Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-01-19
LETTER FROM MR.. JEFFERSON
DAVIS.
His Opinion Of General Harvey ri
the Veteran Appearod MANY
Years Ago.

A0a
Mis- opinion Of General Harnsy al
the veteran 1PPsared MANI
Years Ago.
The St Louis Globe Democrat says
Mr.. L. u. Reavis, Of this city, is en-
gagged in collecting material for a life o.
General Harvey. he has just received
the following letter from Jefferson Davis
late of the G. S. A.:
MISSISSIPPI Cry, MISS January,
lS7S-Sir: 1t gives me pleasure to com
ply with your request Of tae 30th ult.
for some "reminiscences in connection
with my old friend, Gen. w. S. Harvey.
In the spring of 1929 / reported as q
brevet second lieutenant to the com
manding officer at Fort Winnebago.
General Harvey was then stationed at
that post, and captain Of company X,
First United States infantry. At that
period of his life be was, physically, the
finest specimen Of a man | aver saw.
Tall, straight, muscular, brosd-chested
and gaunt WASTED, he was one of the
class which Trelawney describes as
natures noblemeR," against whom the
plague in the East never made an at.
tack" Had he lived in the time Of
Homer be would have robbed ACHILLES Of
his soubriquet of the swift.tooted," for
he would run faster than a white man,
further than an Indian, and in both
showed that mar was organized to be
master of the beast. To elucidate the
last clause of the preceding paragraph
requires the recital Of an %anecdote.
Captain Harvey carefully attended to
his company garden, which on the from.
tier was necessary for the comfort as
veil as the health Of the men. The beds
had been carefully spaded and raked,
when one OF his numerous dogs-a half
grown mongrel hound-came walking
across the carefully prepared ground,
and the captain, storming at him in tones
sad in language not suited to the pulpit,
frightened the dog so that instead of GO
ing out by the walk, he ran across the
bed toward the gap in the fence. The
captain started in full run after the dog,
which had to jump on the fence and
then off it-fatal~ disparity to the dog. for
the captain cleared the fence at a bound,
which brought him a jump nearer to the
dog-and then began an even run up
the long slope which led to the fort, be.
fore reaching which Harvey mastered
the dog, and Rosa" suffered in proper
tisn to the length Of the chase. Captain
Harvey was also q bold horsemsG, fond
Of the chase, a good boatman and skill
full in the use of the spear as q fisher
man. Neither drinking nor gaming, be
was clear of those rocks and shoals Of
life in q frontier garrison, and is no doubt
indebted to this abstinence for much OF
the vigor be has possessed to his present
advanced age. BY long service on the
Indian frontier, together with that prac
teal sense which tests all theory by
actual observation, he had acquired that
knowledge of Indian character which
was often c%onspicuously exhibited in his
military career. Of the incidents thus
generally referred to, you have 80 many
other sources of information that it
would be needless for me to enter into
detail, but | should do injustice to the
subject Of this letter if | did not c.
your attention to the project of a trea
he made with the Sioux in 1855 or '56.
| think it constituted the best basis for
an arrangement between the United
States government and an Indian tribe
that has ever been devised, and if carried
out would impress the Indians with their
responsibility, and bind them to a more
faithful observance Of it than ever did
any Of those verbose, miscalled treaties
which are to be found spread over the
records of the United States. Yours
respectfully, JEFFERSON DAVIS.