"Bellefonte, Pa., December 3, 1926.
Thrilling Civil War Days
AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
By Rev. L. M. Colfelt, D. D.
The Civil War broke out in my 12th
year and it was with thrilling inter-
est I trotted along beside the fifers
and drummers as they beat time for
the companies recruited in Bedford
county when, they marched through
the streets to entrain for the seat of
war. Lieutenant Barndollar, after-
ward Captain, with his Zouaves, beau
ideal of a handsome officer, Captain
Filler, later a Colonel and after the | f;
war, editor of the Philadelphia Rec-
ord, Captain Saul Metzger and other
officers passed in frequently recurring
succession with companies composed
of well known youths. Alas! Many
of these older schoolmates who wenf
forth with high hopes of glory soon !
were laid in too early graves, lan-
guished in hospitals or rotted in pris-
on pens. The first regiment of troops
from the vicinity spent their first |
three years enlistment in garrison '
duty on the coast of the Carolinas.
When their term of enlistment expir-
ed, they returned and related what a |
picnic they had enjoyed and the regi-
ment’s quota of 1800 men for re-en-
listment was overfilled. But on re-
turning to the army they were order-
ed into active service under Grant in
the Wilderness Campaign and at the
battle of Cold Harbor into which they
went near 2000 strong, they came out
able to muster barely 200. Of a truth,
Bedford county became a ‘“Bochin,”
the place of weeping.
From the firing of Fort Sumpter,
a shot that struck every northern
heart, to the capitulation at Appoma-
tox, I followed the course of the war
with thrilling interest as it was pub-
lished daily in the Philadelphia Pub-
lic Ledger. Indeed, I think I could
have written a history of the war from
memory, being conversant with the
movements of the troops of the sev-
eral armies and even the losses sus-
tained in every great battle from start
to finish. With what a thrill did I
read the long dispatches sent late at
night from John Cessna’s office to my
father, depicting the phases of the
first Bull Run battle, with what heart-
sickness I read of the fearful disaster
of Fredericksburg and Chancellors-
ville, in which 60,000 men were sacri-
ficed by incompetent commanders.
What elation over the victory of An-
tietam, how great the suspense over
the fate of Gettysburg, the booming
of whose guns I fancied I could hear
on July 4. The taking of Donelson,
Vicksburg, Shiloh and Chickamauga,
the battle in the clouds at Chattanoo-
ga, Sherman marching through Geor-
gia, the little Monitor at Hampton
Roads, the heroism of Farragut at
New Orleans, McClellan at Gaines
Mills, Grant’s final pounding the Con-
federacy to dust as with the Hammer
of Thor and Sheridan breaking
through Lee’s lines on a Sunday—all
were graven on my memory as with
pen or iron forever. Just before the
battle of Gettysburg, Lee, in invading
Pennsylvania, surrounded General
Milroy at Winchester, Va. I have:
seen and talked with the man, Colonel
Glass, who lived about 5 miles west
of Winchester, who guided Early’s
army around behind the hills until,
without discovery, they had complete-
ly surrounded General Milroy’s little
force of 9000, thinking to make them
an easy conquest. But braver than
General Milroy never lived. For three
days, he held out against a host. I
have seen the swinging cradle perch-
ed at the top of a high telegraph pole
on the heights of Winchester to which
he mounted and with a glass observed
the movements of the foe. On the
night of the third day, he summoned
his officers and informed them that his
force could hold out no longer, and if
‘they were willing, though he would
coerce no man’s will, he would at their
head, make trial of escape. As for
himself, he would never surrender.
Five thousand of his men with Mil-
roy at their head cut their way
through and made their way to Ever-
ett, Pennsylvania, 8 miles from my
home. General Milroy was repri-
manded and relieved for not retiring
in time when he should have been hon-
ored for delaying Lee’s army for three
days, giving Meade time to come up
with Lee at Gettysburg and secure
the advantage of position. General
Miles, at Harper's Ferry, not only did
retire but surrendered 13,000 men
without striking a blow.
On hearing of the arrival of Mil-
roy’s army at Everett, my brother,
Charles and myself, then in my 14th
year, determined without our parents
knowledge to go afoot to the camp
and satisfy our curiosity to see some-
thing of real soldier life. We were
so young that we passed the sentinels
without difficulty, but found, while it
was easy to get into the lines, it was
not easy to get out. We had to get
a Provost Marshall’s permit to make
our progress. We delved pretty
thoroughly into the mysteries of camp
and before returning home we edged
our way without stoppage into the
very presence of General Shields,
surrounded with his staff, on the hotel
porch and listened eagerly to all that
was going forward. But we exper-
ienced somewhat of a thrilling sur-
prise when a courier, covered with
dust, his horse afoam, flung himself
from the saddle, rushed up the hotel
steps to the general, saluted and
shouted, “The Rebel Cavalry have
arrived at McConnelsbug, 25 miles dis-
tant.” The General turned to an or-
derly and said, “Take my horse to the
Smith-man across the street and have
him shod as quick as Hell can scorch
a feather.” His army, without ar-
tillery and many of his men even with-
out guns which had been thrown away
in their flight were in no condition to
put up a fight and in 30 minutes the
whole force resumed their retreat
westward to camp next at my own
county town of Bedford. My broth-
er and myself made an orderly retreat
I
‘ious and gave my heartfelt thanks to
i chard to the cellar for winter storage.
i while driving down a fairly steep
i the cart and heels furthest away. I
and with this taste of war’s alarms
were borne homewards in the gener-
al flight, with this impression, that no
scene on earth is more terrible than
a defeated army in a panicky retreat.
I would like to detain my gentle
readers with just one other incident
that happened in the pre-college per-
iod, when I was about 16 years old.
My father and myself were driving
two noble horses, 16% hands high, in
a Germantown 2-seated carriage from
Winchester to Everett, when we arriv-
ed at the Potomac river opposite Han-
cock, Maryland. A ferry of the flat
boat wire type, propelled across by
the current of the river was in use but
unfortunately the ferryman was ab-
sent from his post and would not re-
turn for several days. Not wishing
to be delayed, we questioned his wife
as to a possible fording of the stream
which was at least one-half mile wide.
She pointed to the ford which the
armers sometimes ventured in low
water. We should not have attempt-
ed the unknown passage, indeed, my
father strongly vetoed the venture but
I overcame his objections with foolish
presumption so far that he agreed, if
I would drive. My fishing experience
in home rivers helped me to diagnose
the ‘situation and avoiding the still
waters I kept just above the riffle.
But the great rocks in the bed caused
the horses to flounder and the car-
riage to careen dangerously, When
we arrived at the middle of the stream
the water was flowing six inches deep
in the carriage, one of the horses
seemed as if he was trying to climb
a house roof. At this moment the
same horses’ trace came off the single-
tree and the stop necessary to put it
on probably saved our lives. The
horse seemed to have compressed his
feet ina space no bigger than a bushel
basket and stood tremblingly leaning
upstream. I saw I could not put it on
withcut dangerously disturbing his
balance and debated whether I should
Jump in the river breast deep. Hap-
pily I decided to try putting it on
while standing on the tongue and I
will never forget the intelligence of
that horse and how he cooperated in
refraining from struggling while I
reached over his back and got hold of
the outside trace and with care re-
fastened it to the singletree. Before
getting into the carriage I said to my
father, “I will take a survey of what
is ahead,” but the moment I looked
I cried, “My God! Father, the rock
our horse was scrambling up is as big
as a house and the water ahead is full
of boulders. I must have gotten too
far upstream.” Instead of getting in
the carriage I got astride the near
horse to better see what was ahead
and turned the team abruptly down-
stream to shun the big rock. I can
see that hickory tongue bend yet as
the front wheel struck the rock and
shifted the whole carriage down the
river. But the tongue was good stuff
and held and I can see and hear my
father still as he sat in the back seat,
now lifted to heaven and now plung-
ed down into the depths, murmuring
prayers, voicing his terror as we went
floundering and plunging the remain-
ing distance to the shore. I am not
ashamed to confess that was one of
the occasions I was somewhat relig-
God for our safe deliverance.
One autumn afternoon I was en-
gaged carting apples from the or-
On returning for a fresh load I
thoughtlessly perched myself on an
upturned flour barrel. Reins in hand
roadway and going over a rough
place, the barrel tilted and I was
tumbled in a somersault, landing on
my back on the ground with head to
saw the great juggernaut cart coming
and shut my eyes certain it would
crush my head like an egg shell.
Squirming backward as I did, the
great wheel grazed my head and
plastered my hair in the sand. My
very high spirits of that day evaporat-
ed and it was a sobered lad who con-
tinued his task feeling with David
that there had been not a “step” but
a hairbreadth betwixt me and death
and that only the sparing Providence
of God had saved me from destruc-
ion.
Permit me to photograph at this
point, a man, Abe Oyler by name,
unique and original, who might well
have figured in the pages of fiction.
He lived on the mountains near my
home in improvised shelters made
with a small axe he always carried in
his belt. With no companion but a
small dog, he shunned all the labors
and habitations of men. He was a
“mighty hunter” and an unrivalled
shot. No animal could escape him and
the grey squirrel vainly sought refuge
in the holes in the highest trees for
without gaffs to aid he could climb any
tree and with axe cut the squirrel out
from his haunt and cast him down to
his dog. Often did I hear his whoop
on the mountains announcing his suc-
cess on the trail. It was better than
a play to hear him describe how he
was caught in his cabin on an island
in Dunning’s Creek which was sub-
ject to sudden and mighty freshets.
How he awoke in the morning and on
stepping from his hammock found
himself in water up to his neck.
Climbing to the roof, he awaited ail
day the abatement of the flood but it
only rose higher. All he could do
late in the afternoon was to make a
swim for it. To the east, the stream
was narrow but the current too swift
and the down floating timbers made
such an attempt fool hardy. He
strapped his gun and clothes on his
back and hung his shoes about his
neck and started upon his perilous
half mile battle with the water floods
to reach the western shore. To his
grief he found his impediamenta too
much and he said his shoes especially,
filling with water, dragged his head
under, threatening to drown him and
he had most reluctantly to abandon
them. Great was the astonishment
of the flailers in Barnhart’s barn, cn
gazing over the waste of waters, to
see this strange, amphibian monster,
his head bobbing up and down in his
coonskin cap, finally emerge at the
barnyard and reveal the familiar
features of the well known Abe.
When the Civil War broke out, Abe
enlisted as a sharpshooter and was in
HOW TO SOLVE A CROSS.WORD PUZZLER
When the correcy letters are pinced In the white spaces this pussie will
spell words both vertically and herizemtally,
The first letter In each werd is
indicated by a mumber, which refers to the definition listed below the pumml
Thus No. 1 under the column headed “horizontal” defines a ward which
fll the white spaces up to the first black square te the right, and a numbes
under “vertical” defimes a word which will fill the white squares to the mext
black eme below.
tionary words, except proper names.
Ne letters ge In the black spaces. All words used are dios
Abbreviations, slang, initials, technical
terms and obsolete forms are indicated im the definitions.
CROSS-WORD PUZZLE No. 3.
l 2. 13 14 8 6 [7 1819
mn 10 I 12 /
% Is 16 7 18 119
20 I 22 23 29
25 26 27 28
30 31 32 [EE
34 35 J6 37
58 39 40
4 42 43 44 l 45 46
47 48 47 $0 51
52 53 54 dl $6
57 58 59 60
1] 62
T®, 1926, Western Newspaper Union.)
Horizontal. Vertical,
1-—Strand of false hair
6—To loiter, or be idle
10—Fatigues
12—To urge on
14—Preposition
16—Portico
18—Woody plant
20—Skill
22—Holes in skin
24—Free, or loose
25—Group of letters
27—Mixture of vegetables
29—Note of scale
30—Was attired in
32—Natives of Poland
34—Changes
38—Wise men
40—To father
41—Preposition
43—Support on a larger vessel for
a smaller boat
45-—Metal container
47—Piece of ground
49—Citrus fruit
51—Over there
62-—God of love
54—Native of the capital of Italy
56—Sun god 67—Binds
59—At no time 61—Den
62—To colonize
86—Lures
Solution will appear im next issue.
1—Indian’'s wife
2—That thing
3—Fee
4—Harvest of grain
§—Central figure in a romance (pl.)
7—Bone
8—Fitting
9—To roll up, as a flag
11—A fight
13—To bore out
15—To skulk
17—Lowest class of serf among an-
cient Spartans
19—Doors to the outside in a
ater
21—Runs along, as a horse
23—Sellings
26—To fear
28—To resign from a Masonic lodge
81—Potential energy
83—Mist
85—To cut in two
37—Highest voice In a quartet
39—Famous youth who met a pieman
42—Arsenal 44—Volumes
46—The jack of a suit of cards
48—To work
the.
34—Lively
50—Part of a church
§3—Ocean
65—Meshed material
68—Note of scale
60—Right (abbr.)
many a heavy fight. Finally in the
Battle of the Wilderness under Grant,
a shell struck him and shattered his
leg from the knee down. He said this
did not trouble him so much but when
he dragged himself to a tree, another
shell “smashed”; his breast and one |
arm. He was carried from the field,
taken to Fortress Monroe and his leg
amputated. He came home but gan-
grene set in and his limb had to be re-
amputated. I recall distinctly the
night it occurred. The doctor was tou
intoxicated for the duty and a young
novice, studying medicine, Nicodemus,
by name, performed a successful oper-
ation. Abe was not bern in the woods
to be scared by an owl nor to be killed
by shattering shells. On meeting
Abe of a morning and asking him how
he fared, he used to reply, “Fine!
Only I have the rheumatiz bad in my
wooden leg and I suffer every now and
then with the blind sthaagers.” There
was something inimitable in the pro-
nounciation of “Staggers.” Indeed,
his vocabulary was always enough in
itself to keep you in constant laugh-
ter. After the war he became com-
paratively civilized, married, reared a
family and in spite of his disabilities,
split rails, rived shingles, mended
shoes and died the death of a man
who, without hope of reward, did his
devoir bravely for his country and
purchased its deliverance from slav-
ery and disruption at a great price.
Provides $500,000,000 to Fight Animal
Abuse.
Washington.— Establishment of a
$500,000,000 trust fund for the prose-
cution of persons cruel to animals and
for the protection of animals and
game in all parts of the world, is pro-
iA LAA
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WU
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20
£ perry
us.
waiting for you
time our thoughts are always
Gifts and Gifts and Gifts
and the giving of a Gift is certainly a joy to most of
This Store is truly a Gift Store of the better
sort and we have “‘millions’’ of Beautiful Things
Solution of Cross-word puzzle No. 3.
JUMP P
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vided for in the will of Stacy Anson
Ransom, scientist, who died August
26.
The fund would be accumulated
from the investment of $40,000, which
is provided in the will filed here. Half
of the income would be used to pro-
tect animals and game and the re-
mainder would be accumulated and in-
vested until it reached $500,000,000.
Getting Up Nights
Tells You of “Danger Ahead.” A Normal
Bladder Does Not Act at Nights.
A. C. Smith, 41 W. Broad St. Bethlehem,
Pa., says: I am willing to tell or write of
the benefits received from Lithiated Buchu
(Keller Formula). I now rise in the morn-
ing refreshed and feeling tine.” It cleanses
the bladder as epsom salts do the
bowels, thereby neutralizing excess acids
and driving out foreign matter which are
causes of abnormal bladder action. Keller
Laboratory, Mechanicsburg, Ohio. Sold by
all drug stores. Locally at C. M. Parrish’s
Drug Store.
JEMS
F. P. BLAIR and SON
JEWELRY
SILVERWARE
Installment Buying
Vs
Christmas Saving
Which is the Better Plan?
Buy the thing you would like to
have now, without any money, and
pay for it in weekly installments
or
Save by weekly payments in our
Christmas Fund and consider buy-
ing when you have the money to
pay cash.
We leave the answer to you.
READING RIGHTS.
Subscription Privilege Expires Jan. 1, 1927. If you Hold
Any Warrants, we will Arrange.
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Bellefonte, Pa.
Harvest with
Thanksgiving
¢€ T: get the Kern” was an ancient
Scottish phrase,’ meaning “to
complete the harvest with
Thanksgiving.” Those who make this
Bank the depositary of thier funds and the
agent of their financial operations complete
the harvest of their desire with Thanks-
giving.
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK
STATE COLLEGE, PA.
MEMBER FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
eA NSN NS SST NS AN MINN SA NA NERNN AN SECT ANA VEIN A ANN ANCRANA A Raa)
GRAN VEARRNNAR)
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Special Sale
~ Winter Coats
Owing to the unseasonable
weather we are going to have
a Clearance Sale of all
Ladies’ Children’s and
Misses’ Coats
45 Ladies’ Coats, all sizes
from 16 to 47, at cost. This
will be a saving of from $5 to
$10 onjevery Ladies’ Coat and
$3 to, $4 on Childrens’ Coats.
§ [See our;;Coat Racks. All
sizesfat a phenomenal price of
; : $4.75
A 8 Lda AT
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