RUFUS BROCKWAY.–

23. August 2008 by admin.

A correspondent of a Wisconsin paper had his attention arrested by the appearance of a rather oldish man among a company of recruits for the Seventeenth (Irish) Wisconsin regiment, who were on board the cars, on the way to camp, who gave his name, as follows:

“My name is Rufus Brockway, and I am in the seventieth year of my age. I am a Yankee, from the State of New Hampshire; was a volunteer in the last war with England for nearly three years. I have served under Gens. Izard, McNeil, and Macomb, being transferred from one command to another, as the circumstances then required. I was at the battle of Plattsburg, at the battle of French Creek in Canada, and at the battle of Chateaugay, on the 14th day of October, 1813, and was present at the surrender of McDonough.

“I was now a farmer, in the town of Beaver Dam, Dodge County, and, with my son, the owner of three hundred acres of land; my son was a volunteer in the Federal army at the battle of Bull Run, had his nose badly barked, and his hips broken in, and disabled for life, by a charge of the rebel cavalry, and now I am going to see if the rebels can bark the old man’s nose.

“I tell you,” said the old man, “if England pitches in, you’ll see a great many old men like me turning out; but the greatest of my fears is, that I shall not be permitted to take an active part in the present war.”

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