The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-09-11
The Good Fortune Of Confederate General.

The Good Fortune Of Confederate General
It would appear as if kind Providence had
specially interviewed to protect from poverty,
misfortune, and the other ills of life, those true
and gallant officers who risked their all IN the
struggle for the independence of the Southern
States. We know few of them who have not
improved their worldly condition since the war,
or who are not in better circumstances than
they were previous to that event. 1t is an
agreeable reflection that in this as in other acts
Of devotion to duty and patriotism, honesty
has proved the best policy. "
The instance 0f, General S. B. Buckner Is q
striking and cheerful one. General Buckner
lived in a State which never seeded, and a
majority of its people were opposed to the
movement All his own and his wife's prop
erty must be left to the tender mercies of the
enemy, in case he should join the Confede-
rates. 1T was magnificent property, the large
income of which enabled the General to live in
a style suited to his refined and elegant tastes.
And yet all this he risked when, impelled by
his sympathies and convictions, he abandoned
his beautiful home joined the Confederates
and fought through the war with distinguished
palIantry and unAinching fidelity. At the
close of the war General Buckner found him
self stripped of everything. 500 -.
Locating in New Orleans, he set 10 work first
as journalist, on the Crescent, and afterwards
engaged in the business of life insurance,
wherein he achieved brilliant success. He
then took measures to recover his property IN
Kentucky and his wife's property in Chicago:
There were serious obstacles to the success OF
these efforts. Large suits had been brought
against him for damages inflicted by the Con-
federate forces under his command. On these
suits his property had been attached and much
of it sold. It was a severe, tedious, and expen-
sive litigation, in which he became involved; !;
but his efforts were finally crowned with victo-
ry. His property was restored to him, and the
claims for damages against him were all de-
feated.
Next he instituted proceedings to recover his
wife's property. And here was developed an
intensely interesting romance. Mrs. Buckner
had, before joining her husband in the Con-
federacy, conveyed her property to her brother,
under deed Of trust The obligation rested
upon his honor to preserve and reconvey the
property to her after the war. In the progress
Of the war this brother married and accepted
commission in the Federal service. Further to
complicate affairs, he became father. In case
he should prove faithless to his obligation to
his sister, this child would inherit large for
tune.
Here was great temptation to the young
man whose natural affections for his sister were
antagonized by hil. ardent hostility to the
cause with which she was identified, and to his
paternal instincts and affections. 1t was tor
him alone to determine whether this large
property should accrue to the wife OF rebel,
in preference to his own offspring. Honor and
brotherly affection, it is true, demanded GER
tain course but how rarely, in these selfish
and ,materialistic times, do these principles
control the acts of men!
This young man, however, recognized their
obligation, and on the eve of battle he made
his. will reconveying to his sister the property
she had confided to him. After making one OF
these wills he went forth with the intrepidity
of q man conscious of an act OF high self-con-
troll, to encounter the enemy, and met the tate
of brave soldier al the battle OF Sharpsburg.
The General of his corps knew OF the WILL ne
had made All honor to him that he kept the
secret, and, after the war, communicated to his
old comrade in arms, his recent foe,- but now
his friend and brother, the facts and gave ev-
cry aid to recover the instrument. This was
General Burnside. .....
By this generous assistance, and through the
devotion and energies OF one OF
General Buckner's staff, the gallant and gifted
Colonel Wooley, of Lexington, Kentucky, the
testamentary proofs were procured and the tt
tie of Mrs. Buckner to her patrimony was fully
established, and after a legal contest she was
reinvested with the same, and now is in full,
undisturbed enjoyment of a magnificent estate
and DO couple ever more justly merited this
happy fortune, this victory over the most for
midable difficulties and perils which could arise
in the path of duty and honor, but which new
er for a moment dismayed or sweryed them
from the line which patriotism and conscience
had marked out for them Mobile Register. f.