THE ARMY EXPLOITS OF
MAJOR GILES F. HAND

Commanded  a   Detachment of Barefoot   Men—Opening  the Cracker Line—Other Adventures
(By Merze Marvin)

There is a genial Shenandoah man whose cheery countenance may be seen any day on Main street. And behind that cheery countenance the owner wears a happy, jovial spirit of good humor and friendship for his fellow man. Many years have passed since his boyhood days, but he does not grow old; he's as full of jokes and gleeful pranks and the "come­back" spirit that keeps us young, as any boy. This pleasant fellow citizen of ours is Major Giles F. Hand and following we give the story of his eventful life:

Major Hand is a sucker. That is to say, he is a native of the sucker state, Illinois. He was born on a farm in Warren county, Ill. April 27, 1841. His schooling was limited to a couple of months each winter in the little log school house near by, where a succession of teachers, good, bad and indifferent, taught the three R's, and wielded the hickory stick. When in his teens, young Hand's father moved to Prairie City, Ill., and purchased a general store. Hand Junior, spent most of his time behind the counter, and his jovial disposition made him quite a favorite among the fair young patrons of his father's store.
Then came the call to arms. Giles Hand enlisted as private in Company F, 55th Illinois Infantry, and was mustered in at Camp Douglas. The company embarked on the steamer D A January, bound for Benton Barracks, St. Louis, and floated among the cakes of ice blocks on the river sixteen days, unable to land. First experiences of guard duty were at Paducah, Ky.    The  first  battle in which Hand participated was Shiloh. The commanding officer kept his regiment on the jump. Up and down the country they marched, doubling and redoubling on their tracks. The major knows the geography of all that country like a book, and can recite yards and yards of the itinerary, all dotted and embroidered with skirmishes, fights and battles, great and small.
Hand participated in the siege of Vicksburg, which lasted forty days, and saw the surrender of Vicksburg.
Soon after that he was commisioned first lieutenant, and was placed in command of the company ten days
later by the death of the captain. Captain Hand and his company, took part in the famous feat of the Second division of the first brigade, fifteenth army corps, wherein they floated down the river from Chattanooga in pontoon boats one very dark night, captured the rebel pickets, threw up a line of works, and with a brigade of pontoon boats enabled l5,000 soldiers to cross the river by sunrise next morning. After the battle of Mission Ridge, Hand, his own shoes worn off his feet, took command of a detachment of bare foot men and floated down the Tennessee river to Bridgeport, Ky., where they drew clothing and rations. After the battle of Fort McAllister at the mouth of the Ogechee river, the troop assisted in opening communication's on what was known as "the bread line" by which the soldiers secured rations. Previous to that time they had been living on oysters and rice, which they themselves gathered and threshed with their
sabres.                                      
On  one occasion, Hand, with a detachment of 140 men made a short expedition on a dispatch boat named Neptune.     The captain of the boat, being a rebel officer, felt no obligation to bring his passenger safely to land.    He  purposely  ran  into the landing and knocked two lengths of the platform into the water, spilling a part of the detachment of men and accourtrements into the water 25 feet below. The men were all rescued but the arms were a total loss. Hand was detailed as a member of the court martial at Beaufort, S. Car., and served in that capacity for thirty days.

Shortly after that he was wounded in a battle at Bentonville. He received leave of absent for thirty days, and went home to recuperate from his wound. He was unable to return at the end of thirty days, and was granted an additional ten days furlough. During the time he was home, he married Miss Eliza Jane Brink, the girl he left behind him. The ceremony was performed May 12,1863. Then he left his fair bride and hied himself back to the war.
He was on staff duty as asssistant inspector general for some time; participated in the march to Washington tnd the grand review; and finally was mustered out with his troops August 14th at Chicago.
After the war was over, Hand and his bride remained in Prairie City, Ill., two years, and in 1868 came to Fremont county.
That first winter they lived in an old log cabin on the Neil Hanks farm west of the site of Shenandoah. .
The next year they rented what was known then as the Gunnison farm and lived there one year. Later they had a little home on Walnut creek ,and while there Major Hand organized the first Sunday school on Walnut creek. He became its superintendent and for many, many years after that he was actively engaged in Sunday school work. Two years Major Hand rented farms southwest of town and then bought eighty acres in Locust Grove, made money and purchased a quarter section five miles southwest of Shenandoah, where he lived for thirty-two years. There his splendid family of children grew to manhood and womanhood and started out to make their own way in the world. The Hands then moved to a farm near Westboro, Mo., where they spent eight years. They returned to Shenandoah in the fall of 1909 and have since made their home at 408 Elm street, Shenandoah.The children of Major and Mrs. G. F. Hand are W. A. Hand, Fremont, Nebr., Mrs. Cora Luella Mclntyre, Shenandoah; Eva Leonora Hand, a minister of the gospel, now located at Evanston, Wyo.; Mrs. Maggie L. Denny, Kansas City, Mo.; Nellie Hand, who clerks in Andrews' store; A. W. Hand, who moves this month to Sterling, Colo.; Rev. Charles F.
Hand, Mercer county, Mo., and Henry Hand, director of the band and orchestra in Shenandoah.