Two days afterwards I received a letter from an Iowa colonel, whose name I have forgotten, whose regiment was in camp opposite where the Tigress sank, informing me that the men of his command were willing to wade out neck-deep and secure the cotton about the engine of the Tigress, if the commanding general would give it to me for sanitary purposes; and that as he was coming up to Young’s Point with empty wagons for supplies, he would gladly deliver it there.
I was very much perplexed as to what I had best do, but finally sent the colonel’s letter to General Grant, who had gone below Vicksburg with his army, with a brief letter, saying that “If the granting of this request is entirely consistent with your sense of honor, and the best interest of yourself and of the government, I would be glad to receive the cotton, as I shipped a heavy lot of supplies on the Tigress, and they have all been lost.”
As soon as my letter was received, the order was issued, and sent up by a special messenger. I sent it immediately to that generous Iowa colonel, with a most kindly message.
I do not know how deep the Iowa soldiers waded out to secure the cotton; but I do know that a heavy lot came up in good condition very promptly, and that I shipped it to St. Louis to Partrage & Co. for sale, and that it was sold for $1,950, which I charged to my account, and which enabled me to more than double the amount of supplies I had lost.
I see by bills in my possession that I bought immense quantities of supplies in St. Louis. There is one bill of seventy-five bushels of dried apples, while all the onions in the market were bought up, and lemons and other antiscorbutics; and when our forces surrounded Vicksburg, heavy supplies were rushed in to meet their pressing wants, especially those who were sick and wounded in hospital and camp.
Somehow I lost the address of that Iowa colonel; but although more than thirty years have passed, I have never ceased to feel the most profound gratitude to that colonel and his men for their heroic services. If this should fall under the eyes of any of them, I should be very glad to hear from them, and to thank them personally.
THE SEQUEL TO “UNCLE TOM’S CABIN.”
THE name of Harriet Beecher Stowe recalls the story of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” It was a story that thrilled and moved the people of this country as no other story has ever done. Its influence was not a sentimental and transitory one. The shafts of truth were sent home to men’s consciences, and were abiding; they live to-day.
It may not, however, be generally known that the hero of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” did not die till a few years ago—in 1883.