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Confederate Veteran
1894 pg 8
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Confederate Veteran July 1894.
MR. IRBY MORGAN.
A very remarkable man was Irby Morgan, whose picture, an excellent likeness, is given herewith.
Mr. Morgan was for many years a leader in the mercantile interests at the capital of Tennessee. He associated with him several young men who also have attamed distinction in business circles.
It is, however, concerning his career in the war and his charming traits with his family with which readers of the VETERAN are to be entertained. The book written by his wife, from memory after thirty years, tells of these things. Her thrilling and pathetic story of "How It Was" during the four years tells how Mr. Morgan went about procuring materials for the army. He visited New Orleans, Louisville, and other cities, procured material and established a percussion cap manufactory in Nashville. He next went to Texas and bought 450,000 pounds of wool, shipped it to Nashville, and then re shipped it to factories farther South. He procured in this way for the Confederacy a half million yards of Confederate gray at seventy five cents per yard when it was selling in the market at five dollars.
Greater zeal was never shown by man for his country. Besides these great enterprises, Mr. Morgan volunteered as a private soldier in the regiment of his brother, John T. Morgan, now United States Senator from Alabama. His services in procuring supplies for the army were so valuable that Merideth P. Gentry and others secured for him the appointment of Division Quartermaster, but he sent the commission "posthaste " back to Richmond, and went on a private soldier to the end. He carried to the grave a bullet from a gun of the enemy. He was afterwards nearly killed by the fall of his horse when the command was near Augusta.
In a letter to his wife, Senator Morgan, who had news that the illness would be fatal, wrote of his last visit to Nashville, saying: "He was then so weak and had lived so many years in the midst of so much of toil and trial, and the wounds of battle still sapping his vitality, that I was not surprised he should feel that he could not live a great while." Continuing, Senator Morgan wrote, not knowing the end had come: " His life from childhood has been filled with honorable and dutiful toil, in which he has done more and suffered more than any man I ever knew. He has never done a willful wrong to anybody, and charity and loving kindness have inspired every deliberate act of his life. . . . I have no doubt of his acceptance with our merciful Father any more than I have that our parents will be glad to welcome him to their glad embrace. Hence I telegraphed him: 'Be not afraid, it is God who calls you.' "
The VETERAN has access to other charming and pathetic letters of this eminent man, and many notes have been made from Mrs. Morgan's thrilling book, with interesting reference to his cousin, Gen. John H. Morgan, but space is denied, now at least, and this brief tribute is concluded with an extract from a letter of his venerable sister, Mrs. Sayre, of Montgomery, Ala., nearly eighty years old, written upon notice of Mr. Morgan's death : "It awoke in me a long train of pleasant recollections of that sweet time, so long ago, when we were inseparable as playmates, and I was always ready to help him in any undertaking from the making and flying of a kite to a ramble through the woods in search of nuts and flowers. I have not forgotten those happy days, but they are pushed out and turned aside by the sterner realities of life. It makes me very sad."
BRIEF NOTES OF JOHN MORGAN'S RAID.
One of the most extraordinary expeditions of the war was the raid of Gen. John Morgan through Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. One of his soldiers writes:
Our entire command consisted of about one thousand five hundred men, all brave and resolute, well armed and mounted, and eager for the race. Gen. Basil Duke and Col. Dick Morgan were in the van, Capt. McFarland, of the Second Kentucky Cavalry, being the senior captain and acting as major.
From Burksville we proceeded on through Columbia, Campbellsville, and Lebanon, where the command fought from early dawn till late in the evening, putting to route the enemy and capturing many of them and destroying the government properly. Thence to Springfield and Bardstown, whence the Yankees trailed their banners. and fled at the sight of the stars and bars, thence through Bloomington, Garnettsville, to Brandenburg, on the Ohio River, where the command captured two steamboats
and one half of the command were crossed over to fight out and disperse about one thousand men ensconced in a wheatfield on the Indiana side, while the other half were engaged with two gunboats that had come down the river to prevent the crossing.
Gen. Morgan had brought his artillery to bear on them, and in the engagement one of the gunboats was badly crippled, while the other had to assist it to save the crew, and they skedaddled up the river. The army all crossed over to a man, and the enemy in the wheatfield were captured and dispersed, all prisoners being paroled. Being on the Indiana side, strict orders were given to keep in line and have no straggling. They moved on to Corydon, where the enemy, made up of citizens and soldiers, had the foolhardiness to send out a flag of truce and demand an immediate surrender, but it was promptly returned with the order to surrender at once or the town would be torn to pieces with shot and shell.
They surrendered without much fighting. About one thousand two hundred were captured, and a large amount of government stores were destroyed. The command proceeded to Palmyra, where a short fight took place and more government stores were destroyed. Occasionally some parties would cheer the command, they were evidently Southern sympathizers. This, however, was in the Hoosier, but not in the Buckeye State. The command moved on to Canton, where more prisoners were taken and more property destroyed, thence to New Philadelphia, with more prisoners and a skirmish. In fact the command was never out of the sound of arms or the flash of gunpowder.
The command then moved on through Vienna, Lexington, Paris, Vernon, Dupont, and Versailles. There the command had a pretty good skirmish, and more government property was destroyed.
The country passed through was well cultivated and in fine crops, and the citizens moved and looked as if no war was on hand. . . . No pillaging or thieving was allowed, and none of it was done. Only provisions for men and provender for stock were taken, and Confederate money offered, which was refused. The command was kept under strict orders and discipline enforced. The Yankee women had no smiles for us and treated and looked upon us as savages.
The command had fighting and skirmishing through the towns of New Boston, New Baltimore, Williamsburg, Sardinia, Winchester, Jacksonville, Locust Grove, Jasper, Packville, Beaver, Jackson, Butland, Chester, and Buffington's Island. Here it attempted to cross the Ohio River in the face of all the gunboats on the river and forty thousand cavalry and citizens, and held them in check for three hours, when Gen. Basil Duke and half of the command were taken prisoners and sent down the river to Cincinnati. There the people, it is said, treated them to all manner of abuse they could devise. The little boys were allowed to spit in their faces. From there they were sent to Camp Morton, Ind., where they were stripped, their clothes searched, and not as much as a button left them.
At Buffington's Island Gen. Morgan and the other half of the command cut their way through the Yankee files and went on till the 26th of July, passing through the following towns in Ohio: Portland, Harrisonville, Nelsonville, Cumberland, Greenville, Washington, Moorefield, Smithland, New Alexandria, Richmond, Springfield, Mechanicsville, West Point, and Salineville. Near the last place Gen. Morgan and his brother, Col. Morgan, were captured with the rest of the command, the chief officers being sent to the penitentiary at Columbus, O., and the rest of the command to Gamp Chase, receiving the same treatment as the others. The General and his part of the command were in about ten miles of the Pennsylvania line, fighting all the way.
The number of towns passed through in the raid was fifty two in all nine in Kentucky, fourteen in Indiana, and twenty nine in Ohio.
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. Milton McLaurine, of Ballsville, Va., writes an interesting account of his family in the war. He was a student in the Richmond (Va.) College, and enlisted from it at eighteen. His father was an ardent Union man, but furnished all of his six sons to the Confederacy. But two escaped wounds or death. The eldest, Lewis McLaurine, served in the Barksdale Humphrey Brigade and was wounded at Ball's Bluff, at Malvern Hill, and then mortally at Gettysburg. Christopher, the next, served in the Seventeenth Alabama and was wounded at Shiloh, and the last knowledge his family had of him was that he was shot while leading his company at Franklin. His cap was recovered afterwards with a bullet hole through it. Mr. McLaurine would be gratified for any information by members of his company. The next brother, George, was awfully wounded in Grant's last advance at Spottsylvania. The other was wounded by a shell in one of the forts near Richmond. He afterwards died in Texas. The writer, concluding his letter, gives an account of his services under J. E B. Stuart, Fitzhugh Lee, S. D. Lee, Wickham, and Mumford. Frank Stringfellow, the famous spy, was in his company, and John S. Mosby was his kinsman, Mosby's mother being a McLaurine.
Edwin Marks is Commander of Camp No. I, Army of Northern Virginia, New Orleans. Col. W. R. Lyman was his predecessor. Correction should have been made in the published camp list.
In sending twelve subscriptions for the VETERAN from Greenwood, S. C., W. R. McKinney states:
My legacy at close of the war was ability to talk, and I will give some of it to the VETERAN: I had nothing left but my old gray coat and knapsack, so I came to the conclusion the quickest way I could procure something I could call my own was to get a wife. We had nothing then and have nothing now but thirteen children. It has been a " force march " with me all the way, without any commissary following. I have not gotten over the reunion at Birmingham yet. It was a love feast I will never forget. I am glad I met you, and hope every veteran will send you five subscribers. I will send you more next month. May God speed your enterprise! I was wounded three times, was scared all the time, and can't help dodging from lightning bugs now.
MRS. SALLIE CHAPMAN GORDON LAW.
A few weeks ago the " Mother of the Confederacy,'' the patriotic and venerable Mrs. Sallie Chapman Gordon Law, of Memphis, whose thrilling career for Confederates during the four war years was published in the VETERAN, fell into peaceful sleep. Her stay of four score and ten years in the flesh presented a well rounded life. Her son, Rev. John Gordon Law, of Darlington, S. C., wrote on seeing her picture in the VETERAN:
The sight of my dear old mother's face in the VETERAN awakens tender memories of the past, when Southern blood flowed like water in defense of the "lost cause," and stirs me up to diligent discharge of duty.
In her last note to this office, February 5, 1894, the venerable lady stated: ''I am still pleased with the
VETERAN, and would not like to be without it. I would solicit subscribers, but I have been confined to my room the past nine months, and at my advanced age, now in my eighty ninth year, I cannot do much. I show it to all visitors and try in that Way to procure subscribers."
Mrs. Law died about the middle of June. Her funeral, in the Second Presbyterian Church, Memphis, was largely attended. Dr. E, A. Ramsey used the text, " For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved," etc. He gave a sketch of her life and work.
The Southern Mothers, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Confederate Veterans were present officially. The Ladies' Confederate Memorial Association passed resolutions in her honor, as did the Southern Mothers. The latter concluded as follows:
Resolved, That, having been deprived of our head by the death of our only President, we, the " Southern Mothers," will remain united only by the tenderest ties of love and sympathy, and will not elect a successor to our venerable leader."
A personal letter from Memphis since the above was made ready for the press states that at the funeral:
The ceremony was one of the most impressive I ever witnessed. The entire community seemed to unite in the desire to do honor to her past beautiful life. The floral offerings were profuse, handsome, and appropriate. The " Southern Mothers' Association's tribute represented a reaper's sickle and sheaf of ripe wheat, above a pillow of soft, white blooms signifying rest after harvest. Our Association, the " Confederate Memorial," offered a cross and crown very handsome of white roses, the Confederate Historical Society, a pillow, etc. Hers was a character truly deserving of respect and honor from her fellow men. During one of her last conscious moments she was told that her picture was in the VETERAN. She asked to see it, and said: " They have made a good looking woman of me! The dear old VETERAN."
MRS. WINFIELD SCOTT'S KINDNESS.
Dr. N. B. Kennedy writes this interesting letter:
My brother, Dr. John F. Kennedy, was surgeon of the Fourteenth Mississippi Regiment of the Confederacy. He was captured at Fort Pillow, and sent to Camp Chase, Chicago. When he reached St. Louis, on his way to prison, a Northern man named Peter Roberts, who formerly lived at our childhood home and from whom my father had purchased thousands of dollars' worth of goods, recognized him, and after soundly berating him for being on the Confederate side, lent him twenty dollars which enabled him to have cabin passage on the steamboat. On reaching Chicago he was met by a messenger, who, he afterwards learned, was sent by Mrs. Gen. Scott, and was conducted to one of the best hotels in the city and assigned to a splendid suit of rooms. The next morning at the breakfast table he found under his plate three hundred dollars, all in gold, with a note in a lady's handwriting telling him to live well, as he should have all the money he wished. The note was signed " Rebel Sympathizers."
He was placed on parole and allowed the freedom of the city, and was placed on duty in the hospital in which sick Confederates were confined, He soon formed the acquaintance of that noble,
chivalric soldier, Col. W. S. Hawkins, colonel of a Tennessee regiment, who had been installed as a nurse in the same hospital. Col. Hawkins was nursing a fellow prisoner who was engaged to be married to a most beautiful young lady. She proved faithless, and her letter came breaking the troth soon after the prisoner died. Col. Hawkins sent the following reply:
Your letter came, but came too late,
For heaven had claimed its own.
Ah! sudden change from prison bars
Unto the great white throne.
And yet I think he would have stayed
For one more day of pain,
Could he have read those tardy words
Which you have sent in vain.
(The remainder of the reply is omitted because it was published in the VETERAN some time
ago.)
FIRST SOLDIER KILLED IN DIXIE.
James G. Holmes, of Charleston, S. C., furnishes the VETERAN with some remarkable facts about the service of members of the Holmes family in the war:
In the VETERAN for June, page 16, will be found the claim, made by the Southern Christian Herald, of Henansville, N. C" that Henry Wyatt was the first man killed on the Confederate side in the Confederate war. This may be true, but the first man killed in the effort to secure Southern independence was before there was any Southern Confederacy to fight for.
Robert Little Holmes, of Charleston, S. C., a private in the Carolina Light Infantry, First Rifle Regiment, Col. J. Johnson Pettigrew (afterwards Brig. Gen.) commanding, was killed about ten o'clock on the night of January 7,1861, at Castle Pinckney, Charleston Harbor. This was two days before the cadets of the South Carolina Military Academy (now being advertised in the VETERAN) fired upon the " Star of the West " from the twenty four pound gun battery on Vinegar Hill, Morris Island, commanded by Maj. P. F. Stevens, Superintendent of the Academy. Maj. Stevens was afterwards the conspicuously gallant colonel of the Holcombe Legion who greatly distinguished himself in Virginia, especially at second Manassas. This gallant soldier and brilliant teacher of mathematics is now Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, and, alas for the white youth of South Carolina! is a professor of Clafflin College (for colored youths), Orangeburg, S. C. He should bo, like Gen. Shoup, at the head of a grand college for white youths, where his profound learning, his high mental and moral traits would produce the best effects. But my admiration for Bishop Stevens, my old commandant at the South Carolina Military Academy in 1861, who, to my pained regret, has through his modesty hid his brilliant light under a bushel, has caused me to digress. However, Maj., Col., and Bishop Stevens, serving as he did, under the cross that won no crown, and now the soldier of the cross that will surely win him a crown, deserves a whole page of the VETERAN, for he was a typical Confederate soldier.
Private Holmes was accidentally shot by a sentinel as he was on his way to the guard room to report for his hour of guard. He had left his own quarters because he disapproved of gambling, and some of his messmates and friends were about to start a game of poker. The sentinel, in challenging, came to the " charge bayonets," as then required by Hardee's Tactics, and his gun was accidentally discharged. A ball and three buckshot entered Holmes's body, and in twenty minutes this gallant soldier and Christian gentleman of the old school was dead. Unfortunately the sentinel belonged to another company than Holmes's, and hot headed partisans accused him of shooting intentionally, and in consequence the companies had to be assigned to different posts in the harbor. The sentinel was exonerated by the coroner and by military officers who investigated the case.
This tragedy, before a hostile gun had been fired by either the South or the North, led to the wise change of tactics, with sentinels. After that came " arms aport," ''port arms" as to day, when challenging, not only to avoid accidents, but to give the sentinel a better chance for defense if an enemy was allowed to get too near and endeavored to spring upon the sentinel. Holmes had two brothers killed in the army: Thomas G. Holmes, of the Charleston Light Dragoons, Fourth South Carolina Volunteer Cavalry, at Hawes's Shop, near Richmond, Va" in May, 1864, and Phillip Gadsden Holmes, of the Carolina Light Infantry, Gregg's Brigade, at Seven Pines. And yet another brother, William E. Holmes (the only survivor of six brothers), of the Washington Light Infantry, Twenty fifth South Carolina Infantry, Hagood's Brigade, was wounded at Swift Creek, and captured at Fort Fisher, N. C. By a strange fatality in this family of Holmes, only two of the six brothers survived the war, while nine first cousins of the same name, who went into active service, came out alive, and only two of them were seriously wounded: Capt. Charles Rutledge Holmes, the cool and intrepid assistant adjutant general of the knightly Kershaw (both adjutant and general now dead), and his only brother, William P. Holmes. The first was shot through the thigh while inspecting pickets in front of Petersburg, in 1864, and the latter through the arm at Bentonville, N. C.
Capt. C. R. Holmes was "a man among men," one to be loved and trusted by both men and women, and the reputation he made for himself as a soldier, sans pew et sans reproche, from the first bombardment of Sumter to Bentonville, is an inheritance treasured by his widow and five children. Capt. C. R. Holmes'a wound was doubtless the ultimate cause of his sad death, in 1891.
An artesian well has been bored at Marlin, Tex., to the remarkable depth of 3,330 feet, which supplies 180,000 gallons of water per day with a temperature of 144 degrees Fahrenheit. Comrades in that section are proud of it, and frequently send notice.
VERY COMPLIMENTARY. The Spectator (W. H. Peck) in Sunday Times: "Everybody in Nashville is, or ought to be, interested in the success of S. A. Cunningham's CONFEDERATE VETERAN. This success has really been phenomenal, and it is a fair illustration of the importance Nashville is to the South as a newspaper center. Starting but little over a year ago without money and without even a complete plan of operation, it has, in this short time, reached a circulation that was 9,130 by actual count two weeks ago. Mr. Cunningham owes his success partly to the unparalleled extent of his acquaintance, not even excepting Pat Donan, of Washington, and in part to the fortunate coalition of the enterprise itself with the desire of the Confederate veteran and his descendants for a truthful and accessible organ.
DIBRELL'S VICTORY OVER WOOLFORD.
J. T. Martin, Thompson Station, Tenn.: "There is an article in the April VETERAN by George W. Youngblood, of Golden City, Mo., that contains an. error which, in justice to one of the most gallant soldiers of the war, should be corrected. The honor of surprising and capturing a large part of Woolford's command at Philadelphia, E. Tenn., in October, 1863, does not belong to Gen. Forrest, but to Gen. George Dibrell. A few days before that Gen, Forrest had been ordered away to West Tennessee, and we did not see him again until Hood's raid.
The expedition against Woolford was both planned and executed by Gen. Dibrell, and was his first venture on his 'own hook.' The result proved his ability as a leader, and that he was a worthy successor to Forrest and to Starnes. The affair would have been a complete success, and would have ended in the capture of Woolford's entire command, but for one of those mishaps which could not be foreseen. The tight was hot for a while and when the enemy began to give way Gen. Dibrell sent an order to Col. D. W. Holman, who commanded the Eleventh Tennessee, to move up across the road, spoken of by Youngblood, and cut off their retreat. But the courier by whom the order was sent delayed so long at a yankee wagon that had a barrel of whisky in it, that the order did not reach him in time to get to the road until a large number of the flying enemy had escaped. That was a bad barrel of whisky for us. But didn't Woolford and that part of his command which it enabled to escape have as much right to bless as we had to curse it? It should be mentioned that a regiment of Georgia cavalry was with us, actively participating in the fight, and is entitled to a full share of the honor attached to the affair. I am sorry I cannot remember the number of the regiment nor the name of its gallant commander."
ASSOCIATE AND HONORARY MEMBERS U. C. V.
The following plan for admitting the descendants of our worthy comrades, who are in sympathy with the principles for which the Confederate soldier fought, into the Camps, Bivouacs, and Associations of the United Confederate Veterans, was formulated by a special committee from N. B. Forrest Camp, of Chattanooga, Tenn., composed of J. R. Shaler, W. P. McClatchey, T. J. Dement, and J. F. Shipp. It was presented to the United Confederate Veteran Convention at Birmingham by J. F. Shipp, and was referred to the Committee on Constitution and By laws, who gave it their unanimous approval and recommended its adoption as an addendum to the revised Constitution and By laws, which was done.
In order to perpetuate the memory of Confederate veterans, and continue the purposes of this organization, all subordinate Camps, Bivouacs, or Associations are hereby authorized to admit associate members and associate honorary members under the following rules and regulations:
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS,
SECTION 1. Any male person who is in sympathy with the principles for which the Southern soldier fought, of good character, having attained the age of eighteen years, who is a relative or a descendant of a person who was regularly enlisted in active service and served honorably in the Confederate States army or navy shall be eligible to admission as associate member.
SEC. 2. Associate members shall be entitled to all the privileges of the subordinate Camps, Bivouacs, or Associations, excepting that no associate member shall be eligible to hold the office of President, Vice President, Commander, or Lieutenant Commander, until there remains on the roll of the subordinate body less than ten active members in good standing, but there may be a minority of the Executive Committee selected from the associate members in good standing. Associate members shall have no voice in the election, suspension, or expulsion of active members.
SEC. 3. Every application for admission to associate membership shall be made in writing, and shall give in detail, upon the blanks furnished by the subordinate Camp, Bivouac, or Association, the applicant's age, birthplace, residence, occupation, and the name of the relative on whose services the applicant bases his right to membership, and if practicable, the company, regiment, and general command to which the relative was attached, where and when he received his final parole or discharge from service, and whether or not he had at any time a substitute in the army, and the application shall be indorsed by two members of the subordinate organization. It shall then be referred to a committee (of which the members recommending shall not be members) for investigation, who shall report thereon at the next regular meeting, when the candidate shall be balloted for with ball ballots. If not more than two black balls appear, the candidate shall be declared elected.
SEC. 4. When an application has once been rejected, it cannot be again considered for six months thereafter.
SEC. 5. The initiation fee and dues of associate members shall be the same as regular members.
ASSOCIATE HONORARY MEMBERS.
To the end that there may be both charitable and social cooperation in the work of the Confederate veterans, the wives, sisters, daughters, and nieces of Confederate veterans may become associate honorary members.
SECTION 1. The application for associate honorary membership shall be the same as that prescribed in Section 3 for associate members, excepting the age of the applicant, and the candidate shall be elected as therein prescribed.
SEC. 2. Associate honorary members shall have all the privileges of associate members, excepting the right to vote. The sole purpose of adding female members being to get the benefit of the enthusiasm, and refining influence so characteristic of Southern womanhood, in developing and carrying on the social and charitable features of the organization of United Confederate Veterans.
SEC. 3. The dues of associate honorary members shall be one dollar per annum if paid in advance, or ten cents per month.
SEC. 4. Associate members, and associate honorary members shall be allowed to wear the badges adopted by the United Confederate Veterans for associate members, or auxiliary associations.
T. B. Sproul writes from Strother, Mo.: I see in the VETERAN for June a chapter from Gen. Shoup in regard to Vicksburg, in which he says: "The Missourians came into Vicksburg in an awful plight." I expect, if Gen. Shoup had been there, he would have been in an awful plight too.
We fought the battle of Baker's Creek on the 15th of May, 1863. Our brigade cut into Grant's army until we were in sight of his wagon train and bad to make one terrific charge there to save Pemberton's army. While making that charge some person asked a general what troops we were, and be said: " They are Missourians going to their death." So much for Baker's Creek.
We retreated to Big Black that night and took position in the works there. The Federals struck our line next morning, when it gave way. They came swarming down upon us, and had cut us off almost entirely from the bridge. A large part of our brigade had to swim Big Black, and some of us had to go down the river some distance before we could get a chance to swim even. So you see we had cause to be " in an awful plight." We were scattered, but not demoralized, and every man of us was ready to fight to the death.
I am not finding any fault with Gen. Shoup. He is a good man and a good fighter. I saw him tried. In one of those charges on the works in Vicksburg we were ordered to relieve his men. We were going at a double quick, and when about fifty yards in their rear heard him give the order: " Fix bayonets! " They were out of cartridges, but were holding their position at any cost. Inclosed find one dollar, for which send the VETERAN.
OPPOSED TO THE NAME REBELLION.
Rev. J. William Jones, University of Virginia, July 18: Let me add my earnest and hearty protest against calling our war the " Rebellion. " It was not a rebellion, and we were not rebels or traitors. George Washington was a rebel because he fought against properly constituted and legal authority, and if he had failed he would probably have been tried as a rebel, and executed as a traitor. But Jefferson Davis was no rebel when he led the great struggle to maintain proper authority, to uphold law and constitution, and when the Federal Government held him as a prisoner they never dared to bring him to trial, because they knew, under the advice of Chief Justice Chase and the ablest lawyers at the North, that they could, never convict him of treason under the Constitution and laws of the United States.
I remember that one day down at Beauvoir, several years before his death, the grand old chief of the Confederacy said to me alluding to this question: "Rebellion indeed! How can a sovereign State rebel? You might as well pay that Germany rebelled against France, or that France, who was overwhelmed in the conflict, rebelled against Germany, as to say that the sovereign States of the Confederacy rebelled against the North or the government. O that they had dared give me the trial I so much coveted, and for which I so earnestly begged, in order that I might have opportunity to vindicate my people and their cause before the world and at the bar of history! They knew that I would have been triumphantly acquitted, and our people purged of all taint of treason, and they never dared to bring my case to trial."
Is it not time, then, for those people to cease talking about treason and rebellion, and to stop their insults in calling us rebels? If there were any rebels in that great contest) they were north of the Potomac and the Ohio the men who trampled under foot the Constitution of our country and the liberties bequeathed us by our fathers.
Gen. Lee always spoke of the war as the "great struggle for Constitutional freedom," and that is a truthful and distinctive title which I prefer. " The War Between the States" was the title given by A. H. Stephens, and is a good one. "Confederate War" would do, but that implies that we made the war. which, of course, we did not, our policy being peace. The " War of Coercion," or the "War against State Sovereignty" would express it, but the "Rebellion," never
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