The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-07-12
TUESDAY MORNING, JULY ~.

pet oy the name Of Cooper that he wanted to
make the ranking General of the Confederacy
The Commission appointed by Virginia insist
Ell that Les be- made the ranking officer, and
bad to go TO Davis to fix Il up. 1 told Davis
that we had hard time TO get Virginia out OF
the Union, and We had to make some conces-
siOns 10 keep her out. Davis finally con-
scented, and that fixed Lees position in the
army. but it was not until the fall of 1861, af-
ter We had been at war more than six months.
Settling Lees rank offended Johnston. He
was always in a bad humor about his rank. All
these old army officers were as jealous of one
another as LOT OF old maids | never cared a
cuss about rank. They had me under arrest
for some iniFaction 81 military rule but [ new
er minded that. and went into the second bat
Tie CT Manassas while under arrest At
Sharpsburg they gave me division. Half OF
these regular soldiers cared q cussed sight more
about their rank than they did about the cause
in which they were engaged.
THE BEST SOLDIERS.
(which were your best Generals?"
"Lee, Joe Johnston and Longstreet. The
latter is a Radical now, bat was good SOL
der and gentleman. Stonewall Jackson
he was the best Of them all. jackson was the
greatest soldier since Napoleon. He was
military genius, and had power over men
which few men ever possessed; and yet do you
know, If it had not been for me, Davis would
have got rid Of Stone@all jackson the first
Western Virginia he put one of his pets over
Jackson, and he resigned, and Davis accepted
it. When heard Of it, went and made him
recall il, else the greatest soldier Of the Con-
federaoy would have been virtually set aside
at the very beginning OF the conflict There
was q very funny story about this. The man
whom no put over Gen. Jackson, which caused
the resignation, had been member of Con-
gress from Arkansas, and once challenged
Bob Johnston. Davis was his second, and
T.,t. f,al
that was of sticking to his friends
UNREcoHsrRUcTED.
Senator Hill says the War changed this
Government"
THAT is the sheerest nonsense. The char
acter Of the Government has not changed. 1t
cannot be changed, ! deny even that the
Constitution has been changed. / say that
the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments are not parts of tho Constitution
OF the United States, and l have no respect for
the Government as now organized and admin
istered; and, if / were in politics, would go
before the people upon that issue. That is the
reason why / never accepted amnesty. | do
not recognize the Government in its present
shape as having the power TO grant amnesty.
OF course / am only speaking for myself, but
this is my position. have committed no
crime and shall never ask forgiveness"
Gen. Toombs was II years old on Saturday,
full-fguied, round-faced man, with a tuft of
gray whiskeTs far down upon his throat He
has clear blue eye and kindly expression 1t
is said he has been the handsomest as we'll as
one OF the ablest men Georgia ever produced.
lie is recognized hero as a great lawyer, and is
still retained il large causes, especially " here
the State is interested. He is a man of great
wealth and almost unlimited credit in fnan-
cial circles Since the war, when the State
was in trouble, he loaned it his credit for
nearly 100000; and during the Constitutional
Convention, held but few years since, the
appropriation failed. and he paid each of the
members with his personal check for their ser
vices, relying on the Legislature to reimburse
as sharp, shrewd fnancer. Despite his er-
ratio manner and sometimes violent express
sions he is still recognized as man OF force, of
pure personal character, and great social quail
fiac