The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-06-10
-, - Letter fropa shc Nertls. - /
E The New York correspondent Of the
Monte Reoisis,. writes as folloyyE.s a

!. s&S.T ~ Nzw YoNK, May,s{2) 1859. t
Epnee had IAN eminently healthy old
grand father, who was siones of the most
remarkable men on this continent. Take
him all in all, it is quite probable that
we shall never see precisely shis'likel
again; and ], therefore, feel it to be my
duty TO immortalize his virtues and point
but his IfaiiinBs in ltbe columns Of the
|aRegistssy fos tho.benaft OF the rising 60,
q This venerable ola bnmher ewasi o. re-
volutionary soldiery and together with
several hundred other, old boys wns, for
fifty gears before his death, the only sur
siving veteran Of the. revolution, and
the last surviving captor of Major Andre
He was originally D. man 6f great mental
acpteness, and his mind was expanded
and benefited by his military experience;
so that whereas he was always sharp
and. subtle .schemer, he became SUIT
ler before he had been in the army a
month.
He was terribly patriotic, aud have
often listened with tears in my eyes TO
his story. Of the sufferings and sacrifices
which he made in behalf of his strug-
Cling country. EARLY in the third year
of the war. when he was able to obtain
no civil employment whatever, and the
high rate of fhounties offered by the Con-
tinental Government. made him plainly
realize the needs of his country. He
abandoned everything belonging to ev-
erybody else-ho Ind nothing Of lis own
to abandon--4ande enlisting as camp fol-
lower, prepared to lay down anything
that he found personally inconvenient in
the cause Of liberty gs =, ->rx -. 3.
But he could not long be kept in
subordinate position, and before many
weeks had passed he became q sutler. In.
this Office, so we'll adapted to his patriot
ism and ahihty-he came from the same
town where General Butler was subse-
duently born-he suttled so we'll and ably
that in two years he retired from the SER
vice, rich, and universally respected. He
received the rank of Brevet Regimental
Cook from o grateful Congress, and dur
ing the remainder of the war devoted
himself to the making of patriotic and
sapguinary speeches
When; the recent little GOODNESS be-
tween the North and the South took
place, my aged grandfather, then IN
old man, ninety years of age, was resid-
ing quietly in the interior of New York
State. He was quite lion in the village,
and the local newspaper published brief
biography of him every year; stating
that he was the only surviving veteran,
the only living captor of Andre, the old
est Mason i'll the country, the first emil
grant beyond the Ohio, and generally
the oldest and first in every other line of
business that could be named. The ed
itor always added that his eyes were bet
ter than they ever had been; that he read
the Smith, -Four Corners Weekly Standard
Of Unioersdl Freedom every Sunday, and
that he usually chopped from thirty to
forty cords of wood every day before
breakfast, just 10 exercise himself little.
L quote these remarks just to show you
what remarkable old chap he was.
Well, as was saying, when the cool
ness between the North and Sonth had
reached an extremely warm point, and
Major Anderson had won immortal glory
by surrendering himself and Fort Sum-
ter, the loyal inhabitants of the village
held mass meeting, and pledged them
selves to support the Federal Govern,
ment, even if they were forced to compel
enlist. It occurred to some of the lead
ing politicians that it would have an in
spiritipg effect to have tho old revolu-
tionary soldier make q speech in behalf
of the very best government that any
body ever saw or dreamed d-of-even-under
the-ipfuence-of -delirium-tremens. They,
therefore, induced him to come to the
meeting; and the editor of the Smith
-Four Corners Weekly Standard of Unioe1'.
sat Freedom, having explained to him at
great length the lesson of the hour-as
Mr.. Wendell Phillips calls any unusual
muss-the old boy began his speech in
the following words:
Fellow-ctizens! We are here to-
night [applause] to pledge our lives, our
liberties, and our sacred honors, 10 the
support of those lofty principles for
which the men of the revolution nobly
became rebels to their long cherished
government. Faint applause.
Here the editor nudged him, and sug-
gested that he mustn't say anything in
favor of rebels. The old gentleman was
rather astonished at this, but changing
his tactics began again.
~ and other noble men fought to sus-
tain the principle declared by our i'm
mortal Jefferson, that all governments
owe their authority to the consent of tho
governed am now old, [applause,1
and have but few more weeks perhaps
to live, enthusiastic applause bnt am