Iowa Old Press
Sioux City Journal, Sunday, July 19, 1903
MRS. A. LINCOLN'S BROTHER.
CAPT. LOTHROP MET HIM IN AN UNUSUAL MANNER.
ANNIVERSARY OF GREAT BATTLE.
Its Approach Recalls to Sioux Cityan’s Mind Some Interesting Experiences—He Was in Several Confederate Prisons.
Thirty-nine years ago next Wednesday, on July 22, 1864, occurred the battle of Atlanta, and Capt. J. S. Lothrop, of Sioux City, has some unusually interesting recollections that cluster about that battle, during which he was taken prisoner.
The battle proper began about noon and in the evening 15,000 soldiers had been killed and wounded, 10,000 being confederates and the remainder union soldiers. About 2,000 union prisoners were taken, but some of these were prisoners of the day before, taken at the battle of Peach Tree Creek, four miles from Atlanta. Capt. Lothrop was capturedf in the evening near the close of the battle.
On the following day Capt. Lothrop was taken to Eastport, Ga., and placed in a temporary stockade. He and other union officers were to be taken later to the officers’ prison at Macon.
Brothers Meet Brother.
While confined at Eastport, Capt. Lothrop witnessed a scene that has ever lingered in his memory. In prison with him was a Lieut. Breckinridge, who had belonged to a battery in his brigade. Capt. Lothrop did not know him personally, although he had talked to him. The day after reaching this prison three confederate officers, one wearing a general’s uniform, entered the stockade. Presently they discovered young Breckinridge, who was dressed in his handsome uniform of blue. The meeting was one of the most pathetic perhaps ever witnessed under such circumstances.
Eagerly the three confederate officers, dressed in gray, embraced the union officer and kissed him, each in turn. They could not speak, but stood for several minutes drying the tears that filled their eyes.
It was plain to Capt. Lothrop that the four stalwart men who figured in the scene were brothers. He afterward learned that they belonged to the famous Breckinridge family in Kentucky. Although they had been reared to love each other under the same roof they were now separated by the cruel circumstances of war. As soldiers they stood arrayed against each other; as brothers they loved each other as tenderly as of old.
Real Loyalty.
When they had choked back their grief sufficiently to allow themselves to speak, the confederate brothers asked the union soldier if he would accept a parole if one was secured for him. His loyalty to the Flag of the North was stirred at once, and this love seemed to overshadow the good will which he felt for his brothers and he very positively but courteously informed his brothers he was a prisoner of war and would accept his fate with his comrades. He told them they would have to guard him. He was told that he might go to Atlanta and remain there awhile, awaiting an exchange, or he could go back home to Kentucky. He declined the offer and his brothers left him.
It was but a few weeks after that that Lieut. Breckinridge took sick and died of typhoid fever, and the death was a particularly sad one. The same kind hearted brothers that had offered to send him home in life had his remains tenderly cared for, and they sent him home in death. The death occurred in the prison at Macon, where the union officers had been sent for temporary confinement from Eastport.
Capt. Lothrop Escapes.
While making the journey from Eastport to Macon, Capt. Lothrop made his escape. The prisoners were being marched on foot. The Sioux City man asked for the privilege of stepping out of the line and the officers marching in front granted it, motioning to a rear officer to watch him. Capt. Lothrop was standing near some tall weeds when he made the discovery that no one was watching him. He waded further into the weeds and remained quiet until the long line of men had passed. He then made his way down a long slope and broke into a run. He rain till he was exhausted and finally came upon a stream of water. For fear bloodhounds would be put on his trail, he waded up and down in the water. He gathered some evergreens and tied them and tied them about his feet as he emerged from the water, to destroy the scent. He trudged along in this manner for miles and miles. All night long he kept up his lonely march.
The next day he caught his first glimpse of a human being. It was an old darky who occupied a shanty on a plantation. The negro greeted him kindly, gave him something to eat and guarded him while he took a long sleep. When he arose in the evening the darky gave him some instructions about keeping under cover. He cautioned the fugitive to travel only at night, and to stay in the timber in the daytime.
Captured Again.
After eating again, the escaped prisoner struck out northward. He was trying to make his way back to the east side of Atlanta to rejoin the union troops. He finally reached quite a large bridge, at the opposite end of which he saw a high bluff. The bridge was covered, and it seemed that it ended immediately against the bluff. No road could be seen. Capt. Lothrop knew he was not far from Atlanta, and he knew it would be something of a risk to cross that bridge, but he concluded to take the chance of being recaptured rather than to undertake to swim over the stream. He walked slowly and cautiously across the bridge, and as he turned around the hill in the road, at the other end he ran right into a confederate picket. He saw at once he was a “goner.” He was halted and captured, and his hopes of rejoining his comrades were blasted for the time being.
This, Capt. Lothrop declares, was the keenest disappointment in his life. He was sent to Atlanta and there put on a train under guard and taken to the Andersonville prison. This prison was for private soldiers and Capt. Lothrop was sent the next day to the officers’ prison at Macon.
Death of a Hero.
It was within a few days after Capt. Lothrop reached the Macon prison that Lieut. Breckinridge’s death occurred.
Soon after that Capt. Lothrop was transferred to the prison at Charleston, S.C., where 600 officers were confined. Union batteries stationed on Morris island were throwing a 200-pound shell every 30 minutes into the city of Charleston, wrecking buildings and dealing death to the inhabitants. The prison was exposed to this fire, but the union batteries evidently knew the location of the prison, for the only damage done to the structure was the tearing off of a corner of one of the walls by a shell.
After being a prisoner in Macon for some days, Capt. Lothrop became afflicted with a very sore mouth. He applied for medical attendance and was sent to see a Dr. Tod. While treating Capt. Lothrop, the doctor inquired where Capt. Lothrop lived. He replied he came from Illinois and was in an Illinois regiment.
“Do you know Abraham Lincoln?” queried the doctor.
“Yes, sir, I have talked with him several times.”
“Did you ever see his wife?”
“I have,” replied the Captain.
“Do you think she looks anything like?”
Queer Discovery.
Capt. Lothrop was somewhat surprised at this question. He looked carefully at the doctor, who was an elderly man, thickly built and wore a small gray beard.
“Yes, I think I see a family resemblance,” he replied.
“Well, sir,” said the doctor, “she is my sister.”
Capt. Lothrop could scarcely realize that he was talking to a physician in the southern army who was a brother of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, but it was evident this was the truth. The doctor proceeded to stat his great admiration for Lincoln. He said he knew his brother-in-law was patriotic and loyal to his government.
Capt. Lothrop thereafter received a number of favors from Dr. Tod. Capt. Lothrop finally was taken ill and ordered removed to a hospital at Charleston. He thinks Dr. Tod had him taken out of the prison. He improved nicely under the hospital treatment and was finally taken to Atlanta and on September 29 exchanged with about 150 other officers who had been prisoners.
Capt. Lothrop did not resume the captaincy of his company, but was made an inspector general on the staff of Gen. Walcott. He served the remainder of his enlistment and returned home.
It required a good many years for him to recover from the effects of prison life.
[transcribed by L.Z., Oct 2020]
Sioux City Journal
Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa
July 25, 1903
OF LEGAL AGE OR NOT
Clerk Connif has received a letter from another indignant parent
residing at Anthon which is somewhat unusual. It is from D.T.
Downing, the father of Blanche Downing, who was given a license
to wed C.T. Harris on July 3. The father says the girl is a mere
baby and very curtly informs the clerk he had no right to license
the marriage of a babe from the cradle. Downing informs the clerk
that he will get a cold shoulder around Anthon when election day
comes again.
[submitters note: The upset father was D.L. (Daniel Louis)
Downing, not "D.T.", as the newspaper originally
printed.]
[submitted by Wee, July 2004]