Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1875-04-23
A Letter from an Ex.Confederate.
PoRr TOBACCO TharL>s County, Nj.
April 18th, 1879.

f. WELLS, Esq,
EFtor ot' tAS Port TyhIcco TIacs:'
For purposes in connection probably
with some future history of our late un
fortunate contest tor States Rights and
Sovereignty and southern independence.
am anxious 10 know accurately. how
many Narylaniers had in ms office in
Montgomery. Ala. and Richmond. VA.
from March. 1861. ~ March. 1865.
The office Of Military, or Second Audi
Tor. was created 10y an Act of the C"utc,ler
ate Congress, approved. believe, on the
10th of March. 1861, | was At that time
in Western Louisiana, on visit - my
brother, and on my return was met in New
Orleans hy a Telegram from Mr.. Davis.
President of the CoUtcIcrtcN. inviting me
20 Montgomery, the then seal Of Govern
mrnt. and o:'rriu. me the appointment of
the newly created military authorship.
This promptly accepted, MAS commissions
cd and qualified AMI without suggestion
or assistance from any uuc. completely or
ganizcd the office; ant upon that plan and
organization. ii was conducted harmoul-
ously. and | h,licve efficiently and site
ccs,fu'ly. 10 the end. The world has long
known that the southern C"nfedcraCy "i
eleven ia> was then believed 10y them
sovereign States besides Territories, MAS
failure. after brave and most gallant
struggle OF four years, single handed and
alone. and the loss 81 over TWO hundred
thousand OF the very flower Of their youth
and manhood of MI classes and conditions
Of its white people. From the days Of
Nimrod, the first mighty hunter before
the Lord. (Gcn. ch. 10. Y. - 10 the pre-
sent hour. the sun never shune on such a
rank and file. The A>>yrians under Sem,
iramis their celebrated Queen, and SIENNA
cherib their King. the Egyptians under
Scsostris. the Con:cIcrAtcd Greeks under
Miltiadcs, the Thehans under Epamino--
das and Pclupidas. the MaCcdonians un-
der Philip and Alexander the Great, the
French under Napoleon l., and the bull dog
English under Cromwell and wellington.
were not to be compared with them. And
here nothing can he trucr and more appro-
priate. than 10 repeat what was written 10y
"A brave and maguanimous old Regular
officer of the Federal Army, and published
in May, 1874:
Nv hen We crossed Mine run, ten years ego
next Tu' sddy, and attacked Lee in the Wilder
ness, cur reports. vfhClal and jour nahstiC,
lIo,ohu. to TOO 600, cufdiug To tie trcpidauou
ii the writer But Lees official statements,
based on the "mtTulug reports OF his Ser
ocau;s Major. make his tprcr on the LIST Of Nav,
3,O1n men. and this included fitzhugh Lees
and Pierce Yuuug'- commands of Cavalry
The Cunf-fcracv Is gone, and its
bones have been picked white and clean, by
b, ose who kept suffers shops during the war,
aud came carpet -hagriug To Congress after il
was over. The l'ast We can now do Is to give
toe fighting C0rtsderufss iuil credit for what they
. accomplished on the II lt, by admitting tht dis
advantages under wJirh they struggled. And
ii is not even IRagHHniHOus. bat simply far, tC
say now, that they fought as ntrer men fought be
fore, but against such odds Of numbers, armament
equipments, and supply resources, lrere neUer
5etOre matched against "A buckles foe. RevllC
their failure il you WILL but do not add to it the
Insulting uniruh, that they yielded to inferior
numbers. When the time comes fuI telling
the rhole truth, it will APPEAR in history, that the
,corid neUer saW sixty three thousand soldiers
who could have stood agaiust the army that Lee
headed in the Wilderness ten years 90 to- day
/ In its government, the Southern Con
/ federacy closely followed that of the United
! States, abolishng and correcting abuses
which had grown up in the latter, until
/ they produced secession and revolution
( But in nothing was there such a complete
and radical change as was in the appoint
ments and tenure of office of its civil Off
GERS, particularly of the lower grades
Here the odious, contemplate and most
demoralzing doctrine and practice Of "ro
tation in office" and 'to the vIctor's be
/ longed the spoils,' was at once abandoned
in scorn to the contempt it deserved, and
the honest. patriotic usages of Washington
Hamilton, John Adams. Jefferson especial
! ly, $50 handsomely and sensibly noticed
in your editorial Of the Goth ultimo,
Madison, Munroe, and John Quincy
Adams, promptly adopted and faithfully