CHAPTER V

SOME LETTERS RECEIVED BY MRS. LOGAN

The following letters written to Mrs. India P. Logan after Captain Peddicord’s death have been selected from among a number received, and are given here to show the regard felt for him by his friends. Few men, either in public or private life, have left a more honored name than Captain Peddicord, and it gives sincere pleasure to his relatives to quote such utterances.

Mr. F. W. Smith, of Palmyra, writes:

“I hardly know how to begin to speak of the many good qualities of my friend Capt. K. F. Peddicord. He was so pre-eminent in all that goes to make a good man, that mere words or particular reference would fail to describe him and to enumerate all his good traits would require more time and space than is given me.

“Perhaps the most prominent trait of his character was the inflexible fidelity to trust. For a period of nearly a quarter of a century I was intimately associated with him, and for nearly twenty years a daily companion. I was thus given numerous opportunities to observe his integrity.

“I never knew him to prove unequal to any demand put upon him. He did not study to be true; it was just naturally his nature to carry out to the letter a faithful discharge of every duty.

“Along with this peculiar feature of his character must be added a gentle and kind disposition. He loved the brute kind more than most people love their blood kin. Nothing, absolutely nothing, aroused his indignation so quickly as to see a dog or horse abused. I have seen him take a poor crippled dog in his arms and carry it to a place of safety and tenderly soothe it as a mother would a child.

“Children were beloved most dearly, and though years separated from youth, he never failed to sympathize with all the misfortunes of the school children or to engage in their games and sports, and to so ingratiate himself with them as to cause them to accept him as one of their number.

“His heart went out to the unfortunate man or boy, male or female, against whose good name some scandal attached. He never talked about people to their disparagement. Truly his motto was, ‘If you cannot speak well of them, you can at least be silent’.

“No man ever lived who had a higher regard or a greater respect for women than Captain Peddicord. He was a champion at all times and places. He crowned her with glory and honor; he defended those with whom perhaps he never spoke and praised those he never knew.

“He was quiet in his taste, modest to a fault. He admired the beautiful both in nature and art. He was a student of nature, and learned in many of the mysteries of plant and flower; passionately fond of leaves, he gathered great handfuls, selecting and arranging the most beautiful with care, to give them to some child.

“He had explored the famous Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, and preserved many examples of that wonderful product of Nature, and could speak with much interest of his experience in that and many other explorations.

“Of his war record I will not write; but I know he loved his soldier friends, nor did he ever cease to hold in reverence his companions of the great war.

“I write these imperfect expressions as a tribute of the love I had for him. I loved him, and no one could have had a better friend than he was, ever and always, to me and mine.

“FRANK W. SMITH.”

The following is from a lifelong friend:

“We called him Captain Peddicord; he called himself First Sergeant, Quirk’s Scouts. Whatever his army rank, he was, among men, first of all the elegant gentleman. We did not meet until after the war had closed, our army service being in widely separate fields. On the Board of the Confederate Home, Higginsville, Missouri, we always found him efficient and true to the Confederate soldier, ready to aid the needy comrade in every way that he could. We became quite intimate in after years. He was courteous and companionable, an extensive reader, and versatile in conversation.

“While he was respectful to all, he was especially popular with children and with the younger girls and boys. He had a poetic taste and Shakespeare seemed his favorite author. He often quoted from him. He was not aggressive, but attacks by others upon his settled convictions did not change them. His ideals were pure and good, and woman was enthroned in the midst of them. I never heard him make a disrespectful remark of a woman in all our intercourse.

“But if he had one distinguishing trait above the others, it was _accuracy_.

“Things must be correct, no matter what the tune or what the work. And this was true of what many would call _little things_. That he was a brave, heroic soldier goes without saying, what he did, and the testimony of comrades is all sufficient. In private life he was kind, considerate, gentle as a woman. His declining years he lived in a quiet, unobtrusive way, true to his friends, true to himself.

“And now he is under the willows sleeping the last long sleep of the valiant soldier. I reverently lay a flower upon his grave, and gladly pay this tribute to his memory.

“T. K. GASH.”

From a friend of many years:

“Having had an intimate association with Captain Peddicord for more than a quarter of a century, I feel I am in a position to offer the following tribute to his memory:

“The most striking characteristic that appealed to me was his kindly nature, his even temperament, his loyalty. I have never known a person who was such a model of patience; and having grown from a boy to manhood, almost, under his supervision, I am frank to say that his life was an inspiration to me, and from it I gathered much that will remain with me until time shall be no more.

“He was in truth a historian. I have sat for hours and listened to events that occurred within his knowledge, and wonderful had been his opportunities. He was a civil engineer, and assisted in the building of the Louisville and Nashville Bridge, the one that afterward as a Southern soldier he had helped destroy. And what a soldier he was! I said to him once, after listening to memories of the past, ‘Captain, did you ever kill a man in battle?’ His answer was, ‘Boy, I have shot at many a man’.

“What a master he was! He was the best horseman I ever saw; his control over an animal was remarkable; his voice seemed to do for him what hands often failed to do for others.

“I was with him much in his last days, when he calmly, patiently waited day after day to be called home. Gently, sweetly, his lamp went out.

“HOWARD P. SMITH,

“Palmyra, Mo.”

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Added “CONTENTS” heading to the table of CONTENTS. 2. Silently corrected typographical errors. 3. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.