Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1887 — Bob Burdette’s War Experience. [ARTICLE]

Bob Burdette’s War Experience.

In the summer of 1862, at the tender age of 18, he was invited by President Lincoln, in a proclamation issued about that time, to save the country. He did so. He entered Company C, Forty-seventh Illinois Infantry, as a private gentleman, and put down the rebellion with a musket longer than himself, for he was brief of stature, being but 5 feet 3 inches short. He saved his country, although he hasn't got a deed for it yet. The Government wouldn’t promote him and wouldn’t reduce him, so he held his rank steadily, which is more than some generals did. He knew General Grant intimately bz sight, but was not on speaking terms with him. At General Banks’ urgent .solicitation he. With a number of other private gentlemen, accompan ed the Red River expedition to Pleasant H 11 and back to Atchafalaya Bayou on an excursion ticket, good both ways, conquering in one direction and running in the other, his pay going on all the same.— Lippincott’s Magazine. Civility: An ancient form of behavior, popular in feudal times, but unsuited to the exigencies of modern civilization.