise, and a sure
shot with a pistol, she determined to lead
in the van of the march — to return her
exiled countrymen to theur homes, if it
ooBt the sacrifice of her own life's blood.

When the order was issued to the Ten-
neaseans to march to reinforce Colonel
Garrard, the wildest excitement pervaded
the whole camp. Miss Taylor mounting
her horse, and, cap in hand, gallopmg
along the line like a spirit of flame, cheer-
ing on the men. She wore a blue blouse,
and was armed with pistols, sword and
rifle, and the persecuted Tennesseans
looked upon the daring girl who followed
their fortunes through sunshine and shad-
ow, with the tenderest feeling of venera-
tion, and each would willingly have offered
his life in her defence. There was but
little sleep in the camp on Saturday night,
80 great was the joy of the men at the



men thar ! "

Just then some of the scouts came in
Ittggmg a butternut native, whom they
fished out of the bushes, and who proved
to be her " ole man."

" I tole you you oughtener done gone
and took to the bush ! But don't you let
down an inch — ^if they shoot you, don't
let down an inch ! " — and screaming like
an hyena, she banged the door furiously
in their ^ce, and was seen no more.
She was about an average specimen of
the sex as found in the vicinity of Fort

Henry.



Sed, White and BIiie,-<lod'e Fla^.

When the Federal troops first made
their appearance near Bardstown, Ken-
tucky, a little boy, who just then discov-
ered a beautiful rainbow arching the
heavens, ran to his mother and exclaimed,
"Mother, God is a Union man." His
mother questioned him for his reason for
thinking so, and the little fellow replied
that he had seen his flag, and it was



«* Red, White, and Blue." Surely, « Out
prospect of meeting the foe, and at a very | of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast
early hour in the morning they filed away I thou ordained strength because of thine
jubilantly, wifh their Joan of Arc m the | enemies."



31



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646



THE BOOK OF ANECDOTES OF THE REBELLION.



little Orerwelffhted with Cold Lead.

Those who visited th^ sick soldiers and
did good in the hospitals, occasionally got
a gleam of fiin among all the sad scenes,
for any wag who has been to the war sel-
dom loses his humor, though he may have
lost all else save that and honor. Witness
an illustration from life :

C , good soul, after taking all the

little comforts he could afford to the wound-
ed soldiers, went into the hospitals for the
fortieth time, rgniii, w*:h his mite, consist-



Court HouM, Church, and Uospital, of 2d Corps, FrederickBbarg, Vn.

ing of several papers of cut chewing to-
bacco — 'solace for the wounded,' as he
called it. He came to one bed, where a
poor fellow lay cheerfully humming a tune,
and studying out faces on the papered
wall. « Got a fever ? " asked C. " No,"
answered the soldier. "Got a cold?"
"Yes; cold— lead." "Where?" "Well,
to tell the truth, its pretty well scattered.
First, there's a bullet in my right arm
— ^they hain't dug that out yet. One in my
right leg — hit the bone — ^that fellow hurts.
One through my left hand — ^that fell out
And, I tell you what, Mend, with all this
lead in me, I feel, generally speaking, a
little heavy all over."



Valfh and its Bewmxd.
Not fiur born the Capitol in Washing-
ton lived an old negro woman, whose only



boy enlisted, in the spring of 1864, in the
negro regiment organized in that city.
He took part in the action of July 30th,
in front of Petersburg, and was one of
those who fell wounded near the famous
crater. " Badly wounded and in the hands
of the rebels," was the word that came to
his mother. That was in August The
autumn months came and went in succes-
sion, but brought no further word of this
only son of his mother and she a widow
Her friends and his friends generally be-
lieved him dead. It did not
soem probable that he had
survived hi.s wounds, yet
]io one had the heart to
ray as much to his poor
old mother.
^ She continually said, "I
^ ust in de good Lord."
I .iie did not appear to even
I .link it i)ossible her boy
I oulddie. JMuch effort was
I nuide in the latter half of
: November and the first half
of December to get wonl
from him, but all to no avaiL
" Some one ought to tell his
mother," was often remarked among thore
who were interested in the case, yet no
one spoke discouragingly to her. Who
could do it ? She wondered why she did
not hear from him, she never wearied in
devising crude and simple plans for com-
municating with him. About the middle
of December, or a little later, she was
hetuxl to say, *' De Lord he will pervide,
an' 1 shall hear from him bime-by." That
was on a Tuesday. The next Thursday
afternoon he opened the door of his old
mother's little house, and walked in and
threw his arms around her neck ! Wasn't
that a royal Christmas gift for the trust-
ftil old soul ? Half an hour later she
burst into the house of friends who had
aided her, with only "My boy's come!
my boy's come!" He had not been
wounded, but was taken prisoner and sent



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647



to the Libby prison, where he acted as
servant for about three months. One af-
ternoon, when he was sent out for wood —
" Oh, golly," says he, " I jus den forgot
de way back!" He was near three
weeks in making his way overland from
Richmond to Washington, and brought
through three negro women, five children,
and two men !



FulflUment of fhs Sexveant'* Propliacy.

Presentments on the battle-field often
prove prophetic Here is an instance:
While Colonel Osterhaus was gallantly
attacking the centre of the enemy, on the
second day of the battle at Pea Ridge, a
sergeant of the Tvvelf.h Missouri request-
ed the Captain of h's company to send his



Fulfillment of the Sergeant's Prophecy.

wife's portrait, which he had taken from
his bosom, to her address in St. Louis,
with his dying declaration that he thou'^!it
of her in his last moments.

« What is that for ? " asked his Captain ;
" you are not wounded, are you ? "

" No," answered the sergeant, " but I
know I shall be killed to-day. I have
been in battles before, but I never felt as
I do now. A moment ago I became oon-
yinced my time had come, but, how, I can-
not tell. Will you gratify my request ?
Remember I speak to you as a dying



" Certainly, my brave fellow ; but you
will live to a good old age with your wife.
Do not grow melancholy over a fancy or
a dream!"

" You will see," was the response.

And so the treasured picture changed
hands, and the sergeant stepped forward
to the front of the column, and was soon
beyond recognition.

At the camp-firo that evening the ofii'
cers after a while made enquiry for the
sergeant He was not present. He had
been killed three hours before by a grape-
shot from one of the enemy's batteries.



Incident in the Battle of Fredexlokslmrv.
Sergeant Charles H. Stevenson, of
Henrietta, N. Y., was one of the killed at
the battle of Fredericksburg. A strange
inddent connected with his death is stated
to have transpired, and is not unworthy
of record as one of the incidents of the
war. On the day of that battle his wife
was out in the yard, when suddenly she
was made aware of a presence behind her,
and turning, felt a warm breath on her
cheek, and saw her husband, who, how-



loddent la the Battle of Fradertdubinx.

ever, almost immediately vanished. As
she turned she cried out, ' Oh ! Charlie, is
that you?" and returned to the house,
where she at once told some friends that
she bad seen her husband, and that she



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THfi BOOK OP ANECDOTES OP THE REBELLION.



knew she would never see him alive again.
As near as could be ascertained, the event
occurred just at the time of daj when
her husband was killed.



Ohanoe for a " X«ad7 of Oharmotsr.**
Among the documents left by the edi-
tors of the Memphis (Tenn.) " Appeal,"
when they left that city, was the follow-
ing gentle epistle from a secessionist wo-
man, who had sent it to that paper for
publication :

A Challenge.

where as the wicked policy of the pres-
ident — Making war upon the South for
refusing to submit to wrong too palpable
for Southerners to do. And where as it
has become necessary for the ygung Men
I of our country, My Brother in the num-
ber To enlist to do the dirty work of
Driving the Mercenarys fitjm our smuiy
south, whose soil is too holy for such
wretches to tramp And whose atmosphere
is too pure for them to breathe

For such an indignity ofibrd to Civili-
zation I Merely Challenge any abolition
or Black Republican lady of character if
there can be such a one found among the
negro equality tribe. To Meet me at Ma-
sons and dixon line : With a pair of Colt's
repeaters or any other weapon they May
Choose. That I may receive satis&ction
for the insult

Victoria E. Goodwin,
Springdale Miss April :^7, 1861.



"Fro-PatrU" Piotorea at th» 861dl«n' Fair.

The more celebrated pictures in the su-
perb collection that adorned the great
Soldiers' Fair in New York were left for
.exhibition, through the kindness of their
owners ; but many most admirable works
^ere given to it to be sold for its benefit.
These latter were accordingly distinguish-
ed from the others by being marked on the
frame with the very appropriate words,
•*Pnv.Patri^"

^ What does that mean, Ma?** said a



young girl at the Fair, to materfamillas,
one morning.

"What, my dear?"

"Why, those words," said the little
lady, eyeing the picture frames closely,
and pointing to " Pro-Patria."

" Oh I that," said faiaterfamilias, inspect-
ing the letters with her eye-glasses, " why,
I suppose that must be the name of the
artist who paints the pictures — Prof. Pa-
tria.'*



Szeontive Favcxr well Bestowed.
A postpiaster from Illinois having been
killed in the Union army at Vicksburg,
Mississippi) there was of course some com-
petition for his office, but President Lin-
coln endorsed the application in behalf of
the deceased soldier's widow, and after-
wards wrote a note to the Postmaster
Greneral, in which he thus most nobly put
in a plea for the right person in the right
place. Says the President : " Yesterday,
little endorsements of mine went to you
in two cases of Postmasterships sought for
widows whose husbands have fallen in the
battles of this war. These cases occurring
on the same day, brought me to reflect
more attentively then I had before done,
as to what is fairly due from us here, in
the dispensing of patronage toward the
men who, by fighting our battles, bear the
chief burden of saving ourwuntry. My
conclusion is that, other claims and qualifi-
cations being equal, they have the better
right, and thb is especially applicable to
the disabled soldier and the deceased
soldier's fiimily." Most worthy and dis-
criminating consideration on the part c^
the President, in behalf of the brave men
who fell in defence of their country, — ^and
for the dependent ones VhcMOi they left be-
hind them !



Ohildhood'k Prayer in tiie Last Hour.

It was the evening after a great battle.
All day long the din of strife had echoed
far, and thickly strewn lay the shattered
forms of those so lately erect and exultant



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549



In the flush and strength of manhood.
Among the many who bowed to the con-
queror Death that night, was a youth in
the first freshness of mature life. The
strong limbs lay listless, and the dark hair
was matted with gore, on the pale, broad
forehead. His eyes were closed. As one
who ministered to the sufferer bent over
him, he at first thought him dead ; but the
white lips moved, and slowly in weak
tones he repeated — ^ Now I lay me down
to sleep,'' &c, going through those five
sweet and precious lines.

As he finished, he opened his eyes, and,
meeting the pitying gaze of a brother
soldier, he exclaimed, " My mother taught
me that when I was a little boy, and I
have said it every night since I can re-
member. Before the morning dawns, I
believe that God will take my soul for
' Jesus* sake,* but before I die, I want to
send a message to my mother.'*

He was carried to a temporary hospital,
and a letter was written to his mother,
which he dictated, full of Christian faith
and filial love. He was calm and peace-
fill. Just as the sun arose, his spirit went
home. His last articulate words were, —
^ I pray the Lord my soul to take ; And
this I ask for Jesus' sake." The prayer
of childhood was thus the prayer of his
manhood. He learned it at his mother's
knee in his far distant Northern home, and
he whispered it in dying, when his young
. life ebbed away on a Southern battle-field.



XiBS Major Onahman among her Captors.

Some of the experiences of that re-
markable woman, Miss Major Pauline
Cushman, the Federal scout and spy, are
equal to anything found in the pages of
romance. They are of the most thrilling
charactec Indeed, among the women of
America who made themselves fiunous
during the opening of the rebellion, few
have suffered more, or rendered more ser-
vice to the Union cause, than she.

At the oommenoement of hostilities,
Miss Cushman resided in Qevdand, Ohio,


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Using the text of ebook The pictorial book of anecdotes and incidents of the war of the rebellion, civil, military, naval and domestic ... from the time of the memorable toast of Andrew Jackson--The federal union; it must be preserved! ... to the assassination of President Lincoln, and the end of the war. With famous wor by R. M. (Richard Miller) Devens active link like:
read the ebook The pictorial book of anecdotes and incidents of the war of the rebellion, civil, military, naval and domestic ... from the time of the memorable toast of Andrew Jackson--The federal union; it must be preserved! ... to the assassination of President Lincoln, and the end of the war. With famous wor is obligatory.
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