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April 1894

REMINISCENCES MOTHER OF THE CONFEDERACY.

The venerable Mrs. Sallie Chapman Gordon Law, of Memphis, Tenn., dedicates some " Reminiscences of the War of the Sixties" to her children, grand children and friends, in a neat pamphlet of sixteen pages. Although "Mother of the Confederacy," she still lives to testify in behalf of a people who dared perform their duty as they saw it, regardless of cost, comfort or life.

The story she tells concisely begins with woman's work for our armies in Memphis. Every day but Sunday the women met and sewed for the private soldiers. When her own son went home from school, threw down his books and said, "Mother, I have enlisted for the war," she replied, "You did right, my son."

In the narrative she says: " My home has ever been in the Sunny South, my paternal ancestors, the Gordons of Virginia, my mother's, the Kings of South Carolina, were all rebels of the first revolution, my father, Chapman Gordon (in his teens), with two elder brothers, Nat and Charles, fought in the battle at King's Mountain, and through the entire war.

My mother's father, too old for the war, sent all his sons and sons in law. They fought in and belonged to the command of Generals Marion and Sumpter. My second brother, Wyley J. Gordon, was an officer in the U. S. Army, in the War of 1812. My brother, Gen. G. W. Gordon, of Columbia, Tennessee, with three sons, fought in the Confederate Army of 1861. My nephew, Gen. John B. Gordon, whose record for valor and heroic deeds is too well known to call for comment, with his three brothers, all fought in the Confederate Army. My nephew, Maj. Augustus Gordon, was killed at the age of twenty one, while leading a charge at Chancellorsville, Virginia. My brothers, Charles' grandsons and Harvey's sons, were in the Confederate Army. My cousin, Gen. James B. Gordon, of North Carolina, was killed at Brandy Station, near Richmond, in Confederate service. And I know of over thirty brave, heroic privates of my kindred who belonged to the war of the 'Sixties.'
After the battle of Shiloh, many of the wounded were brought to our hospital. I carried many articles of clothing, etc., beyond the lines to our soldiers.

In our hospital at Memphis, we had domestic wines, lemons, pickles, clothing, and I proposed taking them to our sick soldiers at Columbus, Kentucky. I had large boxes packed and carried them to the hospital there. I made the second trip a few weeks later with more supplies for the sick. The morning after my arrival the battle of Belmont came off. We were on the steamer ' Prince,' at breakfast, when Capt. Butler came in, saying: 'Ladies, finish your breakfast, but the yankees are landing their gunboats above.' We jumped up and ran out on the guards and saw the wildest confusion soldiers running to and fro to get ready for the battle, then the cannonading commenced from the Federal gunboats, with Confederate artillery from the high bluffs. The cannonading was sublimely grand. My own dear boy was there in Gen. Cheatham's command, marching out to battle. It was a grand, victorious battle for us. 

The steamer ' Prince,' on which we were staying, carried over many wounded Confederates, and among them the brave, heroic Gen. William H. Jackson, whom it was our privilege to nurse and attend. He was dreadfully wounded, and that night many officers came in to see him, Dr. Bell, Surgeon, from Memphis, among the number. Young Dr. Yandel came in, and Dr. Bell said to him, ' Yandel, I want you to go and detail so many men (I forgot the number), with buckets of water, and go to the battlefield and give those wounded and dying men water.' I went to Gen. Polk and got an order to have four yankee surgeons taken out of prison to go to the battlefield to attend their wounded) and every one of them refused to go, but ours went. 

Standing in the pilot house with us was a young girl who had gone up to see her brother. She had always lived in Cincinnati with an aunt, her mother being dead and father and brother living in Memphis, when the war commenced her father had gone and brought her home. Young Star had enlisted in the same company with my son. All the way going up on the boat she had been defending the Union, and while the battle was raging, and the musketry mowing down thousands, with tears streaming down her face, she said, 'Oh! I wish I had a gun. Oh! for a gun!' 'What do you want with a gun, Alice?' 'To kill the yankees.' After the battle was over I went to the hospital to see if I could do anything for the wounded. I was invited in to see the apparently mortally wounded Federal officer, Col. Dorrity. At sight of the wounded man I lost sight of the enemy of my country. I made a glass of lemonade and fed him with a spoon, as one arm was cut off and the other paralyzed. I said to him, 'Col. Dorrity, have you a wife?' He replied, 'Yes, at Cape Girardeau.' At that moment Col. Bethel, Gen. Polk's Adjutant, came in, and I said to him, 'Col. Bethel, will you please take my compliments to Gen. Polk and ask him, as a special favor, to let Col. Dorrity's wife be sent for.' He left immediately, and a courier and a flag of truce were sent for her, by order of the magnanimous, heroic Gen. Polk. At two o'clock P. M. the next day, the wife of the prostrate, paralyzed, wounded husband, was with him. 
The morning after the battle of Belmont, I called at Gen. Pillow's office, on business, when a little boy came in with a message. He was dressed up in Confederate uniform, with a military cap. I asked, ' Why, my little boy, what are you doing here?' He said, very modestly, ' I belong to the army.' ' What can you do here? ' ' Well, yesterday I was on the battle field, and got down in a sink hole, when I saw a yankee with his gun pointed right at my Colonel, and I fired away and killed him now, that is what I am doing here' 'How old are you?' 'Twelve years old.' ' Where were your father and mother to let you come here?' 'Oh! I ran away, and am staying at my uncle's tent, and if you don't believe I killed the yank, come with me and see his watch.' He said to Gen. Pillow, 'Now, I want a furlough to go home and see my father and mother.' * * * He got it. 
After the Federals occupied Memphis, I heard that my dear brother, G. W. Gordon, a prisoner from Johnson's Island, was on a boat anchored out in the Mississippi River, very ill. I walked up and down the river bank from nine till five, trying to get permission to go to see him. At last I met Col. Oaks, a Federal officer, who politely said he would send me in a skiff, and I was taken by two Federal soldiers. On reaching the boat, it was filled by Confederate officers, prisoners from Johnson's Island, bound for Vicksburg to be exchanged. I found my brother very ill, so ill I remained with him that night, and Col. Johnson, an elegant gentleman from Kentucky, proffered his berth to me, he sleeping on a blanket in the cabin. * * * I left for Vicksburg next day to nurse and attend to him, driven by a ten year old grandson, but when I arrived at Mrs. Vernon's, sixty miles from Memphis, I heard the sad news that he had died in ten minutes after landing at Vicksburg. 

My noble, patriotic brother, the Christian soldier, tried to lead souls to Christ. Regularly, night and morning, he had prayers, and invited all who were disposed to attend.

Our hospitals all broken up, I felt I must seek a new field in which to work. In our Southern Mothers' treasury was $2,500 in Confederate money, and, with the aid of Mrs. W. S. Pickett, we laid it all out for quinine, morphine and opium, and I carried it into the Confederacy, on my person, distributing it in the hospitals at LaGrange, Ga., and there I had the compliment of having a hospital called for me (The Law Hospital), which many Surgeons and old soldiers still recollect. 

Miss Anna Hardee, General Hardee's daughter, went the rounds daily with me. We made egg nog every day for the pneumonia and typhoid patients, and carried coffee to sick patients. * * *

While at Columbus, Ga., I heard of the terrible destitution of the soldiers at Dalton, Ga., in Gen. J. E. Johnston's division. Thousands of soldiers were having to sit up all night round a log fire, for want of blankets. I was so greatly troubled to hear of the great suffering of the brave heroes who were standing like a 

stone wall" between the women and children of the South and the enemy, that after a sleepless night, J went directly to a Ladies' Aid Society, where a number of patriotic women of Columbus, Ga., were at work for the soldiers. I told what I had heard of the suffering, for want of blankets, by the soldiers, and made an appeal to them for aid, telling them if they would furnish the blankets, I would go in person to Dalton and distribute them to the soldiers. With generous liberality, boxes of good things chicken, ham, sausage, butter, pickles, bread and cake were packed, and I carried them to our Memphis soldier boys at the time I did the blankets.

On Christmas night I left for Dalton, accompanied by the noble, patriotic President of that Aid Society, Mrs. Robt. Carter. At Atlata my boxes had to be rechecked to Dalton. I met Dr. LaGree, of New Orleans, who proposed to telegraph Dr. John Erskine to meet us on our arrival at Dalton, at three o'clock in the morning, and he did so 

At Dalton I sent a note to Gen. Hardee, Gen. Johnston being absent, telling him my mission. He came immediately. A courier and carriage were sent to us, and our first visit was to the old 154th Regiment, Gen. Preston Smith's. That night we had quite a levee of officers. Gen. Hardee said that he had in his division fifteen hundred men without a blanket, Gen. Hindman, one thousand, Gen. Cheatham, hundreds, and many other divisions in a similar condition. Gen. Pat Cleburne said socks were a luxury his men did not know, he had not had a pair on for five months.

That evening a wagon was sent, with twenty soldiers, to receive the blankets I had brought. The boxes had been opened by order of Dr. Erskine, and I distributed the blankets and clothing to those who needed them

I then returned to Columbus, wrote and published in the papers what I had seen and heard at Dalton, of the great need of blankets for the Confederate soldiers, and made another appeal to that Ladies' Aid Society for more blankets. And they again nobly responded to my request, and went to work with zeal unprecedented, working night and day, taking the last blanket from their beds, cutting up carpets and lining them. I went out and in one hour I collected twenty five hundred dollars from the business houses, and laid it out in the Columbus factories for jeans and coarse cloth. The women and children worked night and day, and in ten days I returned to the army in Dalton with seven large dry goods boxes, one each for Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas, all packed with five hundred and thirty blankets and coverings, and sixteen hundred pairs of socks, for the soldiers. I then went up to Tunnel Hill where Gen. Cleburne had his division, we rode on sacks of corn for a freight train carried the Arkansas box to his soldiers. Had the boxes opened at the General's quarters, and as he was very soon to make a speech to his men on re enlisting, said the box of blankets would do more than anything he could say, showing them the interest the women at home felt in them. But for the generous aid of the noble, patriotic women of Columbus, Ga., I would have been powerless to take those needed stores of blankets and socks to our suffering soldiers.
After the second effort by the ladies of Columbus, and expecting to make the second trip with blankets, I wrote to Gen. Johnston of my intention, and asked him to send me an escort to Dalton. The difficulty in having to travel with so many boxes, and they to be transferred at Atlanta, was hazardous and annoying. Gen. Johnston sent the escort immediately and we left again for the seat of war, this time accompanied by three ladies, Mrs. Sallie Wilkins, my niece, and a daughter and grand daughter of Gov. Forsythe. We were invited to dine with Generals Johnston, Hindman, Cumming and others, and my escort to dinner at Gen. Cumming's was the Rev. Dr. Stiles. We had four o'clock Confederate dinners, and were always sent for by the Adjutant of the General with whom we were to dine, with a carriage, and always escorted by Dr. John. Gen. J. C. Brown gave a party in honor of my lady friends. His headquarters were out about two miles in a large eight room brick house. The rooms were handsomely draped with Confederate flags, with a splendid band of music in the wide hall. There the Episcopal Bishop and the Presbyterian Rebel woman stood on the same platform under the Confederate flag. Gen. Johnston ordered a grand parade thirty thousand brave, tattered troops in honor of my mission to his soldiers. Mrs. Johnston invited me to take a seat in her carriage. 

My poor services to my struggling, bleeding country I know was only a drop in the ocean of that gigantic, cruel civil war. Still, for all those years of the 'Sixties,' they were most cheerfully, lovingly, and gratuitously given. In all my trips with supplies for the soldiers, I paid all my own expenses, never asking or receiving so much as a railroad pass or ticket. No, no, my whole heart and thoughts and deepest sympathies were all absorbed in the destiny of my people. For that just cause I would have died, could that sacrifice have brought peace, instead of a surrender, in which all was lost, save honor.

Could I write all the incidents of my war record of the 'Sixties' a book could not contain them the many reminiscences of those sad, gloomy, sorrowful years of terror and gloom. Perhaps at fifty years I might have accomplished it, but now, at eighty seven years, I feel inadequate to the task, still, memories of suffering, blood, and tears at the bedside of the wounded, dying soldier, is indelibly stamped on my memory, and will probably last until the dreams of this fitful, checkered life are over, and I am transported to that ' House of many mansions,' prepared for all who love and serve God. I have had the honor of being called the ' Mother of the Confederacy,' a compliment I esteem higher than any that could be conferred upon me.

***************************************************

Miss Minnie Harris, of Westmoreland, Tenn., writes of the successful extraction of a ball from the arm of her father, W. T. Harris, that he carried from Shiloh, April 6, 1862. His brother, T. G. Harris, was wounded at Chickamauga in September, 1861 1, They both belonged to Battle's 20th Tennessee.

Mr. Wm. Longworth, of Nashville, who came from England, in ordering copies of the VETERAN sent to his native England, explains that "I want my friends over there to know the truth."

FIRST CAPITOL BUILDING OF THE CONFEDERACY.

Montgomery will always enjoy the distinction of having been the first Capital of the Confederate States, for there, February 4, 1861. delegates from six seceding States assembled to organize the Government of that Republic, there its Constitution was adopted in the same year, and there, February 18, 1861, on the steps of the Capitol, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated President and Alex. Stephens Vice President of a power which has passed from among the nations of the earth forever, but whose brief existence was like some brilliant meteor, and the record of whose armies is marked with a fortitude and daring unsurpassed by the trained Napoleon, or the serried columns of the Iron Duke. Berney's Hand book of Alabama.

COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN COMRADES.

Griffin, Ga., February 3, 1894. His Excellency, Peter Turney, Nashville, Tenn. My Dear Sir: I write to ask if you are the Col. Turney who commanded a regiment in James Archer's Brigade, and fit, bled and died in the same. If you are not, excuse me for trespassing upon your time, but permit me to say that you need not get a hump on your back for being taken for that Col. Turney, whether he is dead or alive, for no Turney was more gallant and honorable than whom when I knew him. If you are, by any possibility or freak of fortune, the same Col. Turney that I last saw in the charge upon Burnside's Corps at the stone fence at Sharpsburg, allow Capt. Flynt, of the 19th Georgia Regiment, to shake your hand severely, and then to shake and shake again, and congratulate you upon the honors which you have achieved, or had thrust upon you. If you are my old comrade of the war, and would like to hear any thing about one so humble and obscure in the war and since, drop a line to T. W. Flynt, Griffin, Ga., and he will endeavor to provoke you into giving him an account of yourself since those days, so that he shall have an excuse for boring you with a short history of himself. But suffice it for the present to say that he had a romantic adventure, and passed through terrible ordeals after you all left him at Sharpsburg to die.
SUCH THINGS WERE.

The widow of Col. John C. Thompson, who gave his life at Shiloh, wrote of how "such things were," from which the following is a verse:

'Twas here a tender husband strove

To keep my happiness in view,

I smiled beneath a mother's love,

Whose fond compassion ever knew

In them all the virtues combined.

On them with faith I could rely,

To them my heart and soul were joined

By strong affection's primal tie.

He smiles in heaven exempt from care,

While memory tells me such things were.

Mrs. Thompson died at Bowling Green, Ky., in 1885.

110 Confederate Veteran April 1894.

AN INTERESTING BATCH OF TELEGRAMS.

Mr. Geo. W. Trabue, who was telegraph operator at headquarters of the Western Army, and was general manager for the Western Union in the South when he died ten years ago, had among his papers quite a large batch of original telegrams from prominent Confederates. The VETERAN is gratified with the opportunity of copying and making extracts from them. First are telegrams from Gen. Johnston, at Shelbyville, dated February 6th, 7th and 8th, 1863. They show something of the details in the Army Commander's service and responsibilities:

Dispatches of February 6, 1863:

Gen. Bragg, Tullahoma: I am required to furnish a list of all regimental, brigade and division commanders, with the regiments, brigades and divisions commanded by them, also a list of quartermasters, commissaries and assistants, with the brigades, divisions, regiments, posts and depots where assigned, Please send such a statement as soon as possible to Col. B. S, Ewell, Chattanooga.

Gen. S. Cooper, Richmond, Va.: The reports you require are due from department commanders. I have ordered them to be made forthwith.

Gen. S. Cooper, Richmond: Brig. Gen. Donelson was ordered to Knoxville on the 4th, and is on his way. The order was given on information from Brig. Gen. Heth.

Col. Lee, C. S. A., commanding Atlanta: Ascertain if hand mills for corn can be made at Atlanta, and at what rate, and report to Col. B. S. Ewell, at Chattanooga.

Col. B. S. Ewell, Chattanooga: Send the letters to Gen. Bragg. Let Brogden report at Richmond and Maj. A. D. Banks at Chattanooga. Transfer the surgeon who accompanies Brig. Gen. Donelson to Department of East Tennessee.

Dispatches of February 7th.

Gen. Bragg, Tullahoma: Has not Brig. Gen. Donelson gone to Knoxville ? If not, let him go at once and get his orders at Chattanooga.

Maj. Gen. S. B. Buckner, Mobile: Is distress or inconvenience in Mobile produced by any order of Gen. Pemberton as to transportation of corn by railroad? Cannot the rivers supply the city with corn ?

Dispatches of February 8th.

Gen. W. W. Mackall, Mobile: Gov. Shorter told me that the corn crop is very large in Southern Alabama. I desired Gen. Buckner to procure his supplies there. The city can do so too sooner than by waiting the result of inspection. Tell the Mayor so.

Col. B. S.Ewell, Chattanooga: Telegraph to the Chief Engineer the size of pontoons our wagons can carry. If Brown knows any thing of the supplies of corn and meat where he has been let him write it immediately to me at Tullahoma.

Gen. Bragg, Tullahoma: If the 2d Kentucky Regiment is in your command order private John A. Lee, Company C. 2d Kentucky Regiment, to report to the Secretary of the Navy, he having been appointed Midshipman.

Lieut. Gen, Pemberton, Jackson, Miss.: Your dispatch of the 6th February cannot be deciphered. Repeat.

R. H. Slough, Esq.. Mayor of Mobile: I cannot, at this distance, interfere with Gen. Pemberton's mode of supplying his troops. The State of Alabama, especially southeast of the Alabama River, can certainly furnish Mobile with corn.
Hon. J. Gill Shorter, Montgomery, Ala.: The Mayor of Mobile complains that Gen. Pemberton's order in regard to corn in Mississippi produced distress in Mobile. I cannot meddle with Gen. Pemberton's mode of supplying his troops at this distance. Have suggested to the Mayor that Southeast Alabama can furnish abundance of corn. Will you suggest to him how Mobile may be supplied?

Dispatch of February 17th.

Tullahoma, Tenn., March 2, 1863. To Geo. S. Blackie, Medical Purveyor, Atlanta, Ga.: Forty barrels of good old apple brandy can be bought at ten dollars per gallon. Shall it be sent to you?

E. A. FLEWELLEN, Medical Director.

Tullahoma, March 15, 1863. Capt. I. S. Morphis, Okolona, Miss.: You are authorized to enlist men in Confederate service in all counties of West Tennessee.

ISHAM G. HARRIS, Gov'r of Te.

Tullahoma, March, 23, '63. To Surgeon F. M. McMillan, Pulaski, Tenn.: Send requisitions for medicine to Chattanooga, accompanied by this telegram. Send sick and wounded to Huntsville as fast as possible.

E. A. FLEWELLEN, Medical Director.

Headquarters Department of the West, Tullahoma, Tenn., April 14, 1863. The telegraph operator must send all official telegrams for Gen. Johnston or the Adjutant General's office inclosed in sealed envelopes. By command of Gen. Johnston.

BENJ. S. EWELL, A. A. Gen.

Tullahoma, April 18, 1863. Telegraph Operator, Tullahoma: Please have the dispatch to Gen. Jackson, which was sent by me to night, repeated to Chattanooga. His headquarters are there. Respectfully, J. E. JOHNSTON.

Raleigh, N. C., April 29th. Gen. Bragg: I unite with Mrs. Anderson, Tate, Miss Cameron, and many friends here in asking an extension of Capt. Wilkes Anderson's leave. They have been married one week. Answer. THOS. BRAGG.

Tullahoma, May 1, 1863. Honorable Thomas Bragg, Raleigh, N. C.: Granted for one month. See seventh verse, twentieth chapter, and fifth verse, twenty fourth chapter, book of Deuteronomy. BRAXTON BRAGG.
Tullahoma, May 5, 1863. Governor Jno. Gill Shorter, Montgomery, Ala.: By a rapid concentration of forces in North Alabama I have driven out the heavy column of the enemy recently marauding there. Some l,800 cavalry, however, passed our left and made a desperate dash to destroy our communications and depots in Georgia. By a bold and brilliant movement not surpassed in the war Forrest, with half their number, pursued rapidly and fought them running for five days, without forage or food, except what he could hastily gather in that wild mountain region. He has finally killed or captured the whole party. Will you receive as civil prisoners, under the President's order, such officers as were taken in your State serving with armed slaves inciting insurrection? BRAXTON BRAGG.

June 17, 1864. Telegraph Operator, Columbus, Miss., Sir: If any telegraph dispatches come for me you will please send them to Mr. Richard Sikes and oblige.

Yours, N. B. FORREST, Maj. Gen.

Press of Georgia, Proclamation :

Corinth, Miss., November 18, 1864. People of Georgia: Arise for the defense of your native soil! Rally around your patriotic Governor and our gallant soldiers! Obstruct and destroy all roads in Sherman's front, flanks and rear, and his army will soon starve in your midst. Be confident, be resolute, trust in an overruling Providence, and success will crown your efforts. I hasten to join you in the defense of your homes and firesides.

G. T. BEAURETARD, Gen.

Chickamauga, October 9, 1863. To Mrs. Jefferson Davis, Richmond, Va,: Arrived here comfortably and well. (Signed) JEFF'N DAVIS.

Confederate Veteran April 1894.

THE NAME OF OUR WAR.

At one of the first of Confederate reunions there was a large gathering at Pulaski, Tenn., and the eminent General John C. Brown, whose name is ever to be honored in Tennessee and at the South, was very active for the success of the entertainment. It was after his service as Governor. I wrote him a note suggesting that steps be taken there that day to designate our great war, whereby the Southern people at least would have the same expressive term. He did not get the note in time to submit it, but expressed sincere regret at failure. One of his most gallant regimental commanders, Col. J. P. McGuire, who has since died also, concurred heartily in the suggestion.

Let steps be taken without longer delay to abandon such terms as ''the late unpleasantness," "the late war." Even " the civil war," and " the war between the States," are terms hardly fitting in dignity. "The Revolution" characterizes, with proper effect, the struggle of our ancestors, " The Mexican War," recalls history of which the soldiers who participated are proud. Think of " the late unpleasantness," or " the late war " as the terms sound to mature men and women who were born after that great struggle ended.

The VETERAN proposes that we adopt "The Confederate War" as our term, and exercise diligence for it. All the world would accept it, and the "rebellion" would not be remembered as a disloyal epoch when the pride of the term ceases to be understood by new generations.

Then we Confederates talk and write about " the lost cause." Are we not wrong in this? Rev. Mr. Degen, who came South from Boston, and now has charge of the Advent Episcopal Church in Nashville, used an illustration in a sermon in which he demurred to the expression and said, " What the people of the South fought for they gained." The same constitutional principles of the fathers are maintained. Slavery was abolished, but the Southern people did not make all their sacrifice for the value of slaves. True, the issue of "State rights" may be regarded as "lost," but we are too apt to refer to these things as if we had been vanquished. Dr. Degen meant that the changes brought about by the war were of greater value to the South than to have continued the former regime. Let us continue up and doing, fellow citizens, with other tax payers and voters in the Union. Even if "all was lost save honor," that was not tarnished.

FAITHFUL and true Maryland! In the appropriations for the next two years, for this year and next, which aggregate $125,000 annually, the second largest sum is to the Maryland Line Confederate Soldiers Home, $7,500 each year.

MANY Confederate veterans are becoming thoroughly aroused to the benefits of organization. Every man who served in the war can be helpful to his unfortunate comrades better through organization than otherwise, and no appeal, whether made in word or through his own eyes, should bestir a fortunate veteran as those of his comrades who have tried without being successful. If they have the fault of dissipation even, they have suffered long enough to bestir his helpful sympathy.
DR. J. C. STEGER, of Dover, Tenn., spoils "a good story" which relates to the appearance of a woman among the Federals in the battle of Fort Donelson, with a sword in one hand and the stars and stripes in the other, by relating how inconsistent it is throughout. There are thrilling incidents related by both sides that will not be beneficial to the historians of the future. The VETERAN seeks the truth and nothing else for its columns. If there be exaggerations, let them be unimportant as history and only for fun.

IN a recent personal letter Mrs. Maggie Davis Hayes states: I have just opened the March number of your to me deeply interesting magazine, with its pathetic title page. I, too, have reverently laid aside a suit of Confederate gray, priceless to me in that my father wore it when he was captured. I shall keep it for my children as more precious than jewels, and only wish they could share with me the memory of how he looked in it as he stood a defiant, gallant Southern gentleman, proud of the cause he had striven for, and willing to be a martyr since he could not be a saviour. * ** I am still weak from a prolonged illnessthis fearful and mysterious la grippe and a slight heart trouble, which change it is hoped will relieve. I deeply regret being unable to go to Birmingham on this account, as the doctor has ordered me to go to Southern California as soon as I am able to travel, which I hope will be very soon.

Mr Louis F. Bossieux, of Richmond, Va., has kindly sent the VETERAN a register of the dead in Hollywood Cemetery. It is a volume of 117 pages, and the names are alphabetical, with company, regiment, State and date of death. I will cheerfully reply to any inquiry on receipt of stamp. The book was published in 1869, hence copies are hardly procurable. There are about 6,500 interments, about 325 of whom are unknown.

THE Souvenir, to appear this month, is expected to be the most popular publication ever issued for 25 cts

GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY.

The fall down some steps by the Lynchburg, Va., postoffice, February 16th, was the cause of Gen. Jubal A. Early's death. It was pitiable to see that the gallant old hero was so dazed by the fall as to object to leaving the carriage on arriving home, saying it was not his home. He was taken out in a wheel chair several days in succession, but he died in two weeks.

Gen. Early was born in Franklin County, Virginia, November 4, 1816. His father, Jacob Early, was a farmer, his mother a Miss Hairston, who inherited a large number of slaves.

While Early was a student at West Point he and Joe Hooker, who made high reputation in the battles for the the Union, had a difficulty that grew out of a debate in which Early excepted to Hooker's speech upon " the atrocities of slavery." Early was a Whig of the old school, and defeated a candidate "who advocated disruption of the Union" in the memorable convention of 1861. He was the extreme member of the convention in favor of the Union, and the last to sign the secession ordinance, and then entered upon the journal his special reasons for concurring.

Gen. Early's career after the war was so identified with the Louisiana State Lottery Company that its enemies made much war upon him and Gen. Beauregard. There is a singular feature in connection with this powerful corporation which might be mentioned to their credit, now that both of them are dead and as both were such prominent Generals in the war. Much as they were abused, and anxious as were good people to defeat the legalized gambling, there was no taint of dishonesty from first to last. The VETERAN will not be misconstrued. Its editor has always been opposed to every species of gambling, but this is a creditable characteristic in the career of these two veteran officers that should not be forgotten by honest men, however much opposed to the occupation by which they made much money.

Dr. J. Wm. Jones, Chaplain of the University of Virginia. writes: But now that he has "passed over to the great majority," let us forget his faults and remember his great ability, his stern patriotism, his unpurchasable integrity, his love for truth, his hatred of skulking " during or since the war," his unwavering devotion to the land and cause he loved so well, and his able defense of the truth of Confederate history, and manly vindication of the name and fame of our Confederate leaders and people.

As a soldier, he was unquestionably one of the ablest men we had. His service in command of Ewell's old division at First Fredericksburg, Second Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the campaign of 1864, from the Rapidan to Cold Harbor, and the ability with which he handled A. P. Hill's corps when in temporary command of it at Spottsylvania Court House, during the sickness of Gen. Hill, gave the army and the people the highest opinion of his ability as a soldier, and there was no surprise when it was announced that Gen. Lee had put him in command of Ewell's corps (the old " Stonewall" corps), and had sent him to meet Hunter at Lynchburg.

If Gen. Early had fallen at Cold Harbor in June, '64, or in front of Washington, July 8th, he would unquestionably have gone down to history as one of the ablest generals of the Confederacy. The subsequent disasters in the Valley did dim his fame, for the time at least, but when the future historian comes to scan all of the facts, he will do justice to this able and sturdy soldier.

Gen. Lee always spoke in high terms of Early's "ability, zeal, and devotion to the cause," and of "the fidelity and energy with which he always supported his (Lee's) efforts, and the courage and devotion he ever manifested in the service of the country."

Upon several occasions I heard President Davis speak of Gen. Early as among the ablest soldiers whom the war produced, and there can be but little doubt that this will be the calm verdict of history.

The Pat Cleburne Camp, No. 88, U. C. V., Cleburne, Texas, concerning the character of Lieut. Gen. Jubal A. Early, resolved that "it is with deep sorrow we have learned of the death of Lieut. Gen. Jubal A. Early, that we will cherish his memory as one of the great soldiers of the late war who so nobly fought to perpetuate the rights and liberties of the Southern people, and that we commend his example as a patriot to our sons as worthy of their emulation, and that we shall commit his fame as an able, pure and fearless chieftain to the keeping of the chivalrous young manhood of the South, who will be just to his memory. Also that it be published in the CONFEDERATE VETERAN. M. S. KAHLE, Adjt.

DR. McMURRAY SANG UNDER FIRE. Henry K. Moss, Company B, 20th Tennessee Infantry: The heroism and bravery shown in our war time by Lieut. W. J. McMurray, of Company B, 20th Tennessee Infantry, at the battle of Resaca, Ga., in the summer of 1864, should be recorded in the VETERAN. The 20th Tennessee and 37th Georgia regiments were in reserve in a ravine in the rear of Lewis' celebrated Kentucky "Orphan" brigade until about the middle of the afternoon, when the enemy advanced in our front for the purpose of making a charge, when this reserve force was ordered forward. The Federal artillery commenced a fierce cannonade upon our works, and just as the 20th Tennessee came within range of the shot and shell of the enemy, Lieut. McMurray, then a beardless youth, sang the following portion of "The Bonnie Blue Flag," which was very popular in our army:
And now, young men, a word to you,

If you would win the fair

Go to the field where honor calls

And win your lady there.

This gallant young officer, who had shed his blood on other fields, passed unscathed through that day, but was wounded the next day, and lost an arm at Atlanta afterward. At the close of the war he returned to Tennessee, where he won for a bride one of "the fairest of the fair." He is now one of the most prominent and prosperous physicians of Nashville. Dr. McMurray has been a leader in Confederate matters in Tennessee. He is an ex President of the State Association, First Vice President of the Tennessee Confederate Soldiers' Home, for which he has done much valuable service, and is the father of the young lady who is to represent Tennessee at Birmingham Reunion.

L. P. Harling, 19th South Carolina Infantry: I send you a short account of a little scrape that I was in at Snake Creek Gap. When Johnston left Resaca there was a detail made from our division (Ed. Johnson's) to hold the Gap until the troops could get away. We were posted there in the morning and spent a quiet day, but late in the evening it was reported that the enemy was coming and we were moved a little farther back. I was one of thirty videts deployed on each side of the road. It was dark and cloudy, and we lay on watch, until we began to hear sticks cracking. They crawled and sneaked right up to us, when they rose up and made for us, but when they got there we were like the Irishman's flea, gone. According to orders we fell back to the main line, the yanks following. We did not have long to wait, as they soon came on us in force, making three charges on our lines during the night, but we held them back. When day came they made preparations to wipe us up, but they had made a miscount. We were in breastworks built by McPherson in the spring when he was flanking Johnston at Dalton. They made charge after charge on us, but we held our own until in the afternoon, having killed and wounded scores of them. About three o'clock we found that we were being flanked by a force of cavalry, when we withdrew. I think it was one of the best fights of the war. It is said that there was a corps of yankee infantry, but we had not more than five hundred men, commanded by Gen. Brantley. We marched all night, but the yankees, seeming to be satisfied, did not follow. I would like to hear from some comrade who was in that fight.

CHARLEY HERBST, OF KENTUCKY.

There was no uncommissioned soldier in the Confederate Army more faithful and constant in all duties than Charley Herbst, of the 2d Kentucky Regiment. He is worthy of high place in the VETERAN. An intimacy with its editor since prison life at Camp Morton in 1862 enables him to give this positive testimony, and he does it with special pride and gratitude. It was intended to surprise him with the picture and sketch last month. The hundreds yet living of the four thousand fellow prisoners at Indianapolis will recall the cultured gentleman who was so quick and so accurate in his detail work at the little postoffice in Camp Morton during the spring and summer of 1862, and how their hearts throbbed when he would call their names on letters from home. Everybody knew " Charley." The writer introduced himself, and afterward Charley's unselfishness and friendly devotion secured many returns in hospital and in camp.

When he had four holes shot into his body at Dallas, Ga., on the Johnston Sherman campaign, and was located in a hospital, although lying on his back, he sent this message: " Now that my opportunities are better for writing, I will send you two letters for one."

Early after the war he was engaged for months in marking graves of Confederate dead between Dalton and Atlanta, and was helpful in identifying many a noble martyr who gave his life for Dixie. A letter of Mr. Herbst to some nieces furnishes the following data:

At the opening of the war he was in the hardware trade in New York City. He returned to Kentucky in April, 1861, and joined Company H, 2d Kentucky Regiment, the first regiment formed at Camp Boone, Tenn. He was made Commissary Sergeant. He was captured with his regiment at Fort Donelson and sent to Indianapolis, Indiana. While in Camp Morton he was made Sergeant of Division 13. He was appointed assistant to Mr. Evans, the camp postmaster, by Col. Owen, commandant of the prisoners. Later he was assigned to duty at the Sergeant's headquarters. He was with his regiment in the battles of Murfreesboro, Jackson, Miss., Mission Ridge, Rocky Face Gap, Resaca, and Dallas, Ga., where he was severely wounded, and was on crutches for about six months. While convalescing was assigned to office duty under Lieut. Battey, in Macon, Ga. In November he reported to the regiment at Stockbridge, Ga., where he saw Atlanta burning, and with his mounted regiment retreated to Macon, Ga. Later he was a bearer of dispatches to Dalton. Ga., for Col. Hiram Hawkins, of the 5th Kentucky Infantry. Again he was assigned to duty, under Col. John F. Cameron, who appointed him Sergeant Major of the detachment, with whom. he remained several months, Then he rejoined his regiment and remained with it up to the surrender under Gen. Johnston, April 26, 1865.

For twenty three years he served as Librarian in Atlanta and Macon, Ga.,, where he now lives. He has lived in that State nearly ever since the war, but has ever registered as "of Kentucky."

PREFERRED TO SHARE THE FARE OF HIS MEN.

M. T. Ledbetter, Piedmont, Ala.: I desire to pay an humble tribute to my Captain in the war, now Rev. E. T. Smythe. He resides in Anniston, Ala. The following incidents illustrate the love and respect between him and the privates of his company. Ours was Company C., Fifth Alabama Battalion. In November, 1861 (before the battalion was organized), our company was ordered from Richmond to Yorktown. We traveled by rail to West Point, where we went aboard an open top schooner on the York River. A Virginia winter was upon us in full blast, rain and sleet, making the weather extremely disagreeable. We reached Yorktown just at nightfall. The wind was blowing at a furious rate, and the waves were so high that we found it impossible to land, and were forced to cast anchor at a safe distance from the shore. We were without shelter, food or fire, and the elements fairly raged. After anchor was cast the Captain of the boat came around and invited Captain Smythe into his cabin to supper, but he very politely expressed his thanks for the invitation, saying his men had nothing to eat, and he would fare just as they did, and although the Captain of the boat and many of us urged him we could not induce him to change his mind, or to take even a cup of coffee, while his men were without food. I have known him, when weary and worn with marching, to positively decline the cordial, urgent appeals by superior officers to ride, those officials proposing to walk themselves.

In the winter of 1861 we were in winter quarters on the banks of the Potomac near Dumfries. One Sunday) when the ground was covered with snow to the depth of about eighteen inches, a requisition was made upon Capt. Smythe lor adetail from his company to assist in building a stable for the horse of Adjutant 0. Hooper. When the requisition was made and Capt. Smythe was informed of the purpose, he said to the Sergeant, "Tell Capt. Hooper my men do not build stables on Sunday. It is not a military necessity, and I do not allow them imposed upon in that way."

GENERAL JOHN R. BAYLOR, OF TEXAS.

Col. John T. Crisp, of Independence, Missouri, tells the St. Louis Republic an interesting story of the late Gen. John R. Baylor, of Texas. Crisp saw Baylor in El Paso not long after the war, and was so attracted to the stranger that he introduced himself and then became so interested in conversation with him that he forgot an engagement with his wife.

Baylor said that at the beginning of the war he had a company in Northwest Texas, and was surprised one morning when the picket reported to him the capture of a man who had "attempted to steal the horses of the camp." He was much surprised that a man "so far from. civilization should want to steal horses." The man was ordered before him, and was asked why he wanted to steal horses away out there.

I was not stealing them,

the man replied, in the very best tone and in the openest manner. " I Wanted them for a particular purpose and was taking them."

Continuing, Gen. Baylor said: "His coolness struck me with particular force, and I asked him what part of the country he was from, when he said California, For days I had been looking to the West as for a military Messiah in the person of Albert Sidney Johnston. with whom I had served in the army of the United States, and who was one of my chosen friends. Gen. Johnston was in California and I wanted to know whether or not he was coming to the East in the aid of the Southern cause. Well, when this fellow told me he was from California, I felt a renewed interest.

I asked 'did you know any of the prominent men of your State?' 

I know them all,' he replied with confidence. Did you ever hear of Albert Sidney Johnston?' 

'Very often,' was his calm response. " ' When did you see him ? ' 'The day before I left California.' " 'Did you talk to him?' " ' Yes, and at great length.'

' Did you hear him or any one say whether or not he was coming East to engage in this conflict?' 


The man looked earnestly at me for two or three minutes, and then he asked, ' What is your name?' " I told him 'John R. Baylor.'

' Well,' he proceeded, ' you may or you may not be the man you say you are. But I will tell you that Gen. Johnston is not three miles from here, and it was for him that I was taking your horses.' 
We saddled up and rode off with the stranger. After going about three miles we went up the skirt of a mountain, and when we reached the summit our guide pointed to a camp about a mile distant and below us. At the same instant the camping party noticed us. Gen. Johnston stepped to one side to get a better look at us, and as he raised his glass he recognized me and I recognized him. We rode rapidly to each other, and we actually embraced in tears for minutes."

Gen. Baylor and Gen, Johnston met there on that occasion, and they stood in that vast empire like two William Wallaces on the hills of Scotland. But one died at Shiloh, the other lost courage when the war was over, and, like a mighty oak riven and torn by a storm, was broken in body and spirit, it seemed hopelessly. But he went West, where he recuperated, and there, surrounded by his multiplying herds, became a figure in the great domain of Texas.

Gen. Baylor was a famous Texan and a powerful man in every way. He represented his State in the Confederate Congress, and was recognized long before the war as one of the brainiest, as well as the bravest physically, of its many heroic sons.

PERILOUS CROSSING OF THE TENNESSEE.

F. O., Chapel Hill, Tenn.: During the latter days of the great war Capt. Swame, his brother James, and Thos. Britton, of Forrest's cavalry, concluded to slip off from the command, which was below Huntsville, and make a trip home. They took their halters and bridles and constructed a raft and launched it Crusoe style, but were carried among the rocks by the current and the raft was demolished. They were left on a large flat rock, covered about two feet with water. Britton could not swim, so the Captain and his brother had to leave him for the night. They urged him not to go to sleep, and said they would swim over and rescue him afterward, but they found they had only reached an island, with no means of relief, so they all had to spend the night where they were. They could hear the prayers of Britton on the rock out in the river. The next morning some of the command followed after them, heard Britton and went out to his. relief. He dates his conversion from that hour, and is one of the main pillars of the church to day. TheSwame brothers, seeing that Britton was safe, started for another swim. They again reached shore, to find that they were on another island, and that the main stream was still before them. Hungry and wet, theywalked around until evening, when to their joy they saw a ferry boat coming over, in which there were several men and some women. These people pulled to the shore, and the Captain, without knowing whether they were friends or enemies, very politely asked to be carried over, but they showed utter indifference to his plea, and walked off, leaving one man to watch the boat. Seeing an axe in the boat, the Captain asked if he could get it to cut some wood. He slipped a motion to his brother, and they both leaped into the boat, cut the rope and pulled for the other shore, and were soon beyond the reach of gunshot. When over they turned the boat loose and made it home safe. The Captain is now one of the leading magistrates of Marshall County and the father of nineteen children. He is a good swimmer Still. Now, if any of that squad on the island should read this he will please tell how they got back home.

Caspar W. Bell, Salisbury, Mo.: I sympathize very much with the enterprise, and desire its success. My humble efforts will be cheerfully given to it. The Federals fought for the preservation of the Union, and the Confederates for the preservation of constitutional liberty as bequeathed to us by our revolutionary fathers. The Federals were successful in securing the victory for Union, and God grant that the Confederates, by their patriotic efforts, may cement that Union with the principles of constitutional liberty, thereby securing to the country Union and constitutional liberty, one and inseparable forever.

Since the above Mr. Bell has sent four, and expects more subscribers.

HARVEY'S SCOUTS.

In 1886 the survivors of this company met at Can o n, Miss., and appointed a committee to raise funds for a monument to their fallen comrades. This committee, as then formed, and afterward employed, met on the 26th of last February at the Hotel Royal, in New Orleans. Present George Harvey, Wiley N. Nash, W. H. Howcott, Wallace Wood, George Shelby, Scott Field and James L. Goodloe. These gentlemen hail from. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. The committee has collected, principally from the surviving scouts, $1,500, and accepted the design of F. H. Venn, of Memphis. It will be of valley granite, massive and classic, decorated with the Confederate battle flags, the Confederate States seal and sabres in copper, with appropriate wreaths and inscriptions , notably the names of those killed in battle. A young daughter of one of these soldiers, Miss Evelyn Nash, had collected copper cents since her early childhood, and donated five hundred to the fund. It is now proposed to fuse these coins into medallion, and fix it in the granite with words to indicate that it is her memorial to her father's comrades. This, probably is the only monument erected by one company to its dead, and will bear record of undaunted bravery. I think it is the only company especially mentioned by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, and Gen. Claiborne devoted several chapters to it in his History of Mississippi, the records of which were lost by fire, but these chapters were saved in the hands of Wiley N. Nash, who, fortunately, had the proof sheets.

With from forty to seventy men, this command has the record of 1,969 Federal soldiers killed and captured within less than two years. It does not seem that these ever were " buttermilk rangers," as nearly every one of the original forty six were either killed or wounded. The New Orleans Picayune gave accounts of the deliberations of this committee in its issues of February 27th and 28th, and March 1st, and the brilliant "Pearl Rivers" Mrs. Nicholson extended to them numerous courtesies. The original command was of picked men men from Wirt Adams' brigade, and served, mostly, under the heroic Maj. Gen. Wm. H. Jackson, Joseph E. Johnston, and Forrest. They were young, venturesome and successful, and the dignified lawyers, bankers and planters, of the survivors, hardly remind us of that hardy looking, reckless band of the fearful war time. The monument will be unveiled at Canton, Miss., next August. The survivors and their families will attend. J.

The Chattanooga Times: The CONFEDERATE VETERAN is of concern to every one of the brave men who were engaged in that great struggle between the North and the South, and so fair, so honest, and so impartial is its conduct that one becomes deeply interested in it, no matter whether he wore the blue or the gray. The last two numbers of the journal have been unusually interesting, and it is pleasing to note the growing circulation of Mr. Cunningham's paper.

The Woodville Miss., Camp, No. 49, U. C. V: Re solved, That this Camp approve the CONFEDERATE VETERAN, published by S. A. Cunningham, at Nashville, Tenn., and we hereby adopt it as the official organ of this Camp.

P. M. STOCKETT, Adjutant.

FORREST'S CAPTURE OF WOOLFORD.

Geo. W. Youngblood, Golden City, Mo.: I saw in the November VETERAN how Woolford was driven by the inch, as it were, from London to Knoxville. Here is what I want to say: I belonged to Forrest's old brigade, Company A, 11th Tennessee Cavalry. After the battle of Chickamauga we were camped at Cleveland, Tenn., and Woolford at Philadelphia, eight miles south of London. We started one morning, and rode all day and all night. The next morning we surrounded Woolford. He was ready for "the fun." The 11th was in line behind the artillery, the 4th in our rear, the 8th on our right, the 9th ana 10th on the road between Philadelphia and London to cut off their retreat. Forrest hadn't occupied a road running west, and when it got too hot for the boys in blue they started west. Forrest saw the gap, and ordered our regiment (the 11th) to dash across the road. It was about half a mile from us. At the same time the 4th took our place in the line. We got in about 200 yards of the road when Col. Holman ordered my company (A) and Company B to charge. We went at them like wild men, firing our revolvers, and with the old Confederate yell we went through their line, still shooting and yelling, Col. Holman at the same time coming down on the other side of the road. They whirled back for town. With the old 11th Tennessee still after them, they rushed through Philadelphia for London. Here they met the 9th and 10th. The only thing they could do was to surrender. We got 500 prisoners, 7 pieces of artillery, 82 wagons, 600 stand of small arms, with all of their camp equipage. This was before the seige at Knoxville. Longstreet was then on his march from Chattanooga. He came up in a few days. Then we drove them into Knoxville, where we cut their line in two. After the bottle I saw some dead yanks in the branch and pulled some of them out.

THE FUND FOR CAPT. SLOAN.

In receipting for the $77.75 so generously contributed from El Paso, Texas, and the other sums received and forwarded since issue if the March VETERAN, Capt. J. N. Sloan,of Pontotoc, Miss., writes: "What shall I say to these good people ? God bless you, my friend, and each contributor. I am proud that I was a Confederate soldier and did my duty in behalf of our beautiful Southland. Please say to each that I do most assuredly thank them for their generous contributions."

Judge Wyndharn Kemp, Adjutant of Jno. C. Brown Camp, El Paso, Texas, March 15: At the meeting of Jno. C. Brown Camp, U. C. V., held the 2d inst., $10 was appropriated for the relief of Capt. J. N. Sloan, of Pontotoc, Miss., whose appeal was published in the CONFEDERATE VETERAN, and a committee of two appointed to solicit aid from the people of El Paso. As the result I inclose you New York draft, to your order for Capt. Sloan's benefit, of $77.75, receipt of which please acknowledge. I also inclose a Mexican paper dollar, which Capt. Sloan may wish to preserve as a souvenir. It was contributed by a friend. We are greatly indebted to Dr. W. M. Yandell and W. J. Fewell for raising among outside friends the assistance for Capt. Sloan contributed outside of our Camp.

FLAG OF THE TWENTIETH TENNESSEE.

TRIBUTE TO THIS GALLANT REGIMENT BY MRS. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE.

There was perhaps no honor paid a regiment in the service of the Western Army greater than that to the 20th Tennessee by Gen. John C. Breckenridge. Mrs. Breckenridge was with her husband at his army quarters much of the time, and became deeply interested in its success in every way. It occurred to her to make a flag from a handsome silk dress that she had worn in state at Washington and present it to the "bravest regiment of her husband's corps." Col. O'Hara, the Adjutant General, said at its presentation:

I have a duty devolved upon me to day which I esteem with honor and perform with pleasure. I am deputed to present to you a flag, wrought by the hands of the ladies of Kentucky. The inquiry may suggest itself why the distinguished gentleman charged to bestow this banner has not chosen to present it to a regiment from his own State. The noble Kentuckians who have relinquished all the ties and almost all the hope of home to devote their lives and their all to the cause are contented with the assured appreciation of their illustrious commander and countryman, and with the proud consciousness of having nobly done their duty, and their constant and equal devotion to the cause leave no criterion by which their General might distinguish among them. He and they feel that it is to a regiment of some other State that the honor of bearing this flag will be more appropriately confided, and the General has felt a delicacy and difficulty of making a selection among the various regiments which constitute his command, and many of which have won his admiration by their gallant conduct under his own eye on many a stricken field. After mature consideration, however, in view of its uniform gallantry and length of service under his command, he has concluded that it is upon the 20th Tennessee Regiment that these colors will be most properly bestowed. 

In the first memorable battle on the soil of Kentucky, in this war, the 20th Tennessee was signalized by its devoted patriotism, discipline and valor. At Fishing Creek, when the sternest were dismayed, and the timid yielded to the panic, the gallantry of the 20th Tennessee shone forth with conspicuous lustre. At Shiloh, when the reeling battalions of the enemy confessed the superiority of Southern valor, the banners of the 20th Tennessee were among the foremost in that struggle. At the bombardment of Vicksburg, throughout the sulphurous carnival that raged so many days and nights around that heroic city, the 20th Tennessee stood, baring its scarred front to the storm of shot and shell. At Baton Rouge, where our Southern chivalry rushed upon the insolent invaders of their country, the 20th Tennessee was again seen in the van of the battle. At Murfreesboro, whether on the left of Stone's River among the bloody cedars, or on the right in the fearful charge, on the 2d of January, which laid low many a noble spirit, the 20th Tennessee maintained its bright renown, and plucked new laurels from the jaws of death.

In view of this record of its heroic service and patriotic devotion, it has been decided, I feel sure with no offensive discrimination, to confer upon the 20th Tennessee Regiment this beautiful banner, wrought by the fair hands of the most distinguished women of Kentucky. I feel that I may safely undertake to declare that it is the opinion of those ladies that to no more deserving and loyal custody could this emblem of our cause be confided, and let me, fellow soldiers, assure you that the men of Kentucky share their opinion and indorse their award. They feel, also, that it is to no alien hands this trust is confided, while there is pulse in the breast of a member of the 20th Tennessee they feel assured that this emblem will be cherished and guarded as more precious than life itself. In this confidence I, as their representative, commit this banner to your keeping. I believe that history has already determined the common political fate of Kentucky and Tennessee, and that this simple ceremony here to day is but the symbol of the affections of two million people with the fortunes and destiny of the Southern Confederacy.

The following response was made by Col. Thomas Benton Smith, whose sad calamity before Nashville, after he surrendered, in having his head horribly cut by a saber until he was blinded by the blood, and was led to the rear to sink down in a line of prisoners, will be remembered. Col. Smith was the gallant commander of this regiment. He said :
Colonel, in behalf of the officers and soldiers of my regiment, I accept this beautiful flag. My language does not permit me to express my feelings on this occasion. This unexpected compliment is doubly pleasing, coming as it does from Kentucky, the land of chivalry, and from the noblest of her daughters. It comes from a State whose name is linked with the brightest jewels of American history. Her women are as lovely as her mountain flowers. For my officers and soldiers I thank you. When the storm of battle rages fiercest, amid the wildest conflict, we will think of the fair donors and cling to this banner. For the complimentary manner, sir, in which you have presented it, I thank you. 

Soldiers! to you I commit the gift. In its folds rest your honor. Let it never be contaminated by a foeman's hand. Let the Confederacy and the world see that in the hour of her darkest trials Tennessee will stand by the colors of Kentucky as they would by the standard of their native State. They feel that their honor, their safety, their people are one."

The poor foot sore, battle scarred boys of the 20th felt proud that day, being the chosen few of many thousands. And they would every one have died before yielding that flag. Yet it. was and is lost to them at last. It was put in a trunk and started from North Carolina to Tennessee, but never arrived. It is in some one's possession. To them it is a flag and nothing more. To the 20th it is a glorious heritage beyond value. It is made of heavy silk, alternate bars of white and red, the colors being in triangles, and the points of the triangles meeting at the center, clasping a large shield.

This flag had as many sacrifices as the old one. At Hoover's Gap, the first battle it entered, in its defense was slain Ben Yeargin and Jimmie Callender, arid wounded Wallace Evans and John Fly. At Chickamauga John Fly was wounded again, and Ike Hyde, Tom B. Roach and Billy Gant, and at last was carried out by John W. Morgan. At Jonesboro the color guard were killed or wounded, when Maj. John Guthrie,in command of the regiment, seized it, and tearing it from the staff, wrapped it around his body to carry it off. But this was the cause of his death, for no sooner had he done it than he became the mark of the enemy, and he was soon mortally wounded. But he got away with it. This officer is one whose merits have never been fully recognized in public. Of retiring disposition and bashfulness to a fault, he kept himself as much out of observation as possible. But Ney was not braver on the battle field. At the various battles following the flag was borne as gallantly as ever, but there is no record of it until at the fatal battle of Franklin, where the color guard were all killed or wounded, and the flag was brought off by Joe J. Smith, who accidentally stumbled over it during one of the repulses. Any information about it would be gratefully received by members of the regiment, and the VETERAN would give out the good news with pride.

J. L. Gee, of the 20th, Franklin, Tenn., kept the above record. He kept a roster of his company through the war, noting who were in the battles and the casualties. It was he and his friend, P. G. Smithson, now in charge of the Tennessee Confederate Home, with whom Gen, Breckinridge divided his two biscuits at Shiloh, as reported in February VETERAN.

KEPT HIS CONFEDERATE GRAY UNIFORM.

Isaac T. Moreland, Pine Apple, Ala.: I have the Confederate gray uniform which I wore at Gen. Lee's surrender. Peace to his ashes! When I returned to my desolate home I laid this suit carefully away, intending to keep it so long as I lived as a relic of that devastating war. When I occasionally take a look at it it recalls to memory many days and nights of pleasure and. sorrow of days of trial and privation.. Never will I disown or scorn the name of rebel, if the word "rebel" implies a Southern soldier.

Far from me be that spirit

which would engender or open afresh any bitterness between the blue and gray. I have a high estimate of the soldier who wore the blue as well as the gray. The Federal soldier who was actuated by deeds of patriotism is as much entitled to honor and respect as his enemy. In many cemeteries they sleep side by side. The loving hands and patriotic hearts which decorate the Southern soldier's grave, in a like loving and kind spirit decorate the graves of the Northern soldier who fell and was buried far from home and friends defending a cause which he felt was right.

MY CONFEDERATE UNIFORM.

ONE OF LEE'S MISEBABLES," FORT WORTH, TEX,

When first I put this uniform on,
A Hotspur of fifteen,
Mother and sister had I none ,
Brothers? Hal was the only one ,
I was the Benjamin youngest son
Sighing for victories to be won
Ere I had turned sixteen,
As we marched proudly away.
At Petersburg my brother died,
In the crater's awful zone ,
In that red hell
Of flame and shell,
He breathed farewell,
As he foremost fell,
I trod war's path alone,
And I marched sadly on.

RETURN OF MAJ. JAMES REILLY'S SWORD.

Capt. E. Lewis Moore, of Framingham, Mass., wrote a letter last October inquiring about Maj. James Reilly, to whom he wished to restore a sword captured at Fort Fisher, which he wore "so honorably" in the two fights there and in the Army of Northern Virginia. Maj. Reilly replied requesting the sword by express, "collect," saying:

You, my brave and gallant opponent in war, fully illustrate the magnanimous character of a good soldier and a gentleman. I fought you with a determination that afternoon (from the time Gen. Whiting and Col. Lamb were wounded, about 3 o'clock P. M,, command devolved on me) that would be hard to excel, but it was like unto a mole and a mountain up hill work. Your troops were all around my gallant little band of Tar Heels, fighting from traverse to traverse, with no hope but fighting to the last ditch. At dark, when I fell back from Fisher, I had only forty four men and two officers with me. I formed my little command and moved to Battery Buchanan. When I saw the condition of affairs there I called Maj. Hill and Capt. Van Benthusen, and held a consultation and came to a conclusion to surrender. After waiting some time I observed the skirmish line of your troops advancing toward the Point. We three went forward about three hundred yards and stopped. I took my handkerchief and placed it on the point of my sabre and awaited your coming, when the surrender was made about 8 o'clock P. M. It was a distressing time to us. When I surrendered my sabre to you it was with a heart of the deepest depression. As a brave soldier you treated us courteously, and showed no bravado over our defeat, for which accept my sincere thanks. Of the other officers that were with me on that memorable occasion Major Hill is dead, and I have not heard from Capt. Van Benthusen since the surrender. 
Captain, if you have time come to see me, and we will visit the Fort, and see its ruins."

CAMP NOTES.

The Camp at Chattanooga has 125 members, with an interesting attendance at the monthly meetings,

At Dalton, Ga., there is a membership of 75. They are doing a good work in looking after sick and suffering Confederate veterans. Quite a pathetic incident occurred last month. Mr. G. W. Hamilton, an old soldier who was wounded in the war, and who never entirely recovered, died without a relative near him. His wife had been dead ten years or more, and his children were all married and living at a distance. But his old comrades looked after him and gave him every attention. Capt. Roberts, who commands the Post, is one of the best known men in the County. There are other citizens of Dalton, too young to be veterans, but who are interested in the welfare of the CONFEDERATE VETERAN. Among them is Rev. J. G. Orr, President of Dalton Female College, and Mr, A. H. Shaver, the genial editor of the Dalton Argus, who has always a good word for this periodical.

Gen. W. L. Cabell, "Old Tige," has appointed comrade John C. Cox, from whom a yankee bullet was extracted and referred to in last VETERAN, & member of his staff with the rank of Brigadier General. It is an honor that will gratify his friends.
Capt. Stockton. Heth, during the Confederate War, served on the staff of his brother, General Harry Heth. On the eve of the battle of the Wilderness Captain Heth had a good many orders to transmit from the General to his subordinate commanders, and was very active. Gen. Jno. B. Gordon stopped to breakfast with General Heth early that morning, and was requested by General Heth to hold family prayers. General H. was calling in his staff and other officers about headquarters, and saw his brother passing on horseback in discharge of his duties, when he beckoned him to stop for prayers. The gallant Captain mistook the signal for something else, and shaking his canteen, said, "No, I thank you, brother Henry, I have just had 'one,' and my canteen is full." The General "smiled," and his head was soon bent in devotion to the God of battles. The battle was fought that day, and Captain Heth acquitted himself with great gallantry.

Gen. Heth was asked about the above and he replied: " During the fall, when on the lines around Petersburg, Va., I suggested to Gen. Lee that I be permitted to make an attack on a certain point of the enemy's line. He consented, and sent Gen. John B. Gordon's command to assist in the proposed attack, Gen. Gordon and I were riding ahead of our commands, accompanied by our staffs and couriers, we came to the point where we had to leave the Boydton plank road, where was situated an old cabin, or school house, where we halted for our commands to come up. Gen. Gordon suggested, as we were about going into battle, that we go into this house and have prayers, and both direct our staffs and couriers to go into the house. Looking down the road I saw my brother and aid, Capt. Stockton Heth, talking to some one. I beckoned to him to come and go into the school house. He replied, 'Thank you, brother Henry, I have just had one."'

Rev. J. R. Deering: I had rather rear my boys barefooted than have them. grow up without veneration and affection for the memory of the men who fought and fell under the tri barred flag! Let them have the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.

Mrs. Belle Lee Parkins, Landsdown, Va.: Some one in October VETERAN gave the credit for Confederate victory at Leesburg Ball's Bluff, called by the Federals to South Carolina troops. It is an error. There were were no troops there from the Palmetto State. This victory was won by the Eighth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Mississippi Regiments. The Thirteenth was near the mouth of Goose Creek, keeping in check 4,000 of the enemy who would otherwise have crossed there and turned their flank. My home was near enough the battle for the windows to rattle fearfully. * * * We took some Howitzers from the enemy and turned on them. My brother, David L. Hixon, after being in the fight nearly all day, was one of the volunteers who was out until midnight taking prisoners. Tell W. Gart Johnson to write again. The inclosed wooden button was worn by one of Pickett's men, and was in the bravest and most daring charge made during the whole war, that of storming Cemetery Heights at Gettysburg, Pa.

EFFORT IS MADE TO BE IMPARTIAL.

Vic Reinhardt, Terrill, Texas, sends the following: " It rejoices me to see for once some prominence given the Army of Tennessee, which I find in the VETERAN. Not that I would in the least tarnish or diminish the wonderful achievements and bravery of our brethren in the Virginia Army, but I want to see more mention of those boys who, without shoes, clothing, or food, almost, endured the hardships and faced the enemy in the Army of Tennessee. I have so often heard it said that the yankees left their rations at the fire of the first volley. Such was not the case with those blue coated fellows facing us from Shiloh to Bentonville, N. C. The exception is not sufficient to make it respectable. We long for statements from this branch of service because those who were in distant fields have hardly a conception of the bravery displayed during the four years all along the line of this army. They knew very little of the courage of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Perryville, Chickamauga, New Hope Church, Franklin, and an hundred engagements where valor unexcelled crowned the ragged, half fed army, without murmuring or discontent, save rare exceptions. These men have so long stood by, and many of them gone on into eternity, without hearing the commendation their valor bought and the bravery and heroism their richest blood paid for. I rejoice, too, with all other veterans in their marvelous achievements, even though our flag is now lost in the folds of the stars and stripes."

JOHN BOYD, MAJ. GEN. U. C. V.

John Boyd, Major General U. C. V. for Kentucky, was born in Richmond, Ky., January 7, 1841. At eleven years he emigrated to Texas and resided about a year in Indianola, and afterward the same time in Richmond, He was at the latter place during the yellow fever scourge in 1853, his family suffering great loss. He returned to Lexington, Ky., in 1854, where, with the exception of the war, he has ever since resided. His education was limited, and obtained wholly from the public schools. He joined the army of the Confederate States at the time it occupied Central Kentucky, in 1862, and served as a private in the Buckner Guards of Cleburne's division throughout the war. He participated in every battle in which that illustrious division was engaged, and was surrendered with the Army of Tennessee by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston at Greensborough, N. C. His parole is dated May 1, 1865, and he has preserved it.

In addition to being the commander of the Kentucky Division, U. C. V., he is also the President of the Confederate Veteran Association of Kentucky, an organization which has done and is still doing a vast amount of good in aiding the living and burying the dead Confederates of his State. This Association has a liberal admission fee, and its bank account has hardly been under two thousand dollars at any time for years. He has recently done a work for the South that entitles him to the gratitude of every man who honors the cause for which the Southern people sacrificed so much. He has a complete list of the Confederate dead buried in the Confederate cemetery at Lexington, and has recently begged the money and erected a beautiful monument over them. He has had their names cut on the monument and numbered, and a corresponding number at the head of every grave. Every Southern State is represented.

Gen. Boyd is so diffident that the VETERAN thanks him for the sacrifice of allowing this prominence. He rarely ever goes from home. He stays there and works for his devoted wife, and, as indicated above, for Confederates living and dead.

DEDICATION OF CHICAGO MONUMENT.

Gen. John C. Underwood writes from Washington City, April 12, that the dedication of the Confederate Monument at Oakwoods Cemetery, Chicago, will take place on May 30, 1894. Gen. Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, will deliver the dedicatory address, and Maj. Henry T. Stanton, of Kentucky, will read a poem, and other ceremonies will be announced in next issue. He adds: " The monument cost ten thousand ($10,000) dollars, and is the only Confederate monument erected in a Northern State. By authority of the United States Government four cannon will be parked, and piles of shot made on the Government plot in said cemetery in additional ornamentation thereof, a recognition which should be fully appreciated by the veterans. I will announce railroad transportation rates, by circular, in the near future."

The superintendent of transportation at New Orleans will give round trip ticket to Birmingham for $7, and the Trans Mississippi agents have promised to meet any railroad rates made east of the Mississippi. This would make the round trip from Dallas to Birmingham about $15. It is expected that an Alabama, State organization of Sons of Confederate Veterans will be effected at time of the Birmingham Reunion. Camp Clayton, of Birmingham, is sending many letters to the Camps throughout Alabama, and is meeting with most cordial responses. This is as it should be. The Sons of Veterans must be able to take up the work as the older men lay it down.

Camp Clayton has chosen the VETERAN for its organ, and the State organization is expected to do go.

REUNION OF TEXAS VETERANS AT WACO.

The division of Texas United Confederate Veterans had an interesting and profitable gathering at Waco, April 5th, 6th and 7th. The parade was seriously dampened by a shower of rain, but in the Assembly Hall spirits revived. Rev. Frank Page, one of the youngest Confederates, having been sworn in as a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute, Chaplain of the Pat Cleburne Camp, at Waco, introduced the service with this significant prayer:

Almighty God, the creator and governor of the world, we ask thy blessing and direction, upon this assembly. We thank thee for the love of country and of home with which thou hast endowed mankind, made in thine own image. We thank thee for the noble men thou hast given us in times past, and that so many of their companions are with us to day. May the memory of our fallen heroes ever be dear to us. May we always honor these brave soldiers of our country who survive. Our Father, comfort and bless them in their declining years. Look with mercy upon them and their families, and supply their wants. We have no bitterness against any. We pray for all the soldiers of our common country, both North and South. Bless this country, especially this great commonwealth. O, Lord, save the State, and mercifully hear us when we call upon thee. Give peace in our time, O Lord, for it is thou, Lord. only that maketh us to dwell in safety. And as in times past these men have been faithful, so may they be true soldiers of the cross in the great battle of life, following Jesus Christ, the great Captain of our salvation, against sin, the flesh and the devil, and may peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, flourish in our borders. We ask it all for Christ's sake.

The welcome by Judge George dark so emphasized the position taken by the VETERAN on the "Lost Cause" that it is given in full: Comrades and Confederate veterans, I need not say friends, I need not extend to you a formal welcome to Waco, because you knew in your hearts that you had that welcome before you came in our midst. The pleasant but unnecessary duty has devolved upon me to open to you the hearts and the homes of this good city, and I stand here, comrades, to bid you a royal welcome to royal hearts that beat in the home of Granbury and of Harrison and of Ross.

As I look upon this sea of faces, and hear the yell that is not unfamiliar to my ears, my thoughts, fellow soldiers, go back many, many years. Without bitterness and without malice I stand here to claim the proud honor which belongs to us all that we were Confederate soldiers.
It is sometimes said that our cause is lost. Some causes are never lost. They may be crushed in defeat, they may go down in seeming ignominy, but in the end, like truth crushed to earth, they rise again. The Confederate soldier is always and under all circumstances true to principle. There was no selfishness in his heart, no thought of the morrow with him. He put all upon his country's altar, and went forth and gave his time and his heart and his life to the cause. What did that cause represent ? I said it was not lost, and I repeat the assertion. It could not be lost.

It stood first for the rights of the States. Upon its solid foundation hangs the liberty and prosperity of the whole of America. Inside of eleven years after the surrender of our armies, before the grandest tribunal that ever sat upon earth, it was decided that the States were supreme in this nation. We are not indebted to our friends, soldiers, for this decision, but it came from those who had been our enemies.

They went upon record with the solemn declaration that no matter what might be the action of a State in the selection of a President its action was final. So that part of our cause, instead of being lost, is triumphant throughout the north and the south, the east and the west as the highest law in the land. There was another great principle for which we stood and that is that we fought against the interference of the government with the rights of the property of the individual. Our contest was broad upon the idea of individual rights of life, liberty and property. The fight is still upon us, fellow soldiers, the fight for constitutional guarantees in this country, the fight for the enjoyment of our lives, the right of the enjoyment of our liberty and that equal dignity of right to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Tell me not that the cause is lost when hosts of Americans are marshaling in defense of these rights, and that flag (pointing to a Confederate banner), the flag of the old Confederates, typifies the fight. Turn it loose and let them all see it ! (The man holding the flag shook it out, and the whole building rang with cheers.) Brave men have followed it, patriots have died under it, lovely woman has blessed it with her prayers and consecrated it with her tears. It stood for the rights of life, liberty and property from 1861 to 1865. It didn't tell a lie then. It speaks no lie to day.

We stand to day with our brethren of the whole country, marshaled now under a different flag (taking hold of the Union banner), and we will be as true to this as we were to that. With our faces firmly set, fellow soldiers, against the aggressions of government, against the aggressions of anarchy, against the aggressions of communism in every shape, come from whatever quarter it may, standing true to the Constitution and the flag of our country, in defense of the rights and liberties of this people, we would not join any band that would march upon Washington now. We marched upon Washington once before in a manly fight and under the true flag, and the next time we march upon Washington we will take this flag with us (pointing to the United States flag amid cheering) to cover us, and we will raise it against the hosts of communism, let them be led by whom they may. Am I not right when I say it's a misnomer to call our cause lost ? It could not be lost. God, in his inscruitable wisdom, if we were untrue to principle for which we contended, and of which we are not ashamed, would raise up another race that would prove better men than we were. The cause is triumphant, and the Confederate soldier will go down into history occupying the proud page he should occupy, and we every year will turn aside one day at least to weep over our dead and talk over the trying times of the past.

We meet in no spirit of malice or of strife, standing as we have ever stood, true to the flag of our country and to the institutions of our government, and I know we will ever stand true to the principles of our cause, which are eternal.

Now, welcome again to Waco, welcome to our homes. Let enjoyment rule all of our hearts) but, comrades, let us not forget in our moment of joy those old heroes who have crosssed the river. Let us make it a point, according to our means, to rear to their memories grand monuments, to show to all future eyes the deeds done by them, the cause for which they fought and the cause for which they died.

Gen. L. S. Ross, an honored ex Governor of Texas, delivered a very interesting address upon that section of Texas, remembering when the first cabin was built, and when the postoffice was in a " bee gum " hat. He paid beautiful tribute to his faithful comrades of the war. Judge Reagan, who was Postmaster General, and is the only member of the original Confederate Cabinet living, gave an address, held over for May VETERAN.

Charles Todd Quintard, Bishop of Tennessee who has ever been an honor to comrades at home and abroad : SEWANEE, TENN., March 7, 1894. Dear Mr. Cunningham : The CONFEDERATE VETERAN comes to me full of good things, and I wish to thank you for your faithful work in giving to the Confederate soldiers such an admirable and accurate record of the days that "tried men's souls." The typography, the illustrations, and the whole "get up" of the paper, leave nothing to be desired. The editorials and letters of correspondents are full of interest to one who took part in the struggle to preserve the constitutional rights of the States. I am yours with all good wishes.

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 theFebruary 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.

A singular publication appeared recently in the New York World. It is dated as a telegram at Atlanta, and said, "Judge Samuel B. Herit, who is now seriously ill at Suwanee Springs, Fla., while reclining upon his bed to day," etc. He then goes on to repeat what. Mr. Stephens is reported to have said about the Hampton Roads Conference, viz., that Mr. Lincoln would agree to any terms the South would make, provided the Union was restored. How a correspondent in Atlanta could hear a conversation that day in Florida. strengthens doubt concerning reports which are so resolutely denied. Of one thing all honest men must agree, that Mr. Davis believed that the cause of the South would ultimately prevail.

UNITED CONFEDERATE VETERANS.

CHANGES IN ORDER OF DEPARTMENTS CONSIDERED.

GEN. JOHN C. UNDERWOOD, CHICAGO,

In consequence of the rapid growth of the United confederate Veterans, the department east of the Mississippi River, formerly commanded by the late Gen. E. Kirby Smith, will, at the Birmingham meeting of the Federation, probably be divided into two, and may be three, departments, and in view of such possible legislation it may be well, and can certainly do no harm, to consider the following suggestions. It seems to me that the territory east of the Mississippi River should be divided into three departments, as follows:

1. The "Atlantic" Department, representing in the main the Army of Northern Virginia, and comprising the States of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the Northern States east of Ohio, to be commanded by either of the distinguished Generals, Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, or Fitzhugh Lee, of Virginia.

2. The "Gulf" department, largely representing the Army of Tennessee, and composed of the, States of Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, to be commanded by one of the eminent Generals, W. H. Jackson, of Tennessee, or Stephen D. Lee, of Mississippi.

3. The "Northern" Department, embracing Kentucky and the Northern States east of the Mississippi River and west of Pennsylvania, to be commanded by Gen. S. B. Buckner, of Kentucky.

At present I command the provisional department of the North, comprising the States of Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia and the Northern States east of the Mississippi River, and having in a manner introduced and organized the U. C. V. where possible therein, I think it propitious to divide my department, and in fact all the territory east of said river, as outlined above, and to place in command the most distinguished and popular of the living Confederate Generals, that the U. C. V. Federation may receive the benefit of their official connection with it as members high in command.

The " Trans Mississippi " Department should remain as now organized, with its several divisions, in the large State of Texas, where the U. C. V. membership is so numerous as to make such an organization not only possible, but advantageous and desirable, and Gen. W. L. Cabell, who has done so much toward recruiting the Federation and perfecting its organization, should be made a full General in recognition of his services, and besides retaining his departmental command, he should be made second in command to the illustrious Gordon, who, for the present, at least, ought to be kept at the head of the Federation.

The reason for making a fourth permanent department by adding Kentucky to the Northern States previously designated is, that thereby there will be embraced a first class division of living Confederates with the scattered Camps throughout Northern States, and, all being under the command of the officer having charge of the many thousands of dead Southern soldiers buried at Indianapolis, Columbus, Johnson's Island, Chicago, Madison, Rock Island, Alton, etc., he will, by such means, be the better enabled to care for their graves and the cemetery grounds in which they are located.

The U. C. V. Federation having become a great organization throughout all the Southern States and the entire country where Confederate veterans are resident, I believe the present to be the proper time for bringing to the front the greatest possible number of the living Confederate heroes who, because of their illustrious deeds, possess extraordinary military renown, and thereby will be enabled to work the advancement of the Federation more successfully than if they were less distinguished personages.

Personally, I have lost none of my enthusiasm, zeal and willingness to labor for the advancement of the movement, but, recognizing the advantage to be derived by placing the Generals named in command, I am perfectly willing to surrender my department command to the chivalric Buckner. I do not think that the selection of division commanders should be made alone on the basis of the past honorable services and the military renown of officers, but more particularly on account of the availability of the men and their activity and enthusiasm in recruiting and otherwise working for the Federation.

Again, the life of the organization is undoubtedly vested in the annual meetings of the regular council of the Federation and general reunion of veterans from all sections of the Southern country, and in furtherance of such necessity a centrally located and thoroughly Southern city should be selected as the permanent headquarters of the Federation. With that object I would suggest New Orleans as the most advantageously located point, and the week previous to ''Mardi Gras" as the propitious time for holding such annual reunions. By such a course the meetings of the veterans would always take place in a large, conveniently located city, commodious in its appointments, liberal in its hospitality, and lavish in its truly Southern pulsations. By selecting the time named for the reunions, the veterans and their families could enjoy the Mardi Gras festivities, meet during the most pleasant month of the year in the South, and easily avail themselves of the half rate for round transportation, always made for the New Orleans Mardi Gras occasions throughout the whole South and larger portion of the North, and thereby insure a greater attendance than could possibly be obtained any other way.

I trust that these suggestions will receive such favor as to secure place in your valuable columns,

A BRAVE SOUTH CAROLINIAN.

Notices of a few of the many brave men of the Confederate Army have appeared in your columns. I send you a record of one whose name I have forgotten, if I ever learned it, in the hurly burly of the day, and I write with the hope that the recital of the incident may recall it to some of the actors in the scene.

About eight or ten days before Gen. Lee evacuated the lines at Petersburg he had been preparing for the inevitable by throwing boards across the trenches, covering them with earth and blankets, and quietly withdrawing his guns from the lines. These were parked near the reservoir at Petersburg, and the preparations would have been completed for a successful retreat if the judgment of the President had not over ruled ruled that of the General. Deserters, however, reported these preparations to the enemy, and they opened a fire upon us that lasted some time before we made any reply. When our batteries and mortars responded the enemy concluded that they had been deceived. A South Carolina battery was stationed about where the plank road crossed our lines, and it did splendid service. A Lieutenant was in command of the guns, and in the heat of the fight a shell fell a short distance in advance of this officer, and plowed up the ground under him, so that he seemed to have had his legs cut off as he fell into the hole. As he sunk down he noticed that one of his guns hung fire, he gave the command which sent the proper man to the front of the gun with his priming wire, and before he touched the vent the gun was discharged, and none of the gunners were hurt. I have often told the story as an evidence of the cool gallantry of an officer who saved the lives or limbs of his men, when he thought himself to be mortally wounded. He escaped, however, unhurt. What is his name?

FLAG OF THE FIRST REGIMENT SOUTH CAROLINA REGULAR ARTILLERY.

CLAUDINE RHETT, CHARLESTON, S. C,

One of the most interesting incidents of the winter of 1892 93 to the veterans of Charleston has been the recovery of the long lost regimental colors of the 1st Regiment South Carolina Regular Artillery and their presentation by the surviving officers of that command to the city of Charleston.

In the early days of the civil war the ladies of Charleston, by the hands of Mrs. Gen. R. S. Ripley, gave a handsome silk flag to the artillerists who then garrisoned Fort Moultrie. During the bombardment of Fort Sumter the hot shot fired from Moultrie caused Maj. Anderson's surrender of Fort Surnter to the Confederates, April 13, '61. A detachment of these artillerists was then placed in charge of Fort Sumter, and was thenceforth known as the 1st Regiment South Carolina Regular Artillery. The flag went with them, and was used daily on parade.

Iron plated ships of war are now in use all over the world, but they were first tried in Charleston harbor, April 7, 1863, when Ericsson's fleet of monitors attacked Fort Surnter. They were confident that they would take Charleston, but our artillerists gave them such a warm reception that in the course of two hours the much vaunted iron clad fleet withdrew from the contest badly worsted.

Fighting for Charleston began again on July 10, 1863, and the guns of Surnter were employed by day and by night until that fortress was reduced to the condition of a silent, dismantled earthwork, when it was placed in charge of an infantry guard, and the artillerists were withdrawn and sent to man other batteries around the harbor, after forty eight days of continuous service, exposed to hunger and great fatigue. Gen. Beauregard, in recognition of their services, issued the following complimentary order:
Charleston, S. C., August 27, 1863. General The Commanding General has witnessed with genuine pride and satisfaction the defense made of Fort Surnter by Col. Rhett, his officers and the men of the 1st Regiment South Carolina Regular Artillery, noble fruits of the discipline, application to their duties, and the soldierly bearing of officers and men, and of the organization of the regiment. In the annals of war no stouter defense was ever made, and no work ever before encountered as formidable a bombardment as that under which Fort Sumter has been successfully held.

Respectfully your obedient servant,

THOMAS JORDAN, Chief of Staff.

To Brig. Gen. Ripley, Commanding First Military District South Carolina, Charleston, S. C.

When Charleston was evacuated in 1865, Lieut. Col. Yates, who commanded the regiment (Col. Alfred Rhett being in command of the brigade of regulars), left the flag in Charleston, no other flag than the Confederate battle flag being allowed in the field. Upon his return to that city, after the surrender of Johnston's army, he was informed that the flag had been hidden in a garret for safe keeping, and had been destroyed by rats. Recently it was found in the hands of a relic seller, and was immediately bought by two of the officers of the 1st Artillery for $100.

Col. Yates' widow resides in Bessemer, Ala., with her daughter, Mrs. Roberts, who was born on the 13th of April, 1.861, and was baptized Belle Sumter, in memory of her father's participation in the capture of Fort Sumter. No sooner did these noble women hear of the finding of the old flag than they claimed the right as Col. Yates' representatives to bear the expense of procuring it for the city of Charleston, and forwarded the money for that purpose. The recovered emblem of the 1st Regiment South Carolina Regular Artillery was then formally presented to the City Council, and has been placed alongside of the full length portrait of Gen. Beauregard, and just above Charleston's proudest historical treasure, the sword of Beauregard.


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