GEN. ROBERT SHAW OLIVER, ANOTHER RUSSIAN PROMISE, AGAINST LYNCHING, NEW AIRSHIP, MISSISSIPPI RIVER, AND ITHACA BAND

 

General Robert Shaw Oliver, Assistant Secretary of War.

Cortland Evening Standard, Tuesday, July 14, 1903.

TO SUCCEED SANGER.

General Robert Shaw Oliver to Be Appointed

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF WAR.

Appointment Agreed Upon at a Conference Between President and Secretary Root—Said to Be Satisfactory to Senators Platt and Depew—Military Career of Distinction.

   Oyster Bay, July 14.—President Roosevelt has decided to appoint General Robert Shaw Oliver of Albany, N. Y., as assistant secretary of war to succeed Colonel William Cary Sanger, resigned.

   The appointment was agreed upon finally at a conference between the president and Secretary Root. It has been in contemplation for some time as it has been known that Secretary Sanger desired to retire from the war department on account of the ill health of Mrs. Sanger. His resignation was placed in the hands of the president to be accepted as soon as convenient.

   General Oliver has had a military career of distinction. He served in the civil war as a volunteer officer and subsequently served as an officer of the regular army establishment in both infantry and cavalry branches.

   For many years he has been identified with the New York National Guard and now is a brigadier general. General Oliver is engaged in the iron business and is quite as prominent in commercial circles as he is in military affairs.

   It has not been decided definitely when General Oliver will assume his new office, but as Colonel Sanger desires to relinquish his duties as soon as possible it is likely General Oliver will undertake them as soon as he can arrange his business affairs.

   The appointment of General Oliver, it can be said, is quite satisfactory to Senators Platt and Depew, who were consulted regarding it.

   In connection with the consideration of appointments it can be said that the president has not thought seriously of naming Charles S. Francis of Troy, N. Y., as ambassador to Italy because, so far as the president is aware, Ambassador Meyer has no intention of resigning.

   The rumor, it is stated, is on a par with that which indicated that Ambassador McCormick was to retire from St. Petersburg to be succeeded by Mayor Low of New York. Both stories are without the slightest foundation.

   Secretary Root will leave Sagamore Hill for Washington today.

 

Another Russian Promise.

   St. Petersburg, July 14.—According to the newspaper Norikrai, published at Port Arthur, Russia has informed China that she is compelled to exclude foreigners from Manchuria and postpone the opening of Manchurian ports owing to the presence of Englishmen and Americans, who in disguise are engaged in espionage. Russia, according to the paper, promises to open the ports six years hence when the country has been tranquillized and settled.

 

David J. Brewer.

REACTION AGAINST LYNCHING.

Justice Brewer Declares That Every Participant Is a Murderer.

   Milwaukee, July 14.—"Every man who participates in the lynching or burning of a negro is a murderer pure and simple."

   This opinion was given by Associate Justice Brewer of the United States supreme court, who is here.

   "Of course," explained Judge Brewer, "there may be extenuation which might vary the degree of the crime, but the principal participants in the crime can be held by any court in the land for murder in the same degree as if the crime were committed by an individual.

   "There is going to be a reaction against the atrocious crimes with which the papers have been filled."

 

Sam Langley's first test flight over and in Potomac River.

A NEW AIRSHIP

Soon to be Launched from a Boat in the Potomac River.

   Washington, July 14.—After spending $20,000 of his private means, and devoting all his spare time for seven years to the perfecting of his ideas for aerial navigation, Prof. S. P. Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, is about to launch an airship which he believes will be a success. The trial will be made at some point on the Potomac river below Washington, the exact location being kept a secret.

   The ship will be launched from the roof of a huge house boat which will be towed to the starting point by a tug. The flying machine is cigar-shaped, about 60 feet in length, constructed of steel and brass. The motive power is gasoline, the engine being 25-horse power, and exceedingly light of weight. The machine is fitted with a small platform, surrounded by a railing, capable of holding a man in a sitting or standing position. More than $70,000 has been expended in developing the machine, of which congress appropriated $50,000.

   Eight to ten men are engaged at work upon the airship, placing it in position an\d adjusting the various parts. These men are skilled machinists from Smithsonian Institute. At night a guard of soldiers keep would be visitors away from the boat.

 

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIAL.

Mississippi River Improvements.

   There is some element of pertinency and justice in the suggestion that comes from the Mississippi valley that the general government should protect the bottom lands of that locality from the annual inundations as well as go into the policy of reclaiming the arid lands of the farther west. Manifestly the object of the new irrigation law is to extend the area of land available for agriculture and settlement. The protection of the vast and fertile bottom lands along the lower Mississippi would have a similar result, and no one could have any objection to the full and businesslike consideration of the matter by congress.

   These bottom lands when swept by floods are for the season as useless as desert lands, and there is always danger of destructive inundations. Property is swept away and crops are wiped out frequently. The fear of loss limits operations and reduces production all the time. If the extremely rich lands exposed to floods could be safeguarded against them the crops of the country would be enormously increased and its wealth enhanced correspondingly.

   The question is one no less important than that of irrigation, and it should have fair consideration. The whole problem of irrigation, levee protection and waterways is one of economic engineering in which the whole country is interested.

 

Ithaca Band, Ptrick Conway leader.

THE ITHACA BAND

To Play at the Park the Last Week in July.

   The famous Ithaca band of forty pieces with Patsey Conway as leader, which played such a satisfactory engagement at the Cortland park last year and attracted such great crowds of music lovers, has been engaged for another engagement this year. The band will come to Cortland Saturday, July 25, and play on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, July 27, it goes to Binghamton to play a two days' engagement according to previous arrangement, but returns again on Wednesday, July 29, and plays through Sunday, Aug. 2. Two concerts will be given each day. Music lovers will doubtless arrange their engagements so as to hear these concerts.

 

CHARGED WITH A THREAT

Of Murder and Arson—Case to be Investigated.

   Miles Stafford, who resides between Blodgett Mills and Messengerville, was arrested last Thursday on a warrant charging him with threatening to kill Job Stafford and to burn his buildings. He was taken to Messengerville yesterday afternoon by Officer James Edwards and arraigned. He pleaded not guilty and the case was put over until Tuesday, July 21, giving him time to secure witnesses. In default of bail be was brought back to Cortland and lodged in the county jail.

 

Cut His Knee.

   While working on a house that is being erected on Lincoln-ave., Cortland, Charles Corwin of 15 Union-st. had the misfortune to cut himself quite severely yesterday. He was trimming some rafters with a short handled ax, when the ax, glancing from a knot, struck him just below the right knee cutting a gash to the bone and about two and one half inches long. The wound, which bled profusely, was bound up and Corwin started to find a physician. Not one of the two or three nearby physicians were [sic] in their offices so he went to Dr. Reese's office. Dr. Reese was in and at once cleansed and bandaged the wound.

 

Picnicking at the Park.

   The Sundayschool [sic] of the First Baptist church enjoyed its annual picnic at the park today. Before going to the park special cars took the picnickers over the Traction company's line to Homer and McGraw. The party that took the cars was a large and merry one and the day was enjoyed to the utmost.

 

New Wagon for Ithaca.

   Charles Seaman, an Ithaca liveryman, was in Cortland yesterday and placed an order with the Ellis Omnibus & Cab Co. for a coach to be used in his business as a bearers' wagon.

 

BREVITIES.

   —The two Crapser murder trials have cost Broome county $3,000.

   —Cazenovia has just opened a new canning factory. The company is capitalized at $10,000.

   —Forty society people in Auburn are this week giving a circus to large crowds, the proceeds to go to the City hospital.

   —A new $12,000 school building is to be erected upon the grounds of the George Junior Republic at Freeville this summer.

   —Dr. Reese has men at work today grading the plot recently purchased adjoining his lawn and which is to become a part of the lawn.

   —The bartenders defeated the tailors in an interesting baseball game at Athletic field yesterday afternoon by the score of 10 to 7.

   —The regular monthly meeting of the Home Missionary society of Homer-ave. M. E. church will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2:30. Ice cream and cake will be served in the evening.

   —Every column of a newspaper, says the Norwich Sun, contains 12,000 to 16,000 distinct pieces of type, the displacement of any one of which cause a blunder or typographical error in the paper. When many people find a word with a wrong letter in it they are so sure they could spell that single word right they are happy for a whole day.

 

SHOW SEAL STILL FREE, STATUS OF JEWS IN RUSSIA, POPE UNCONSCIOUS, TWO DAYS OF BASEBALL, BASEBALL SATURDAY, AND DEATH OF MRS. HOWARD

 

Pacific sea lion.

Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, July 13, 1903.

SHOW SEAL STILL FREE.

Bob Is Enjoying Liberty Immensely and Eludes All Hunters.

   Wilkes-Barre, July 13.—Bob, a tame seal [sea lion], which three weeks ago escaped from a Cortland, N. Y., Trout Park, defies capture in the river, where since its escape it has been living luxuriously on the fine black bass with which the stream abounds.

   A week ago Friday it was first located at Meshoppen, Pa., near here, and enticed close to shore, but when Hugh Sharpe of this city, its trainer, reached the scene no ruse to get it into the cage was successful. Fanny, Bob's mate, was sent to the spot, but her endearing notes could not win him from freedom.

   Sharpe has been trying to capture the seal ever since. It grows wilder every day. A number of fishermen with nets are organizing and will make an effort to capture him.

 

John Baptiste Weber.

STATUS OF RUSSIAN JEWS.

Discussed by Ex-Commissioner Weber Before the Jewish Chautauqua.

   Atlantic City, N. J., July 13.—John B. Weber of Buffalo, N. Y., former commissioner of immigration at New York and chairman of the special commission authorized by congress in 1888 to investigate in Europe the cause of emigration to this country, spoke before the Jewish Chautauqua on "The Status of the Jew in Russia."

   Mr. Weber said there would be no peace, no substantial relief for the sufferers, until the total disappearance from Russia of either the Jew or the special laws directed against him. Summing up the status of the Jew in Russia, Mr. Weber said: "The Jew is the sport of the rabble, the spoil of the official, the football of fanaticism, the buffer against which strikes the wrath of bigotry, intolerance and savagery."

   After asserting the moral obligation and the legal right of the United States to protest to the Russian government against its treatment of Jews, Mr. Weber said: "The abnormal immigration from Russia is due to the laws and methods of that country—and this gives us a legal and moral right to object. Self-interest and humanity unite in a loud call to invoke such rights."

   Mr. Weber closed by calling attention to the grave responsibilities falling upon Jews in receiving the thousands who flee from their oppressors.

    He urged that they be aided to establish themselves and distributed so that they will not become a menace by congestion; that American principles be instilled in the children so that they might grow up a credit to this country.

 

MAY NOT SEND PETITION.

Czar Said to be Doing all Possible to Right the Wrong.

   Washington, July 13.—It is quite possible, perhaps probable, that no attempt will be made by this government to present the B'nai B'rith petition to the czar. Everything depends upon the conference to be held tomorrow at Oyster Bay between the president and Messrs. Levick, Wolf and Strauss. The committee will be informed of the probability of the rejection of the petition at St. Petersburg and the consequent humiliation to the United States in that event, and then they will be allowed to decide whether the incident shall be closed, or become a matter of international irritation.

   Meanwhile, official utterances on the subject have been inconsistent if not contradictory. The president has expressed his horror at the Kishineff massacre, and his sympathy for the victims. He also consented to forward the petition. Later came a statement undoubtedly from Oyster Bay, but issued through the state department, which linked the matter of the petition with the alleged breach of faith by Russia in the treaty negotiations with China and made use of some strong terms of impatience and irritation at Russia's diplomatic methods. Still later there was made from official sources a declaration that the petition and Manchuria were entirely without connection.

   To cap it all, the state department now receives authoritative information that the czar is doing everything in his power to right the wrongs of the Kishineff Jews and to punish those guilty of the atrocity. In many quarters this latter promulgation is regarded as a preliminary to closing the incident without forwarding the B'nai B'rith petition. Of course, if the committee shall insist that the document be sent on, the administration is bound to do it. It is no secret, however, that the state department would feel greatly relieved should the president's callers tomorrow decide that the purposes for which the subject had been agitated in this country have already been accomplished.

 

Pope Leo XIII.

POPE UNCONSCIOUS.

Cardinal Matti Says End May Come at Any Time.

   Rome, July 13.—Toward noon the Pope lost consciousness for a time, and is now barely more than semi-conscious. Your correspondent saw Cardinal Matti for a moment. He said: "The end might come at almost any time." He thought the Pope was now in a worse condition than previous to his rally.

   Rome, July 13.—In the middle of the afternoon the Pope was still in a state of semi-unconsciousness.

 

TWO DAYS OF BASEBALL.

Binghamton Stars Wednesday and Canastota Team Saturday.

   The management of the All-Cortland baseball team has secured two first class teams which will play the locals on Athletic field this week. The Binghamton Stars will be here Wednesday and the Canastota semi-professional team Saturday. The All-Cortland team is getting regular practice now and two fast games are assured. Dillon will pitch Wednesday.

 

BASEBALL SATURDAY.

Much Interest in the Close Contest in One Game.

   Two games in the series for the city baseball amateur championship were played at Athletic field Saturday afternoon. The first was between the Y. M. C. A. and Wickwires, resulting in a victory for the former by a score of 14 to 13 and the second between the Implement Co. and Forging Shop teams, the Implement Co. winning out by the score of 13 to 4.

   The first game was the more interesting to the spectators on account of the closeness of the score. The Y. M. C. A. team took the lead in the first inning and kept it until the fifth when the Wickwires, by bunching hits aided by errors, tied the score. Each team drew a blank in the sixth and when the Y. M. C. A. came to bat in the seventh it was with determination of winning; they hit hard and often and when the umpire called the third man out they stood six runs to the good. Wickwire came to bat in their half of the last inning determined to make a garrison finish; they succeeded in bringing in five runs and had a man on second with two out. With two strikes and two balls on the batter, the runner attempted to steal third, bur was caught out and all was off.

   The Implement Co. Forging Shop game was not so interesting, as the former team took a big lead at the beginning of the game and held it throughout. Each team showed improvement and the games promise to become more and more interesting. The summary:

Y. M. C. A. VS. WICKWIRES.

 

 

 

THE PRIZE CONTETS

Of the Misspelled Words in the Advertisements to Close Friday Night.

   The prize contest in the matter of misspelled words in advertisements which has been continued in these columns for nearly eight weeks past will close on Friday night of this week, July 17, the daily and semi-weekly issues of July 17 being the last in both cases. The count on misspelled words that have appeared in the advertisements should be sent to this office as soon as possible after the contest closes. Each report should be written on a slip of paper which will also contain the name and address of the subscriber submitting it and the whole be enclosed in a sealed envelope. The date of the receipt of each report will be entered upon it as soon as handed in and as soon as these can be examined the result will be announced.

 

Auxiliary of the A. O. H.

   The members of the Ladies' Auxiliary of the A. O. H. are requested to meet at St. Mary's church at 8:30 o'clock tomorrow morning to attend the funeral of the late Mrs. DeWitt Howard.

 

Death of Mrs. De Witt Howard.

   The death of Mrs. Catherine Howard, wife of DeWitt Howard, occurred at her home, 9 East Main–st., Cortland, at 7 o'clock last evening, after an illness of about three weeks.

   Mrs. Howard, whose maiden name was Catherine McMahon, was born in Marathon, N. Y., June 24, 1865. She lived there until her marriage, Jan. 7, 1901, to DeWitt Howard of Cortland.

   Mrs. Howard was taken ill about three weeks ago with a form of stomach trouble. A complication of diseases arose and although everything that physicians and loving friends could do was done, she grew steadily worse, the end coming last night.

   Mrs. Howard was a faithful member of St. Mary's church and a charter member of the A. O. H. auxiliary. She is survived by her mother Mrs. Margaret McMahon; two brothers, Richard McMahon of Cortland and Thomas McMahon of Homer, and two sisters, Mrs. H. B. McNulty of Rochester and Mrs. T. E. Courtney of Cortland.

   The funeral will be held from her late residence, 9 East Main-st. at 9 o'clock, and from St. Mary's church at 9:30 o'clock, Tuesday morning. Interment at Cortland.

 

BREVITIES.

   —The members of the Ladies' Auxiliary of A. O. H. are requested to meet at St. Mary's church at 8:30 Tuesday morning to attend the funeral of Mrs. Catherine Howard.

   —T. N. and William Hollister have sold their property on Pearne-ave. and purchased another lot on the same street and will erect a residence thereon in the near future.

   —The new display advertisements today are—-A. S. Burgess, Clothing, page 4; S. Simmons, Clothing, page 4; First National Bank, Banking, page 5; M. W. Giles, Clearing sale, page 4.

 

WAR REMINSCENCES CHAPTER 26

 

Captain William Saxton, Co. C, 157th Regiment, New York Volunteers.

Captain Frank Place, 157th Regiment, New York Volunteers

Cortland Evening Standard, Saturday, July 11, 1903.

WAR REMINISCENCES.

By Captain Saxton of the 157th Regiment, N. Y. Vols.

THE REGIMENT'S FIRST BATTLE.

Complimented by Gen. Schurz and its Officers Publicly Thanked—Deadly Work of the Confederates as they Came Out of the Woods—Union Army Retreats, This Regiment, However, in Good Order.

CHAPTER 26.

   To the Editor of The Standard:

   Sir—Devan's Second brigade, McLean's, was along the pike from west to east, between Von Gilsa and Schurz, all facing south. The Seventy-fifth and Twenty-fifth Ohio reserve, Col. Lee, had been twice refused permission to change front to the west. His regiment and the one next on his left, the One Hundred and Seventh Ohio receiving two volleys in their back, then attempted to cross to the north side of the road and change front to the west without orders from brigade or division generals, but it was too late. Stuart's horse artillery on the pike kept pace with the skirmishers, and swept the road. Von Gilsa's men that were pushed back along the road, together with ambulances and quartermaster's wagons, caused such confusion that they were swept along with the mass. The Seventy-fifth Ohio, in reserve, changed front to the west and attempted to stand along with some remnants of other regiments. They had time to fire only a few volleys and in ten minutes they had to give way, wrecked. The colonel was killed, the adjutant severely wounded and 150 men stricken down.

Thirty Minutes Destructive Work.

   Another stand was made a little farther down the pike. The Twenty-fifth Ohio bad deployed and faced west and the remnants of the Fifty-fifth, One Hundred and Seventh and Seventy-fifth Ohio, together with the Seventeenth Conn. joined it, but in ten minutes more they were brushed away. Jackson, in thirty minutes had wrecked Devan's splendid division of nearly 4,000 men and had the Talley farm in possession.

   Gen. Schurz in the forenoon had become alarmed about his position, and had requested Howard to contract his line, and of his own accord had placed the Twenty-sixth Wis. and the Fifty-eighth N. Y. on the west edge of Hawkins' farm facing west. They were half a mile in the rear of Devan's and when the attack commenced they had time to get in line and be somewhat ready. They were soon reached and the Twenty-sixth Wis. occupying the right of this position, fought with great bravery for twenty minutes and was then compelled to fall back to the Hawkins house, where it was formed with the Fifty-eighth N. Y. and the Eighty-second Ill. on the left. These regiments were soon compelled to retire from this position by overlapping regiments of the enemy. They took up another line in the edge of the woods west of the Hawkins clearing. The Twenty-sixth Wis. lost 158 killed and wounded. The Eighty-second Ill. lost 107.

The One Hundred Fifty-Seventh.

   Between Talley's and Dowdall's  along the pike, where Schurz's division (ours) commenced, a point of woods extended along the pike reaching south to the plank road and east to the junction of the pike and plank at Dowdal's. The First regiment of Schimmelfennig's brigade connecting with Devan's division, was the Seventy-fourth Pa. its right was at the east edge of the Talley clearing and then it extended east along the pike in this point of woods spoken of, then came the Sixty-first Ohio (the Irish regiment) continuing this extension to the edge of the woods east, then came the Sixty-eighth N. Y. at the junction of the pike and plank roads, which last came in here from the southwest, and our regiment, the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh N. Y., was in reserve a fourth of a mile north of the Sixty-first Ohio at the south edge of the Hawkins clearing, a little to the southwest of the Wilderness church.

   As the debris of Devan's division struck the Seventy-fourth Pa. in the woods, with Jackson in hot pursuit in the rear, portions of his regiment, the Sixty-first Ohio and the Sixty-eighth N. Y., were swept along with the mass of fleeing fugitives. The remainder of the regiments moved down the pike into the opening at the junction of the plank road and swung into line extending north and facing west the One Hundred and Nineteenth N. Y. of the next brigade forming with them.

In a Narrow Lane.

   It all occurred in so short a time that Jackson was upon them before the formation of this new line was completed. Gen. Howard was vainly endeavoring to mount his horse when the attack reached Dowdall's. As the first sound of the conflict fell on our ears, the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh fell in, formed line and started at once into that point of woods south toward the pike, but there was such a tangle of underbrush that we were obliged to move by the flank on a little wood road or lane and we ran right into the advancing Confederates, head on. There was not room enough to swing into line and Col. Brown halted the regiment, while the bullets came whizzing through the brush at a lively rate, about faced, marched back into the opening, formed line and opened out on the enemy, coming as fast as they could through the thickets. We gave them only two or three rounds, when we were ordered back across the little opening to the brow of a little hill or knoll just to the west and north of the Wilderness church. Here we about faced and lay down so our battery on still higher ground back and to the east of us could fire over us into the enemy as be debouched from the woods into the little opening we had just left.

   As soon as the Talley farm was cleared of Devan's men—Dilger had been sending his shot and shell over our heads and to the right of us into Jackson's men. He inflicted some punishment but did stop the progress.

   Our regiment was in good shape, every company in its proper place, Company C was on the left of the regiment, and as we lay then facing to the rear, our former front, we were on the right. We had just lain down over the brow of this little hill when the Johnnies came out of the woods.

Pen Picture of the Situation.

   It all comes back to me now as though it happened yesterday. I can see the Johnnies as they came out of those woods that we had just left like a long flock of sheep, without much semblance of a line with their yelping rebel yell. Then Dilger's battery opened on them and the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh New York and other infantry regiments did the same with their muskets. I can see the Confederates pitch forward and fall as we reached them, and remember wondering why more did not fall; it seemed as though we ought to have swept them all off the face of the earth, but to the right and left and back of them, they kept pouring out of that piece of woods as if there was no end to them. The great mass did not stop. The advance line, if we may call it a line, in front of us kept right on up to our little knoll, lay down out of sight and began crawling up toward us. The flag of some regiment was raised up and its staff stuck into the ground, and stood there to mock us, with its bearer out of sight. I am speaking now of what occurred on the left (now our right) of Company C.

   While this little halt in our immediate front occurred, the enemy were [sic] lapping our flanks. I looked to the right and the regiment which bad joined us had vanished. The firing from our batteries had mainly ceased and all but Dilger's guns had been retired on the road toward Chancellorsville. As we afterwards learned the position of our regiment was in the new line that was being formed, while we were advancing in the woods, backing out again, getting back to the knoll and lying down. This new line was on the east edge of Dowdall's farm, a quarter of a mile back from the church. This has since been called the Bushbeck line, as Gen. Bushbeck, Steinwehr's remaining brigadier, after Barlow had been sent to Sickles,’ brought his regiments around and faced them west and Schurz's division fell back and joined with them. This was nearly the line suggested by Schurz to Howard in the forenoon when he (Schurz) advised Howard to contract his lines and change the front of the Corps.

An Orderly Retreat.

   This swinging back of our line on the east and the vanishing of our friends on the northwest, left our regiment alone. Gen. Schurz rode up and told us we would have to fall back. (I thought at the time it was Howard, but have since learned it was Schurz.) After rising up and sending our compliments to "our friends" (the enemy), we faced about and retreated, loading and firing as we went. Occasionally we would halt, face to the rear and give them a volley. This was the way we did [fall back] in Company C. I think the other companies did the same. The regiment kept its alignment as well as possible, hindered by brush and trees and uneven ground.

Captain Place was Cool.

   Capt. Place was very cool and constantly admonished the boys to keep in line and to keep connected with the company on the east. Lieut. Coffin took off his cap, placed it on his sword and continually called out "Company C, keep cool, don't get excited, give it to them." The sergeants assisted in keeping the men together and preventing any semblance of a stampede.

   The bullets that the Johnnies had been sending in our direction all this time did not go astray; our own boys of company C and the rest of the regiment were constantly getting hit and dropping out, and we were continually cautioned to be careful and not shoot our own wounded as we fired to the rear. We soon came to where Gen. Schurz in the forenoon had had the Eighty-second Ill. throw up a little dirt. It was a little trench about a foot deep, about like two plowed furrows would be. Here we stopped for a time and gave the Johnnies the best we had and as rapidly as we could hand it out. One man showed me his gun; he had been carrying it in his left hand loading, when a rebel bullet struck the stock below his hand and cut the wood part completely in two, rendering it useless. I told him to throw it way and pick up one from a dead comrade or take one from a wounded man. We did not stay in this last position very long, as we were again flanked.

   A short distance to the north is where connected the Eighty-second Ohio, with the Fifty-eighth N. Y. and Twenty-sixth Wis., where they had fallen back from the Hawkins farm spoken of before. The left of Rodes' and Colson's line had swung across the Hawkins farm here on our right flank and rear. Eleventh Corps historian, Col. T. Hamlin, erroneously places our regiment in this line in reserve.

Night Closes In.

   I know this positively that no troops were between us and the enemy from the time we backed out of those woods west of the Wilderness church until we marched in rear of our line some time after dark and were reunited with the rest of our brigade. The fact is, rather than being in reserve, the line had fallen back and left us alone in front. Clark Pierce of Company K, afterward Lieut. Pierce, now in the U. S. custom house in New York City, (if I remember rightly it was he), told me at that part of the line where Company K was, he came across Col. Hecker of the Eighty-second Ill., wounded, and assisted him, his regiment having already gone. We were alone now, the shades of night were deepening; we moved back again firing as we went. We noticed the firing had moved to the southeast. We perceived we were not followed by a large force; we halted and fixed bayonets, faced the rear, charged and captured a few prisoners. I heard something clink, the bayonet on the gun of one of the men had been struck with a bullet and was broken like a piece of glass. It was now dark, we were in the woods, not knowing exactly where we were; there was occasional firing in the southeast. We halted and marched by the flank and finally came into an opening, where we found Gen. Schurz and Gen. Schimmelfennig reforming the Eighty-second Ill., Eighty-second Ohio, Fifty-eighth N. Y., and Twenty-sixth Wis. Our regiment had kept its formation and all were in their place except the killed and wounded and a few who fell back with other troops nearer the pike.

"Did the Best"

   Gen. Schurz placed us in the line and rode up and down it saying "the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh did the best, the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh did the best," and then publicly thanked the field and company officers for their bravery and good behavior.

   We had done well in this, our first battle, and we knew it. We had seen other regiments go to pieces under the most trying circumstances, while we kept together. From that time on we held an honored position in the brigade, division and Corps. But at what a sacrifice! We had lost a good many choice men and beloved comrades. The One Hundred and Fifty-seventh lost seventy-nine men killed and wounded; the brigade 289; the division 544; the corrected losses of the Corps in killed and wounded amounted to over 1,500; captured or missing, 972; making a total loss of nearly 2,500 out of about 9,000 engaged. (Barlow's brigade being absent with Sickles.) W. S.