Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1913 — WAR RENINISCENCES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAR RENINISCENCES

BY HOSKINS BRIGADIER Confederate Veteran Gives Interesting Reminiscences of Civil War— ' Wonders at Escape. Interesting reminiscences of the civil war from the point of view of the confederate veteran were told in Chicago the other day by Z. T. Hoskins, 1243 Michigan avenue, who enlisted In the army of the south when he was only fourteen years of age. He served in what is known as Hoskins’ brigade, commanded by his brother, Capt. James A. Hoskins. Stories of hardship related by Mr. Hoskins rival the stirring conditions under which the army of the revolutionary war labored in its battle for lnde* pendence. "It’s a wonder to me,” Mr. Hoskins explained, "that there is a single one of our soldiers alive to tell the story of those days of hardship. It was at the battle of Nashville that I remem-. her Incidents that make me wonder how any of us pulled through. "After the battle of Franklin, in which engagement we were badly ‘licked’ and 6,000 of our men killed, Gen. Schofield of the ‘Yankees’ re* treated to Nashville and Gen. Hood established us around the city. For fourteen days—from the Ist to the 14th of December, 1864 —we waited for the attack of the union men, Fl-i nally early in the morning of Decemri ber 15, Gen. Thomas ordered the ad-! vance. The union army surrounded! us and it seems to me that the blue-* coats could have killed ns, every one.) I don’t understand to this day how it! Was that a single man escaped with; his life. Those of us who did get! away suffered terrible hardship. "I have seen cold weather," Mr,* Hoskins continued, "but I have yet tofind it as cold as it was during our* disastrous retreat Snow had fallen* and then a crust had formed and progress it seemed was next to impossible. Many of the boys were barefooted. Bloodstains on the snow were plain as a blazed trail, for the jagged* edges of the thick snow crust cut like the edges of a saw. The army was poorly clothed and the suffering was intense. I have been in Chicago when the thermometer registered 14 degrees below zero, yet the day did not seem as cold by half as those during which we fled across Tennessee. "We all expected death by freezing. The boys had lost heart and were literally staring death in the face when, a series of heavy rains fell. The water, it seemed, was warm, and the snow and ice disappeared. It was our _ salvation. But for those rains l think we all would hare frozen to : death.” The narrator also had an interest-' ing story to tell of the manner in, which Gen James B. McPherson met' his death. On this point history differs slightly. Mr. Hoskins declares, that the following is the true account o t the manner In which the onion, leader was killed:

“It was what Is called the battle; befor Atlanta, July 22. 1864,” he began. "Gen. McPherson was in command of the army of the Tennessee! and Gen. Hood was leading as. Gen,. Hood and McPherson had been classmates at West Point “We had just begun firing on the* Yankees when a general was seem coming galloping down the road, headed right for our forces. It was Gen., McPherson. He had lingered at the* Howard house talking with Gen. Sherman, and hearing the firing he was* hurrying to join his men. He rode* directly into a group of our men before hp saw that we were of Gen., Hood’s army. “He wheeled his horse suddenly ini a desperate effort to escape capture.) A low hanging limb of a nearby scrub* oak brushed his cap from his bead as* he fled. He had scarcely gone a rod,, however, when a bullet from a corporal of our troops laid him low. We* regretted his death as mnch as the union army did, for he was once a southern favorite. He was killed outright *T was a confederate soldier,” smiled Mr. Hoskins. “I guess I’m pretty nearly a ‘Yank’ now. I’ve been here* In Chicago long enough to get aooustomed to northern ways. And we’re all under one flag together.”