Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-03-24

AAeshA OAAs SOls Olhs OOl
} Andrew j. Polk, Gen. Gideon j
Pillow, Col. Jerome Pillow, anC
other prominent and famous per
( sons. Nearly all of these gentlemen
owned large plantations in Arkan
SaS, Mississippi and Louisiana, and
had princely incomes from theil
cotton and sugar crops, but here al
Ashwood they had their superb
hOmesteads, mansions each with a
manor, and their surroundings were
in keeping with everything refined
taste could suggest and almost un-
limited purses could purchase.
Being jealous church people,
these gentlemen had built a beauti-
full little Protestant Episcopal chap
ell, and hard by was the family bury
ing-ground. 1t was very roman
tic place and the neighborhood
quite typical of the flush days of
our sunny southland. The chapel
was in the purest Gothic style, and
its walls and sharp-pointed roof
were quite concealed by Chamber
ing ivy, while the flowers and shrub
berry look fresh and green even on
this bleak November day. As Gle
burne, with his staff, rode by, the
general reined up his horse and lin
gered for moment to admire a spot
of such singular beauty. To him,
however, it was the beauty of sad
ness. The flowers that bloomed
there seemed ready to fade and
wither on the breast of death. The
evergreen was waiting to lay upon
his coffin lid, and frost glittered on
| the fairest rose like jeweled mock
cry. Cleburne had a preSentiment
of the nearness of death. Turning
to one of the staff officers, he said
with sigh: "If fall in the com.
ing fight, bury me here at Ash
wood" Two days after his man.
gled form was placed beneath the
sod at Ashwood. The service of
the Episcopal church was said by
Bishop Quintard, and then the SOL
dier slept in the grave he had
chosen.
Some years after the war
before Cleburne'S remains were re-
moved to Helena, Ark, and mon
ument placed over them by the La
dies Confederate Memorial Asso-
ciation-the writer was riding one
day along the AshwOod road and
paused for a moment to pay re-
spect to Cleburnes memory. A
rude head-board of cedar with Gle
Burne's name in black letters, near
ly obliterated by the weather, stood
over little round mound, the rank
grass and weeds had nearly COW
cred it. Tearing away the weeds
wrote from memory on the board
one stanza of a little poem that
first appeared in Dublin paper
dedicated to the memory of Pat
ric Cleburne." 1t was thus:
Ye brave, en- masse, who fall and pass
To the leaden halls of death;
There are palms for the few, but alas! for
Not a leaf from the victor's wreath,
He was the festive toast, the soldiers boast,
The type of martial age;
The foe of wrong, the soul of song,
And the light of the future page.
In appearance Clebure did not
bear out his reputation-was weak
and rather wan, slight man, with
iron gray hair cut close to his head,
delicate mustache and imperial,
small gray eyes and sallow COM
plexion. He dressed always neatly,
but with plainness, and had little
taste for general society. His
friends were few; his tastes were
simple; his manners shrinking in
the extreme. He had a plodding
ambition, a high sense of the mer-
its of others, an obstinate though
undemonstrative temper, and shy
but loving heart. To those whom
he liked he was tenderly affection
ate, To his antipathies he was ST.
lent and austere. His fancies were
mainly prnGaic: his tnrn of thnught
altogether literary. But in his own
ever unobstrusive way, he was tena-
cious of his principles and of his pur-
poses, incorrigible in the execution
of his plans, and fastidiously true
to his duties, personal and official.
He had travelled extensively. In
early life he had served a cornet
of the British light Dragons in In
dia, and later passed three years in
Paris as student of bellies lettres.
He might have been mistaken for
seaman, and looked like II Greek.
His bearing was cosmopolitan his
speech peculiar to himself, cross
between a stammer and an accent.
He was reckless of his person, but
IOL IIOIH NdlbS SAOlJs AAO oCSihOA w
be unconscious either of exposure
or display, governed by the impulse
or desire of the moment. His men
loved him dearly but few of his of
ficers were familiar with him.
Hardee was his nearest friend,
though he dearly loved young Lu-
cius Polk.
Cleburne was very bold and orig |
inal in his opinions. His PROPOSE
ton, two years before the close of
the war, to declare all the negroes |
free and conscript the males, evin-
ces his force of intellect and sagac-
ity. 81 would meet the prOclama-
tion of Mr.. Lincoln, said he, "with |
a better one. l would give the ne
groes not only their freedom, but |
bounty of land for meritorious
service. On one occasion he was |
heard to declare: "If England and |
France permit the overthrow of the |
Confederacy, l shall be in favor of
restoring the Union and cleaning
out Canada and Mexico. Had he |
lived he would have returned to Ar
kansas, married the lady to whom
he was betrothed, resumed the !
practice of law and eschewed Feni- |
anism. 81 am sick of fghting,"
he was deard to say months before |
his heath, "but we must fight it to |
the end"