Recollections of My Life and Reflections on Times and Events During It: A Memoir by Father W. J. HowlettMain MenuIntroductionTable of ContentsPage 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12Page 13Page 14Page 15Page 16Page 17Page 18Page 19Page 20Page 21Page 22Page 23Page 24Page 25Page 26Page 27Page 28Page 29Page 30Page 31Page 32Page 33Page 34Page 35Page 36Page 37Page 38Page 39Page 40Page 41Page 42Page 43Page 44Page 45Page 46Page 47Page 48Page 49Page 50Page 51Page 52Page 53Page 54Page 55Page 56Page 57Page 58Page 59Page 60Page 61Page 62Page 63Page 64Page 65Page 66Page 67Page 68Page 69Page 70Page 71Page 72Page 73Page 74Page 75Page 76Page 77Page 78Page 79Page 80Page 81Page 82Page 83Page 84Page 85Page 86Page 87Page 88Page 89Page 90Page 91Page 92Page 93Page 94Page 95Page 96Page 97Page 98Other Writings by Father W. J. HowlettTimelineHowlett Family TreeWilliam J. Howlett Family TreeMaps and Geography: Howlett's First Trip WestFr. Howlett moved with his family to Denver when he was a child, and then moved to St. Thomas Seminary in Bardstown, KY several years later. This map recounts the path he took to get to both places.Maps and Geography: Howlett's European travelsFr. Howlett traveled far and wide during his trip to Europe. Here is a map of the places he recorded visiting.Maps and Geography: Howlett in Paris, 1872-1873This map shows the locations that Fr. Howlett mentioned visiting while in Paris, France.Maps and Geography: Howlett in London, 1874This map shows the locations that Fr. Howlett mentioned visiting while vacationing in London, EnglandMaps and Geography: Colorado Missions with TerrainFr. Howlett's Colorado mission locations, with Colorado terrain.IndexAcknowledgementsContributors' BiographiesCaroline Sherman66a71275ddeb8af1c1d88afae82e839e1097bec8Alvaro Cestti9cbe672718f2639644bd64e01d3ccbd427b50135Rebecca Lemon6b79a9a87a74d12f9288641e66ba0cdddcc2dc70Thomas Lynch079bdd3d2111c84d632cad76a596db20227e1e4bMaria Letizia6062382c70a421e32af463b8d74b84d42cc4692cDaniella Montesanobf55c9c5d63232ad4c740968bbc26fd662a7be27Veronica Smaldone8faa362cf8b51bf3f3a3b904503dd87a653500eeAshley Trimble922ced99a1a653270a76468ea189bc6540cdcc7eHIST 394 at CUA, Spring 2020
12020-09-02T19:02:26-07:00Page 1912plain9664642020-04-21T13:24:04-07:00that really were more the work of army contractors than of the service. Their rations were more often poor and scanty, and the sick were wounded did not get proper care, etc. One of our Catholic boys, Tom Woods, came home from furlough with a scarred face where a bullet had gone through his face cutting his tongue and knocking out some of his teeth. Years afterwards General Fitch, who was a surgeon in the army of Buel and Rosecrans, related that at the battle of Perryville, Ky, he saw a soldier jumping and dancing about while uttering crises of distress. He went to him and found him shot through the mouth, and dressing his wound sent him to the emergency hospital. The surgeon-general said it was really a laughable sight except for the soldier who must have thought that his end had come. Michigan Twelfth was in that battle, and Tom Woods was in the Michigan Twelfth. It looks as if in that battle, Tom was a wounded soldier.
During a part of the winter of 1860-1, I spent a time at Niles helping an old friend of the family who had a small grocery near the railroad depot. He had gone with my oldest brother to the Pike's Peak gold mines the previous spring during the gold rush, and had contracted a cold which settled on his lungs and developed into consumption. He came back for treatment and cure, but by degrees he grew weaker although he did not take to his bed. He asked me to tell Father Cappon to call some time when at leisure. I did so, and a few evenings afterwards the priest came. It was late and Mr Graham (that was the name of the sick man) had gone to bed. Father Cappon said he felt that she should come that night even if it was late, so he spent some time hearing the confession of the invalid, etc., and went away satisfied. During that night Mr Graham woke me and asked me to get him a drink of water. I did so, and then going back to bed, slept sounding until moring [morning]. I arose before daylight and prepared a little breakfast for both of us, but when he did not get up I became a little alarmed and went to the room where I saw him so quiet that I called a neighbor who told me that he was dead. It was too late when to get frightened, so I watched the store and sent word to my brother in another part of the town. What concerned me more was that when some men came into stretch out the body on the bed a heavy gold ring disappeared and was never found. It was not so much the value of the ring, but the thought that anyone would steal from a dead man, and I had my suspicion as to who did it. I had heard of people so mean that they would steal the pennies from the eyes of a dead man and I now believe that there were such people.
I mentioned Father Cappon. He was the successor to Father DeNeve who had been recalled to Belgium to the sorrow of the congregation. There were few dry eyes in the church the day Father DeNeve told us goodbye. Father Cappon was also a Belgian, a good zealous priest, but a very mediocre preacher with only a limited supply of English. In those days the national spirit ran higher than it does now, and as the majority of the Catholic were Irish