Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-04-08
BRAYEST or THE CONFEDE.
RATES,
General John H. Gordon an the War
His Beautiful WlTe's Devotion.

johnny Bouquet in the Nel0 York Tribune.
Happening on General Gordon, of
Georgia, twice elected United States
Senator, at the ST. James Hotel. l asked
him if he was not going to help the old
Carthaginian get rid of couple of
bouquets. 81 don't know, johnny"
said he, "but you may come up and see
Mrs. Gordon, who likes flowers, and,
perhaps, she =, AXE something from
you.
Mrs. Gordon is charming specimen
of Georgian lady. She has mouth
full of the most perfect teeth one can see
anywhere With the slender and grace
full body of a GIRL, and the shy, yet en-
gaging manners of huntress, she is
said to be already grandmother. Dur
ing the war she went with Gordon to the
camp, and lived with him and the family
among the troops, scarcely retiring in the
time of battle. She has been a fine
horsewoman from childhood, and still
rides at her Georgia farm constantly.
Her youngest boy was born on the night
of the last offensive movement in the
rebel lines at Petersburg, and, as the
General says, the event was announced
greeted the birth of any of the Napoleons
or Romanoffs.
General Gordon is one Of the most
popular men who ever sat in the Senate.
Although the braVeSt of the brave on the
rebel side. be has never been aggressive
in his nature since he re-entered civillife.
and has always been for placating and
restoring good feeling, end therefore he
q y47stl
was mining coal and iron ia Northern
Alabama when the war broke out, and
was made Captain in the line. His
manners and address made him the pet
of the army. while his determined vet
quiet quality as fighter rapidly pro-
NOTED him, and he has been one of the
best shot men in the country.
/ asked Mrs. Gordon if she did not
suffer good deal during the war, see
ing him so frequently go out to battle
with the prospect of coming back be-
fore her dead in few minutes or hours.
Yes, ;" she said Il had much suffer
ing Every time he left ne | thought it
might be the last; but l had rather
have seen him brought home dead than
to run"
'She is the best soldier If the two."
beat me now at foot race" | heard il
said, too, that Gordon and his wife were
never separated, in a marriage of twenty
six years, over four weeks at a time"
"Where did you get that hole in your
face, General?'
cat Antietam, Johnny. | pretty near
ly came to my end there, and Mrs. Cor
don was very close to being a widow /
oh
early in the day, and although it did
not pain me, it gave me the impression
of having torn my whole leg off nv
body, such was the shock Then | got
hole further up the leg, and was next
shot in the arm, and then nearly had my
shoulder tom off. | felt SIS if l had
gone to pieces then, and thought they
were putting it altogether rather hard on
me when got this ball in my face, and
it broke me all up and came out below
my ear-and that was the last ! knew for
some time.
"Where were you, Mrs. Gordon, when
he got all those wounds?'
Il was at Richmond, but hearing of
the battle pushed on to Winchester.
and when | arrived there the doctors told
me the General would probably have to
die; that be had refused to come off the
field, and had been drained of almost
every drop of blood before he was disa
bled, walking about there in his boots
with holes through him, six or seven
hours, and bleeding all the time. The doc
tors told me l must be very cautious and
not disturb his nerves. When knocked
at the door OF his room in Winchester,
his voice came up just as naturally as |
ever heard it, cry ing: Come in l opened
the door, and there he lay, with his leg
tiussed up, and his face q perfect mass
of blood, bruises and distortion. Hal
haP he said; here is your handsome
man; do look at himl he has been to an
Irish fair.
General" said Johnny, 'you must
have suffered greatly while recovering
from all those wounds"
"Oh, yes; for a long time The CON
slant weakness, almost worse than death,
-wss, perhaps, the greatest atfliction-for
weeks and weeks a1d months to lie
there and expect every breath you drew
should be the last My jaw could not
chew and was kept alive on brandy and
beef tea
''And yet" said Mrs. Gordon, che
went back TO The same place before he
was quite well, and then came the battle
OF the Wilderness, aud he got wounded
again. wanted him to come out of the
war honorably, but | was in hopes,
when he went off after those wounds,
that he would turn out not strong enough
to keep the field; yet he continued to
grow better after he took the field
again, and so he went right through the
war"
Here I may say that Gordon was the
General chosen to make the last big
charge of the war st Appomattox, and
Just at the moment Of moving in, as the
Federal cavalry drew off to either side, the
long blue lines Of the Sixth Corps were
unrolled, and it was seen that the Con-
tederates would be swallowed up in lead
and fire. Then, fortunately, the word
came not to attack, as negotiations were