The Hennessey Clipper (Hennessey, Okla.), Vol. 20, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 20, 1909 Page: 3 of 10
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BY
Edward B.Clark
COPYRIGHT /SOQiBy h/aPATfERSQ
A8HINGT0N.—In wooden Arlington just across the
Potomac from the city of Washington 16,000 of the
Wcountry's dead are at rest.
Arlington holds a sleeping army, and no soldier
host ever camped upon a ground more nobly beau-
tiful. Many of the great captains of the federal
forces in the civil war are at rest here. Grant and
Sherman sleep elsewhere, though their place is
here Generals, colonels, sergeants, corporals and
privates are side by side in this burial ground of
the nation, for death, like love, levels all ranks.
The tents of Unionists and Confederate are pitched
not far apart, and no picket walks between. "All
is quiet along the Potomac."
Soldiers of many wars are here. Revolutionary
Veterans lie not far removed from descendants who
•met death in the Philippines. The victim of the Semi-
nole rests at Arlington, and with him is the man who
fell before the earthworks of Molino del Key. Sailors
who served on the Constitution and on the Maine are
'In port in Arlington. It is a camping ground of the
united service.
The troopers stationed at Fort Myer can look
through the iron gateway at Arlington and see the
grave of a man who for 71 years was a commissioned
•officer of the United States army—the veteran Harney
of the old Second Dragoons. He fought in the Black
'Hawk and Seminole wars, in Mexico, on the plains
and in the war between the states. He was a soldier
after the soldier's own heart. Harney sleeps unforgot-
j#.en of the army,
• Near the Harney monument rises the shaft
beneath which lie father and son, both of whom .
gave their lives for their country. A little re- /
moved is the grandson, killed while leading his ^
jough rider company in Cuba. Three genera-
tions of the Capron family are represented in the death
Irolls of the American army. Erastus E. Capron, the
grandfather, was killed at Cherubusco; Allyn Capron,
the son, died as the result of exposure and hardship
tin the campaign before Santiago; Allyn K. Capron,
the grandson, was killed while at the front with the
^Roosevelt command in the charge at Las Guasimas.
| The younger Capron's grave is in one of the Spanish
"war sections of the cemetery. Near him rest Col.
(Alexander M. Wetherell of the Sixth infantry, and Maj.
Albert G. Forse of the First cavalry, who went to their
■death together on the slopes of San Juan hill. Capron,
Wetherell and Forse sleep under noble monuments.
(Scarce the length of a sentry's post from them lie
khe remains of Lieut. William H. Smith, killed at the
jhead of his dismounted troop of the Tenth cavalry on
ISan Juan hill. Smith was as gallant a soldier as the
iarmy has produced, but save for the government mark-
er and for the flowers which comrades place there,
jhis grave is unmarked. Smith's roommate at West Point was William
(E. Shipp. The two men as cadets and officers were inseparable. They
iwere members of the same regiment and they died together in battle.
[ In 1879 William E. Shipp. a country lad from North Carolina, re-
ported as a candidate for admission to the United States Military acade
liny. He was a quiet, studious fellow, and made the most of his oppor
•>
X
menemmm "fir Immrwr gemf7e#y.
memory. Gen. Lawton was
from Indiana. Other states have
honored with shafts in Arling-
ton soldiers far less distin-
guished in the services of their
country.
Gen. Sheridan Is at rest on
the lawn in front of the old
Lee mansion, which was the
manor house of Arlington. A
medallion of the general is on the face of the
stone and below it is tli^ pne word "Sheridan.'
Nothing else is needed, for the knowledge of all
men supplies the history of the sleeping soldier.
Lieut.-Gen. John M. Schofield was buried
two years ago in a grave not far from that of
e Shenandoah raider. Schofield's grave is on
a knoll under a lordly oak that has stood for a
century. Near the hero of Franklin lies the body
of Gen. Joseph Wheeler, who died in February,
1908. At the time of his death he was a brigadier
general, though during the four years of the
civil war he wore the gray of the confederacy.
Wheeler rests In close companionship with his one-time foes.
Gibbon of the Iron brigade, and the sterling soldiers, Cook and
Sturgis. , .
There are legions of dead In Arlington. Nature has made
the place beautiful and man wisely has left to her the greater
part of the work. The llowers and the trees are the native
growth; the birds are those of the wild places, the wood thrush
and the cardinal, who come back year after year, even though
in this soldiers' camping ground they sing their reveilles vainly.
Arlington house would be a sad place even if there were no
miles of headstones stretching away from its doorsteps and marking
the resting places of the dead. Time cannot kill the beauty of the old
house. Its Doric columns were built to rival the stolidity of the Po-
tomac hills and the mansion itself had Its foundations laid and its
walls erected upon the faith of honest workmen. The building stands
white, massive and impressive and holds the mind with the mingling
of the strength and beauty of its lines.
The government has done much for Arlington and it has left muclj
undone. It is nothing short of a crime that a mind kindred to that
of the master landscape gardener who saw to it that the natural beau-
ty of the grounds was preserved could not have been brought to ear
upon the ordering of the interior of the old southern home, lhe
great fireplaces which at the Christmas season were once g°r8el
with great logs which offered their substance to the flames for the
cheering and the comfort of the guests, are now covered with rusty
sheet iron. Stoves made at Troy, N. Y., or Detroit, Mich., supply
warmth and make the interior look a crossroads station.
On the walls of the great drawing room, where Robert E
Lee and
uu UIW wann ui 1.11*3 B . .
Mary Custis plighted their troth, are some printed extracts rrom
speeches made by fervid orators upon sundry patriotic occasions.
The frames are pine, the paper is cheap, the printing is poor and in
one or two instances at least the sentiments are tawdry.
On a desk in one corner lies an open register where everyone
visiting this shrine must write his name. In this matter of supplying
a register and making compulsory the tracing of autographs the
government has shown wisdom. If the book were not there to give
the avefage tourist an opportunity to spread his name and resi-
dence in big letters, he would take out his finger restlessness either
in scrawling on the walls or in chipping pieces from the monuments or
heroes who lie without.
Robert E. Lee lived at Arlington until 1861, at such times as he
could absent himself from his army duties. The morning of the 22d
of \nril of that year he went to the porch of his home and standing
between the two great central pillars he looked across the Potomac
ut the city of Washington. Then he turned away and an hour later
was oil his way to Richmond to offer his sword to the south, lie
never returned to Arlington.
tunities. On Saturday afternoon during "release from quarters"
Shipp went into the room of a classmate and said: "I've done noth-
ing but 'bone' mathematics and French for a year. I d like to read
a novel—the lighter the better. Have you anything stowed away
Novels were contraband. Shipp's classmate pried a board from
the base of the pillar at the end of the alcove wall and took out a
book and threw It on the table. The fact that Shipp came from North
Carolina was forgotten and the classmate said: "There is a book
that's pretty good stuff! It's Albion W. Tourgee's 'A FoolIs Errand.
A day or two afterward Shipp brought the book back. The
secene of that story is laid in my home," he said. "It's a libel on
every person and everything in the place. The man who wrote it
wrote maliciously. It is possible that some day he will learn that
something good can come out of the town which he has maligned.
ShlPP a southerner, sprung from the slave-holding class, and,
indeed by the Tourgee standard, a negro hater, joined upon grauda-
Hon the Tenth Colored cavalry, lie was leading his black trooper,
ta the charge at San Juan when he was shot and killed
x lilt riot had come out of Tourgee's North Carolina town.
A massive granite block stands on the spot where John M. Stot-
* „ „ burled The men who hurled stones at Stotsenburg gath-
80nrt them to build a monument to his memory. Stotsenburg was
ered then SUUl Rogular cavalry. He was appointed colonel
of The First Nebraska volunteers and went with his command to Uie
Fh«lPPtn|So rg found that his militiamen were not accustomed
. ri scinUne He made them drill and he taught them the duties of
to d setpllne. n process, called him a martinet and were
° "1 n„,„T of asking for his removal. The regiment went into hr.t-
Ue. and won its tight, in part at least, because of the tutelage of its
colonel. He was killed while leading the Nebras-
ka volunteers in a charge that brought the regi-
ment everlasting fame. The men of the command
raised the money for the monument to their com-
mander.
Near the "Temple of Fame" is the grave of
Maj. Liscum of the Ninth infantry, who was killed
at Tientsin during the invasion of China. The
Liscum monument beyond all question is the
handsoinest memorial the National cemetery holds.
This field ollicer of the Ninth In Initiative and
bravery upheld the best traditions of the American
army and he was deserving of his memorial, but
the shadow of it falls across the grave of Maj. Gen.
Henry W. Lawton, unmarked save by the small
stone bearing a number and a name which the
governmeut places at the resting-place of all who
die in the service, major-general and private alike.
Gen. Lawton was killed In the Philippines,
and his funeral was a matter of pomp by his
countrymen, but time seems to have dulled the
edge of remembrance and his state has failed to
honor him with a stone in Arlington, though it
has remembered him in Indiana's chief city.
In justice to the family of the dead soldier it
should be said on the best army authority possible
that Gen. Law'ton, before his death, put the wish
virtually into the form of a command that no part
of Uie sum left or given for the support of his wid-
ow and children should be used for a monument to
BATTLE TAKES NAME FROM CHURCH
By HOWARD ENRIGHT SEXTON.
Early in the year 18G2 the determination of the union command-
ers to pierce the confederacy in the center led to a gunboat expedition
up the Tennessee river. In military parlance this was a scouting ex-
pedition of the river navy to ascertain the chances of breaking the
confederate lines by capturing a point on the Memphis & Charleston
-"7^ miles above Savannah, Tenn., a cannon boomed from a
high hill on the left bank of the river and a solid shot plunged into
the water among the boats. The leader returned the compliment with
a few shells that fired a building at the foot of the hill. As the boats
returned a small party landed and captured the hostile gun. They
learned that the place was called Pittsburg Landing; that it was a
shipping point for Corinth, Miss., and that two miles out was a little
log church called Shiloh. At the suggestion of Sherman, Gen. Smith
selected this as the point of concentration for the army to operate
against Corinth, and so the great battle takes its name from the peace-
ful little church that sits demurely among its tall oaks on the Corinth
road. ..t
In more than one respect the battle of Shiloh holds a unique po
sition in the annals of great conflicts. For years the confederates,
who failed in their attempt to crush the union forces and fled from
the field on the second day, spoke of it exultingly as a "great victory;"
the federals who, although roughly handled, repelled the attacks of
the enemy, could not think of that long and bloody Sunday without
humiliation.
Albert Sydney Johnston, who failed signally in his design, was
exalted to a fame that shall live forever; Grant, who really won the
hftttle against odds, was in disgrace at its close and but for Lincoln's
clear judgment and the accident of Halleck's recall to Washington
would have passed Into obscurity.
With Sherman, the field of Shiloh marked the turn of the tide.
He was 42 years old, but mentally and physically a much younger
man His" career had been varied. A banker, a lawyer, a teacher a
president of a street railroad—in all of these, through no fault of his
own, he had been unsuccessful.
At Hull Run he had commanded a regiment, whose retreat from
the field he himself had reported as "disorderly in the extreme." His
judgment as to the magnitudb of the struggle was so much clearer
than that of his superiors and associates that he had been considered
insane Years after those who had relieved him from command denied
that they had ever regarded him as "mentally unsound," even while
acting as they did. His unselfish support of Grant at Donelson won
the star of a brigadier, and after Shiloh no one ever spoke of the man
who, twice wounded, still animated his men as "Crazy Bill Sherman."
DOLLAR WHEAT HAS
COME TO STAY
IN LESS THAN FIVE YEARS CEN-
TRAL CANADA WILL BE CALLED
UPON TO SUPPLY THE
UNITED STATES.
A couple of years ago, when the an-
nouncement was made in these col-
i uuins that "dollar w heat" had come to
j stay, and that the time was not far
I distant when the central provinces of
Canada—Manitoba, Saskatchewan and
Alberta—would be called upon to sup-
j ply a large part of the wheat con-
1 sumption in the United States, ther*
I were many who laughed at the predic-
tions and ridiculed the idea of wheat
I reaching the dollar point and staying
I there, both of these predictions have
come to pass. Dollar wheat is here—•
| and it is not only here, but is here to
| stay; and at the same time, whatever
| unpleasant sensations it may arouse
| in the Buper-seusitive American, Cen-
tral Canada Is already being called
upon to help keep up the bread sup-
ply, and within the next five years
Will, as James J. Hill says, literally
"become the bread-basket of our In-
| creasing millions."
There are few men in the United
States better acquainted with the
wheat situation than Mr. Hill, and
there are few men, If any, who are in-
clined to be more conservative In
their expressed views. Yet It was this
greatest of the world's railroad men
who said a few days ago that "the
price of wheat will never be substan-
tially lower than it Is today"—and
when it is taken Into consideration
that at that time wheat had soared to
$1.20, well above the dollar mark, the
statement is peculiarly significant,
and doubly significant is the fact that
in this country the population Is In-
creased at the ratio of 65 per cent.,
while the yield of wheat and other
products is increasing at the rate of
only 25 per cent. For several years
past the cost of living has been stead-
ily Increasing in the United States,
and this wide difference in production
nnd consumption is the reason.
This difference must be supplied by
the vast and fertile grain regions of
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
There is now absolutely no doubt of
this. Even the press of the country
concedes the Tact. Results have shown
that no other country in the world can
ever hope to equal those provinces as
wheat producers, and that no other
country can produce as hard or as
good wheat. Said a great grain man
recently, "If United States wheat main-
tains the dollar mark, Canada wheat
will be well above a dollar a bushel,
lor In every way it is superior to our
home-grown grain."
With these facts steadily impinging
their truth upon our rapidly growing
population, it Is interesting to not*
just what possibilities as a "wheat
grower" our Northern neighbor pos-
sesses. While the United States will
never surrender her prestige in any
manufacturing or commercial line, she
must very soon acknowledge, and with
as much grace as she can, that she is
bound to be beaten as a grain pro-
ducer. It must be conceded that a
great deal of the actual truth about
the richness of Canada's grain produc-
ing area has been "kept out of sight,"
as Mr. Hill says, by the strenuous ef-
forts of our newspapers and maga-
zines to stem the exodus of our best
American farmers Into those regions.
It is a fact that up to the present
time, although Canada has already
achieved the front rank in the world's
grain producers, the fertile prairies
of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Al-
berta have as yet scarcely been
scratched. Millions of acres, free for
the taking, still await our American
farmers; and when these millions are
gone there are other millions in re-
gions not yet opened up to immigra-
tion. A few years ago the writer, who
has been through those wheat prov-
inces several times, laughed with oth-
ers of our people at the broad
statement that Canada was bound to
become "John Hull's Bread Basket."
Now, after a last trip (and though ha
is a stanch American) he frankly be-
lieves that not only will Canada be-
come John Hull's bread-basket, but it
will within the next decade at least
BECOME THE BREAD-BASKET OF
THE UNITED STATES. Perhaps this
may be a hard truth for Aemricans to
swallow, but it is a truth, neverthe-
less. And It is at least a partial com-
pensation to know that hundreds of
Uiousands of our farmers are profit-
ing by the fact by becoming producers
in this new country.
The papers of this country have nat-
urally made the most of the brief pe-
riod of depression which swept over
Canada, but now there is not a sign of
It left from Winnipeg to the coast.
Never have the three great wheat rais-
ing provinces been more prosperous.
Capital is coming into the country
from all quarters, taking the form of
cash for investment, industrial con-
cerns seeking locations, and, best of
all, substantial and sturdy Immigrants
come to help populate the prairies.
Towns are booming; scores of new
elevators are springing up; railroads
are sending out their branch lines In
all directions; thousands of prosper-
ous farmers are leaving their prairie
shelters for new and modern homes—
"built by wheat:" everywhere is a
growing happiness and contentment—
happiness and contentment built by
wheat—the "dollar wheat," which has
come to stay. Notwithstanding this,
the Canadian Government is still giv-
ing away its homesteads and selling
pre-emptions at $3.00 an acre, and the
Hallway and Land Companies are dis-
posing of their lands at what may b«
considered nominal figures.
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Sprague, G. E. The Hennessey Clipper (Hennessey, Okla.), Vol. 20, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 20, 1909, newspaper, May 20, 1909; Hennessey, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc105658/m1/3/: accessed March 29, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.