I04 HENDERSON 



bridges across Black River, after the battle of Champion Hill, 

 thus enabling two divisions of the Union Army to cross. It is 

 said that the busiest days of his life were the thirty or more 

 prior to the fall of Vicksburg, when he was working day and 

 night with plans and helping the men to carry them out. His 

 efforts in the siege work at Vicksburg attracted the attention of 

 Generals Grant, McPherson and Ransom. 



After the fall of Vicksburg, Captain Powell went to New 

 Orleans on an important mission, that of transporting cattle 

 that had been captured at Natchez, to feed the Union troops 

 there, part of the number having been sent to Vicksburg. 



Let me say a word about Mrs. Powell. There are soldiers 

 and there are soldiers, but the great heroes of the civil war were 

 our women. The mothers and wives were those who made 

 sacrifices in the civil war. One day Major Powell was riding 

 with General Grant, who early discovered Powell's great genius 

 for engineering, and he said : " General, I should like to go to 

 Detroit and get married." He had been engaged for a long 

 time to a girl there — Miss Emma Dean. The General gave 

 him the leave of absence, and he started at once for Detroit. 

 He reached there about 8 o'clock in the evening, was married, 

 and in a few hours was on his return trip to the seat of war, 

 accompanied by Mrs. Powell ; and when that little fellow had 

 his arm shattered, resulting in amputation, he would have gone 

 where many of the boys went at Shiloh — to his grave — but 

 for that tender, loving, devoted wife, who stayed with him and 

 nursed him through every hour of his suffering. And Mrs. 

 Powell nursed not only her dear husband, but wherever her 

 hand and smiling face could minister to a sick or a dying man, 

 there she was to be found. 



May I repeat a page of m}' own life with the Major. It will 

 tell you of hiui more than of me. Some years ago, in this 

 city, I suffered for a long time from an old wound received at 

 Corinth. At last a very serious operation became necessary. 

 I did not have a horse and carriage, and one day this bearded 

 fellow, with his one arm, called and said: " Mr. Henderson, I 

 have a good horse and buggy — nothing fancy — but I should 

 like very much to take you out on these sunny days and give 



