Twenty Years on Crutches

The summer of 1884 marked 20 years since the battle of Harrisburg, Mississippi, and for one veteran of that fight, the anniversary stirred up some painful memories. Captain John Stone Hoskins, commander of Company A, 38th Mississippi Mounted Infantry, had been grievously wounded in the battle, and had to have a leg amputated as a result. In an article for the newspaper, Hoskins reflected on his wound, and what the battle of Harrisburg had cost him:

Twenty Years on Crutches

The following is taken from the Lexington Bulletin, edited by Capt. J.S. Hoskins:

Last Monday, the 14th day of July, was the twentieth anniversary of the battle of Harrisburg, Mississippi. It was in that battle that Jim Aldrich was killed, Telee McLean, Tom Lehr, Dick Lansdale, Bill Weaver, Dal McLean, and others of Company ‘A,’ Thirty-Eighth Mississippi Regiment were wounded, more or less severely, and our editor, the captain of that gallant company, suffered the loss of a leg.

It is twenty years since the spirit of Major Bob McCay, while commanding the regiment named, went up from that battle field to cease from earthly strifes and troubles forever; and twenty years, two decades, have passed over the heads of many as brave men as Holmes County can boast, since they went through the storm of shot and shell that marked, scarred and marred the landscape, and cut down about every third man of their companions while they were fortunate enough to come out as they in in unscathed.

Twenty years on crutches, yet it seems but yesterday that we and others were on the march, sometimes afoot and sometimes mounted, and pressing the enemy from Pontotoc toward Tupelo; and but yesterday, as our memory reverts to the events of that occasion, that we entered upon the charge by which we and all of us expected to soon dislodge the blue coats of Gen. A.J. Smith’s corps from behind their hastily constructed barricades of fence rails, to be brought back to the field hospital with a limb sorely shot and shattered, and soon to be amputated to save life itself.

Twenty years ago, though perhaps the most fragile and really the lightest man in the regiment, we were full of activity and endurance; but in a twinkling, we were relegated to crutches for the residue of our time, and last Monday came to us as a vivid reminder that we have been a ‘single footer’ a whole score of years.

The State Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi) July 25, 1884

Hoskins' regiment, the 38th Mississippi, suffered the highest casualties of any Confederate regiment that fought at Harrisburg: 20 killed, 51 wounded, and 3 missing, out of about 200 men that went into the battle. The captain survived his wound and the amputation of his leg, but for him, the war was over, and he went home to Holmes County to recuperate. After the war Hoskins became a newspaper owner/editor, and was highly regarded by his peers in the publishing community. Veteran newspaperman R.H. Henry said that Hoskins "Was one of the most

charming men I ever knew, and a good editor he was. He never attempted to soar in the clouds or deal in heavy platitudes, but as a correct and pleasing editor he had few equals in his class." (Editors I have Known, pg. 234)

In addition to his newspaper duties, Hoskins found time to serve in the state legislature, and as county sheriff. When John Stone Hoskins died in 1891, his obituary said of him , "He was a gallant Confederate soldier during the war and lost one of his legs in defense of the lost cause. His death is a great loss to the press of the state...His death is not only a loss to a loving wife and fond children, but to his many friends and the county he has so long served." (Vicksburg Evening Post, July 18, 1891)