File:George D. Wilson.jpg

Identifier: daringsufferingh03pitt Title: Daring and suffering: a history of the Andrews Railroad Raid into Georgia in 1862 .. Year: 1887 (1880s) Authors: Pittenger, William, 1840-1904 Subjects: Chattanooga Railroad Expedition, 1862 Publisher: New York, The War Publishing Co. Contributing Library: The Library of Congress Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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Text Appearing Before Image: anguor caused by the supper and the grateful heat, it may be a good timeto sketch these companions with whom I was so long and intimately asso-ciated. There is a deep sorrow in the task, for not one of them emergedfrom the gloom and darkness into which we were entering. George D. Wilson was the most remarkable man of all who enlistedwith Andrews. He was not highly educated, and had spent many yearsas an itinerant journeyman shoemaker. He was 32—nearly ten yearsolder than the others, which increased his ascendancy over us. He hadtravelled and observed much and forgotten nothing. In vigor and forceof language I never knew a man who surpassed him. He delighted inargument on any topic—social, political, or religious—and was an adver-sary not to be despised. In the use of scathing and bitter language, inhard, positive, unyielding dogmatism, in the power to bury an opponentunder a flood of exhaustless abuse, he excelled. In coolness and brav- First Lessons in Disguise and Duplicity 67

Text Appearing After Image: ery, in natural shrewdness and quickness of intellect, he was fully equalto Andrews; no danger could frighten him. His resources always rosewith the demand, and on one me-morable occasion he was carriedto the very summit of moral hero-ism,and in the whole war no deathwas more sublime than his. Ourfriendship, which began on thisfirst nignc, increased to the end,though we often engaged inheated discussion. Wilson was tall and spare,with high cheek-bones, over-hanging brows, sharp gray eyes,thin brownish hair, and longthin whiskers. The accompany-ing photograph was taken tenyears earlier. Perry G. Shadrack was abouttwenty-two, and came fromPennsylvania to Knoxville, Ohio,when the 2fid Ohio Regimentwas being reorganized for the three years service. He was not large,but plump and solidly built, merry and reckless, with an inexhaustiblestore of good nature. His temper was quick, but he was very forgiving and ready to sacrifice anythingfor a friend. His wit was fre-quently the life of the wh

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