Part 10 (1/2)
Among the many thousands left dead and dying on the blood-stained field of Pittsburg Landing there was one name that was very dear in the hearts of the patriotic people of St. Paul,--a name that was as dear to the people of St. Paul as was the memory of the immortal Ellsworth to the people of Chicago. Capt. William Henry Acker, while marching at the head of his company, with uplifted sword and with voice and action urging on his comrades to the thickest of the fray, was pierced in the forehead by a rebel bullet and fell dead upon the ill-fated field.
Before going into action Capt. Acker was advised by his comrades not to wear his full uniform, as he was sure to be a target for rebel bullets, but the captain is said to have replied that if he had to die he would die with his harness on. Soon after forming his command into line, and when they had advanced only a few yards, he was singled out by a rebel sharpshooter and instantly killed--the only man in the.
company to receive fatal injuries. ”Loved, almost adored, by the company,” says one of them, writing of the sad event, ”Capt. Acker's fall cast a deep shadow of gloom over his command.” It was but for a moment. With a last look at their dead commander, and with the watchword 'this for our captain,' volley after volley from their guns carried death into the ranks of his murderers. From that moment but one feeling seemed to possess his still living comrades--that of revenge for the death of their captain. How terribly they carried out that purpose the number of rebel slain piled around the vicinity of his body fearfully attest.
The announcement of the death of Capt. Acker was a very severe blow to his relatives and many friends in this city. No event thus far in the history of the Rebellion had brought to our doors such a realizing sense of the sad realities of the terrible havoc wrought upon the battlefield. A n.o.ble life had been sacrificed in the cause of freedom--one more name had been added to the long death roll of the nation's heroes.
Capt. Acker was born a soldier--brave, able, popular and courteous--and had he lived would undoubtedly been placed high in rank long before the close of the rebellion. No person ever went to the front in whom the citizens of St. Paul had more hope for a brilliant future. He was born in New York State in 1833, and was twenty-eight years of age at the time of his death. He came to St. Paul in 1854 and commenced the study of law in the office of his brother-in-law, Hon.
Edmund Rice. He did not remain long in the law business, however, but soon changed to a position in the Bank of Minnesota, which had just been established by ex-Gov. Marshall. For some time he was captain of the Pioneer Guards, a company which he was instrumental in forming, and which was the finest military organization in the West at that time. In 1860 he was chosen commander of the Wide-Awakes, a marching-club, devoted to the promotion of the candidacy of Abraham Lincoln, and many of the men he so patiently drilled during that exciting campaign became officers in the volunteer service in that great struggle that soon followed. Little did the captain imagine at that time that the success of the man whose cause he espoused would so soon be the means of his untimely death. At the breaking out of the war Capt. Acker was adjutant general of the State of Minnesota, but he thought he would be of more use to his country in active service and resigned that position and organized a company for the First Minnesota regiment, of which he was made captain. At the first battle of Bull Run he was wounded, and for his gallant action was made captain in the Seventeenth United States Regulars, an organization that had been recently created by act of congress. The Sixteenth regiment was attached to Buell's army, and partic.i.p.ated in the second day's battle, and Cat. Acker was one of the first to fall on that terrible day, being shot in the identical spot in the forehead where he was wounded at the first battle of Bull Run. As soon as the news was received in St. Paul of the captain's death his father, Hon. Henry Acker, left for Pittsburg Landing, hoping to be able to recover the remains of his martyred son and bring the body back to St. Paul. His body was easily found, his burial place having been carefully marked by members of the Second Minnesota who arrived on the battleground a short time after the battle. When the remains arrived in St. Paul they were met at the steamboat landing by a large number of citizens and escorted to Masonic hall, where they rested till the time of the funeral. The funeral obsequies were held at St. Paul's church on Sunday, May 4, 1862, and were attended by the largest concourse of citizens that had ever attended a funeral in St. Paul, many being present from Minneapolis, St. Anthony and Stillwater. The respect shown to the memory of Capt. Acker was universal, and of a character which fully demonstrated the high esteem in which he was held by the people of St.
Paul.
When the first Grand Army post was formed in St. Paul a name commemorative of one of Minnesota's fallen heroes was desired for the organization. Out of the long list of martyrs Minnesota gave to the cause of the Union no name seemed more appropriate than that of the heroic Capt. Acker, and it was unanimously decided that the first a.s.sociation of Civil war veterans in this city should be known as Acker post.
THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
The terrible and sensational news that Abraham Lincoln had been a.s.sa.s.sinated, which was flashed over the wires on the morning of April 15, 1865 (forty years ago yesterday), was the most appalling announcement that had been made during the long crisis through which the country had just pa.s.sed. Every head was bowed in grief. No tongue could find language sufficiently strong to express condemnation of the fiendish act. The entire country was plunged in mourning. It was not safe for any one to utter a word against the character of the martyred president. At no place in the entire country was the terrible calamity more deeply felt than in St. Paul. All public and private buildings were draped in mourning. Every church held memorial services. The services at the little House of Hope church on Walnut street will long be remembered by all those who were there. The church was heavily draped in mourning. It had been suddenly transformed from a house of hope to a house of sorrow, a house of woe. The pastor of the church was the Rev. Frederick A. n.o.ble. He was one of the most eloquent and learned divines in the city--fearless, forcible and aggressive--the Henry Ward Beecher of the Northwest. President Lincoln was his ideal statesman.
The members of the House of Hope were intensely patriotic. Many of their number were at the front defending their imperiled country.
Scores and scores of times during the desperate conflict had the eloquent pastor of this church delivered stirring addresses favoring a vigorous prosecution of the war. During the darkest days of the Rebellion, when the prospect of the final triumph of the cause of the Union seemed furthest off, Mr. n.o.ble never faltered; he believed that the cause was just and that right would finally triumph. When the terrible and heart-rending news was received that an a.s.sa.s.sin's bullet had ended the life of the greatest of all presidents the effect was so paralyzing that hearts almost ceased beating. Every member of the congregation felt as if one of their own household had been suddenly taken from them. The services at the church on the Sunday morning following the a.s.sa.s.sination were most solemn and impressive. The little edifice was crowded almost to suffication, and when the pastor was seen slowly ascending the pulpit, breathless silence prevailed. He was pale and haggard, and appeared to be suffering great mental agony.
With bowed head and uplifted hands, and with a voice trembling with almost uncontrollable emotion, he delivered one of the most fervent and impressive invocations ever heard by the audience. Had the dead body of the president been placed in front of the altar, the solemnity of the occasion could not have been greater. In the discourse that followed, Mr. n.o.ble briefly sketched the early history of the president, and then devoted some time to the many grand deeds he had accomplished during the time he had been in the presidential chair.
For more than four years he had patiently and anxiously watched the progress of the terrible struggle, and now, when victory was in sight, when it was apparent to all that the fall of Richmond, the surrender of Lee and the probable surrender of Johnston would end the long war, he was cruelly stricken down by the hand of an a.s.sa.s.sin. ”With malice towards none and with charity to all, and with firmness for the right, as G.o.d gives us to see the right,” were utterances then fresh from the president's lips. To strike down such a man at such a time was indeed a crime most horrible. There was scarcely a dry eye in the audience.
Men and women alike wept. It was supposed at the time that Secretary of State Seward had also fallen a victim of the a.s.sa.s.sin's dagger.
It was the purpose of the conspirators to murder the president, vice president and entire cabinet, but in only one instance did the attempt prove fatal. Secretary Seward was the foremost statesmen of the time. His diplomatic skill had kept the country free from foreign entanglements during the long and bitter struggle. He, too, was eulogized by the minister, and it rendered the occasion doubly mournful.
Since that time two other presidents have been mercilessly slain by the hand of an a.s.sa.s.sin, and although the shock to the country was terrible, it never seemed as if the grief was as deep and universal as when the bullet fired by John Wilkes Booth pierced the temple of Abraham Lincoln.
AN ALLEGORICAL HOROSCOPE
IN TWO CHAPTERS.
CHAPTER I.--AN OPTIMISTIC FORECAST.
As the sun was gently receding in the western horizon on a beautiful summer evening nearly a century ago, a solitary voyageur might have been seen slowly ascending the sinuous stream that stretches from the North Star State to the Gulf of Mexico. He was on a mission of peace and good will to the red men of the distant forest. On nearing the sh.o.r.e of what is now a great city the lonely voyageur was amazed on discovering that the pale face of the white man had many years preceded him. ”What, ho!” he muttered to himself; ”methinks I see a paleface toying with a dusky maiden. I will have speech with him.” On approaching near where the two were engaged in some weird incantation the voyageur overheard the dusky maiden impart a strange message to the paleface by her side. ”From the stars I see in the firmament, the fixed stars that predominate in the configuration, I deduce the future destiny of man. 'Tis with thee. O Robert, to live always. This elixer which I now do administer to thee has been known to our people for countless generations. The possession of it will enable thee to conquer all thine enemies. Thou now beholdest, O Robert, the ground upon which some day a great city will be erected. Thou art destined to become the mighty chief of this great metropolis. Thy reign will be long and uninterrupted. Thou wert born when the conjunction of the planets did augur a life of perfect beat.i.tude. As the years roll away the inhabitants of the city will multiply with great rapidity.
Questions of great import regarding the welfare of the people will often come before thee for adjustment. To be successful In thy calling thou must never be guilty of having decided convictions on any subject, as thy friends will sometimes be pitted against each other in the advocacy of their various schemes. Thou must not antagonize either side by espousing the other's cause, but must always keep the rod and the gun close by thy side, so that when these emergencies arise and thou doth scent danger in the air thou canst quietly withdraw from the scene of action and chase the festive bison over the distant prairies or revel in piscatorial pleasure on the placid waters of a secluded lake until the working majority hath discovered some method of relieving thee of the necessity of committing thyself, and then, O Robert. thou canst return and complacently inform the disappointed party that the result would have been far different had not thou been called suddenly away. Thou canst thus preserve the friends.h.i.+p of all parties, and their votes are more essential to thee than the mere adoption of measures affecting the prosperity of thy people. When the requirements of the people of thy city become too great for thee alone to administer to all their wants, the great family of Okons, the lineal descendants of the sea kings from the bogs of Tipperary, will come to thy aid. Take friendly counsel with them, as to incur their displeasure will mean thy downfall. Let all the ends thou aimest at be to so dispose of the offices within thy gift that the Okons, and the followers of the Okons, will be as fixed in their positions as are the stars in their orbits.”
After delivering this strange astrological exhortation the dusky maiden slowly retreated toward the entrance of a nearby cavern, the paleface meandered forth to survey the ground of his future greatness and the voyageur resumed his lonely journey toward the setting sun.
CHAPTER II.--A TERRIBLE REALITY.
After the lapse of more than four score of years the voyageur from the frigid North returned from his philanthropic visit to the red man. A wonderful change met the eye. A transformation as magnificent as it was bewildering had occurred. The same grand old bluffs looked proudly down upon the Father of Water. The same magnificent river pursued its unmolested course toward the boundless ocean. But all else had changed. The hostile warrior no longer impeded the onward march of civilization, and cultivated fields abounded on every side.