Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-08-10
Anecdotes Of the War.


contains an article entitled The Hav-
ersack,' by Gen. D. Fl. Hill, from which
we clip the following extracts:
During the war we frequently saw the
phrase dying in the last ditch attribu-
ted to Gen. Pillow by the Northern press.
Lately we see that Brownlow, of Tennes-
see, whose classic purity of style is so
well known to the whole country, is re-
ceiving the credit of originating it. But
with whomsoever the expression origina-
ted, it was employed, long before the
war, BY William III of England, Stadt-
holder of Holland, and Prince of Orange
When defending his hereditary domin-
ions against the immense armies of Louis
XIV, he was told by the French ambas-
sador that inevitable destruction awaited
his people unless he would submit to the
grand monarch. Il have thought of the
means of avoiding the sight of the ruin
of my country l can die in the last
ditch" In Holland, intersected in every
direction by canals whose embankments
afforded the best defensive works, the
language is pregnant with meaning. 1t
could have no local significance in any
part of the United States. Byron has an
allusion to this celebrated speech of
William of Orange. In his diary we
read: Ward talks of going TO Holland,
and we have partly discussed an ensem-
BILE expedition. II must be in ten days,
if at all, if we wish to be in the revolu
ton. Old William of Orange talked of
his dying in the last ditch of his dingy
country. 1t is well that can swim, or
suppose that should not we'll weather
the first.
Brownlow, who was once as furious
against the abolitionist as he IS now fu
rious in their favor, said in ons of his
TRADES against them: II am not, and
never have been, interested in the slave
traffic, or immersed in the cares, adyan-
tages or disadvantages of the insti-
tuition of slavery, and therefore claim
TO be a dis;nterested locker on. A ma
tive of Virginia, have lived half a cen
tury in the South, and seen the workings
of the institution Of slavery in It's best
and worst forms, and in all the Southern
States. have gone among the free
negroes of the North, and in every
instance | have found them more mise
rable and destitute as a whole than the
slave population OF the South In our
Southern States, where negroes have
been set at liberty, in nine cases out of
ten their conditions have been made
worse. while the most wretched, lazy
and dishonest class OF persons to be
found in the Southern States are free per
sons ofcolor. /, therefore, go against
the emancipation of slaves altogether,
unless they can be sent to Liberia at
once. take my stand with the friends
of the institution Of slavery in the South.
Connected with this question will go as
far as the next man-dying III the last
ditch"
There are certain expressions which
please the popular mind, and soon be-
come part of its common property. The
right ownership may never be known, but
the people will always claim possession.
After the battle of Palo Alto and Resaca,
an anonymous writer, abiding TO Gen.
TAYLOR, said: "The soldiers call him old
Rough and Ready. No one in the
army knew of this soubr;quet until they
saw this communication. But the appel
lation pleased the soldiery ana the coun-
try. The old hero did from that time
forward receive designation which was
the coming Of this unknown scrib5ler.
In republic his fortune is made who re-
ceives a popular cognomen. In THE
fierce democracy of Rome" the adjectives
Africauus and Asiaticus applied to the
conQueror of Africa and Asia, could
never have reused a wilder enthusiasm
among the people than has been excited
among us by the appellations, "Old up,
pecanoe" and "0ld Rough and Ready
In the latter instance, the ALTERATION
took the masses as much as the names.
II struck the fancy like Poe ''pallid bust
of Pallas," or Pope's up the high hull
he heaves the huge round stone. AT
any rate, we doubt not that the anony-
nous correspondent Of an obscure paper
won for "Old Rough and Ready 1--WE
readily accord the soubriquet) more than
ffty thousand votes He should have
been rewarded with place in the cab
met. or by n frst-class foreign embassy.
Perhaps he was, who knows 2
The expression war to the knife,
which was used so frequently during the
late struggle and for several years pre-
ceding It, has seldom received It's true
paternity. II twas the answer Of Palafox
10 the demand % the French commander,
Marshal Money, for the surrender Of
Saragossa. This was not an idle bravado,
but the stern determination Of brave
man, who By his heroic resistance has
caused the defense Of Saragossa TO be
ranked with that Of Saguntum and NJ
nantia. Il vas thought at the begin
ming that the bowie knife would be as
terrible in Southern hands IS vas the
.n.L.t. In tha hanis Of tha snanisa