It is a matter of record that I was the last man to leave the stockade on this occasion, and consequently the last prisoner confined in it. I made it a point to see that every other human being was out of the enclosure before I departed, and to have others know the fact. I will not attempt to describe my feelings as the final exit was made; suffice it to say that it was one of the happiest moments of my life.
On the second day out from the stockade, and before reaching Marshall, we came to a house where a farmer was offering to trade for blankets. Mine was on a horse at the head of the procession, but I had a ten-cent "shinplaster," with which I bought some biscuits of the man. He had two loads of blankets piled up close by, which he had already secured by trading, and he had some wine in bottles for further use.
I was very anxious to possess some of that wine, and I hustled around among the prisoners and borrowed a blanket from a young fellow who was willing to take my word that I would return it or give him mine when we caught up with the leaders of our band. I secured three bottles of wine for the blanket, and we had some refreshments, eating the biscuits and drinking the wine until there was no more left.
As we hurried on to catch up I saw a pile of blankets near the fence, and I at once returned the boy's blanket to him in the shape of a better one, taken from this pile.
The next morning I gave myself permission to leave the rest of the outfit and forage on ahead,which I kept up till we reached Four Mile Springs, where I arrived thirty-six hours ahead of the main body.
Here I found a lot of Smith's men who had deserted, and who were red hot for Sherman to call for troops to go to Mexico for the purpose of clearing out Maximilian, who was just then usurping authority. These men were not nursing resentment against their opponents in our war, but would have hailed with joy any enterprise in which Federals and Confederates could stand shoulder to shoulder, for, as they expressed it, "the combination would sweep the earth."
Going on to Shreveport, I found everything in a chaotic condition. There were batteries without horses, officers without men, and most of the stores had been looted by the departing troops.
We were two days about town, awaiting transportation, and saw that every horse that came within range was confiscated by soldiers, even to stopping wood wagons in the road and taking the animals away from them, the soldiers then leaving for home.
There was much expectation of seeing some of the Union fleet come up the river as transports, but they did not put in an appearance, and the citizens of the town were nearly frantic in consequence, on account of the plundering that was being done. During a conversationwith several gentlemen, who were eager to ascertain what was known of the possible coming of the fleet, they told me that only the coming of the Federal army could save them from total financial ruin. The actions of these men were in accordance with their words, and, apparently, they voiced the sentiments of the entire business community.
The Confederate soldiers, realizing that the war was practically over, and being in need of nearly everything, made no apologies for the liberties taken, but, on the principle that "might makes right," appropriated everything in sight that was likely to be of use to them in solving the problem of how to live after peace had been declared. The situation, while full of excitement for all, had its amusing aspect, and I thought of it as another illustration of the fact that "those who dance must pay the fiddler."
Early in our march from the stockade I had had my sympathy greatly excited by the increasing illness of one of the sick men. His birthplace and residence had been in Pennsylvania, but he had gone over the State line and enlisted in the 3d Maryland. He had been sick for some time previous to our departure from the stockade, and had grown rapidly worse while on the road, despite the stimulation of being on his way to home and friends. He had been so brave and cheerful, notwithstanding his youthful age of only eighteen years, that I had become muchinterested in him. While prostrated on his bed of cotton, he had talked to me of his home and mother, and had spoken bravely of his chances of dying. With a bright look on his face, he had said:
"I may pull through, Captain, and I may not; but I won't give up till I have to, for mother needs me; only I want you to let her know if anything happens."
I had done what I could for the boy, and on several occasion had gotten him milk and other things. He had given me his mother's name and address, but the absence of writing material at the time had prevented the making of other than a mental memorandum, and the necessity for a better record had been overlooked in the confusion and excitement of the trip. When the main body of our command caught up with me at Shreveport I was shocked to learn that he was dead. I had had doubts as to his living to get home, but so early a death was a surprise and shock, which latter was turned to self-reproach and sorrow when I found that I could not recollect the name and address given to me.
Fifteen years afterward, during which time I frequently tried in vain to recollect the data necessary to identify him, the name, address and other knowledge suddenly came to me one day when I was not thinking about it. At once I sat down and wrote to the mother, and in due time received a beautiful letter in reply. My letterwas the first word she had received of the boy since he had last written to her in good health and spirits, except that the books of his company bore his name, with an "absent without leave" score against it. I recollected that he had told me of his having slipped off to forage a little on his own account at the time of his capture. Making an affidavit of the facts as I knew them, I sent it to her, and the pension which she could not get upon the records as they stood was promptly allowed her on the affidavit furnished.
After waiting for the Federal transports until tired, our guards placed us on a couple of rebel boats, and we started down the river for the Yankee fleet.
I was on the boat with Colonel Samansky, a Pole. He had been an officer in his own country, had enlisted in the Confederate army, and had gained the rank of Colonel. He lived in Texas and expected to remain there. When he asked me how I had been treated, the only complaint that I couldconsistentlymake against those having me in charge was that I had not been exchanged with my regiment. I claimed to him that I had been of more service to the Union as a prisoner than I could have been if I had remained in the service, as I had kept, on an average, two men busy watching me ever since I had been captured. I showed him some samples of my work as exchange commissioner, and purposely magnified the matter. He only laughedand complimented me upon my enterprise, he being the rebel exchange commissioner.
At the mouth of the Red River we met some Federal boats coming up with prisoners. While exchanging boats, all who desired it had a chance to take a swim, and a number of us enjoyed the luxury. Possibly 500 men were in the water at one time.
One notable feature of this occasion was the fact remarked by everyone that you could tell a Yankee from a rebel as far as you could see him, even without his clothes. The reason for this was that our confinement in the open air had caused us to be burned brown by the sun, even through our clothing, while the rebels were white from confinement within walls.
We were taken down to New Orleans and housed there ten days in a cotton press, arriving on Sunday afternoon in our prison garb. We were a rather hard-looking crowd, but never was there a happier one.
The boys in New Orleans knew that we were coming, and Capt. S. H. Harper, formerly a sergeant in my company, hunted me up and took me home with him. He was there on a detail, and was delighted to see me. I was fed on the best he had, and arrayed in a spare uniform of his. When I went back to the cotton press the boys did not know me.
From the time of my capture to that of my arrival in New Orleans I had only once beenable to get word through to my wife, and I wrote to her as soon as I had a chance to do so after reaching that place. My first knowledge of her, after my capture, was acquired through Captain Harper, who told me that she was well when he had heard from home the last time, and also told me that she had heard of me through an escaped prisoner.
All the officers crowded about the paymaster's office in New Orleans, trying to get some money, and he had quite a time with them, as, while he believed what they told him of themselves, he could pay out no money until some person known to him would vouch for the recipient.
Captain Harper satisfactorily identified me to the paymaster, and I drew two months' pay. A proper voucher was now easily secured by as many of the officers as were personally known to me, and all such received a like amount.
While in New Orleans I met Honeycut on the street. I had left him in the Washington guardhouse, confined as a spy. We spent the day together, and I learned his later story, as follows:
"Two days after you left they started me off south alone, giving me orders to report to Kirby Smith, but it didn't take me long to discover that they had a spy on my track. When I reached Smith's headquarters and told my story they allowed me to go on to Matamoras, but somebody would overtake me every day and try to pump me. I bluffed 'em all off, and kept on myway in a natural manner, getting through all right, but I didn't lose any time, after I once got clear, in getting here by water to report.
"Had a funny little experience on the way; worth telling. A woman I know, up in Ohio, gave me the address of her brother in Texas before I left, in case I got down that way. I hunted him up on my way down, and told him a fairy story about my being the woman's husband and her being in Matamoras, bringing in what I told you in Washington and spinning him a long yarn about my treatment while trying to join my wife. Guess he believed me—looked like it, anyhow, for he treated me royally and let me have two hundred and fifty in gold."
When we left New Orleans we were put on a boat and started up the river for Benton Barracks, St. Louis. When we landed at the mouth of White river we were allowed to go on shore for an hour or two, and I then learned that my regiment was up the river at Duval's Bluffs. I did not go on board again, and the boat left without me.
After spending two days among the mosquitoes of that region I at last secured transportation and started up the river to join my regiment. We had to be convoyed by a gunboat.
When I reached Duval's Bluffs my company was doing guard duty. I found all hands and had a great reception, learning all the home news. This was the first positive informationof a recent date, about home matters, received by me since my capture.
After spending three or four days with the boys, I went home, and my wife and myself renewed our acquaintance.
She had heard of me through an escaped prisoner, who had reported me as being in the stockade, but she had received no other information concerning me until the boys had gotten home after the exchange. My letter from New Orleans had been a very welcome missive.
My friends at home flocked to see me, and I was kept busy telling my story.
Having gone through it all, I was disposed to drop the hardships from the story, except when questioned, and to treat the thing as a huge picnic. My natural disposition being to see the bright side only, the hardships of which I had to tell were made to have another aspect than the usual one presented of prison life. As a consequence of this fact, my story differed considerably from that of a number who had been prisoners with me.
Friends would come to me and hear my story, frequently saying:
"My! Swiggett, you do not seem to have had such a bad time of it. The others tell such horrible stories that it is a relief to hear yours; and yet you were in the same prison. How is it?"
I replied in such cases that most of my time as a prisoner had been spent outside of thestockade, in one way or another, and that, aside from the monotony and the separation from family, we did not see much more hardship than comes in the every-day life of lots of people out of prison, and that there was a bright side to it all.
"But you don't damn the rebels, Swiggett, like the others," they would say, to which I would reply that the rebels had treated me as well as they could under the circumstances, and that when people did the best they could they should not be damned for what they failed to do, especially as prison life was necessarily a hardship at its best.
There were cases of personal ill-treatment which came under my notice, but they were the great exceptions, and, as a rule, the rebels of my acquaintance did for their prisoners all that was possible with the means in their power, and treated them as well as prisoners could expect to be treated.
It may be of interest to the reader to learn that all the men who were my companions in escape are still living, except Capt. J. B. Gedney and Adjt. Stephen K. Mahon.
The rebels did not treat us as well as we might have been treated, as it was possible for Jeff Davis to have invited us to Richmond, arrayed us in his Sunday clothes, fed us at his own table and confined us in his front parlor. It may have been only an oversight that he did not do so, but it was not expected, and we harbored noill-feelings because of the neglect. On the other hand, we were not treated as badly as we might have been, inasmuch as we were not deprived of companionship, and, as a rule, were allowed to sleep when we pleased, to rest as much as we desired, to be late for dinner if we wished, and to eat in our shirt sleeves without protest. Many a man is deprived of these privileges in his own home, and I have eaten food of a less nourishing character than that given us by the rebels, even at the table of a newly-married couple, where perfect bliss should reign supreme.
The war is over. Our foes had neither our resources nor our advantages in its prosecution, and many things that were easy for us were impossible for them. Abuse of authority is not a trait of man, but of men, and those who are indirectly responsible should not be too harshly censured for what they cannot altogether control. Incidents by the thousand of heroic, heart-touching actions performed for humanity's sake during our war by those on one side for those on the other reflect as much credit upon rebels as upon Yankees, and I have always felt that, on the whole, our antagonists did the best they could for their prisoners.
THE END.
FRANCIS MARION DRAKE, GOVERNOR OF IOWA.
The parents of Governor Drake were John Adams Drake and Mrs. Harriet O'Neil Drake. They were natives of the Old North State; removed to Rushville, Ill., where the son, Francis Marion, was born December 30, 1830. From Rushville they removed to Fort Madison, Iowa, in the fall of 1837. The father was a merchant in Illinois, but served as judge of probate of Lee county, Iowa, when a resident of Fort Madison, until the spring of 1846. He then removed to Davis county, Iowa, and founded the village of Drakeville. Francis Marion received his early education in the common schools, and also acquired a knowledge of law.
When the gold excitement in California was at its height he crossed the plains in 1852 with ox-teams, and again in 1854 with a drove of cattle. On the first trip across, his company of sixteen men had a severe engagement with the Pawnees at Shell Creek, Neb., in which they encountered about 300 Indians, who were defeated with heavy loss and driven across the Platte river. On his return from California, October 1, 1854, he was a passenger on the ill-fated steamer "Yankee Blade," which was wrecked and totally lost, and he was picked up five days later on a barren coast which he had succeeded in reaching.
He had been successful in his California ventures, and on the 1st of January, 1855, entered the mercantile business with his father, and brother, J. H. Drake, under the firm name of Drake & Sons, at Drakeville. In June, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the volunteer service of the United States and served until the close of the war, being promoted to captain, major, lieutenant-colonel and from lieutenant-colonel to the rank of brigadier-general by brevet. He was in many severe engagements, in one of which he was seriously, at first thought mortally, wounded, and from which wound he has never entirely recovered. His record for bravery and efficiency was universally commended by hissuperior officers, and his military career is one of which he may well be proud.
On resuming civil life, General Drake engaged in the practice of law, in which he was eminently successful, for a period of three years, when he entered the railroad business, organizing and building what is now known as the Keokuk & Western Railroad. He resumed his law practice for another period of three years, associated with Gen. A. J. Baker, who became attorney-general of the State, when he again entered upon the railroad business, and has organized and built by his own efforts over 400 miles of railroad, a large part of which he still controls, being president of the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa, Albia & Centerville and director in the Iowa Central and Keokuk & Western railroads. He has also been successful as a banker, and is president of the Centerville National Bank.
His material interests have not prevented him from taking an active interest in educational matters and missionary work. He is president of the board of trustees of Drake University, at Des Moines, named after him, on account of his great liberality to that institution in its building and endowment. He has also been a contributor to many other educational institutions.
In 1895 he accepted the nomination of the republican party for Governor of the State of Iowa, and was elected by a large majority, having received the largest vote ever given for a candidate for Governor of the State.
On the 24th of December, 1855, he was married to Mary Jane Lord, who died on the 22d day of June, 1883. He has six children, four daughters and two sons. The daughters are Amelia, Jennie, Eva, and Mary Lord; the sons, Frank Ellsworth and John Adams.
Amelia is the wife of T. P. Shonts, of Chicago, general manager of the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroad; Jennie is the wife of Dr. J. L. Sawyers, of Centerville, Iowa; Eva is the wife of Henry Goss, wholesale and retail boot and shoe merchant, of Centerville, Iowa; Mary Lord is the wife of George W. Sturdivant, banker, at Moravia, Iowa. Frank Ellsworth is president of the Centerville Block Coal Co., of Centerville, Iowa; John Adams is secretary and treasurer of the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroad Co., of Chicago.
Governor Drake's photograph is inserted oppositepage 18.
CAPTAIN THOMAS M. FEE.
Thomas Milton Fee was born at Feesburg, Brown county, Ohio, on April 18, 1839. His father was Thomas J. Fee, who was of English ancestry and a native of Virginia, and his mother's maiden name was Sarah Hastings, she being of Irish descent and born in Pennsylvania. His father laid out the town of Feesburg.
The son began an independent career at the age of nineteen, by finding occupation as a school-teacher. In a short time he went to Ottumwa, Iowa, and began to read law. Early in 1862 he was admitted to the bar, and the following spring he located in Centerville, Iowa, and began the practice of his profession. For two years, while reading law, he was principal of city schools at Ottumwa.
In August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company G of the 36th Iowa Infantry, and in October was the choice of his company for captain, receiving his commission from Governor Stone. He served with his command until captured at Marks' Mills with the writer and the rest of the brigade, and was a prisoner at Tyler, Texas, for ten months, except while absent without leave. After his exchange he was on detached service; first as Assistant Inspector-General of the Trans-Mississippi Department, and afterwards as Inspector of the Seventh Army Corps. When discharged at the close of the war he returned to Centerville, Iowa, and permanently entered upon the practice of law. In 1874 he was elected District Attorney of the Second Judicial District of Iowa for the term of four years, and Judge of the same district. He is a married man, and has five living children, three sons and two daughters. His photograph is inserted oppositepage 89.
CAPTAIN B. F. MILLER.
B. F. Miller was born in Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 1832, of native parents, but of English and Scotch descent, his father being Benjamin Miller, and his mother's maiden name being Martha Hemphill. His business was farming until four years before the war, when he went west, spending two years of the four in the Rocky Mountains.
Coming east again, he enlisted at Wooster, Ohio, in Company D of the 120th Ohio Infantry, and served as private, sergeant, first lieutenant and captain. He was captured on May 3, 1864, at Shaggy Point, on the Red River, in Louisiana, and was imprisoned at Camp Ford, Texas, except during the attempt to escape, until exchanged on June 1, 1865. He was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, on June 30, 1865.
On September 26, 1865, he married Julia A., sister of L. S. Baumgardner, of Toledo, Ohio, and farmed in that State until about three years ago, when rheumatic afflictions caused his cessation of active work. He then moved to Wooster, Ohio, where he now lives with his family, having but one child, a daughter. It is unnecessary to say more of Captain Miller, as he is mentioned frequently elsewhere. His photograph is inserted oppositepage 167.
CAPTAIN J. P. RUMMEL.
J. P. Rummel was born in Worthington township, Richfield county, Ohio, on February 7, 1840, and worked in the blacksmith shop of his father until he was eighteen years of age. He was the son of Peter and Susanna Rummel. Qualifying as a teacher, he began work as such in a district school, and was so engaged when the first call was made for troops to put down the rebellion.
He enlisted as a private in Company I of the 16th Ohio Infantry, was in the first two engagements in Western Virginia, and was regularly discharged on August 18 of the same year. He re-enlisted on August 4, 1862, in Company B of the 120th Ohio Infantry, and became a second lieutenant before leaving camp. After the engagements at Chickasaw Bayou and Arkansas Post he was promoted to a captaincy on March 14, 1863, and was with his regiment in the campaign of Vicksburg and in part of the Red River campaign, being captured in December, 1864, while en route up the river with an expedition to reinforce General Banks at Alexandria. He was sent to Camp Ford, Texas, for imprisonment, escaped with the writer, as described elsewhere, was taken sick at Shreveport, La., after being recaptured, and remained there until the close of the war, being finally discharged from the army on June 29, 1865.
On his return home he became a clerk in a hardware store, and continued at this occupation for about a year and a half, during which time he married Miss Eva R. Redrup, of Mansfield, Ohio. In 1867 he engaged in business for himself in Mansfield, and is now the principal proprietor of a manufacturing establishment there. He has four living children. His photograph is inserted oppositepage 115.
ADJUTANT S. K. MAHON.
Stephen Keith Mahon was born in Ireland on June 30, 1838. He was the son of John and Sarah Mahon, and his father was a gentleman farmer and merchant in the old country. The family came to the United States in 1849, living in Green County, Ohio, for five years, and then moving to Ottumwa, Iowa. At the outbreak of the war Stephen was employed in a general store at Blakesburg, Iowa.
He enlisted when the 36th Iowa Infantry was organized, was appointed sergeant-major at the staff organization, and was commissioned adjutant in August, 1863, in which capacity he served until mustered out at the close of the war. He participated in all the skirmishes and battles of his regiment up to the time of his capture with the writer at Marks' Mills, having been breveted captain for gallantry in the battle of Helena, Ark. His unsuccessful attempt to escape with the writer is elsewhere recorded, and he remained a prisoner at Camp Ford until regularly exchanged about the close of the war.
In February, 1866, he received a second lieutenant's commission in the regular army, and was assigned to the 11th U. S. Infantry. In July, 1866, he was promoted, and again in July, 1882, becoming a captain in the 16th Infantry at the latter date. His services in Virginia, Mississippi and Louisiana during the reconstruction period were highly creditable, and he was at one time ordered by President Grant to Washington for personal interview on reconstruction matters in Mississippi.
The hardships of prison life sowed the seeds of the disease which caused his death, and in August, 1879, he was compelled to go home from Fort Sill, Indian Territory, on a sick leave, which was extended until he was placed as captain on the retired list of the army in 1883. He was a great sufferer from the time of his sick leave until his death, which occurred at his home on January 11, 1885. Even at the last he loved to hear again and talk of the old stories of the camp.
Our adjutant never married. He was a brother of Maj. Samuel Mahon, of Ottumwa, Iowa; Capt. William Mahon, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mrs. Col. C. W. Kittredge, of Trinidad, Col. Another sister lives in Ottumwa. Adjutant Mahon was a high-minded, honorable gentleman and a true friend. His picture is inserted oppositepage 69.
CAPTAIN CHARLES BURNBAUM.
Charles Burnbaum was born in Lockport, Ohio, on February 16, 1834, of German parentage, his father having emigrated in 1824 and later married a German lady in Ohio. Young Burnbaum started out for himself at the age of sixteen, and learned the trade of harness-making at New Philadelphia, Ohio. Later he moved to Eddyville, Iowa, where he engaged in merchandising until the time of his enlistment in the army.
In 1862 he became a member of Company D of the 36th Iowa Infantry, and was elected lieutenant. He participated in all the marches and engagements of his company and his regiment until the time of his capture with the writer at Marks' Mills, Arkansas, in 1864, and was a prisoner at Camp Ford, Texas, except during the attempt to escape, until regularly exchanged about the close of the war. He was made captain on his return to his company.
After being mustered out in 1865 he located in Marshalltown, Iowa, and a few years later moved to Chicago, becoming a commercial traveler. He afterwards engaged in the hardware business at Milan, Mo., and in 1878 he married Miss Kate Gilmore. His present residence is Hot Springs, Ark., where he is successfully engaged in the wholesale grocery business. His photograph is inserted oppositepage 94.
CAPTAIN JAMES B. GEDNEY.
James B. Gedney was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, on December 10, 1825. In 1838 he removed to Lee county, Iowa, and there, in 1848, he married Miss Sarah Linch. Five years later he removed to Appanoose county, Iowa, and became one of its foremost citizens in every enterprise for the good of the community, being one of the first settlers in that section. In 1859, during the gold excitement, he made a brief trip across the plains to what was then known as "the Pike's Peak country."
In 1862 he enlisted as a private, was elected captain, and he and his comrades were assigned as Company I of the 36th Iowa Infantry. He participated with his command in all its campaigns and engagements until captured with the writer at Marks' Mills, and remained a prisoner at Tyler, Texas, except during the attempt to escape, until regularly exchanged about the close of the war.
On his return home after the war he again took up farming in Appanoose county, keeping at this until 1890, when he bought property in Centerville, the county-seat, and became a resident of that town. Captain Gedney held many positions of honor and trust, serving five years on the board of county supervisors and six years as president of his county's agricultural association, besides having the confidence of his neighbors in other ways.
The disease which caused his death was contracted in the army, and on July 27, 1893, he died at the age of sixty-eight years, honored and loved by all who knew him. His memory will live long in the hearts of his comrades, because of the soldierly and manly qualities that endeared him to all his associates. His photograph is inserted oppositepage 79.
LIEUTENANT WALTER S. JOHNSON.
Walter S. Johnson was born in Union county, Indiana, near Liberty, on May 24, 1835. His ancestors were orthodox Quakers, and were early settlers near Lynchburg, Va., about 1690. About 1826 his grandparents moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and a few years later to Liberty, Indiana. When Walter was about fourteen the family located in Appanoose county, Iowa, and at the age of eighteen he built the first store in the new town of Cincinnati, Iowa, and began merchandising. In 1855 he married Sarah B., daughter of James X. Gibson, and is now the father of five living children.
On July 8, 1801, he enlisted in Company D of the 6th Iowa Infantry, under the Hon. M. M. Walden, and was assigned to General Fremont's command in Missouri. In July, 1862, he was discharged for disability caused by hard marching and exposure while recovering from an attack of the measles. The spirit of patriotism was too strong to permit inactivity after his recovery, and he again enlisted on August 11, 1862, reporting in person to Adjutant-General Baker with 100 men for duty, and being assigned as Company I of the 36th Iowa Infantry. He served with his command until captured with the writer, as elsewhere described.
While the regiment was at Camden, Ark., four days previous to the capture, George W. Gibson, a brother of Lieutenant Johnson's wife, came to Company I as a recruit, and was killed in the fight at Marks' Mills.
The lieutenant remained a prisoner, except as narrated elsewhere, until regularly exchanged about the close of the war. After being mustered out he returned home and resided on a farm of his until the fall of 1870, when he was elected Clerk of the District Court of Appanoose county, which position he filled for three terms. He was then elected Mayor of Centerville, Iowa, after which he again engaged in merchandising until the spring of 1890, when he moved to his present home in Lincoln, Neb., to be nearer his children. His photograph is inserted oppositepage 39.
SERGEANT E. B. ROCKET.
E. B. Rocket was born on July 14, 1841, in Jefferson county, Alabama, and moved with his parents to Arkansas in 1852. In 1859 he married Amanda, daughter of Absalom Holcombe.
In 1863 he enlisted in the Confederate army, and served until the close of the war, gaining the rank of sergeant. He was a member of Company B, Munson's regiment, Cobbles's brigade, Fagan's division, and was with his company in all its marches and engagements.
His wife died in 1881, leaving five girls and one boy to the care of the father. In 1885 he married Martha J. Davis, a widow, and four girls have blessed this union. At the age of seventeen Rocket became a convert to the tenets of the Missionary Baptist Church, to which he still adheres, his present occupation being that of preacher in this church, with his home in Center Point, Arkansas.
The writer's firstmeetingwith Sergeant Rocket is fully described in the body of this book, and, while the acquaintance was unsought, it resulted in a lasting friendship, our captor proving to be a good soldier and a Christian gentleman. His photograph is inserted oppositepage 189.
The following is a list of casualties among the officers and enlisted men of the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry at Marks' Mills, Arkansas, April 25, 1864:
Transcriber's Notes:
Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to a nearby paragraph break.
The text in the list of illustrations is presented as in the original text, but the links navigate to the page number closest to the illustration's loaction in this document.
Other than the corrections noted by hover information, the original printing has been retained.