ANECDOTE OF GENERAL WADSWORTH.–

17. May 2009 by admin.

ANECDOTE OF GENERAL WADSWORTH.–

The following is one of the most beautiful and pathetic stories of the war:

Paymaster Rochester, feeling his lips to be unsealed by the death of General Wadsworth, tells that he always paid him from his entry into the service; and that when the General called on him for money, on the eve of starting to the Mississippi Valley, on a special mission connected with the arming and organization of the slaves of that region, he casually remarked to him, that when he got to New Orleans he would find there Paymaster Vedder, to whom he would recommend him, as a gentlemanly officer, to apply for any moneys he might need. “No, sir,” said General Wadsworth; “I shall not apply to Maj. Vedder. While I am in the service I shall be paid only by you. and my reason for that is, that I wish my account with the Government to be kept with one paymaster only; for it is my purpose, at the close of the war, to call on you for an accurate statement of all the money I have received from the United States. The amount, whatever it is, I shall give to some permanent institution founded for the relief of disabled soldiers. This is the least invidious way in which I can refuse pay for fighting for my country in her hour of danger.”

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