The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-09-17
-Governor, Eek .Donfederate-
=.~ General HemEy A. Wise.

General Mengy A. Wise.
To the Editor of the Chicago Evening Jour-
nal:. &$${$*444A
In one of my recent letters, from the
great lakes to Hampton Roads, men
toned the fact of the presence of Hen
nv A. Wise, who was Governor of Vir-
cinia, when John Brown WAS hung, up
on the steamer which carried US down !
the James, remember so many things
which he said. that I am disposed to
COPY them for the readers of the
Journal. In most cases l can give
the exact words he used; but Of course,
no report can carry the fire, the enthu-
siasm. the energy, and earnestness with
which he spoke. He is thin. spare
man of about medium height, with
white hair, keen bright eye, Hot re-
markable for anything which would
command attention in his personal ap-
pearance. But ne one can be long in
his presence without discovering that
he has intelligence, and q great fund Of
information and anecdote, In reference
to the late "unplcasantness. he is
egotistical, most enthusiastic Virgin
ian, and in true Southern style, squrts
tobacSo,juice freely! He scouts the
idea that any of them were traitors,
complains bitterly of the policy Of the
Government in DISTINGUISHING, those Of
them who are still disfranchised, and
| blesses God, every day that he lives,
that slavery is abolished. He considers
that s'they were set free from them
He is about 81 years Of age, and, as you
may imagine, became very early and
naturally the center of an interested
group in cur day upon the James.
Starting from the rebel capital, We
were in the midst Of the most interest
ing scenes in the late war. 1t was
natural, therefore. that the converse
lion should early turn upon
war events and incidents. A few miles
from Richmond we reached Drury s
Bluff, which will be remembered as one
of the rebel strongholds which caused
untold trouble to the Union forces.
Governor Wise spoke with no little sar-
casm and contempt of the infinite folly
of throwing the Union forces against
entertainments which were simply i'm
pregnable; when, by landing few miles
down the river and upon the other shore
they might have marched straight to
Richmond and captured il. Here he
spoke of the use of balloons. He
said: ''One morning l found my
men all star gazing, and upon looking
to see what it meant / found they were
looking at balloon. put up q yell
Richmond is safe! If they have gone
to flying balloons instead Of marching
straight 10 Richmond. there is NJ
danger. AS we advanced down thu
river the General pointed out all thu
points where Notifications had beer
t erected, or any events of interest hat
} transpircd. He seemed familiar Will
the whole country, and to know tn
4 persons who had formerly reside'
e along the rivers banks. AS we passe'
through the Dutch Gap Canal the ques
e ton arose of its length. The Genera
himself claimed to have had the idea Q
q canal across the narrow neck, an
a said, 81 paced it and found it to be jus
t l40 or al yards Passing one plan
a tation he said that General Carter ha
formerly owned the whole county, ea
a cept one small plantation. This he er
i deavored many times to buy, but
e vain althoug h he offered more tina
C the place was worth, the owner pcrs,s
n emily refused to part with it. A
It length General c. went to him an
It said: "What is the reason you won
ID sell this plantation What have yo
Is got against me = The man replied
y 81 haven't anything against you, Gel
N eral Carter, but have pride in sa..
a ing that General Carter and l own Il
at whole of -- county -
IN Arriving in the vicinity Of Malvel
a. Hill, after which battle Mcclellan hi
er taken refuge upon his gunboat, I sait
g governor Wise, how did you expla
er Mcclellan conducts Was it cowar
t. ice or Southern sympathy. or what W
ni' at was red tape, sir: it was s.
II. enct it was West Point y he promI
he ly made reply. If instead Of SO mu
nd red tape, they had little comm
lot sense, they would have marched straig
1T to Richmond without any trouble
I1S 1OutO AStO WoS IuAOi SAV0
- in that army to have ruined it; wage
MS loads of canned meat and canned fru
ed we picked up after the battle of NJ
he vern Hill, and our boys had nothing
&C. corn meal and bacon and little So
Ter and were very thankful to get thai
kle In the course of the day my wife a
W. ed +: 'Governor Wise. how did you
to- count for it, that when 50 often the '
nat was SO near an end, and emily proven
cen as it were by an accident, it still ~
the on for five years = Madame" said
ted fixing his eyes upon her. there's nj
nat ty-nine things out Of hundred, in Il
tch war that you can't account for in .
the other way only to say that it was
9TH man s war at all, it was God Almlght
the war: His time had come for the alb
gh. ton of slavery and the war was not
.ck end till that was accomplished, and
hat bless God every day of my life thai
ent was accomplished. This remark alb
He the abolition of slavery he repea
sht many times during the day.
she At one landing. he said: "Do you
The that young ladye" pointing to ne;
he dressed and genteel-looking young
sses man approaching the boat with N
LA ~ =.