Confederate Veteran
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April 1894
they believed its founders established. When they were defeated they accepted in good faith the government as it now is, and are loyal to it, but they do not believe that it is the government according to the idea of the framers of the Constitution. It may turn out to be better. Certainly they have no idea of trying to establish by force their idea of State's rights. But they will always contend that they fought for the Constitutional rights of the people, as originally guaranteed to them.
Now, the histories written by Southern men, as far as I have seen, do not set forth clearly the idea and purpose which animated the South in all the years before 1860, when it controlled the government. Our historians are usually content to give our side of the civil war, with some of the causes that led up to it, but for all the period preceding that fearful contest they differ little from Northern writers.
How few of our children know that Jamestown, Virginia, was settled before the Pilgrim Fathers came to this country, or that the vast domain which forms four fifths of the United States was won by Southern men, or that slavery was forced upon this country by England, seconded by New England, or that in 1860 one tenth of the slaves were communicants in churches.
What we need is a history of the country from the beginning, which shall show the wonderful part the South had in its conquest and development, and the patriotic spirit and great sacrifices made by the South for the Union. It can only be written by one in thorough sympathy with the ideas of the South, as well as with thorough knowledge of the great facts of history.
The history of this country to the close of the civil war is not the "History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power," as Vice President Wilson wrote it, but the history of the overthrow of the Constitution as it was originally adopted. While giving hearty devotion to the government as it now is, and while laboring to make it a glory and a blessing to the world, we yet owe it to our ancestors, and to our dead, to show in history that government, as we believe it was intended by its framers, and as it made such wonderful progress under our administration of it until the opposing idea triumphed.
Upon our Confederate veterans lies the duty of securing this vindication of their cause from the facts of all our past history. We owe it to our fathers, to ourselves and to our children that the history of our common country should not be left to be told by those who are out of sympathy with our spirit and principles, and so are unable to do justice to our motives or actions, and who therefore fail to record the glorious part we had in winning and developing the country, and fail to understand the meaning of the heroic struggle we made, not to preserve slavery, but to preserve our rights under the Constitution.
OLD HICKORY REMARKABLE RAILROAD.
Maj. J. W. Thomas, President of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, one of the most important systems in the country, and noted for its success and popularity, responded to a toast given to Alabama Guests, in Nashville recently. The event was brought about by the Nashville Board of Trade, and in compliment to business men and their families living between the Tennessee and Coosa Rivers in Alabama.
Upon my return from New York yesterday, I found my friends of the Board of Trade had complimented me with an invitation to address you upon the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway. I presume they thought as I had been connected with that road for thirty five years, I might be able to tell something about it, or, it is more probable they thought as I had been on that road so long I did not know anything else. I shall not, however, speak of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, but shall speak of a more remarkable railroad, the Tennessee & Coosa, upon the line of which our guests reside. A road, the need of which was felt and appreciated eighty years before it was built. After the slaughter at Ft. Mimms, volunteers were called for and 2,500 Tennesseans responded. A leader was needed, and Governor Blount asked Jackson, who was confined at the Hermitage with a broken arm from Benton's bullet, if he would take charge of the volunteers. Jackson replied,
It's no time for a man to be sick when his country needs his services, and I will go if I have to be carried on a stretcher," Jackson with his forces, crossed the Tennessee River near Gunter's Landing and marched across the Mountain to Double Springs, now Gadsden,. and he so felt the need of this road, that in 1813, he recommended the building of a road connecting the waters of the Tennessee and Coosa Rivers, and in 1819, an appropriation was made by Congress to aid in the construction of this road, which however was not chartered until 1844, not commenced until 1854, and not completed until 1893. Is it not remarkable that the need of this little road was felt eighty years before it was built, and seventeen years before there was a mile of railroad in the United States, and that forty years should elapse during its construction, longer than the people of Nashville have been waiting for a Union Depot?
(Applause). It is remarkable, too, from the fact that it connects more miles of water transportation than any road of equal length in the World. The water ways connected by this little road, furnish water transportation to more than one half of the States of this great country, and in length more than three times across the Atlantic Ocean. A steamboat leaving Guntersville, down the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, through the Gulf, up the Alabama and Coosa Rivers to Gadsden, would make a distance of over 1,600 miles, and lack only thirty seven miles of reaching the starting point.
This little road is also remarkable from the topography of the country through which it runs, leaving Gunter's Landing, we pass five miles through a valley, then climb the mountain over rugged cliffs and deep ravines seven miles, until an altitude of 1,040 feet is. reached, thence along the table lands with fine timber, and well tilled farms ten miles, and then descend through a narrow gorge known as the Dungeon, on account of the rugged walls on either side, through which Line Creek runs and over which we pass fourteen times, until Wills Valley is reached, through which we go nine miles to Gadsden, at the southern base of Lookout
Mountain. This road is also remarkable for the products of the section through which it passes, corn, wheat, cotton and fruits are raised in abundance, and there are also large deposits of coal, iron ore and magnificent forests of timber. So diversified are the products of this section, it has been said that the people along this line make what they live on, and live on what they
make. The annual product of cotton is about 25,000 bales, and the annual trade about $7,000,000, and it is this trade which the merchants of Nashville should endeavor to secure, by offering the best goods at the lowest prices, and the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway will aid them to do so, by giving the lowest possible rates. We shall endeavor, not only to bind these sections together with bars of steel, but with the stronger and more enduring bonds of mutual interest."
MISS A. C. CHILDRESS,
OFFICIAL STENOGRAPHER AND TYPEWRITER OF THE UNITED CONFEDERATES VETERANS.
The VETERAN presents to its readers the picture and a short sketch of this young lady, who has done so much for the VETERAN, and who is so prominently identified with the great organization of the United Confederate Association.
Miss Childress' family are originally from Nashville, Tenn. She was born in New Orleans, and is the daughter of a veteran. Her father, Mr. Geo. P. Childress, was a member of Scott's Cavalry, and served in the army from the beginning to the end of the war. Like many other Southern women, to whom the war is as a dream, she is an ardent believer in the sacred principles her father and friends fought for, is a worshipper of the memories of the "lost cause," and is devoted to the story of its victories and defeats, and the valor of its brave soldiers and heroic leaders.
Possessed of a good mind, well educated, being an expert in figures, a rapid and tireless worker, she is a very valuable assistant in the organization of such a great enterprise. She had exceptional advantages for this peculiar work, having assisted Adj't Gen. Moorman through all his labors in the organization of the Veteran Confederate States Cavalry Association, which was his conception, and embraced a division in each Southern State, commanded by a Vice President, with one President commanding the body. That organization was effected by him in 1888, and the two great covalry reunions, under his direction, took place in New Orleans in 1888 and 1889, bringing together veterans from every State. Miss Childress,as stenographer and Secretary, assisted in these memorable reunions, familiarizing herself with names and places of all leading veterans. When Gen. Moorman was ap pointed Adj't to Gen. Gordon he at once secured her valuable services, and to which duties she has applied herself ever since with the devotion of an Eastern worshiper. She reported the proceedings of our last great reunion at New Orleans.
A sketch of Gen. Moorman was requested, with picture, and he replied: "I do not send mine, as I naturally feel modest about it. My work will speak for me only thirty three Camps when I took hold, now over five hundred. I have done it simply out of my devotion to and love of the old veterans and our glorious cause.
S. W. Meek, Manager and Treasurer Southwestern Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn., January 1, 1894: In answer to request for verification to your assertion that you have the most influential publication in the South, I would say that my only experience has been with your advertising department. I have used nearly every large paper in the South, and the VETERAN is the best medium that I have used.
Books Supplied by S. A. Cunningham, Nashville, Tenn.
John Eaten Cook's complete works, time payments. $9. "The Southern Cross," by Mrs. L. R. Messenger. $1. "Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade," by J. O. Casler, $2. "That Old Time Child Roberta," by Mrs. Sophie Fox Lea,$l. "Immortelles," by Maj. S. K. Phillips, Chattanooga, 50 cents. "The Other Side," a thrilling poem of 900 lines, by Virginia Frazier Boyle, Mr. Davis being her theme. $1.
Sketch of the Battle of Franklin, and Reminiscences of Camp Douglas,
by John M. Copley, $1.
How It Was, or Four Years With the Rebel Army,
a thrilling story by Mrs. Irby Morgan, of Nashville. This is a charming book. $1.
Hancock's Diary, or History of the Second Tennessee Cavalry. A large octavo book, with many portraits and biographic sketches. The frontispiece is a fine steel engraving of Gen. N. B. Forrest. $2.50.
Bright Skies and Dark Shadows," by Henry M. Field, D. D. $1.50. This book comprises a series of letters on the South. Fifty pages are devoted to the battle of Franklin, and the author is especially complimentary to this editor. The closing chapters are on Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee.
The Civil War.'
Gen. Stephen D. Lee, Agricultural College, Mississippi, writes to Mrs. Ann E. Snyder, author of
The Civil War": Your history has very important information in it. The facts are pleasantly and strongly presented, and I think it should be used as a supplementary reader in all classes studying the history of the civil war.
Confederate Veterans' Reunion, Birmingham, Ala., April 25 26,1894.
The Richmond & Danville Railroad and the Georgia Pacific Railway will make special reduced rate of one fare for the round trip for all persons attending the Confederate Veterans' Reunion at Birmingham, Ala., 25th and 26th of this month. This is going to be a great gathering of the old soldiers and their friends, and the people of Birmingham are expecting many thousands to be in attendance.
The Richmond & Danville and the Georgia Pacific are making preparations to handle the veterans from all along the line in Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia Alabama and Mississippi, and the low rate of one fare offered makes it within reach of all to enjoy the great pleasures on that occasion. Call on ticket agents of the lines named for full information
GENUINE Confederate Veterans are preparing for a drill with the Chickasaw Guards at Memphis, May 3d. Maj. W. W. Carnes, who won laurels in battle, is training these veterans, and his brother, Capt. Sam Carnes, is putting in fresh trim his old company, named above. The veterans are very liberal in the arrangement, they give the Guards all but the judges. All these are to be selected in their interest.
CAPT. GEORGE L. COWAN, of Franklin, of the Committee to Improve Confederate Cemetery at Franklin, will give special attention at the Birmingham reunion in that interest.
Nashville Christian Advocate, organ of the M. E. Church, South, March 15: The CONFEDERATE VETERAN, Nashville, Tenn., S. A. Cunningham, editor, is well on the way into its second year. From the first number it has been a pronounced success. It is patriotic and progressive. Cheerfully accepting the present, it at the same time loyally clings to the memories of the past. * * * We do not see how any old Confederate can get along without this periodical,
GEO. P. ROWELL &. Co., New York, authorize the statement that only three monthly papers in the State of Tennessee are accorded a circulation rating of more than 7,500, and one of these is the CONFEDERATE VETERAN, and that it is credited with an issue of more than 7,500 copies, and the Directory guarantees the accuracy of the rating by a reward of $100, payable to the first person who will prove that the actual issues were not as stated.
W. S. FINLEY, whose advertisement is to appear on second page of cover regularly, has opened at Knoxville a jewelry store, while continuing business in Nashville. Mr. Finley keeps well abreast with the times in supplying first class goods in his line.
THE management of Cumberland Park, Nashville, Tenn, have arranged a programme for a week of great racing. Opening day, April 27th, will be their Derby, worth $5,000. May 1st the great match race between the three Western cracks, Clifford, Yotambien, and Carlsbad, at 1 1/4 miles for $8,000. This certainly will be the greatest equine contest ever seen in this country. All the railroads have granted a very low rate for April 26th.
Confederate Veteran May 1894.
TABLEAUX ENTERTAINMENT AT THE WIGWAM.
Concerning the tableaux entertainment there was disappointment by the veterans, who expected a complimentary admission both nights. It was so ordered the second night. The original purpose in charging admission was evidently for protection against an over crowded audience, as well as for revenue. The receipts were about $1,600, with about $400 expenses. The reunion cost about $2,500, aside of private help. The entertainment given in the two evenings at the Wigwam was novel object lessons in history. Fourteen Southern States each sent an attractive young lady to take her place in the tableaux of the States, in the laudable desire to illustrate the history of 1860 5, in the secession 1860 1. Then by another and most beautiful tableaux, representing the condition of the Confederate States after Lee crossed the Potomac from the disaster at Gettysburg. In this the eleven States appeared in deepest black. As the curtain rose they were seen working in sadness of spirit for the soldiers in the army. Georgia had grown restive and threatened to withdraw, when beautiful Majestic Virginia was seen to approach her sister State and gently draw her back again. At the time the dead were being brought home, a, silver cross descended over the body, by which five of the afflicted States were seen to kneel, two at the foot and head each, one on the side, while the rest of the States, with eyes cast above, showed whence alone hope could come. It was an impressive, beautiful scene, and could not fail to illustrate its meaning to those who remembered that eventful time in our past. The ladies next appeared after the war was over, when reunited to Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, appeared the "Solid South." In this picture each lady was dressed in the beautiful, simple Greek costume, with new hope Peace in the Union. That there should be no lingering suspicion of disloyalty to the old flag, the whole ended with a union of the gray and the blue. Maj. Tate, in an old, tattered Confederate uniform, resting his hand upon the stacked arms, with Maj. Hunter, G. A.R., in blue, on the other side. Above, and in the rear, with the stars and stripes unfurled, was the beautiful " Columbia," resting her left hand on a shield of gold, on which was painted the eagle and coat of arms of the United States.
This entertainment suggests a new and beautiful feature in future reunions, and cannot fail of good influence.
THE BRAVE HONOR THE BRAVE.
Capt. Creed Milstead, of Ohio, had prepared an address as requested, but saw the Convention was so busy he simply paid his respects. These are of his notes:
I have been surrounded, but this is the first time I was ever captured, and if I had had the assurance of receiving the same hearty and generous treatment during the war that has been accorded me by all of you old soldiers since my arrival in Birmingham, I don't know but what I should have let you scoop me up in my first engagement.
Comrades, I am here in response to a cordial invitation sent me last June by your Honorable Adjutant General, Moorman, of New Orleans, La., in which he urged me earnestly to meet with the United Confederate Veterans, at this reunion. He also gave me every assurance of receiving a hearty welcome by the brave survivors of the Southern Army. All of his promises have been more than verified.
I am here to commingle with the brave survivors of your army who marched and fought for a cause with as honest convictions and as pure motives as were my own. But the primary cause of my coming here is to meet one of the bravest survivors of the Southern Army, a man, who to day is fighting life's battles on one limb the other he gave as a sacrifice to the cause he loved. I allude to Capt. R. H. Phelps, of LaGrange, Texas, whom I found on the field in the carnage of the battle near Lynchburg, Va., on June 17, 1864. Our good Chaplain, Joseph Little, who long years ago crossed the dark river, and to day is bivouaced on "Fame's eternal camping ground," and I, kept Capt. Phelps at our headquarters, and did all we could through the long hours of that eventful night to alleviate his sufferings. We cut his boots off his feet, and kept his frightful wounds bathed constantly in cold water. We were lying close up to your line so close, indeed, that we could not build fires without having them extinguished by lead from your guns. The next morning we fell back into a woods to reform our lines for the second day's battle, and with us we carried Capt. Phelps, whom we delivered to our hospital department, and we went on into the fight of another day. That afternoon our army was forced to retreat towards the Kanawha Valley, and our Confederate friend was left behind.
Nearly thirty years have elapsed since we, in the dismal woods in front of Lynchburg, delivered Capt. Phelps into the hands of the hospital attendants, and this is the first time we have had the pleasure of meeting each other, and to day we are as happy "Johnny " and " Yank" as the most fastidious could wish to see. Every 17th of June, from 1864 to 1891, I have never failed to think of this incident, and would wonder
whether my friend Phelps had survived with his whether my mend Phelps wounds and was still living.
On June 30, 1891, I sent a detailed account of the incident to the Wheeling, West Va., Register, which was published, and Sergeant Joseph C. McMohen, one of Capt. Phelps' comrades, seeing it, wrote me at once, giving me his post office address. The remainder of this history is easily told. We have been corresponding with each other regularly ever since 1891, have exchanged photographs of ourselves and families, and our correspondence will be continued as long as we both live.
While here and before you, comrades, I desire to say a word for the Union soldier. Having had the honor of serving two consecutive years as Inspector of the Department of Ohio, during which time I have met and conversed with nearly every soldier in the State, and you may believe me, when I say that I have yet to meet one who bears any animosity or ill feeling towards the true soldiers of the Southern Army.
We stand ready and willing to receive you as brothers of our United Republic.
I shall bear to my Northern home but the pleasant recollections of the courteous manner in which I was received and treated by the members of your organization, and trust that our commingling together may be instrumental in producing a good effect.
It has afforded me great pleasure to be with you on this occasion. The years are rolling rapidly by, in a very short time the last soldier of the two great armies that confronted each other in battle from 1861 to '65, will have received orders to report on the parade grounds of heaven, there to march in grand review before the great Commander of us all, who will judge alike both the blue and the gray.
Gen. Jackson, of Tennessee, eloquently introduced to the audience Gen. Miller, the Department Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic of Alabama, who was there with a token of regard for Gen. Gordon, who saved the life of Gen. Francis C. Barlow. Commander Miller presented, in the typical manner of an American soldier, a cane cut from the place which is known as Barlow's Hill, to Gen. Gordon
(All during this time continued cheers for the blue and the gray.)
Gen. Gordon, in accepting the cane, said: Gen. Miller, it would be idle for me to attempt to express in words what I feel upon this presentation. I can only say that in that war there did never come into my breast, or in the breasts of any of these brave men here to day, a single feeling of animosity, but that they were inspired by that one word, duty, only duty. And now, looking ba.ck over that war I can say, and I know I express the sentiment of all these veterans, that it matters not what flag 'a soldier followed, it matters not what uniform he wore, since he was there through a conviction of duty and consciousness of the call of his country had inspired him, and he was willing to lay down his life at the call of duty. As such we welcome you here to day. I welcome you as a one time foe but now a friend, and I stand to pledge to you the loyalty of as brave a people as the sun ever shone upon. And now, sir, in behalf of this brotherhood I bid you most hearty welcome.
Gen. Gordon's reply to Gen. Miller was pathetic and most appropriate.
Upon notice of his re election as Commander of the United Veterans, Gen. Gordon said:
Comrades, I have no language at my command capable of conveying to you the sentiment which wells up in my heart at this honor you have given.
It had been my purpose to retire from this office and leave it to some one worthier than myself.
(Voices: "Couldn't be found.") I accept the honor, comrades, with all the love and loyalty to you and your cause that ever throbbed in a Southern heart. I want to say one thing before I take my seat, I won't detain you long.
(Voices: "Go on, go on.") In my opinion, and this opinion is based upon long thought and investigation of history and inquiry, there never existed in the history of the world, and there may never exist in the history of the world, an army that, from a standpoint of courage and in other particulars, equaled the Confederate Army of the South. Whether led by great leaders or not, whether thirsty or hungry or haggard, they marched into the gloom with a courage unparalleled in the history of all the ages that have passed. That reminds me of an occasion when a one legged old Confederate veteran had been discharged on account of the loss of his leg. He went into a prayer meeting where Brother Brown was leading in prayer, and in the course of that prayer Brother Brown said: "Heavenly Father, we pray thee to give us more courage in this strife that is now going on, give us more manhood," when this old soldier cried out, unable to contain himself any longer, and said, "Hold on, Brother Brown, hold on there, you are all wrong. Pray for more ammunition and provisions, we have manhood and courage enough."
Every man of that army, a hero, was willing to march to the front and win victories, whether he had a leader or not. May God care for and protect each of these Confederates to the day of his death. The man who marched into front of battle and made his leaders and his Generals,
God go with you when you leave here, and remain with you through the days that are to be yours. May his bright skies cover you, and his sunlight gladden your old hearts through those days.
Commendable zeal is exercised by the people at Calhoun, Ga., in caring for the Resaca Confederate dead buried near there. That is a cemetery in which Southerners from many sections should be interested. Mr. J. O. Middleton sends the following list of some of the Tennesseeans buried there, with their company and regiment: J. H. Waddy. 32d, F. Russell, Co. A, and J. A. Gilmore, Co. B, 45th, J. W. Lester, Co. C, 29th, J. H. Savage, 20th, A. Thelton, 18th, A. V. Simonton, and three unknown soldiers belonging to 9th, J. Lipsheets, Co. G, John Ingles, Co. D, and J. W. Rathens, Co. C, 8th.
Give something to this worthy cause, no matter how small the amount.
J. O. M.
The nephew of the gallant John Pelham, whose name was changed by the Legislature to Charles Thomas Pelham, is a resident still of El Paso, Texas. An error in printing notes by L. B. Giles, who was one of Terry's Texas Rangers, suggests this note.
MarkCockrill, Jr.: " * * * Yes, we are indeed a good ways off, but the VETERAN comes like a voice from Dixie." He writes from Lucille, Montana,
J. W. Wright, Commander of the Joseph E. Johnston Camp at Gainesville, Texas, in reply, wrote: The delegates to the reunion at Birmingham have not yet returned, and therefore I am not prepared to say what they did in reference to indorsing the VETERAN, hut I am sure of one thing, and that is they will indorse the VETERAN every time they are called, upon. You can be assured that my Camp will do all that we can to aid you and the great cause that you are so ably espousing.
It is said that the last shot was fired on the Confederate side by C. H. Montgomery, at West Point, Ga.
Springfield, Mo., May 9, 1894. You will please stop the VETERAN. I see the time is out in this month. Mr. Granade died the 13th of September last was sick fifty four days with typhoid fever, and being left with two children to care for, and but little to live on, I will have to give up the dear Confederate book as we did our dear old Southern home after the war was over. May God bless all the old Confederate veterans. My husband was with the first company that left Memphis, and was a faithful soldier to the last. MRS. J. A. GRANADE.
HOW WE WENT TO SHILOH.
LUDICROUS STORIES OF OFFICIAL BLUNDERS IN THE GREAT BATTLE.
A great deal has been written about Shiloh, but there is much to be known yet, as plainly appears from the following interview by a friend of the VETERAN with Gen. F. A. Shoup. Gen. Shoup has resided at Sewanee, Tenn., as a professor most of the time since the war, and although he has been repeatedly requested to give the public the benefit of his unusual opportunities for knowing the inside history of the Confederate war, he has heretofore quite steadily declined. He has lately taken charge of the Columbia Institute for Young Ladies, and so has been brought in touch with the old Confederates of Maury County, which he seems to enjoy very much. Readers of the VETERAN will be interested in the following chatty story of Shiloh:
General, you were Chief of Artillery at Shiloh?
Not exactly. I was the Chief of Hardee's Corps, and was the senior artillery officer on the field. There was no army organization of the artillery.
Was the enemy surprised at Shiloh?
I'll tell you about it, if you like. Things were looking pretty blue. We had lost all of Kentucky and Tennessee. A concentration of all the available troops in the West had been made at Corinth to resist the gravitation of the Federals toward the Gulf, and something had to be done. Gen. Sidney Johnston had long before foretold that a decisive battle would be fought somewhere in that locality. The question was whether we should wait and receive the enemy or advance upon him. The art of war was in an exceedingly plastic state in '62, and it was a case of ' pot and kettle' between the two sides. The Federals, under Grant though he did not select the place had put themselves in a very exposed position. In the first place, they were on the wrong side of the river for a rendezvous encampment. In a beautiful open country, only a little over twenty miles from us, and without the slightest artificial protection in the way of field works or grand guards, they simply invited attack. Our Generals saw this, and determined to take advantage of it. But there was a serious trouble at the start, which I do not think has been made public. It was the distrust on the part of the corps commanders of the military capacity of Sidney Johnston. I came to know it through Gen. Hardee, with whom I was on the most confidential terms. Johnston's loss of all that region from Bowling Green down to the Mississippi line had set the press howling to such an extent that he wanted to resign his command. There never was a grander man, and I love his memory, but his movements are open to serious criticism. He was not a man of expedients, and had been so long used to the slow routine methods of the old army that he did not adapt himself readily to the new, extraordinary condition of things. He was too magnanimous and modest, and did not know how to seize authority and knock people over. At any rate, the corps commanders were nervous about going into battle with him in command. They patched up a curious expedient. They got Bragg appointed Chief of Staff with plenary powers. Bragg accepted upon condition that he should retain the immediate command of his own corps. It does not seem that any use was made of this extraordinary arrangement. I find only one communication in the War Records from Hardee, dated Camp near Mickey's, April 4th, to Gen. Braxton Bragg, Chief of Staff. Beauregard, however, says in his report, that
Bragg, in addition to his duties as Chief of Staff, commanded his corps." I think every one was rather ashamed of the thing after the battle, and let it quietly drop.
Well, a plan of operation was worked out by Beauregard, and we were to surprise the enemy at once. It was known that Buell was moving down from Nashville to join Grant on the Tennessee River. He was making a
forced march," but his rapidity was very like ours. What could have been done, and would have been done toward the latter part of the war in a few days, took weeks. We at last got under way on the morning of the 3d of April, and it was expected that we should be able to surprise the enemy on the 5th, and as we had only about twenty miles to march it did not seem unreasonable. Our methods of surprising the enemy, however, were or rather are now amusing enough. It rained during the first night out, and as the men were not sure their guns would go off after a wetting, they proceeded to try them, in which operation they were assisted by the officers, as the firing was by volley, and then the general officers, one would think, wanted to make sure that the enemy was still there, since a Now comes the almost incredible part. Our confusion has got itself straightened out down at Mickey's, and on the 5th we move on with the quiet assurance of troops moving out to a practice ground. Hardee's Corps is in front, and we move by the flank, two abreast, along a common woods road, the General and his glittering staff in front. When we were within about three miles of the enemy's camps the General and his staff were brought to a sudden halt at the command of a gentleman in front of us half hidden in the bushes, with a gun pointing in our direction in a very suggestive way. The question was, ' Who is that?' We agreed that he was too polite for an enemy, and that it must be one of our own men on picket duty, but the more important question was how to get past him without an accident. After a little parley I sung out, ' We are all right, meet me half
138 Confederate Veteran May 1894.
way! ' He assented, and when we were within easy distance I said, 'This is Gen. Hardee and his staff, and the whole army is following.' 'Well, haven't you got the password?' 'No,' I said, 'but you don't intend to stop an army?' 'Well,' he answered, 'I suppose I'll have to let you pass, but I wish you had the word.' I don't remember that I thought at the time that there was any thing particularly funny in a single man on outpost halting an army. As a result of this episode I suggested to Gen. Hardee that it might be well to cover our advance with some light troops. He replied that he intended to throw out skirmishers as soon as we began to form line. In the course of time Hardee became one of the most careful, and in every way best, corps commanders we bad. I don't remember that I ever reminded him of this extraordinary incident. He would have been amused, and readily granted that we were all very green.
We continued our advance along the narrow country road, winding like a snake through the woods to within a mile of the Federal camps, and without encountering another soul. The General then deployed some light troops, and the column filed to the right, and we quietly formed line of battle, extending from Lick to Owl Creek. This was about the middle of the day. The first line consisted of Hardee's Corps, together with a brigade from Bragg's Corps. The rest of Bragg's Corps, with part of Polk's, strung out, made a second line. The remainder of Polk's Corps and Breckinridge's Corps were held in reserve. The front was rather more than three miles in length, and only a little over a mile from Shiloh Church, which was on the edge of the Federal camps.
Now, the puzzle is to know what Gen. Sherman and the Federals were doing on the 5th of April. Sherman had reported to Grant that the Confederates were in force within six miles of his encampment the day before, and yet we were permitted to move up and form, as I have described, without seeing or hearing a single blue coat. If we had been resisted with any sort of spirit it would have gone hard with us, it would have been impossible for us to gain the position we did. Indeed, I don't know what would have been the result.
Do you mean to say that the Federals did not know a whole army was forming in line of battle within a mile of them?
That is just what took place. Hardee's line was fully formed, batteries in place, and every thing ready for action by the middle of the afternoon, and we lay on our arms all the rest of that day and all night long, and there was not a soul seen or heard of from. the yankee camps.
Hadn't you driven in any pickets or outposts?
Not one. They seemed not to have had any that day, or if they had they did not extend out a mile from their camps. This has always been a wonder to me, and especially so when it is remembered that they were West Point men in command.
Are not you a West Point man yourself?
Yes, and I am not saying any thing against West Point, I am showing you the seamy side of things, and it is simply tomfoolery to deny that we were all ignorant of war, in spite of our training, in the beginning. Nothing but experience will teach that business. But it is marvelous that common sense and natural timidity should not have taught Grant and Sherman to look out for danger when they had reason to know it was so close at hand.
Did not Sherman expect an attack that morning?
Sherman certainly did not expect attack on the morning of the 6th, as may be seen from his report. The reports of Grant, Sherman, and all the rest of them, show that not a step bad been taken in any direction in anticipation of an attack. They knew nothing of our being in front of them until early in the morning. They were simply surprised, in spite of all we did to let them know, and they did the best they could. Grant says somewhere that he was not surprised, because he knew the rebel forces were in his front in force two days before. That is true, and it is just what makes the surprise so inexcusable for him and Sherman.
Well, we lay all the afternoon in line of battle, and had plenty of time to look at the dogwood blooms, of which the woods were full. I never see them now that I do not think of Shiloh. We lay all night, and heard distinctly the drums beating in the enemy's camps. They kept up a continuous rattle almost all night, and we wondered what in the world could be the meaning of it. It has since been explained. The innumerable military bands were serenading their officers, and everybody was having a merry time without a thought of our thirty or forty thousand men who were listening with such peculiar interest.
Didn't you yourself expect them to be all ready for you in the morning?
Well, that was an anxious question. I could hardly hope they did not know that we were encircling them, though there was not a sign of any sort to show it. The general officers thought that the 'surprise' business was all up, at least Gen. Beauregard told Gen. Folk so in a rather excited interview late in the afternoon of the 5th that is, some time after we were in line of battle. Beauregard was taking Folk to task for his delay in getting into position. Folk, in his report, says: ' He (Beauregard) said he regretted the delay exceedingly, as it would make it necessary to forego the attack altogether, that our success depended upon our surprising the enemy, and this was now impossible, and we must fall back to Corinth.' Late at night a conference of the corps commanders was held, and at it (as Gen. Hardee told me immediately after the conference) the general feeling was that the attack was then hopeless, especially as the men were without rations. After listening for some time Gen. Johnston cut them short by saying. ' Gentlemen, return to your commands, the attack will be made at dawn. If the men have no rations they must take them from the enemy.' We came that near turning tail, even at the last moment.
Well, we did move at dawn. It seems that the enemy was just sending out some scouts, at any rate our skirmishers were engaged very early. Sherman acted promptly, and by the time we got to the outer edge of their camps we found a line formed against us, and the resistance was very creditable for an impromptu. We had no particular difficulty, however, in pushing the greater part of the army out of their camps. It was all haphazard line against line patching up weak places with troops from anywhere they could be got. For several hours the firing was constant. I dare say there was more powder burned both by infantry and artillery at Shiloh than on any field of the war. Luckily it was very wild, or the carnage would have been more awful than it was.
One little incident will show how ignorant we were practically of the effect of flank fire. We knew
139 Confederate Veteran May 1894.
enough about it theoretically. I was on the lookout for advantageous positions for the artillery, and I saw that by a little detour a raking fire could be got on the enemy's right. I ventured to take a section of Sweet's Mississippi battery, and conducted it to where the position could be seen, and they came into action. I returned at once. The enemy's right gave way about this time. When the guns got back the officers said they did splendid work for a few minutes, but that the enemy fell back so that they couldn't get at them. They did not claim, and I did not suggest to them, that their fire had had any thing to do with their change of position. It was a long time after, when I had seen the immediate effect of even a little flank fire, that I put things together. However it may have been, the enemy's whole right fell back, but the center and left held. The bend was at the little eminence held by Gen. Prentiss.
About this time Gen. Beauregard ordered me to attend to removing the captured artillery, which lay scattered in every direction, to the rear. I put a number of parties at work, using stragglers chiefly. They did remove a large number of pieces, which we finally secured: but I have always thought if we had finished up the work that day we could have removed them at our leisure. I went to the front as soon as I could, and struck the point from which the enemy's line bent back toward the landing. There was a little old field just to the right of this point. I saw the opportunity for some more flank fire, and set to work to gather the fragments of our batteries, scattered about in all directions, and held them under cover of a skirt of woods on the further side of this little field until all were ready. I suppose there were over twenty pieces, but hardly a whole battery together. The order was that when the piece on the left advanced and fired all were to come into action. The fire opened beautifully, but almost immediately the blue coats on the heights over against us began to break to the rear, and we soon saw white flags. It was here that Prentiss surrendered his command. Really, I did not at the time, nor for a long time after, think that this artillery fire had much to do with the enemy's confusion. I remember a distinct sense of disappointment, feeling that if they had only stayed there a little while we should have punished them handsomely. Later we all learned that a flank fire like that took effect with great rapidity. By the way, I find in the War Records that Gen. Ruggles claims the credit of making this concentration of artillery. I remember that he was there at the time, but I thought he was a spectator, and I was really under the impression that I conceived and executed it myself. I had told the story that way so long before I saw Gen. Ruggles' report that I had at least come to believe it myself. The sentences referring to this in Gen. Ruggles' report appears in italics, with an explanation that it was an amended report, the amendments being in italics, and made a year after the original. No reports were called for until a long time after the battle, and I was then in the Trans Mississippi Department, and so never made any report at all.
About this time Gen. Beauregard ordered me to attend to removing the captured artillery, which lay scattered in every direction, to the rear. I put a number of parties at work, using stragglers chiefly. They did remove a large number of pieces, which we finally secured: but I have always thought if we had finished up the work that day we could have removed them at our leisure. I went to the front as soon as I could, and struck the point from which the enemy's line bent back toward the landing. There was a little old field just to the right of this point. I saw the opportunity for some more flank fire, and set to work to gather the fragments of our batteries, scattered about in all directions, and held them under cover of a skirt of woods on the further side of this little field until all were ready. I suppose there were over twenty pieces, but hardly a whole battery together. The order was that when the piece on the left advanced and fired all were to come into action. The fire opened beautifully, but almost immediately the blue coats on the heights over against us began to break to the rear, and we soon saw white flags. It was here that Prentiss surrendered his command. Really, I did not at the time, nor for a long time after, think that this artillery fire had much to do with the enemy's confusion. I remember a distinct sense of disappointment, feeling that if they had only stayed there a little while we should have punished them handsomely. Later we all learned that a flank fire like that took effect with great rapidity. By the way, I find in the War Records that Gen. Ruggles claims the credit of making this concentration of artillery. I remember that he was there at the time, but I thought he was a spectator, and I was really under the impression that I conceived and executed it myself. I had told the story that way so long before I saw Gen. Ruggles' report that I had at least come to believe it myself. The sentences referring to this in Gen. Ruggles' report appears in italics, with an explanation that it was an amended report, the amendments being in italics, and made a year after the original. No reports were called for until a long time after the battle, and I was then in the Trans Mississippi Department, and so never made any report at all.
Do you think it would have been different if Johnston had lived?
It would indeed. He would have been up with the line, and he would not have hesitated a moment about pushing on. In my opinion Johnston was a new man from the moment he sent his Generals whirling to their posts with orders to advance at dawn. In his humility he had deferred too much to them in the past. That battle won, he would have shown himself the great man he was.
From what you say we must have been at great disadvantage the second day?
That we were. The commands were all mixed up. We were simply blown into line by the enemy's fire.
I wanted to find Gen. Hardee. I made my way to Shiloh Church, where I found Beauregard with an enormous staff. Just as I arrived Pickett, Hardee's Adjutant, rode up with a message to the commanding General. He had a hard time trying to make the General understand where Hardee was. * * * It was astonishing how well we fought, and how well we held them, considering the horrible state of case with us the second day, and the new troops they had. Buell's force had crossed the river in the night, and Lew Wallace had found his way to the field. They really did not drive us from the field. It was plainly impossible for us to regain our advantage, and so we simply retired.
Was there any pursuit?
Not the least in the world. The fact is, there was something comical in the way we got off, at least on our part of the line. Hardee told me he was going to retire, and directed me to keep up a cannonading to cover his retreat. I had six or eight batteries, or parts of batteries. Luckily, the enemy stopped firing and fell back out of sight at the same time. That left me to do the sham firing at my leisure. I fixed prolonges that is attached long ropes between the trails of the guns and the limbers so that the firing could go on while the guns were moving to the rear, and in case of emergency could get away rapidly. I then retired the batteries alternately. It was very interesting. Level ground, open woods, no fire to dodge, we were very much absorbed in a movement we never before had had a chance to practice on the field. All at once I bethought me of our supports. I looked to the rear and there was not an infantryman or cavalryman in sight. To make it worse there was a ravine to cross on a causeway. I didn't even know what one of the many roads the infantry had taken. Selecting the most promising one, I put spurs to my horse, thinking the best way would be for me to find out for myself while my train was crossing, but in a few minutes I found myself back where I had started from. There I was, abandoned by the army and at the mercy of the enemy, with all those guns! For once in my life I experienced that feeling of 'goneness' called loss of mind. Every thing was a blank for a moment, but I took the same road I had started on and avoided the turn that had carried me back on myself. I nearly jumped out of my boots with joy when we came up with the infantry. There was not a gun fired by way of pursuit, and we made our way through rain and mud with loads of poor wounded men, painfully back to Corinth.
BEST NAME FOR THE WAR.
Col. William H. Stewart, Portsmouth, Va., April 27th: I have read your editorial on a name for our Confederate war with great interest. I have often thought of the many objections to
Civil War," " War between the States." As it was a war between the Northern and Southern sections of the United States, I have ventured to suggest "INTERSECTIONAL WAR" as an appropriate name, which ought to be unobjectionable on both sides of the sectional line. If our G. A. R. fellow citizens would adopt some such name instead of " War of the Rebellion," it would be a fraternal greeting worthy of the chivalry of American soldiers, and a lasting peace offering which Confederate soldiers would prize.
THE ALABAMA KEARSARGE FIGHT.
CAPT. W. P. MONTAGUE, BALTIMORE.
Since the loss of the Kearsarge on Roncador Reef so much has been resurrected relative to the Alabama Kearsarge fight, and almost without exception inaccuracies and misstatements forming the subject matter, that one almost despairs of having any thing approaching truth about it. Indeed, we have been forced to the conclusion that very much of history is a fairy tale. First, we have it the 11 inch guns that did such good service on that memorable 19th of June, went down with the old Kearsarge, when in fact the real ones are now at Mare Island Navy Yard. As the old ship has had her battery changed several times since this eventful action, any number of her 11 inch guns are to be found scattered here and there "ticketed" at the New York Navy Yard, Annapolis, etc., like the peddler's razor straps, "a few more left of the same sort." While all this commendable affection for the old Kearsarge and Hartford is occupying the nation's heart, what has become of "old ironsides" (Constitution) ? It cannot be our people would nurse the memories of fratricidal war and forget the glories of 1812. Hear how the London Telegraph, of February 9th, has it, editorially: "On the morning of June 19th) 1864, the Alabama, with her wooden sides covered with chains and scraps of old iron, came out of Cherbourg Harbor to accept the challenge of war." Now how shall we dispose of this statement? The Telegraph must confess to most lamentable ignorance of history, or stand self convicted of spite and malice, or at least an unworthy desire to find favor with the winning side. Charity would cover the editor with the folds of ignorance, for a filthy toad is the sycophant.
Another English correspondent states, " Mr, Lancaster, owner of the yacht Deerhound, succeeded in saving forty odd officers and men of the sinking Alabama, and most dishonorably refused to deliver them up to the Kearsarge." Need the reader's attention be called to the utter ignorance of international law displayed by this writer, or else his dull perception of what constitutes honor? Does this writer suppose Mr. Lancaster would lend himself to Capt. Winston in the saving of life only to turn these men, struggling in the water for their lives, over to the tender mercies of an enraged nation? And so we find it here and there in our own press. Is it possible, Brother Jonathan, you have established, with John Bull, a mutual admiration society? No, there is glory enough attached to the old ship, whose bones are now bleaching on Roncador, by sticking to truth. In the endeavor to belittle your enemy you rob yourself of proportionate glory.
Dr. A. Clarke Emmert, Bluff City, Tenn., May 1st: I showed the VETERAN to a Federal soldier this morning, and he borrowed my entire file, and said that he was certainly going to subscribe for it. I wish to make a correction in your article on Wolford's capture at Philadelphia, Tenn. It was the 12th Tennessee Cavalry instead of the 11th regiment in the engagement. I was a member of Company A of said 12th battalion, and have a scar on the head from a sabre cut received there in the field on the center of our lines.
FOUNDER OF THE FIRST CONFEDERATE HOSPITAL.
MRS. ALICE TRUEHEART BUCK, WASHINGTON, D. C.
Among the Southern veterans residing in the National Capital are some noble women, whose sacrifices and devotions to our cause have never been recorded in history. The frosts of time have whitened their heads like the old soldiers, but the purity and beauty of their hearts is not marred. One of these, Mrs. Letitia Tyler Semple, daughter of Ex President Tyler, established the first hospital in the South. When the war commenced she was in New York with her husband, who was Paymaster in the United States Navy, stationed at New York. They immediately came South and cast their fortunes with our peoplehe taking a position on the Alabama and she on another, and sometimes the more trying battle ground. In Philadelphia, on her way south Mrs. Semple met a friend who suggested to her that more soldiers died from sickness than the bullet, and that she inaugurate a movement for the establishment of hospitals, which she did as soon as she reached Richmond, in May 1861. She arrived there the day the blockade set in. There she met her father who was a member of the Confederate Congress, and he obtained permission of Mr. Pope Walker, Confederate Secretary of War, to establish a hospital at Williamsburg. Mrs. Semple's appeal to the ladies of Williamsburg was heartily responded to. Col. Benj. S. Ewell was in command of the Peninsular, and with other gentlemen encouraged and assisted the move. The Female Seminary which stood upon the site of the Colonial Capitol, was selected for the purpose desired. The ladies went to work diligently, Mrs. Semple making the first bed with her own hands. Very soon seventy five cots were in place. Dr. Tinsley, now a practicing physician in Baltimore, and Dr. W. C. Shields were the surgeons in charge. Very soon troops from different points were centered there. About that time Mrs. Semple left Williamsburg and returned after the battle of Bethel, June 10. There were then so many refugees from Hampton and other places, and so many sick soldiers (none wounded as yet) needing attention and comforts, that William and Mary College, the Court House, and several churches were taken for hospitals, Dr. Willis Westmoreland in charge. Dr. Westmoreland sent a message to Mrs. Semple's residence asking her to inspect the situation, which she did, and when she found so many needing more than the kind citizens could immediately supply, she went to Richmond the next day for supplies. General Moore rendered all the assistance he could, and the people of Petersburg, Pittsylvania and other places contributed liberally of food, clothes and bedding. The first death in the hospital was that of young Ball, Company A of Fairfax County, Va.. The young hero gave up his life for his country, and that was all that was known of him there, but the lady who received the tender look from the soft blue eyes, and smoothed his golden hair for the last time never forgot him. It is to be hoped his family found his remains.
The New Orleans (French) Zouaves, and Captain Zachary's troops were stationed there at that time, and the ladies made and presented a flag to them, the address being made by Mr. Edwin Talliaferro. General Magruder now took command of the troops. Among them was a brigade from Georgia under General McClaus. Colonel Ewell also was there with his regiment awaiting orders. All of them gallantly assisted the ladies in their work. Knowing the part Mrs. Semple had taken in the noble work, Colonel Ewell asked General McClaus if he had called upon her. He answered, " No, but I'll go directly." When he returned from his visit to Mrs. Semple and the Colonel asked him what he thought of her, he said, " Why sir, I hadn't been in that room five minutes when, if she had said to me, 'McClaus, bring me a bucket of water from the spring,' I would have done it." So the women of that day helped the cause by cheering the living and caring for the sick and wounded, and the beautiful woman who inaugurated such a glorious work still smiles encouragement to every generous and loyal deed for the good of our loved Southland. The women of this generation also have a work to do, and they are banding together for the purpose. In Washington, besides the soldiers and their families, there are needy ones from every State who have been shipwrecked on the sea of life. Our Southern Relief As sociation is composed of about three hundred women who labor zealously in caring for this class, those who have no friends to help them. It is refreshing to meet with an organization so generous and loyal in spirit and practice. When preparing for entertainments wealthy women don their aprons and work by the side of those who are poor, oft times without knowing each others name. Every Southern heart that beats over a well filled pocket should open it now, for soon our veterans will "pass over the river." There they will neither want nor suffer. While honoring the dead let us not forget the living.
REMINISCENCES BY F. E. EVE.
Augusta Chronicle: While on a scout in King and Queen Counties, being pursued by a detachment of Federal cavalry, we took to the woods, and dodging down the banks of the Rappahannock, found a dugout concealed in some bushes, but no paddles. Tearing some clap boards off the roof of a deserted house close by, "Sandy," Guedron Coleman (one of the Roswell troopers), and myself shoved the canoe into the river and pulled away for Port Royal, but before we had gotten two hundred yards out the yanks rode up and ordered us back. " Sandy," who was in the stern, passed me his "Enfield" we were all paddling for dear life with the clap board paddles, and kneeling down at that with "Cap., you do the shooting, Coleman will load and I will paddle." No thought of surrender there. I had to do the firing lying on my back. Coleman loaded kneeling, while "Sandy" and the current that we had just struck carried us to the other side. It was rather ticklish work " Sandy " said he had to "shift his quid to balance the boat," but my firing made them dismount and take to cover, and that gave us time to get farther off. We always thought I hit one, as they dismounted almost as soon a.s I fired and hurriedly moved their horses back from the bank. I only had their smoke to fire at afterward, as they laid down on the grass on the bank. All honor to the Confederate soldier who, like "Sandy" Guedron, always did his duty.
J. L. SCHAUB, LaGrange, Ga., publishes a card stating that he served in the 14th North Carolina Regiment, Army of Northern Virginia, enlisted in April, '61, served to April, '65, and names twenty five battles in which he participated, beginning at Yorktown and ending with Appomattox, and forty skirmishes.
REV. A. T. GOODLOE, author of " Some Rebel Relics," has a letter from a gentleman in South Carolina complaining at the title of his book. Mr. Goodloe quotes from a memorable speech made at a Tennessee reunion by Hon. Ed. Baxter in reply, in which he said:
The history of the English people is a history of rebels struggling to maintain their rights and liberties against the tyranny and oppression of the governing powers. To the American citizen who has carefully read the history of the race from which we sprang, the term rebel conveys no suspicion of dishonor or reproach. It is a term which tyrannical governments have at all times applied to people who have the courage to resist their oppression, and while tyrannical governments may intend to use the term, rebel, as one of reproach, every true lover of liberty who knows his history must regard it as a title of honor, history proves that it is a title of liberty which is older and more honorable than the king's prerogative, it is a title which was originally won by the sword, it has been maintained by the sword, and unless it be defended by the sword, liberty will perish from the face of the earth. All the rights, privileges, and immunities now enjoyed by the American people were acquired for them by rebels and will be bequeathed to them by rebels. There cannot be found to day in all this world a man in whose veins does not flow the blood of a rebel, whether of English descent or not. Allow me to add that any man deserves this honorable title who is ready to fight, regardless of doubts or consequences for the rights of life, liberty, and property. These are the things for which we fought, and we counted not the cost when we bade defiance to the enemy's forces that undertook to despoil us of them.
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR.
Hon. John H. Reagan, of Texas, who is the only surviving member of the original Confederate Cabinet, attended the reunion at Waco last month, and in an address upon the causes of the war, said:
This presence revives many hallowed memories of the past. It calls up the memory of the days when husbands separated from wives and children, when sons separated from fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, when loving and loved ones left their homes to enter the armies of the Confederacy, with hearts proudly responding to the calls of patriotism, and aching for those who were left at home. It calls to mind the forming of military organizations, and their march to the seat of war, buoyant with hope under bright new banners, in the presence of smiles which came through tears, the waving of handkerchiefs, the silent prayer of hope and love, and the soulful good bye God bless you. It calls to mind the long marches, the scenes around the camp fires, and anxious preparations for battle. It brings before the mind anew the panorama of battle. It calls up the memories of first Manassas. of Seven Pines, of the seven days in front of Richmond, of Fredericksburg, of Second Manassas,
of Sharpsburg, of Gettysburg. It reminds us of Fort Donelson, of Shiloh and Corinth, of Chickamauga, of Lookout Mountain, of Elkhorn, of Vicksburg, of Stone's River, of Atlanta, of Murfreesboro, of Franklin, where Pat Cleburne and other heroes fell, and of a hundred other fields on which Confederate skill and courage and constancy were displayed. It causes a renewal of our admiration and love for such great Captains as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, Beauregard, Bragg, Longstreet, Hood, Kirby Smith, Gordon, Cleburne, Polk, Price, Breckinridge, Granbury, Randall, Scurry, Ector, Cabell, Ross, Waul, Ben McCulloch, John Gregg, Tom Green, W. H. F. and Fitzhugh Lee, J. E. B. Stuart, Forrest, Wheeler, and a hundred other heroic leaders in the lost cause.
Great as was the ability and courage and purity of our Generals, who deservedly achieved a world wide fame, and proud as we were and are of their characters and virtues, we turn with still greater pride and holier reverence, if such a thing be possible, to the memory of the subaltern officers and private soldiers who, for four weary years of privation, suffering, carnage and death, carried the banners of the Confederacy and offered their lives on the altar of their country's liberty, because they served and suffered without the incentive of office and rank, animated solely by their love of home, country and liberty, and their devotion to a cause dearer to them than life. There were features in the struggle of the Confederacy which must hold their place in history as long as the admiration of genius and courage and virtue shall survive.
Of late years we frequently hear the inquiries as to what caused this great war, with all its sacrifices of life and property ? Sometimes this inquiry is doubtless made by those seeking information, but others make that inquiry in order to belittle the war and those who were engaged in it. A struggle which cost hundreds of thousands of valuable lives, and by which many billions of money was spent and property sacrificed, could hardly have been engaged in without sufficient cause.
During colonial times in this country the political authorities of Great Britain, Spain, and France, and the Dutch merchants planted African slavery in all the North American colonies. At the time of the declaration of American independence, 1776, African slavery existed in all of the thirteen colonies. At the date of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 1787, African slavery existed in all of the States except one. The commercial reason for the planting of African slavery in this country was no doubt stimulated by the hope of ease and gain. It was at the same time justified by the Church on the ground that the negroes were taken from a condition of heathenish barbarism and cannibalism and brought to where they could be taught the arts of civilization and industry, and where they could be instructed in the doctrines and practices of the Christian religion. I am not discussing the question now as to whether this practice and these views were correct, I am only telling you what was done and thought to be right by our ancestors and by the great governments of the world. When the Constitution of the United States, the compact of union, was adopted it recognized the right of property in African slaves. The African slave trade was then still being carried on, and the Constitution of the United States provided that it should not be prohibited by Congress prior to the year 1808, twenty years after the adoption of the Constitution. It also provided that slaves escaping from one State into another should not be discharged from service or labor, but should be delivered up to the owner. There were differences of opinion as to the rightfulness of slavery among the men who formed the Constitution. Subsequently, and before 1861, a number of the Northern States, where slave labor was not thought to be profitable, abolished that institution, and by degrees a strong prejudice grew up against slavery, first among philanthropists and religionists, and then in a number of States it became a political question. The agitation of this question was not at first entirely sectional, but it became so subsequently. Its agitatian, as early as 1820, threatened the perpetuity of the Union. The agitation went on until it resulted in civil war and bloodshed in Kansas. This was followed by the invasion of Virginia by John Brown and his deluded followers for the purpose of inaugurating civil and servile war in that State. And when he was executed for his crimes Northern churches were draped in mourning, and their bells tolled in token of their sympathy with him and sorrow for his fate. In the Thirty fifth Congress, when the agitation was threatening the peace of the country, thirty odd propositions of compromise were made for the purpose of averting the danger of disunion, all of these, without exception, were made either by Southern members or Northern Democratic members. And every such proposition which was presented in the House of Representatives was received by the Republican members with hooting and expressions of derision, and the Southern members were often told that they had to submit to the will of the majority. The Constitution was denounced by some of the agitators as a league with hell and a covenant with death, and the agitators claimed that there was a higher law than the Constitution. In the campaign of 1860 the Republicans nominated as their anti slavery ticket both their candidates for President and Vice President from the Northern States, a thing which had not occurred before that time,
except in the election of Gen. Jackson as President and Mr. Calhoun as Vice President, both from Southern States, in 1828, when there was no sectional issue.
In 1832 the peace of the country, if not the integrity of the Union, was threatened on the question of the revenue policy of the government, which led to the steps taken by South Carolina to nullify the acts of Congress by which duties on imports and for the protection of home industries were levied in a way which, it was believed, did not bear equally on the different parts of the country, and which was believed to involve a violation of the Constitution. Both these were questions which came up under the broader and greater question of the proper construction of the Constitution of the United States. In the Federal Convention of 1787, which framed the Constitution of the United States, the question as to the character of the government we were to have, and of the powers which were to be conferred on it, and in the conventions of the States which ratified the Constitution, were very ably discussed, some of the members in each preferring a strong Federal Government, and others, jealous of the rights of the States, and more solicitous for the liberties of the people, preferring a government with limited powers.
The States represented in the Federal Convention were each free, sovereign and independent. The Constitution formed by that Convention and ratified by the States conferred on the government so formed certain specified and limited powers necessary to enable it to conduct our foreign and federal relations, reserving to the States respectively and to the people all the powers not so delegated. The question wag discussed in the Convention as to what should be done in case of disagreement between the Federal Government and one or more of the States. A proposition was made by Alexander Hamilton to confer on the Federal Government power to coerce refractory States, and it was voted down. So this power was not expressly given by the Constitution, and was not embraced in the powers which were given.
During President Washington's administration, being the first under the Constitution, the question as to whether the Constitution should be strictly construed so as to preserve the reserved rights of the States, or should receive a latitudinous construction, looking to strengthening the government beyond the powers delegated by it, was sharply made between Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State, contending for its strict construction, and Alexander Hamilton, contending for a broader construction.
During the administration of the elder Adams the Congress, with the approval of the President, passed what is known in the history of the times as the alien and sedition laws. The strict constructionists, under the lead of Mr. Jefferson, denied the constitutionality of these laws, and charged that they endangered the liberty of the citizens. Under this issue the American people agreed with Mr. Jefferson, and elected him President in the year 1800, and again in 1804.
In the year 1798 the Legislature of Kentucky, and in the year 1799 the Legislature of Virginia, passed resolutions denouncing the alien and sedition laws as violative of the Constitution and dangerous to liberty, and asserted the right of the States to protect themselves against unconstitutional laws and acts of the Federal Government. And in these resolutions they asserted the right of the States to protect the people against the unconstitutional acts and arbitrary power of the Federal Government, and that they were the judges of their rights and remedies, but that this power was not to be exercised by them except in extreme cases, when there was no other remedy. Under this issue what was known as the Federal party went out of power and out of existence. And under this, as the doctrine of the then Republican party, which afterward became the Democratic party, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison and Mr. Monroe, successively held the office of President of the United States for twenty four successive years. It was always the doctrine of the Democratic party down to 1860, and was specifically indorsed by its national conventions in several canvasses for President and Vice President preceding the war.
I am not saying whether this is or is not the doctrine of the Democratic party now. I am only reciting these facts to show the opinions which prevailed before the war between the States, and in a large measure guided the people of the Southern States when they passed their ordinances of secession. They believed a public opinion had been created in the Northern States which threatened the peace of the country and the rights of the people. They believed the Constitution of the United States had ceased to be a shield for their protection, and that their safety and welfare made it necessary for them to withdraw from the Union and form a government friendly to their people, and under which their rights would be secured to them. They were in part led to this conclusion by the facts I have stated, and by the additional facts that the people of the Northern States had repudiated the provisions of the Constitution and of the acts of Congress, which were intended to protect them in the enjoyment of their local, social, and domestic institutions, and which were intended to protect $3,000,000,000 of property in slaves, that they had repudiated a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States which affirmed the doctrine of the Constitution and laws of Congress on this subject, that some of the Northern States had passed laws forbidding their authorities and people from aiding to execute the provisions of the Constitution and laws requiring the rendition of fugitive slaves.
These things and others of like character caused the Southern States to attempt to withdraw from the Union. And the principles I have called to view and the facts I have referred to led to the great war which cost so much blood and treasure. And these principles and facts are the answer to the new generation as to why their fathers gave their services, their property, and their lives in that war, and why brave men fought and died, and why holy men, pure and noble women prayed for their success. Why Senators and Representatives in Congress, and officers of the army and navy surrendered their offices and emoluments, and abandoned a condition of peace and security and offered their fortunes and their lives in so unequal a contest, and why the people at large in these States, with remarkable unanimity, staked every earthly thing which was precious and dear to them in so unequal a war, rather than submit to the degradation of living under a violated Constitution and laws, and being compelled to accept only such rights in the Union as might be accorded to them by the grace of a hostile popular majority. A number of persons who are specially wise after
the fact have said we had better have compromised than to have accepted battle with such a preponderance of population and wealth and the power of an organized government against us. Can any one point to an instance in history where principles of such magnitude and property of such value were settled by a compromise? As well have asked why our revolutionary fathers did not compromise with King George. It was one of those cases which, under all the circumstances, could only be settled by appeal to the god of battles. And those who think a settlement could have been made by a compromise certainly cannot have been familiar with the facts which led to the war. Horace Greeley, in the preface to his history of what he calls the rebellion, said: ''The war might have been brought on a little earlier or it might have been postponed to a little later date, but sooner or later it was inevitable." And he spoke the truth. It is unreasonable to assume that statesmen, philanthropists, citizens in the ordinary walks of life, the ministers of religion, and the women of the country, would needlessly and without great provocation have consented to engage in a war of such magnitude, and that, too, when numbers, the materials of war and a powerful government was to be encountered by a people without a general government, without an army, without a navy, and without a treasury. I do not believe that any people, in any age, ever entered into a war with higher, purer or holier purposes, nor do I believe that any people in the world's history ever displayed more patriotism or made greater sacrifices, or exhibited greater endurance and courage than the soldiers and people of the Confederate states.
You will understand that in making these statements I am not doing so to renew the passions and prejudices of the war, or to question the patriotism of the men who fought for the Union. I doubt not that their patriotism was pure and their belief that they were in the right as strong as ours. I am discussing these as the facts of history, which, if not kept in view by our people, might make posterity question the patriotism and virtue of the noble men who fought in that and of the pure women who prayed for their success. No one can feel more gratification that the war is ended and that peace and fraternal good will is restored between the people North and South than 1. And I can meet and greet the soldier who wore the blue as a friend and brother, and am glad that many of them have made their homes among us. We are now under the same government flag. We have the same laws and language. We read the same Bible and worship the same God, and we are the same people, with the same hopes and aspirations and destiny.
One of the proudest memories of that great war is of the conduct of the women of the Confederacy. They willingly gave their fathers, husbands and brothers to the service of the Confederacy. In very many cases they took upon themselves the burden of supporting their families, both aged parents and children, by their own labor. And in the struggles to take care of home affairs they would spin and weave and knit and make up garments for their loved ones, both at home and in the ranks of the army. They denied themselves the ordinary comforts of life in order to help to supply the army, to take care of the sick and wounded soldiers, to feed and clothe such as were in their reach. Many good women who before the war were only engaged in such indoor and delicate employment as the customs of the country had assigned to women, in the absence of the male members of their families in the army, to support their families planted and cultivated and gathered the necessary field crops, chopped and hauled wood, and fed and attended to the stock, cheerfully accepting such duties as their part of the sacrifices necessary to achieve the independence of the Confederacy.
If time permitted, this might be illustrated by many striking instances of the grand heroism of our women, a moral heroism even greater and grander than that of the soldier who fell in the excitement of battle. I am tempted to mention one such incident, as told me by Governor Letcher, of Virginia, during the war. He had visited his home at Staunton, and returning had stopped at the house of an old friend. Seeing none but the good lady at home, he inquired about the balance of the family. Her reply was that her husband, her husband's father, and her ten sons were in the same company in the army. He said to her that having been accustomed to have a large family around her she must feel very lonely. This noble matron replied: " Yes, it is very hard to be alone, but if I had ten more sons they should all be in the army." Can any one be surprised that a country whose women were capable of such sacrifices and sufferings willingly endured, and devotion to and prayers for their country's cause, should have prolonged the struggle for independence after its army had been reduced by casualties in battle and otherwise to a mere skeleton, whose money had been depreciated until it had but little purchasing power, whose soldiers were half naked, with barely food sufficient to sustain life, and whose country had been desolated by the ravages of war?
The world's history can hardly show an instance in which such courage and constancy and devotion has been shown by both men and women, in the face of so powerful an enemy. And I predict that in the not distant future some Macaulay will be found who will do justice to their patriotism and skill and courage, and that the citizens of all parts of the Union, North and South, will feel a just pride in the facts that such men and women and their descendants form a part of the population of this great republic, as we of the South shall feel a just pride in being citizens of a country which produced a Davis and a Lincoln, a Lee and a Grant, a Stonewall Jackson and a Sherman, and their respective compatriots. With all our pride on account of the qualities exhibited by our people during the war, perhaps the most striking illustration of their capacity for self government is shown by their conduct since it ended. Their country desolated by the war, their wealth and resources exhausted, tens of thousands of their best men filling honorable graves on the fields of battle, their social and domestic institutions destroyed, their local governments annulled under the policy of reconstruction, denied the blessings of civil government, the military made paramount to the civil authorities, the right of the writ of habeas corpus suspended, arrests without affidavits of guilt and without warrant, citizens liable to be tried by drum head military courts, freedmen's bureaus established everywhere, under the control of the military and of a set of lawless camp followers of the army, stimulating the negroes to hostility to the whites, with an alien race made dominant who were unused to the exercise of the duties of citizenship,
and unqualified for self government, with no security for life, person or property, overwhelmed by all these calamities, that the people should have been able to reorganize society, and to reestablish civil government, revive the ordinary industries of the country, and in less than thirty years, reach the condition of general prosperity which now prevails throughout the Southern States, furnishes the strongest possible proof of the capacity of our people for the preservation of social order and for self government, and cannot fail to secure for them the good opinion of the civilized world.
I wish to say something about reunions, like the present, of the soldiers of both the Southern and the Northern armies. Some persons object to them because they fear the effect will be to revive and perpetuate the passions and prejudices of the war. I think this is a mistaken view. That they cause a revival of the memories of the war is true, but it does not necessarily follow that such meetings will revive the passions and prejudices of the war. Many instances have occurred in both the South and the North in which the soldiers of the two sides have met together, and in fraternal kindness recounted the triumphs and glories of their respective armies, those of the one side feeling that those of the other were entitled to their respect, and all feeling that they were now fellow citizens and brethren.
That war will go down in history as one of the great wars of the world the officers distinguished for skill and the soldiers distinguished for courage rarely equalled in ancient or modern times. As long as patriotism and love of country and admiration for skill and courage survive, the memory of the achievements on both sides will gratify American pride and stimulate American patriotism and valor.
A people without a history cannot command respect. One of the offices of history is to perpetuate achievements in religion, in the arts, in the sciences, in arms, and in government, and so to cultivate the love of country and the glory of a people.
Whatever lingering prejudice may still exist, preventing any of the people of either side from doing justice to the memory and motive of those on the other side, must in a few more decades entirely give way, and then the sons and daughters of the late Confederates will be proud of the valor and achievements of the Federal officers and soldiers, and the sons and daughters of those who served in the Federal armies will be equally proud of the achievements of the late Confederates. And each side, in my judgment, does well to perpetuate the remembrance of the virtues, the skill, the courage, and the achievements of its statesmen, its Generals, its soldiers and its noble women.
CONFEDERATE MONUMENT AT COVINGTON, TENN. The Confederate Monument Committee want the name of every Tipton County Confederate soldier, and with information as to whether still living or dead, what regiment and company he belonged to, and his rank, what battles he participated in, if killed in battle, when and where, where buried, and any special act of heroism or any incident in his career. These facts are to be properly arranged and placed in the corner stone of the monument. Any person familiar with any thing of interest in regard to any Tipton County soldier should communicate with Col. J. U. Green, Covington, Tenn.
WHO LIVING PARTICIPATED IN THIS?
So many stories are told about the capture and transfer of a railway locomotive during the war that the VETERAN would like an account from a participant.
Said T. C. DeLand, of the Examining Board at the Treasury: The Confederacy was very much in need of a railway locomotive in order to operate their supply system. It was in 1864, and they had not the means to buy an engine, so the invariable alternative arose steal one. A band of one hundred men was selected from Lee's army and placed under the command of a big six foot four Georgian, who had been foreman of a stone quarry, and was more or less skilled in the use of derricks, etc. He took his men up into Maryland and they tore up a section of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway track, flagged the next train, and with nothing on earth save plenty of rope, those hundred men carried the locomotive fifty two miles over hills, across streams, through bogs and woods, until they struck a line the Confederacy had built. Then they ran the engine down to Virginia.
When Robert Garrett, then President of the Baltimore and Ohio, heard of the feat he couldn't believe it. He went out and personally inspected the scene, went over the route and declared it the most wonderful feat of engineering ever accomplished. After the war he delegated a man to find the leader of the band. He was located in Georgia. Garrett sent for him, and on the strength of that single feat made him roadmaster of his entire system of railroads.
LIST OF PRISONERS AT FORT DELAWARE.
Judge D. C. Thomas, Lampassas, Texas, writes: I have a roll of Texas prisoners released from Fort Delaware at the close of the war. I was a prisoner there for more than a year, and was not released until some weeks after Lee's surrender. I was in three different prisons, and of course know something of prison life. The VETERAN is grateful to Judge Thomas, and contemplates giving this list ere long.
J. L. Gee, of Williamson County, Tenn., who preserved the record of proceedings when Mrs. John C. Breckinridge gave the 20th Tennessee a flag made from her own silk dress, published in April VETERAN, kept a detailed account of the members of his company, "D." Its total membership, officers and men, was 129. There was one substitute. Fifteen were honorably discharged, ten were transferred, five promoted to other commands, twenty five were captured, and one was captured while on secret service and killed, nine "joined the cavalry" and were paroled at the surrender, twelve were transferred to other commands, five were paroled while wounded, and five stacked arms at Bentonville, N. C. During the war eleven were killed, thirty five wounded, and two died of wounds.
During the Birmingham Reunion J. W. G. and friends were visiting the Missionary Ridge Cyclorama, and several veterans were looking at it, when one of them expressed much disgust at the unfavorable showing the Confederates were making in one part of the picture. But walking around the old soldier saw something to please him, and in an exultant tone he sung out, "Come here, boys, look at this, arn't we giving them hell.
THE GALLANT GEN. LANE.
Gen. James H. Lane, of Alabama, is a native of Virginia Mathews Court House. A "star" graduate with distinction from the Virginia Military Institute, he afterward took a scientific course at the University of Virginia. He served as Assistant Professor of Mathematics at his Alma Mater, the Virginia Military Institute. He was afterward Professor of Mathematics in the Florida University at Tallahassee. When the war begun he was engaged as professor in the North Carolina Military Institute at Charlotte. He took an active part at once, and was made Major of the 1st North Carolina Regiment, and was in " the first battle of the war," according to D. H. Hill. He was dubbed the " Little Major " of " the Bethel Regiment." With a handsome outfit of sword, bridle, saddle and stirrups from this command, he left them to serve as Colonel of the 28th North Carolina, of which he was unanimously chosen Colonel. This same compliment was paid him by this regiment upon its reorganization and volunteering for the war the first twelve months to so enlist, according to Gen. Holmes. When Gen, Branch was hastening to the right in the great battle of Sharpsburg, A. P. Hill dashed up to the command and called out, "Who commands this regiment?" Lane stepped forward and saluting, said, " I do, General." Hill replied: "Take your regiment, Colonel, at a double quick, deploy it along that road, defend that unsupported battery and drive back the enemy advancing through that Corn" About dark Branch ordered Lane to rejoin him, and that, doubtless, was the last order of that brave officer, for, as Lane approached his line he recognized Maj. Englehard, and asked, "Where is Gen. Branch?" Englehard, in a, voice which betrayed his emotion, replied, "He has just been shot, there he goes on that stretcher, dead, and you are in command of the brigade." Two days afterward Branch's brigade, under Lane, and the brigades of Gregg and Archer, constituted the rear guard of the Army of Northern Virginia, when Gen. Lee re crossed the Potomac without the loss of a wagon.
The brigade petitioned for Lane's promotion, and on the recommendation of Lee, Jackson and A. P. Hill he was appointed Brigadier to succeed the lamented Branch. Gen. Lane was wounded on the head at the first Cold Harbor at the same time that the noble Campbell was killed in front of his regiment with its colors in his hands. He received an ugly and very painful wound a few days afterward at Frazier's Farm, when his regiment was charging a battery, but he refused to leave the field, though advised to do so by the Division Surgeon. At the second Cold Harbor he was dangerously wounded, and was borne, profusely bleeding, from the field.
This noted North Carolina brigade took an active part in every important infantry battle fought by the Army of Northern Virginia, and Gen. Lane was in active command from Sharpsburg to the surrender at Appomattox Court House, except about two months when confined by serious wounds.
After the surrender Gen. Lane begged his way to the home of his childhood, which had been in the enemy's lines, to find his aged parents ruined in fortune and crushed in spirit at the loss of two noble sons. He remained there huckstering and working his father's garden and a small lot in corn until he could borrow $150 to enable him to leave his old home again in search of employment more congenial to his habits and to the physical ability of a wounded soldier.
This "Little General" enjoyed the confidence and respect of President Davis, as"is seen from the following beautiful and touching tribute: "I willingly bear witness to his character and general capacity. Endeared to me as he is by his services to the South when he was the youngest Brigadier in the Confederate Army, I admit that I feel a warm interest in his success, not for himself only but also as a good example for the youth of the State I love so well."
Gen. Lane married miss Charlotte Randolph Meade, of Richmond, Va., who died several years ago. He has four daughters, and lives at Auburn, Ala., where he is Professor of Civil Engineering in the Alabama Polytechnic Institute. The VETERAN will print soon an address of his about our women in war times.
Lowndesboro, Ala., March 19, 1894. At a meeting of Camp T. J. Bullock, No. 331, U. C. V., Adjutant C. D. Whitman offered the following resolution, which was adopted: That we heartily indorse the CONFEDERATE VETERAN, and accept it as our official organ, and cheerfully recommend it to all soldiers, regardless of whether they wore the gray or the blue. It is worth the price, $1 a year.
Graham Hughes, Secretary, Owensboro, Ky., March 10: "Sir I am commissioned by the Confederate Association of this place to notify you that your magazine has been indorsed by it as an able and true representative of Confederate interests."
HUMORS OF WAR TIMES.
A. C. McLeary, Humboldt, Tenn.: A friend sent me two numbers of the VETERAN, December and January, and I read both of them through the first night, and was reminded of many funny things said and done during the war. I was a private in Company G, 12th Tennessee Cavalry, under Forrest. The greater part of our company were boys from sixteen to twenty, and we were a jolly set. German Tucker took a Confederate cracker to show to some ladies living near camp, and they wanted to know how we ever got them to pieces. He told them that we put one corner of the cracker in our mouth, placed the chin on a stump and got some one to hit us on top of the head with a maul. Bill Combs, when discussing the crackers as an article of food, said, "I can get full of the 'dad gum' things, but can't get enough."
Late one night we were cooking rations for one of our Middle Tennessee raids. Two of the boys, one in the 14th Tennessee Regiment on another hill, and one of my company, were "jawing" at each other, when the 14th man yelled out, "You go to h ." Our man answered, "There's no way of getting there now, the yankees have burnt the bridges." Fourteenth answered, " They did a good thing for you, then."
While on that raid we marched and fought for days and nights in succession. Late one dark night we were on the march, it was raining, and we were all wet, cold, tired, sleepy and hungry. We were bunched up in a creek bottom waiting for those in front to cross the stream. Not a word was being spoken. Old sore backed horses were trying to rub their riders off against some other horse. We knew we would have fighting to do as soon as day broke, and we had the blues. All at once Joe Leggett said: "Boys, I have become reckless, I've got so I don't care for nothing, I had just as soon be at home now as to be here." The effect was magic. While the skill and bravery of our Generals and the fighting qualities of our soldiers could not have been excelled, if it had not been for those jolly spirits to animate others the war would have come to a close much sooner.
Let us have something more from Capt. Hord. I laughed more while reading his Mike Kelly article than any thing I have seen concerning the war. It reminded me of my experience when Hood's army left Nashville. Not in Mike's charging qualities, but in trying to mount a frightened horse when the yankees and their bullets were coming fast. I was a good rider, and when at myself could mount a horse as quick as an Indian. But I had sprained my left ankle so severely I could not stand on it to put the other foot in the stirrup. Six or eight of us were on guard I was a volunteer. We were at an old brick house on the bank of the Cumberland river five or six miles below Nashville. Our horses were over the hill out of the range of the gunboats three or four hundred yards from us. The first thing we knew our boys were running the yankees, our boys in front, down the Charlotte pike below us. As they passed they sent R. B. Bledsoe, one of our company, to tell us to get away if we could. The rest of the guards left me at once. Bledsoe saw me, run his horse some two hundred yards to where I was, jumped from the saddle) threw me the reins, and was gone like a flash, hoping to get to my horse and then make his escape.
Well, I must close, as I have already called for more space than I expect to get. However, Mr. Editor, I must tell of the uneasy ride this same old ankle caused me to take. When we got back to the Tennessee River our time came to cross the pontoon bridge about midnight, and it was very dark. Gen. Cheatham was there to see that every thing started on the bridge in proper order. Orders were to dismount and lead across, but there was no walking for me, so I kept my seat and was on the bridge when Gen. Cheatham railed out, "Why in the don't you dismount?" "I have a sprained ankle, General, and can't walk." "All right, if you are a mind to risk it I will." When a boy I rode bucking mules, jumping horses, young steers, and a railroad train with wheels jumping the ties, but all this was pleasure compared with that pontoon ride. The river was bank full, the bridge in a swing, jumping up and down. My eyes being up above the rest, the lights on the bank in front blinded me like a bat. It seemed to be the widest river in the world.
LETTER WRITTEN IN WAR TIMES.
The following letter was recently sent to the writer with request for its return. The company referred to was B, 41st Tennessee Regiment:
In the Ditches near Atlanta, July 30, 1864, 8 o'clock A. M. My Dear Friend C. H.: As I commence this every thing is comparatively calm, though there was " heavy " skirmishing all night, so reported, and it has been intense this morning on the left. Our brigade is a "support" for the cavalry on the right.
Day before yesterday, I understand, there was a "lively" engagement on the left. We did not hear any thing except the artillery. I suppose that our loss was quite heavy, but do not credit near all that I hear in regard to it. We hear that the yankees burned the supply train of our corps.
The papers were thankfully received that you gave me. There has not been a late paper here in about two weeks. We get no news.
I arrived safely to my command with the onions. The boys were eager for them, and say I must get another furlough. In the engagements during my absence some of our truest soldiers, and my near and dear friends, gave their lives for their country. One of my company, a good soldier and steady young man, was shot through the head. The yankees never seriously wounded one of my company, but have shot three through the head, killing each instantly. Of all that were killed in my regiment I fear that neither one was prepared to die. How strange that men will go blindly into eternity, when a light is offered that will show them the way! My dear friend, I desire that you so live as that all may be well with you under all circumstances.
The onions referred to, a two bushel sack full, were bought in Macon for $60, and the purchaser declined $300, but had the pleasure of their distribution to comrades in his regiment.
Lt. Gen. S.D. Lee, Agricultural College, Miss.: I consider your last two issues as splendid, and had made up my mind to write you especially commending the February number. The material is just what it ought to be, and I wish you eminent success in your work. I wish you had started such a monthly ten years ago.