OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 96 *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 01 : Issue 96 Today's Topics: #1 Death Cert.: Zachariah Cokonougher ["Ralph W. Cokonougher" ] #10 one episode of Civil War Days- by ["gencon" ] Administrivia: To unsubscribe from OH-FOOTSTEPS-D, send a message to OH-FOOTSTEPS-D-request@rootsweb.com that contains in the body of the message the command unsubscribe and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #1 Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 12:34:42 -0000 From: "Ralph W. Cokonougher" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: Death Cert.: Zachariah Cokonougher, 1904, Ross & Adams Co. Content-Type: text/plain; formatflowed MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by clmboh1-smtp1.columbus.rr.com id f4R715301010 * The following transcript of the death certificate of Zachariah Cokonougher is from Record of Deaths in the Probate Court in Ross County, Ohio. Zachariah was born in Adams County, Ohio on 2 April 1853 to Adtson Ellsworth Cokonougher and Elizabeth Shoemaker, and lived on his farm on Wisecup Hill in Buckskin Township, Ross County, Ohio, at the time of his death in 1904. His widow was Mary Elizabeth Wisecup Cokonougher. "The State of Ohio, Ross County, SS I, Gerald E. Radcliffe certify that I am Judge of the Probate Court, within and for said County, which is a Court of Record and Ex-Officio Clerk of said Court, and by law the custodian of the records and papers required by law to be kept in said Court, that among others a Record of Deaths is required to be kept therein; that the following is a true and correct transcript from said Record of Death: No. 2. Page 17, now on file in this office, to wit: Name in full - ZACH COKONOUGHER. Sex - Male. Date of Death - September 14, 1904. Condition: Married, Single, or Widowed - Married. Age - 52 years, 5 months, 12 days. Place of Death - Buckskin Township. Place of Birth - Ohio. Occupation 96 Farmer. Name of parents when an infant without name - . Color 96 White. Disease or cause of death - Cancer. Place of Residence - . Remarks - . In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and the Seal of the Probate Court, at Chillicothe, Ohio this 6th day of May, 1976. Gerald E. Radcliffe, Probate Judge By S/Barbara Dearth, Deputy Clerk" _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 12:39:43 -0000 From: "Ralph W. Cokonougher" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: Obit: Mary Brill, 1997, Fayette Co. Content-Type: text/plain; formatflowed MIME-Version: 1.0 * The following 21 May 1997 obituary of Mary Brill is from the Washington C.H., Ohio 'Record-Herald' newspaper, page 2, column 3: "Mary F. Brill, 57, of 30 Colonial Drive, Apt. 5, Jeffersonville died Monday, May 19, 1997, at Fayette County Memorial Hospital. Born in Jackson on Feb. 22, 1940, she was the daughter of William and Jessie (Smith) Davis. She spent most of her life in Jeffersonville. Preceding her in death were her parents; two brothers, Herman and Joseph Davis; and a sister, Dorothy Davis. Surviving are four sons, Roger (Bernice) Inlow of Edgewood, Md., David D. Rinehart of Jeffersonville, Marvin Ray Brill of Greenfield, and Max Brill of Jackson; three daughters, Marilyn (Donald) Bennett of Jefersonville, Sylvia Love of Bloomingburg, and Sandra Rinehart of Jeffersonville; three brothers, Don Davis of Jeffersonville, Calvin Davis of Glendale, Ariz., and Roger Davis of Jeffersonville; three sisters, Bertha Hahn of Waverly, Hazel Brady of Jeffersonville, and Betty Bell of Florida; 16 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday, May 23, at the Morrow Funeral Home in Jeffersonville. Kenneth Hahn will officiate. Burial will be in South Solon Cemetery. Friends may call on Thursday after 2 p.m., at the funeral home." _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #3 Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 12:43:51 -0000 From: "Ralph W. Cokonougher" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: Obit: Robert Davis Sr., 1996, Ross & Highland Co. Content-Type: text/plain; formatflowed MIME-Version: 1.0 * The following August 1, 1996, obituary of Robert Davis Sr. is from the Washington C.H., Ohio "Record-Herald" newspaper, page 2, Thursday, column 5: "Robert E. Davis, 75, formerly of Greenfield, died at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 30, 1996 at Court House manor. Davis was born Jan. 15, 1921 in Ross County, the son of Walter and Faye (Hart) Davis. He is survived by three sons and daughters-in-law, Walter and Deborah Davis of Indiana; Robert and Shirley Davis of Washington C.H. and John and Lisa Davis of Sedalia; two daughters and sons-in-law, Barbara and Keith Flemming of Cincinnati and Patricia and Albert Penwell of Greenfield; 18 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; one great-great-granddaughter and one brother and sister-in-law, James and Bonnie Davis of South Salem. Davis is preceded in death by his wife, Sarah Jane Mootispaw Davis on Nov. 16, 1971 and one infant brother. He is a former member of the Greenfield Eagles Lodge and a WWII US Air Force veteran. He was a mill worker and a 25-year retired employee of Mead Corp., Chillicothe. The funeral will be held Friday at 2 p.m. at the Murray Funeral Home with the Rev. Robert K. Blaine officiating. Burial will be in Greenfield Cemetery. Visitation will be held Thursday after 4 p.m." _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #4 Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 09:35:14 -0400 From: "Russell L. Lawrence" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <3B0FB112.2B753F28@techcom.net> Subject: Death, Susan (Phillips) Thompson, 1915, Licking Co. OH. Content-Type: text/plain; charsetus-ascii MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit DEATH RECORD: Susan (Phillips) Thompson, 1915, Licking Co. OH. ********************************************************************* USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE:These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net Submitted by Russell L. Lawrence ********************************************************************* RECORD OF DEATH Name: Mrs. Susan Thompson (Susan (Phillips) Thompson) Date of Death: October 5,1915 Place of Death: Utica, Licking County, OH. Age: 69 Date of Birth: March 3.1846 Place of Birth: Ohio Sex: Female Buried: New Utica Cemetery Name of Spouse: Widow Name of Father: Lewis Phillpis Name of Mother: Margaret Kaiser Source: Death Certificate #37514 Location of Record: Ohio Historical Society Abstract by Russell L. Lawrence ruslaw@techcom.net ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #5 Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 09:42:01 -0400 From: "Russell L. Lawrence" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <3B0FB2A9.30BEE1A9@techcom.net> Subject: Death, Susan (Plummer) Thompson, 1913, Franklin Co. OH. Content-Type: text/plain; charsetus-ascii MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit DEATH RECORD: Susan (Plummer) Thompson, 1913, Franklin Co. OH. ********************************************************************* USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE:These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net Submitted by Russell L. Lawrence ********************************************************************* RECORD OF DEATH Name: Susan Plummer Thompson Date of Death: January 5,1913 Place of Death: Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio Age: 74 years, 11 months, 23 days Date of Birth: January 12,1838 Place of Birth: Ohio Sex: Female Residence of Deceased: Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio Marital Status: Married Name of Father: Thomas Plummer Birthplace of Father: Ohio Name of Mother: Unknown Birthplace of Mother: Ohio Name of Informant: Clell B. Thompson (Address same as Deceased) Source: Death Certificate (Volume #971, Certificate #1969) Location of Record: Ohio Historical Society Abstract by Russell L. Lawrence ruslaw@techcom.net ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #6 Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 09:47:05 -0400 From: "Russell L. Lawrence" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <3B0FB3D9.1F179FE9@techcom.net> Subject: Death, Sammie Adair, 1993, Montgomery Co. OH. Content-Type: text/plain; charsetus-ascii MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit DEATH RECORD: Sammie Adair, 1993, Montgomery Co. OH. ********************************************************************* USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE:These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net Submitted by Russell L. Lawrence ********************************************************************* RECORD OF DEATH Name: Sammie Adair Date of Death: October 30,1993 Place of Death: VAMC, Dayton, Montgomery County, OH. Age: 64 Date of Birth: June 17,1929 Place of Birth: Belo (Mingo Co.), West Virginia Sex: Male Residence of Deceased: Dayton, Montgomery County, OH. Buried: Heritage Hills Cemetery, Warren County, OH. Name of Spouse: Oleta Reynolds Name of Father: Sam Adair (Samuel Adair) Name of Mother: Nancy Basden (Nancy J. Baisden) Name of Informant: Oleta Adair Source: Death Certificate #087708 Location of Record: Ohio Dept. of Health - Vital Statistics Abstract by Russell L. Lawrence ruslaw@techcom.net ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #7 Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 09:52:47 -0400 From: "Russell L. Lawrence" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <3B0FB52F.479857FD@techcom.net> Subject: Death, Hi Lawson, 1991, Cuyahoga Co. OH. Content-Type: text/plain; charsetus-ascii MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit DEATH RECORD: Hi Lawson, 1991, Cuyahoga Co. OH. ********************************************************************* USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE:These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net Submitted by Russell L. Lawrence ********************************************************************* RECORD OF DEATH Name: Hie Lawson Date of Death: September 14,1991 Place of Death: Middleburg Heights, Cuyahoga County, Ohio Age: 67 Date of Birth: June 28,1924 Place of Birth: Delbarton (Mingo County), WV. Sex: Male Residence of Deceased: Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio Buried: Eastlawn Memory Gardens, Brunswick (Medina County), Ohio Name of Spouse: Ruth Vinson Name of Father: James Lawson Name of Mother: Fanny Star (Fannie Starr) Name of Informant: Ruth Lawson Source: Death Certificate #065348 Location of Record: Ohio Dept. of Health - Vital Statistics Abstract by Russell L. Lawrence ruslaw@techcom.net ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #8 Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 09:55:38 -0400 From: "Russell L. Lawrence" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <3B0FB5DA.EE02775E@techcom.net> Subject: Death, Albert Lowe, 2000, Huron Co. OH. Content-Type: text/plain; charsetus-ascii MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit DEATH RECORD: Albert Lowe, 2000, Huron Co. OH. ********************************************************************* USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE:These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net Submitted by Russell L. Lawrence ********************************************************************* RECORD OF DEATH Name: Albert Lowe Date of Death: August 3,2000 Place of Death: Norwalk, Huron County, OH. Age: 88 Date of Birth: January 9,1912 Place of Birth: Mingo County, WV. Sex: Male Residence of Deceased: Delbarton, Mingo County, WV. (Rural) Buried: Mountain View Memory Gardens, Maher (Mingo Co.), WV. Name of Spouse: Myrtle Marcum Name of Father: Ira Lowe Name of Mother: Elizabeth Adair Name of Informant: Myrtle Lowe Source: Death Certificate Location of Record: Ohio Dept. of Health - Vital Statistics Abstract by Russell L. Lawrence ruslaw@techcom.net ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #9 Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 09:00:08 -0700 From: "gencon" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: RE: Speech by my gr gf on 30 May 1906- re the Civil War Content-Type: text/plain; charset"iso-8859-1" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This is a speech given by my great grandfather on 30 May 1906 on Memorial Day- [May 1906 is the same as our May 2001] My Friends and Pupils, It has been the custom of the Grand Old Army of the Republic for several years to, on, or about memorial day to have some veteran of the civil war talk to the pupils of the public schools about that war. While it is an event long passed it's termination is what made out country what it is to-day. Not only the greatest but the best governed country in the world. It is for that reason that the G.A.R. seek each year to place before the youth of the country something of the cost of the blessing which we all enjoy, hoping thereby to keep the spirit of patriotism alive in each and every heart. I shall try and say something about our army during the civil war and about the Grand Old Army of the Republic since then. I always love to look into the bright and happy faces of the young, I shall try and picture to you something of the costs of the present blessings which are ours. On the 12th day of April 1861, the first shot of the rebellion echoed over the city of Charleston, South Carolina. The command of General Beauggard fried on Fort Sumter. That shot marked the date of the greatest accent in history of our time. For by that shot eleven of the states of our Union containing one third of our entire population said, "We have deliberately decided that the principals of this government are wrong and must be broken." On the 14th day of April 1861, Major Anderson hauled down the American Flag, [Old Glory, we call it] and marched out with flying colors. It was not until the 14th day of April 1855 that Old Glory was again raised over the ruins of Fort Sumter. That war lasted four years, or 1,460 days. The history of those four years is the history of the greatest conflict ever waged in the history of the world in defense of the eternal principals of right. I wish I had the poser to portray to you the hundredth part of the sacrifice and suffering of our army during those 1,460 dreary blood days. It has never been told, it can never be told. During that awful struggle the loyal states and territories furnished 2,778,304 men of whom more than 2,000 were three year men. The loss of life during the civil war was tremendous and the awful scene of carnage and suffering at Gettysburg and Wilderness. Cold Harbor, Chickamauga, Shiloh, Vicksburg and hundred of others. Desperate battles before which the whole world stood amazed, to say nothing of the horrors of Andersonville, Libby and in the fact all other Southern Prisons Pens. The record of the war department shows that 400,000 men died during the war. The Good, The Brave, The True In tangled Wood, In Mountain Glen Our Battle Plain, In Prison Pen Lay Dead for me and you ...... Then if we add to this 400,000 the missing we shall swell the number to 550,000 men and it takes little calculation to show us that in these 1,460 days the average would be about 400 men each day who gave up their lives in that awful contest of brother against brother. The records of the war department disclose a scene of carnage and destruction of property never before equaled. We find from actual report of the muster rolls that in one action alone one regiment lost 82% of their number, three regiments lost 70% and 40 regiments lost 55% and that one regiment came out of the fight of the Wilderness with one non-commissioned officer and ten men! The 6th and 7th corps lost 7,000 men in ten minutes on the morning of the second day. At Wilderness there were more than 2,400 battles fought of importance enough to give them a place in history. There is a tract of land in Virginia containing 8,000 acres, [or 12 sections] in this area it has been calculated that more battles were fought and more men engaged, more blood spilt and more lives lost than on any portion of the world. These facts are almost incomprehensive, but sadly true. My young friends, these terrible conflicts were not fought by old men, and middle aged men, but by boys-- Listen to the figures taken officially from the adjutant Generals office. Those enlisted at 10 years & under ......15 at 11 years ..............38 at 12 years .............225 at 13 years .............300 at 14 years............1,520 at 15 years..........104,987 at 16 years..........231,051 at 17 years..........844,891 at 18 years........2,151,439 at 21 years........2,159,891 at 22 years & over...618,511 at 25 years & over....46,326 at 45 years & over....16,071 Making a total of 2,778,309 and of this number 2,159,789 were under the age of 21 years. So you see that this terrible fighting was done by boys. All honor to the heroic young fellows who carried the war through to a successful termination. When General Lee surrendered to General Grant on 8 April 1865 our army was disbanded and the veterans returned quietly to their homes and took up their various labors. The G.A.R. is an organization of veterans who served honorable between the 1st of April 1861 and August 1865. The G.A.R. was organized on the 8th of April 1866. The object to keep alive the memory of patriotic sacrifices, and to aide the widows and orphans of all needy comrades. The members of the G.A.R. are recognized by the little bronze button worn on the left lapel of their coat. The button is made out of cannon metal captured by us from our foes. It is unlawful for any one to wear it who has not an honorable discharge. The wearers of this button are prouder of it than thought it were of the finest gold. You see these buttons on the street and recognize them, and the wearers by the empty sleeves, the crutch, the cane, bent from and slow step. These men have marched through the jaws of death Where the cannon belched their deadly breath And stood unmoved in the smoky glare While the flames of battle were raging there With thought of home and loved ones afar Who's hearts were with them in the Civil War The G.A.R. is nobly assisted by two organizations of ladies, known as the W.R.C. and the ladies of the G.A.R. These silver haired women know what the civil war meant to and for each had a father, husband, son, brother or sweetheart at the front while they remained at home, alone and did much suffering. Often their tender hearts were torn with anguish and suspense. After each battle scanning the papers to see to see if in the long list of killed or missing the name of some loved ones was there. Their mission now is to look after our sick and needy comrades and their families, getting to know and help them, caring for them tenderly in sickness and prayerfully going with them down to the dark shadows of death, lovingly closing their eyes and assisting us in strewing flowers on Memorial day. God Bless them, they are angels of mercy all of them. Our mission now is to endeavor to instill patriotism and love of country into the hearts of the young. I have the utmost confidence in you all for I know that you are full and running over with that which makes our country what it is -- PATROTISM I thank you - [George Franklin PECKHAM] My great grandfather George Franklin PECKHAM was born 11 Apr 1843 in Birdsell, New York, he was the s/o William Augustus Franklin PECKHAM and Lydia M. CHAPIN. They moved to Aztalan, Jefferson, Wisconsin when he was very young - He was mustered into the State Service 26 September 1861, on the 27th of September 1861 he was mustered into the U.S. Service to serve 3 years or more. [during the war] He entered at Madison, Wisconsin in Company "C" 11th Wisconsin infantry, second brigade first division 13 corps. He served as a Wagoner - engaged in the battle at Peach Orchard, Cash Creek, Arkansas, Vicksburg, Jackson and Mobile. He was discharged 2 Sep 1865 at Mobil Atlanta. He settled in O'Brien county and October 1879 at Sanborn Iowa. He was a member of Farragut Post No. 25 G.A.R. Department of Nebraska. He married after he came home from the war - on 7 Feb 1866 at Aztalan, Jefferson, Wisconsin to his 'childhood school mate" Emily Rosella Lyons. My great grandfather George Franklin Peckham died 30 June 1914 at Lincoln, Lancaster, Nebraska Wilma Fleming Haynes gencon@harborside.com ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #10 Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 09:59:22 -0700 From: "gencon" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: Subject: one episode of Civil War Days- by my gr gf Content-Type: text/plain; charset"iso-8859-1" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by clmboh1-smtp1.columbus.rr.com id f4R715301010 This is another of my gr grandfathers writing- This isn't about fighting, but about finding ones food- when one doesn't like the army food! One Episode of Civil War Days by George Franklin Peckham 11 Apr 1843 - 30 June 1914 In the winter of 1861 and the spring of 1862 we were guarding the line of the Iron Mountain Railroad at a place called Big near River about 30 miles south of St. Louis Missouri. That being our first duty after joining the army. The railroad bridge was about 80 feet above the water at time when low. It rises to considerable height where there is a freshet. About 6 months before we got there the bridge was burned by a man by the name of Higgenbottom, who lived about 8 miles from the river. he did this so the Union Army could not use the line of railroad to ship supplies to the men in the field. Mr Higgenbottom was caught and taken to pilot Knob, Missouri as a prisoner of war. He had grown up sons who lived on his farm which consisted of 1.200 acres, and they were feeding about 100 head of beef cattle which they claimed were for the use of the Union army. We learned that the Southern Soldiers were receiving them, not the Union Army. Our meat was killed at St. Louis and shipped to us dressed on flat cars. These cars were used first to haul leas ore to St. Louis, our beef being thrown on the cars without being wiped off. There was considerable clay left on the cars which go on our beef making it speckled. We being young soldiers were more dainty of what we ate then, than we were three years later! By getting a pass from our commanding officer we could go outside the lines but this pass was good only during the day. Were we outside the guard line after dark we could not get in unless we had the countersign. One day there were 8 of us young fellows that made up our minds that we would get passes and go out to this farm and get some of the good beef. We went out and intended to get back with our beef before dark. Without asking any questions we went to their feed yard and caught a very nice fat three year old beef and led it into the road. When the Higgenbottom boys saw what we were doing, they came out and made us an offer like this, "if we would turn our beef back they would give us as fine of a dinner as we could wish for." We tied the beef to a post and told them that if they did that we would turn the beef loose. Because we did not believe that they had as good of cooks as our mothers and thought we were safe to get the dinner and the beef too. When the dinner was ready it tasted so good and they treated us so nice that we turned the beef back into their yard. The sun was pretty hot and we had a rather full stomach, for we had over eaten, so it was pretty hard to walk back that 8 miles without resting. About a mile or so from the farm house we sat down in the shade of a tree and spent the afternoon in various ways. As the sun began to go out of sight we became conscious that the meal although good would not do for the dinner for the next day, so we got up and started for camp, when we saw a large flock of sheep just over the fence. We began to think that beef was quite common anyhow and began to hanker for mutton stew, mutton chops, etc. After considerable talk we made up our minds that should we appear in camp without something that would help the other boys we would get the laugh, so we tied three lassoes together and two men go hold of each end and stretched out the full length of our rope and drove the sheep toward the fence while the other six followed along behind the rope. As soon as the sheep saw they were about to be cornered they attempted to run back and as they struck our rope the boys behind would catch all they could. The six boys got ten sheep. We culled out the two poorest and cut up our ropes and led a good fat sheep apiece along the road to camp. About BD mile from our camp but across the river from the camp was a rebel fort consisting of about five acres. In the center was an old log house without either windows or doors but a good fire place. It being late when we got along there we thought at first we would put our sheep in there but we were afraid we would not be able to get them. We made up our minds that we would kill and dress them nicely and stay there until daylight. We raised the cellar door and not only let the sheep bleed in the cellar, but we threw the pelts and refuse down there and when we were finished, one coming into the house would see no sign of the slaughter. By this time is was half pass Eleven and we knew that the guard rounds would be along soon. the guard rounds is the officer of the day with a guard following him who inspects all the guard posts to see if everyone and everything is alright. We were determined to make a try to get into our camp. We each put a sheep on our shoulders and marched onto the railroad track, toward the bridge. The moon was at its full and we had no trouble to locate the guard. As soon as we got within speaking distance the guard called out "halt" which we did. He asked us "who comes there", we answered "friends" he ordered one of us to advance and give the countersign. We told the guard we were without the countersign and he told us that he was going to hold us for the guard rounds, which just then came upon the north end of the bridge. When the officer of the day arrived he wanted to know what we were doing there. We told him that we went on a pass and got belated and did not have the countersign to get back in. He wanted to know what we had on our shoulders, we told him to name it and he being wise ordered the guard to open ranks so we could pass- which passed between the guards [with our sheep on our shoulders] to present arms. When the officer reached his tent, he found the hind quarters of a very nice mutton laying on his mess table, which showed that he at heart, had re-assessed the countersign - for which we were thankful. Yours from memory George Franklin Peckham written 6 July 1910 ~~~~~~~~~ Wilma Fleming Haynes gencon@harborside.com -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V01 Issue #96 ******************************************