The weekly standard. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1865-1867, 1866-02-10
Gen. Joe shelby.
The Great Confederate Cavalry
Leader Of the Trans Mississippi.
HIS scHARAcTER AND EXPLOITS.

/ H10 0CHARACIER AND EXPLOITS.
The great war which has just closed,
SO fraught with such terrible recollec-
tions, has developed more heroes both
North and South than illustrate all our
past annals. The next ten years in
history win be known as our golden
age. The great names of Lee, john
SON. Stonewall jackson, Longstreet
Forrest and the Hills, of Grant, Sher-
man, Buell.. Thomas, Sheridan, will
not pale before the military galaxy of
any age or nation. Then there is a
host of minor heroes, men who were
fast fighting their way up to distinc-
ton, to whom the future will do JUS
tice, and who were mostly satellites Of
the great luminaries whose splendor
oyerpowered, but could not obscure
the glory Of their achievements,
Among those who We're regarded as
rising men in the Southern army, Gen.
Joe Shelby, of Missouri, deserves al
passing notice. In the August num-
Der of Harpers's Magazine there is a
sketch of Gen. Sheridan, which, with
but few changes, might be taken as a
portrait of the indomitable hero of Mis-
souri-the Forrest of the Trans Mis-
sissippi Department of the Confederate
States. Like Sheridan, Shelby is small
in size, imbued with wonderful nervous
energy, bold, daring and self-reliant
His face indicates quickness, impulsive
daring, wiry alertness and great phys
ical endurance-the necessary combi-
nation of every cavalry leader, To
those who do not know Joe Shelby,
who have not seen him in the head
long fight, the rough-and-tumble con-
lict, the daring raid and the cautious
retreat, no correct idea can be formed
of his happy improvisations on the
bloody field and his quick, intuitive
and instantaneous combinations which
have never failed to win victory when
victory was possible, and when impos-
sibilities were to be grappled with has
always succeeded in extricating him
from impending dangers.
Like Sheridan, too, the star of Shell
by was long obscured by the blunders
of inferior men placed in command
over him. But unlike Sheridan, Gen.
Snslb;' did not have this incubus re-
moved IN time to enable him to re-
deem his reputation lin fact, up to the
close of the war inicri6r men were
over him, but his fame was abroad,
and public opinion pointed him out as
the future ehieftain of the cavalry of
Kirby Smiths Department. The last
raid in Missouri under Gen. Price. CON
sisting as it did of a series of blunders
and of gallant but unavailing deeds, at
least accomplished the first great de-
sederatum of war; it established tcho
aoere and 1uho lrereg not competent to
command. The universal verdict of
the cavalry was in favor of Shelby. as
their future commander. Gen. e. Kir-
by Smith felt this, and was making his
dispositions accordingly, Had the
war not closed so soon, had Gen. Lee
been able to check Grant, and Joe
Johnson's plans to destroy Sherman's
central army not been thwarted, the
spring of 1866 would have opened with
grand campaign in the Trans Missis-
sippi Department. Gen. E K Smith,
with 10000 infantry, well drilled, well
armed and well equipped, and Gen.
Joe Shelby at the, head of 10000 or
$4,000 cavalry, the best in the South
ern army, would have thrown them
selves on Missouri and Kansas and
contended for the rich harvests of the
Dutch farmers garnered along themag-
nifcent valley of the Missouri riEer.
In such contest no one could predict
the result, but this much is certain,
wherever Gen. Joe Shelby led dhis DASH
ng horsemen, there would be the blood
lest, the most persistent and deter
mined conflict, the boldest strategy,
and the most daring improvisations of
military genius. The Federal troops
who fought Shelby at Glasgow, Tick
ington at Blue river and on the plains
of Kansas, will know what we mean,
when we pronounce Shelby the great
EST cavalry leader in the South Gen.
Forrest alone excepted. Wewill never
forget the impression made upon our
mind, when we saw Gen Shelby COM
ing out of the fight at West Port, with
out hat on his head, his sandy locks
streaming in the wind, his six shooter
in his hand, and his gallant division,
after three days of hard fighting, oyer-
powered and cut to pieces, but still not
whipped. gathering around their be- /