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Colonel A. F. Rogers |
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Upper Alton, Madison County, IL Native Looses Sword in Civil War Battle - Finds It 43 Years Later |
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Source: The Union Springs New York Advertiser, February 1, 1906 |
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"Gets His Sword Back" "Col. Rogers' Search of Over Forty Years Is Finally Rewarded" |
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A living chain in inquiry, started more than 40 years ago, has just resulted in the finding of a sword which was lost on a southern battlefield by a union officer 43 years ago. The [unreadable] weapon, given by a mother to her son when he set out for the war, was discovered in Oklahoma, many miles from where it was lost. A few weeks ago, says the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, it was restored to its proper owner, and now graces his [unreadable], a sacred relic with a history as interesting as any that has been gleaned from the records of the War of the Rebellion.
The owner of this sword is Colonel A. F. Rogers, of Upper Alton, Ill., well-known in this part of the country, where his early youth was spent. The colonel was born on a farm in Howard county, near Fayette, Mo., way back in 1827. His parents had settled in Howard county, the father coming from Kentucky, and the mother from Tennessee. Col. Rogers ancestors on the father's side hailed from Mon----shire, England, while his mother's people, the Jacksons, furnished a warrior captain for the War of 1812. Mr. Roger's father, Ebenezer Rogers, was a Baptist preacher, school teacher, and farmer, who taught some of the Glasgows, well known in St. Louis, in the little Howard county schoolhouse a good many years ago. In 18_3 he moved to Upper Alton, and settled on a strip of land containing about 40 acres, which he began to cultivate. When he was old enough, Col. Rogers went to Shurtleff college, of which his father was one of the oldest trustees.
In 1846, at the outbreak of the Mexican War, Col. Rogers, then a lad of 18, volunteered in the Second Illinois Regiment, and went to Mexico with General Taylor. He was just big enough to shoulder a musket, but he stood with his men in the battle of Buena Vista, one of the hardest fought battles of that war, when 2,000 American volunteers faced an army of 32,000 Mexicans.
In 1862 he entered the United States Army as a volunteer. He was the first elected captain and then lieutenant colonel of the Eightieth Illinois Regiment, which he himself organized and mustered in at Centralia, Ill. It was upon the occasion of his commission as lieutenant colonel that his mother presented him with the sword, which is the subject of this article.
Col. Rogers and his regiment went first to Louisville, Kentucky to assist in tarowing up the breastworks which were to hinder Bragg on his march north, and fought several battles on his march south, that of [unreadable], Arkansas, October 3, 1862, is McCook's corps, where he was wounded in the head and taken as dead from the battlefield, but one of his brothers, who was assistant surgeon, had him removed in an ambulance and soon restored him. Afterwards he joined the "[unreadable] Raiders," at Milton, and forged his way south, fought a pitched battle at Rome, Georgia, and was one of those forced to surrender to Morgan (?), after that battle.
In the Rome battle, the sword became detached from his side, and it was lost on the third day of March 1863.
Capt. Rogers was first sent to prison at Atlanta, and from there removed to Libby prison at Richmond, where he remained 12 months. Finally at Macoa, he was exchanged with about 50 other line officers, who had been taken by the southerners. He came straight to St. Louis, and soon after his arrival was ordered by the war department raise the One Hundred and Forty-Fourth Regiment at Upper Alton, which he did, and he took his 800 men to the arsenal there to equip them. He resigned then, his health having been broken down by his wound and the long imprisonment in the South. Soon after his resignation in 1865, he began the search for his sword.
But the years passed, and nothing was heard of the good old sword, until on June 19 of last year, Col. Rogers received information which brought him into touch with Mr. G. W. Wood of Angora, Oklahoma. After correspondence, Mr. Wood very gladly returned the sword, with information as to how it had come into his possession. It had fallen into the hands of an older brother of Mr. Wood, who was in the confederate army and taken it to Hood county, Texas, in 1877. There, a Masonic hall was erected and the sword, because of the Masonic emblem upon the hilt, was held there. Mr. Wood had for years been anxious to have efforts made to return the sword to its owner, and last May, while on a visit to his brother's, secured it and took the steps which have eventually brought sword and owner together. In his letter to Col. Rogers, Mr. Wood expresses this sentiment:
"This old relic bears with it on the blade the letter G and square and compass. That speaks in many ways. It teaches brotherly love, morality and virtue. You certainly must be a member, or it would not be there. The respect I have for this little emblem has been the cause of this coming to your hands. Respectfully yours."
Col. Rogers, who now rejoices to get his old sword back again, will leave it to his oldest son, with a stipulation that it shall ever remain an heirloom in his family.
Another interesting tidbit regarding Col. Rogers
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Copyright 2008 Bev Bauser. All Rights Reserved. |
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