The Portland daily press., 1883-12-10
The Rebel Generals.

washington Cor. Boston AdvertIser.l

Leaders i'm the Field.
Washington Cor. Boston Advertiser.l
What has become of the rebel generals?
| asked an old West Pointer and brilliant gen.
| eral officer the other day. He thought a
minute. "Why, the majority of them are
dead" was the reply. Then he went on to
take up some of those historical names.
With many of their owners he had served In
Mexico and in Indian wars without number,
eyes, the greater part of these men are
dead, much larger proportion than of our
Northern generals After the war most-of
them broke down. The fact was the rebels
suffered more than we did. They had a
harder time in the fisld, lived poorly, and
were more disposed to disease than our
men. Lee, Anderson, Bragg, Magruder,
Breckenridge, Hood, Picket, Forrest, Price,
Pemberton, Dick' Taylor, Pillow, Floyd,
Hardee and Ewell were among them.
Johnston is an old man now, not less than
seventy-fve. Bragg died several years ago
at his home in North Carolina. Magruder
died ten years ago. Forrest, the murderer
of the negro prisoners at Fort Pillow, lived
only a little while after the surrender. So 1t
was with Ewell, Lees Srayest lieutenants
who rode strapped to his saddle in every
campaign after the first Bull Run, where he
lost leg. He was breveted for bravery at
Cherebusco. There was Hardee. he was
lieutenant-colonel of dragons at thirty
nine, but he went South with the fest. After
the war he started the first orange planta-
tion in Florida, and died there three or four
years ago. Price is dead. So is Dick Tay-
lor. Taylor was Jefferson Davis brother-in-
law and made lieutenant-general on that ac-
count. Pemberton lived out the remnant
of his days at Philadelphia. He never re-
covered from his surrender to Grant at
Vicksburg. OF the few Nothern men who
joined the rebels he was enc, but his wife
was Southern and carried him over. An
other case was Roswell Ripley of Ohio. He
was West Point graduate, and did well in
Mexico. His wife was South Carolina wo-
man. That was the secret of his choice.
Floyd, Buchanan's Secretary of War, nev-
er came to the surface after his desertion Of
Fort Donelson. Pillow, his comrade in
that trip, lived on his plantation 10 Tennes-
see few years after hostilities ceased. He
had been major-general in the Mexican
war, and did creditable service there. be-
lieye he was President Polk's law partner,
duu BOb Tue appointment Ludt way. Inc
pluckiest man in the war was George Pick
EFT. He was a young second lieutenant Just
from the academy in lS46, and was assigned
to department In Washington Territory,
of which old General Harney was In COM
mand. We were quarelling then over the
boundary. Harvey put Pickett on San Juan
Island, which commands Puget Sound. he
held it against an English squadron, and it
has never been lost, Pickett commanded
1t~te 81 okfu oIrrNr rr.Io II
His assault Of the third day was the greatest
charge of that fight His men fought with
mine about our guns. We drove them back,
but Pickett came nearer winning that fight
than 1t is pleasant to think of. Yes, he is
dead.
OF those who are alive, Beauregard and
Jubal Early are managers of the Louisiana
lottery. They get $4,000 each, and so great
is the feeling still existing in the South over
their generals, that one of the lottery mana
gers told me the other day that their names
were worth to the company more than heir
salaries. Both of them were West Pointers
and artillery officers, but Beauregard never
was soldier. He is a dapper Creole gentle
man, and the Louisianians swear by him.
Early fought well. Longstreet comes to
Washington occasionally He is United
States marshal in Georgia, but his magnif-
cent physique is showing the effect of his
wounds. In Mexico he and Grant were
lieutenants in the same regiment. After
the war, Grant induced him to join the Re
publican party. He has been under a ban
in the South ever since, but never without :
the consolation of good Office. l only re-
member one other prominent rebel who is
Republican. McLaws was reconstructed,
and is postmaster at Savannah. Lee used to
say of McLaw's division that it was always
ready for a fight.
A good many of them have drifted into
politics on the other side. Joseph Wheeler,
weight 107 pounds, and the bes: cavalry Of
icer next to Stuart in rebeldom, is MEM
Der of Congress from Alabama; M. G. But
Ter and Wade Hampton represent South
Carolina in the Senate. Butler lost his right
leg at Brandy station in 1868, when Wade
Hampton's son was killed. Hampton was
one of the richest men in the State. He
raised, armed and equipped. at his own ex-
pense, the Hampton Legion, and a regiment
of cavalry and artillery; Malone came to the
front in the last campaign about Richmond,
and is Senator; Johnston has been IL Con-
gress; Senator Morgan of Alabama rose from
the ranks to be brigadier-general; in fact, Of
the ten Congressman from that State nine
were in the rebel army; so with all but one .
of the Arkansas delegation; Senators Cock
rell, Maxey and Ransom were maior-gener-
ais. One of the door-keepers of the Senate
is Cadmus Wilcox, one of the best major
generals of Lees second corps.
Gen. Lees son, William H., succeeded his
father as president of the Washington and
Lee University in Virginia. His nephew,
Fitzhugh, lives on one OF the family estates
at West Point, which Mcclellan made his
base depot, before the famous change of
base to Harrison's Landing. Both of them
are rich, for the family estates are among
the best in Virginia. For Arlington last
winter Congress voted them s150,000, al
though it was confiscated while Lee was in
arms against the flag. Another son, G. w.
Custis Lee, lives in Virginia. All these
young men were cavalry officers in the army
of Virginia. d. Fl. Hill lives somewhere In
Virginia, but no one seems to know where.
Buckner, who was man enough to stay in
Fort Donelson, and surrender with his men,
is in Kentucky. Last year he came near
being nominated for governor over Proctor
Knott. His wife inherited large estate In
Chicago. At West Point he and Rosecrans
were close friends. During the whole war
the latter managed his friends property,
and returned it to him afterwards"