OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: The Tiny Soldier
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
September 26, 1999
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Historical Collections of Ohio
The Kelley Family Collections
Newspaper article, Plains Dealer
compiled by S.J. Kelley-- 1925
And Then They Went West
by Darlene E. Kelley  1998
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Newpaper Article
by S. J. Kelly - Plain Dealer
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The Tiny Soldier Who Assisted At The Public Levee.

On one occasion a little drummer boy, securing leave of absence,
accompanied a Sergeant to a public levee that " Old Abe " was holding at
the White House. They went early, and when President Lincoln appeared
and the handshaking begun, they were not long in reaching him.

The tall man, almost a giant in physical proportions, looked down with
an amused smile at the tiny drummer boy, who appeared hardly 10 years of
age. Grasping the little fellow's right hand, the President suddenly
reached out his left,  swung the boy off his feet and set him down on a
small table beside him.

" Aha, my little soldier," he said laughing, 
" You shall help ' Uncle Abe' review this line today, and if your
superior officer objects, why, I'll prolong your leave of absence!"

Lincoln asked the boy his age, place of residence, regiment and where he
was on duty. Then, as some of the more important officers of the army or
navy, members of congress or of the executive departments chanced to
pass in the line, the President would gravely introduce his young
assistant, with whom they were required to shake hands as well as with
himself.

When the reception was over, President Lincoln took the boy into his
private apartments and introduced him to Mrs. Lincoln. After
entertaining him at luncheon, he dismissed him with a brief note to the
commanding officerof the hospital where he was then stationed, telling
why the boy's leave of absence had been extended.
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Another Story--

Lincoln' s geniality and williness at all times to hear or to tell a
good story were conspicious traits, not always agreeable to some of his
able but worried and irritable advisors.

One one occasion a sergeant had a squad of men at work unloading
supplies from an Ohio river steamboat that in some mysterious manner had
made its way from the interior to the coast waters of Virginia. It was a
flat bottomed boat, drawing not more then three feet of water when
loaded and hardly dampening its plank bottom when light. It was
propelled by a horizontal stern wheel, driven by a small upright engine.
Boats of that type were common on the Ohio, which runs dry at some
seasons. They were known as 
" Pittsburgers " and were fabled to navigate freely in a heavy dew.

The sergeant's men were hard at work carrying rations ashore from this
craft when suddenly they stopped and sent up a lusty cheer. A little
tuglike steamer had pulled up alongside, and from it stepped a tall,
awkward man dressed in rusty black and wearing a napless silk hat. The
sergeant recognized the President and saluted.

" Your boat is well named, sergeant, " said the later gravely.

The soldier was puzzled. He did not know that the steamer had a name and
said so.

The President took him by the arm and led him back on the tug. There the
stern of the " Pittsburger " loomed above them, and on its dirty white
surface in tarnished gilt letters a yard long appeared the single word,
Mist.

" Yes," said Lincoln, " It's very well named indeed, sergeant.  All
those boats need is a mist, and they'll run anywhere.

" Years ago," he continued, " I was attending court in Cairo, Illinois,
when the Ohio was so low that all the water there was between its banks
was what had spilled over from the Mississippi.  Those 
"Pittsburgers" wre passing and repassing all the time. One night, there
came up a little shower that raised the level maybe a half inch. One of
'em got out of the channel, slid ashore and grounded in the mud right
beside the courthouse.

" It was there the next morning, and I remarked to a brother attorney
that the boat was aground to stay. He was from
"Egypt" and knew more about  "Pittsburgers" than I did. He smiled and
said,' You, wait and see.'

" There came another shower that afternoon. I heard an engine puffing
and looked out the courthouse window. Maybe you'll think I am
exaggerating, but there was that boat steaming down the road toward the
river, and in two minutes she was back in the Ohio, just as the shower
was over.

" I expressed my surprise to the judge, but he said that was nothing. If
the shower hadn't come up in time, the captain would simply have hired a
boy with a sprinkling pot to go ahead. They're great boats, sergeant.
Likely as not this one got here by coming across country."

President Lincoln repeated this extravageant story without the ghost of
a smile. During its recital Secretary Stanton and Generals Halleck and
Sherman-- the last named having run up the day before his march through
the Carolinas-- who were with the party, had approached the President.
General Sherman smilled broadly, but Stanton looked annoyed. The
President caught his glance and, with a wink at the others, said, " But
maybe you've heard this before, Stanton."

" Very likely I have," the secretary grimly responded, " but I would
suggest, Mr. President, that General Grant is awaiting us."

The gleam of amusement left the Kindly mans eyes. He gravely turned and
shook hands with the sergeant and then strode after his companions as
they made their way ashore, looking back, he saluted!
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