SOLDIER 75 



He said little about his army experience after he came 

 home, and seldom spoke of it even to his own family. Oc- 

 casionally some incident would bring out a scrap of his 

 experience. The following will serve to illustrate the stories 

 he sometimes told. Some years ago, but long after the War, 

 at an educational convention at Baton Rouge, his next 

 neighbor at the banquet said to him, "This country is new 

 to you?" — "No," said Goodell, "I served in Louisiana in 

 '62 and '63, and was at the siege of Port Hudson." The 

 gentleman said that he was taken prisoner there by a com- 

 missioned officer. Goodell asked if he remembered the 

 officer's name and regiment, to which the gentleman re- 

 plied: "Yes, it was Lieutenant Goodell of the 25th Con- 

 necticut." — "Then," said Goodell, "You are Captain 



. " "How do you know that?" asked the gentleman 



with some surprise. "Because I am the Lieutenant Goodell 

 you speak of." Their last meeting was undoubtedly much 

 more pleasant, especially to the Confederate gentleman, 

 than their first. 



There is every evidence that he discharged his duty as 

 a soldier with ability and with a high sense of loyalty to the 

 cause he loved and to his superior officers. He never was 

 absent from his company for twelve consecutive hours, 

 except on duty, from the time the regiment was mustered 

 into the service until it was mustered out. His idea of 

 a soldier, of his calling, the principles he ought to hold, 

 the duties he ought to be ready to discharge, and the senti- 

 ment which should animate his conduct on all occasions, 

 is stated, perhaps unconsciously, in his address at the 

 memorial services of Captain Walter Mason Dickinson, 

 which is given in this volume. 



