Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-06-06
SOUTHERN NOTABlLITIES.
A MOST INTERESTING LETTER.
Jefferson Davis Writing Confederate
History.
GEN. FORREST GROWING PER-
MANENTLY OLD.
H.. q. G.. Lamar in, Poor Health.
MEMPHIS. Tenn. Nav, 1873

L.. @. C. Lamar in Poor Health.
MEMPHIS, Tenn, May, 1878.
Editors Telegraph and Messenger:
I am penning to you, perhaps, the last
letter shall ever write from Memphis.
I regret to think this /; but I am on The
eve of leaving this pretty city, so full
of life and active energy, whose
people are alive and progressive,
whose destiny in tie future [ love to
contemplate.
have been spending the day with
Jefferson Davis, and in his sunny little
office on Madison street, We have been
talking over the past of many years:
It was i'll eighteen hundred and
toricai man. He had Just returned
from West Point and wore the uniform
of cadet. He was then 1.-THE,
modest youth, whose deep gray eyes
twinkled with the beauty and bril-
liancy of a star. His head was small,
as it is yet, but admirably formed, and
there was an intelligence in his features
that gave prom. Sc of the future he has
fulfilled. That eye to-day beams with
the steady light of mental iliumi
nation rarely met with in one
of his years and sorrows. Those
| features, once SO radiant, are now
sedate and wearing the cast of deep
melancholy, save when animated with
| the spirit which yet burns in his bosom
when excited by thought or converse
ton. Sometimes, too, the twinkle of
mirth dances in his eye and lights up his
features But soon the joyous smile
! fades into the melancholy, which has
become habitual. His health is good
He has but one sound eye. You know
the vision of the other has long since
faded in darkness This defect for
bids much reading or writing Yet
to-day, in the familiarity of old friend
ship l remarked:
II think, Mr.. Davis, yo,l will not
lose the other eye until you shall have
given TO the world your views and
opinions as to the causes which led to
the late war %
'I am writing" he said-and lie
drummed with his fingers upon the
baize covered table, upon which his
arm rested, and the deep sadness which
clouded his features and followed the
remark was painful to contemplate.
We had been speaking of the distin-
guished l.. G. G. Lamar, of MISSISSIPPI
pi, and of Col. Thomas Hardeman, of
Georgia. After some moments he
said, ''the war had been great mis-
fortune to. them. A brilliant future
was before them; their talents and
moral worth gave high promise of emf
hence and usefulness in their maturer
years. Lamar has lad his disabilities
removed Congress has refused to do
the same for Hardeman. | am sorry
for this if he desired it, but it is not
possible for either of them to fill up
the hiatus caused by the war; hut
oven were this possible to them, it
would be of no avail to the country.
The flood of corruption which
has swept over it has, and Will continue
to engulf it beyond the redeeming eff
cacy of moral worth or elevated
intelligence. 1ou have just returned
from a visit to Lamar, and contemplate
a visit to Georgia, you tell ne; say to
Hardeman. and to Lamar, when again
yon see them, / have pleasant
memory of them both; and, further,
tell them | am preparing Il work with
all the impartiality possible to ne; and
after years of sober Thought, which
shall not leave the world i'll darkness
as to my motives and my conduct, OF
that of those who acted with me.
There is something inprcssively
sublime in til, contemplation of this
wonderful man amidst the Affections OF
adversely. Hurled from the highest
political position, robbed of fortune,
Iaboring daily i'll almost abject power
ty for the bread which feeds himself
and family, prescribed and disfran-
chised, denied the political privileges
of the negro servant who waits behind
his chair as he takes his meals, and
| who blacks his boots, calmly and with
Godlike fortitude, bowling to the in
evitablc, yet firm in his principles, I'M
yielding i'll the dignity of his manhood,
and, with soul unbending, meeting
and defying in the direst adversely the
taunts and expressions of his enemies.
Recent afliiction has weighed him
down with SORROW. But a few montl s
open grave which was to receive the
body of his son, "a youth of much
promise,) and which, in few mo-
ments, was to close out from his
view forever this cherished child.
BY him stood the wife and
mother III mute despair. No tear dim
med his eye. Blanched and aSonizire,
his features wore the stern impress
of the deepest grief; yet they were
unmoved and calm. The body was
gently lowered to its last resting place
then, and only then, did his great
soul yield to the overpowering i'm
pulses of mighty grief, The eyes
closed, the lips compressed and
twitched, the hands closed, the head
bowed and one deep torturing grOan
told of the souls agony.
Since writing the above, I have been
to the graves Of the Confederate dead
in Elmwood Cemetery. This is TO-
mantle and lovely spot, just beyond
the corporate limits of the city. It IS
beautifully kept, and the flowers and
shrubs, now III their infancy, will soon
increase into exquisite beauty the
ornamental loneliness of this last rest
ing place of the dead, who died in
Memphis. Mr.. Davis was there, SO
was General Forrest; both seemed
deeply moved, as slowly, and apart
from all others, they moved amidst
the graves, where beauty's hand al
strcwn the floral Offering, in pious
affection, above the gallant dead. This
place Is almost the centre Of the bnt-
tlefield where Forrest surprised and
fought the Federal forces during the
war, and many sleeping here We're the
| IctlIllS Oh biiab nSllu. TcffeSD Is grow
ing pre1nature1y old; his head is white,
and the elasticity of his step is scarce
ly what it was. The wars affiiCtion
fell heavily upon him, and though he
is never heard to complain, vet the
marks which tell of his SORROWS are
tco prominent upon his features to be
mistaken by the most careless OBJ
| server.
| To-day / spent an hour in the mi
vate Office Of Mr.. Davis, with General
Browne and William Preston, son of
Albert Sidney Johnston. At present
Mr.. Johnston is professor in WASH
ington College, ut Lexington, in Vir-
ginia. During the war he was pri-
vate secretary to Mr.. Davis. He is
most accomplished gentleman and
scholar, and very intelligent. His
! father was at West Point with Mr..
| Davis, where 2 friendship commenced
| batwaeT them tern1iD atinr only l,y tho