The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-06-12
Interesting Letter about Notable southerners.

Interesting Letter about Notable Southerners.
A correspondent of the Macon (Ga.) 1sls-
graph and Messenger gives some interesting
particulars about Ex-President Davis and other
distinguished gentlemen of the South, whose
names are familiar to the whole country. We
are highly gratifed to learn that Mr.. Davis is
preparing history of the great struggle in
which he occupied such prominent position
MEMPHIS, Tenn, May, 1873.
I am penning to you, perhaps, the last letter
I 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 the 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 ct
many years. &C.,
1t was in eighteen hundred and twenty y-eight
that 1 first saw this historical man. he had
Just returned from West Point and wore the
uniform of a cadet. He was then q 1.-the,
modest youth, whose deep gray eyes twinkled
with the beauty and brilliancy of a star. His
head was small as it is yet, but admirably
formed, and there was an intelligence IN his
features that gave promise of the future he has
fulfilled. That eye to-day beams with the
steady light of a mental illumination 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 con-
ve4sation. Sometimes, too, the twinkle of
mirth dances in his eye and lights up his fea-
lures. 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
stree faded in darkness. This defect forbids
much reading or writing, Yet to-day, in the
II think, Mr.. Davis, you will not lose the
world your views and opinions as to the causes
which led to the late WARP"
II am writing" he said-and he drummed
with his fingers upon the baize covered table,
uron which his arm rested, and the deep sad,
ness which clouded his features and followed
the remark was painful to contemplate.
We had been speaking of the distinguished
L. @. c. Lamar, of Mississippi, and of COL
Thomas Hardeman, of Georgia. After some
moments he said, "the war had been great
misfortune to them. A brilliant future was
before them their talents and moral worth
gave high promise Of eminence and usefulness
in their maturer years. Lamar has had his
disabilities removed; Congress has refused to
do the same for Hardeman. l 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; but even were this possible to them,
it would be of no avail to the country. The
food of corruption which has swept over it has
and will continue to engulf it beyond the re.
deeming efficacy of moral worth or elevated
intelligence You have just returned FROM
visit to Lamar, and contemplate visit to
Georgia, you tell me; say to Hardeman, and to
Lamar, when again you see them, have
pleasant memory Of them both (; and, further,
tell them am preparing a work with all the
impartiality possible to me- and after years of
sober thought, which shall not leave the world
in darkness as to my motives and my conduct,
or that of those who acted with me-"
There is something impressively sublime in
the contemplation of this wonderful man
amidst the Affections of adversely. Hurled
fortune, laboring daily in almost abject power
ty for the bread which feeds himself and fam
ily. prescribed and disfranchised, 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
Godiike fortitude; bowling to the inevitable,
yet firm in his principles, unyielding in the
dignity of his manhood, and, with soul un-
bending, meeting and defying in the direst
adversely the taunts and expressions of his
enemies. Recent affliction has weighed him
down with sorrow. But few months since l
watched him standing by the open grave which
was to receive the body of his son, Ia youth of
much PROMISE and which, in few moments,
was to close out from his view forever this
cherished child. By him stood the wife and
mother in mute despair. No tear dimmed his
eye. Blanched and agonizing, his features
wore the stern impress of the deepest grief
yet they were unm0ved and calm. The body
was gently lowered to its last resting place
thea, and only then, did his great soul yield to
the overpowering impulses of mighty grief
Ths eyes closed, the lips compressed and
ant one deep torturing groan told of the souls
agony.
Since writing the above, have been to the
graves of the Confederate dead in Elmwood
Cemetery. This is romantic and lovely spot,
just beyond the corporate limits of the city.
1t is beautifully kept, and the flowers and
shrubs, now in their infancy, will soon increase
into exquisite beauty the ornamental lowell
ness of this last resting 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
hard had strewn the floral offerings, in pious
affection, above the gallant dead. This place
is almost the centre of the battlefield where
Forrest surprised and fought the Federal forces
during the war, and many sleeping here we're
the victims of that fight. At no great distance
stands the female college, which yet shows,
in many shell and shot scars, evidences of the
fight. Forrest is growing prematurely old /;
hin head is white, and the elasticity of his step
is scarcely what is was. The wars Affections
fell heavily upon him, and though he is never
heard to complain, yet the marks which tell of
his SORROWS are too prominent upon his features
to oe mistaken by the most careless observer.
To-day have spent an hour in the private
Office of Mr.. Davis with General Browne and