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I Whipped Six Texans |
A Civil War Letter of an Ohio Soldier edited by FRANK L. KLEMENT James Pike, a grandnephew of Zebulon M. Pike, the noted explorer, was an unusual soldier in more ways than one. He was the son of Sam Pike, an outspoken critic of the Lincoln administration and a longtime editor of the Hillsboro Weekly Gazette, the organ of Copperheadism in Highland County; while the son performed heroically on the battlefields, the father was accused of secessionist sympathies. James Pike's prewar experiences bordered on the bizarre, his wartime activities provided adventure, and his postwar years again exposed him to death and danger. He was born at Leesburg, Ohio, on July 13, 1834, and he learned how to "stick type" in his father's printing plant. Later he drifted to Jefferson City, Missouri, to work as a printer and then to Texas, where he served as an Indian fighter and Texas Ranger. After the Fort Sumter incident inaugurated the Civil War, ex-ranger Pike returned to Ohio, partaking of harrowing experiences along the way. On September 17, 1861, soon after his return to the Buckeye State, the intrepid adventurer enlisted in Com- pany A of the Fourth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. A year and a half later (on April 23, 1863) he was captured by Confederate soldiers in a skir- mish near Bridgeport, Alabama, and soon after he was paroled. He re- NOTES ARE ON PAGES 203-204 |