The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-07-28
AREBELSRECOLLECTlONS
What General Gordon Remem
beers of the Surrender at
Appomattox.
Gossip Of q Famous Scene Re-
vived by General Sher1dan'0
Recent Article.


0oCeot A16aCle.
Cath in the ysr Ysf Iri5Ene-
had q talk last Wednesday night
with General John y. Gordon, OF
Georgia. . man Of supreme bravery.
He 1. about 81 years old, . lawyer, a
college graduate, and the greatest
fighter in the Confederate army. ]
said
General, have you read Sheri-
dams article about the closing days
Of the war"
EYES," said he, land it 10 an hon
est effort Of the memory, though
there are some natural differences in
honest mems memories Of the same
events. A very slight difference OF
standpoint changes the perception
and Of course the memory. Phil
Sheridan i. . gallant fellow, and l
have good occasion TO remember bim
in the hottest time of the war. l
tell you. as Sheridan's opponent po-
IiticalIy and In q military point OF
view. he pushed the old COniederacy
in it, dying moments with . vigor
We had never known. Sleep was
denied lie. II was nothing but fight,
fight, fight, uLtiI fighting lost it's
HerOi.M, and We hardly cared
whether we xlive Or dead"
HOW SHERIDAN MET THEM.
Said J: General Gordon, cannot
you remember something pertaining
tn Sheridan's meeting YOU" The
General then in his easy, perspicu-
Oas way, told me q number Ofthings,
tough be il far beyond craving
publicity, having had the whole
measure Of success, political, senstol-
ial, military, financial. could not
helL thinking, while we were talk
ing, and Judge LochraIne was pres
ent, that once LOcbraine had en-
plsyed this renowned fighter az =
reporter on his paper. Courtesy,
IN .gnanimity. graciousne.s, obedi-
ence are Gordon's all the time.
While you talk with him you OBJ
serve the clefts in his cheek and in
his head where the lead entered.
Said he:
''Eherjdan's article revives a num-
Der OF memories to me. among others
the following: ! had among my
scouts a man named George, one Of
the braveat fellows that ever lived.
When we were on that last retreat
two men in Confederate uniforms
were captured, and one Of them bad
a li%eutenaDt's insignia. They were
brought into my camp and George
said: General Gordon, / know that
man. printing to one; me decoyed
me into the Federal lines and gave
me up / said to the Yankee, who
WAS a. fine a man as l ever saw in
ny life,
wHOLEIS BODY AND wHOLEIS SOUL
"My friend, this ID q serious charge
against you. / hope you can acquit
yourself. He insisted that he was 2
Confederate Lieutenant, and he gave
me his place in the Confederate army
with the greatest precision and conf
dence. But George said again:
General Gordon. that man il = spy.
] cannot he deceived about him. SO
/ raid to the NOrtherner: My friend,
we will just strip you and e if my
scout is not mistaken We did strip
him, and i'm q portion Of bis gar
ments v e found q direct order from
General Sheridan. Said /: My
friend, ] sympathize with you, but
you know the penalty of your detec-
tom Yes said he, 'GeLeral Cor
don, / have taken my life in my
hands for a long time. You have
caught me. / am ready for the pen.
atty 1 looked into the mans eyes,
and / saw the soul of q man there.
Said I, Take linn to the guard
house, Now I sincerely hoped l
would not have to hang that man.
Indeed, ! did not mean to hang him
But his offense was q hanging one.
The next day it was suggested to me
that / hang that spy. Said /, We
are too holly engaged. Let him 20
over another day. / kept r~eprieving
him and the Federals took him off
my hands. / never meant to lang
him at ALL"
FIRING AT sHERIDAN's STAFF.
Said I: "Can you remember any
thing about the firing on Sheridan's
stafH, and even Sheridan himself"
"Yes," said Gordon, II will give
you the best memory I have about it.
During the retreat ! commanded the
rear, and Of course I was fighting all
the time. When General Lee felt
that his cause was gone he sent me a
written statement To that effect, but
not the order for me to surrender. /
was too humble a man to interpret
his order into a surrender. / had to
20 home to my people, and ! re-
solved not to surrender till ] was ex-
plicitly told to do 80. or course !
raw that our cause was gone. While
we were fighting fieicely, men being
killed all around us, there dashed up
to me sn officer with q staff 10
large that / really thought 1t was
a. big AZ one Of my regiments. / am
not rejecting on that officer, but we
were 40 nearly 81 aned out that one
Of our regiments was hardly bigger
than q Federal staff. The man who
came to me was a fighting fellow; de-
cision and pluck being in his eyes.
Said he: Are you aware that your
commanding officer has surren.
dered" Il have no orders to surren-
der said /. Well said this officer.
i teII you tnaL you nave
Il shall not surrender said I. Very
WE'LL said he, and he wheeled Off
with his staff. and passed away az II
It rave him no concern whether we
had surrendered or not. There we
were absolutely doomed. I knew the
timber Of that Federal army well
now, i%ndurated, flushed with success.
intelligent. and they knew that thev
had us In the last trap. Yet I was
not going to take the responsibility
Of surrender. ! had to go home"
A NAN THAT LOOKED LIKE PUNCH
general Gordon" said !, lean
you remember Sheridan's coming TO
your
eyes. The fight was still raging,
and people were being murdered for
nothing. The instinct Of fight was