Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-04-25

told bis story and tested the temper OF my
| audience When / found out that there was
no danger Mcqueen suddenly recovered his
| power of speech and became as voluble as
any of u.s. When got among our soldiers
did not know what they mightd do to US.
''After we left Chester we journeyed on to
Salisbury, N. O., and there we found some
thing in the air, an indefnable something
that we could neither feel nor see but some
thing that seemed to presage calamity. Here
| we had to stop. There was no telegraph and
communication had been pretty we'll cut of.
was for pushing on TO Richmond with the
intention of getting Mr. G.. A. Trenholm,
then a momber Of the Confederate cabinet,
| to send Mcqueen through the lines home. l
turned of and went down to Smithville where
Gen. Joseph L. Johnston had established his
| headquarters. There met Gen. Hardee. who
saw Gen. Johnston for me. l was told by
him to take Mcqueen TO Raleigh. Here we
were taken care Of by the Rev. DR.. Mason,
and the next day went to see Johnston, who
told me that Hardee had related the young
mans story to him and asked me where he
was. lie sent one of his officers and gave
Mcqueen permit to 90 through the lines.
81 dined with Gen. Johnston that day, and
while seated at the table in Rufus fuckers
| house with Johnston on one side and Hardee
on the other, telegram was handed to Johns
ton. We had just finished our soup, think.
Gen Johnston read the despatch and rising
from the table left the room and going out
on the piazza called Gen. Hardee. In few
moments Hardee called me out and said
| Now, remember you, Gen. Johnston and
myself and the telegraph operator are the
only persons who know the contents Of this
telegram The telegram was from President
Davis from Salisbury, to this effect:
Gen. J. 4. Johnston: l have not heard from Gen.
Lee ior three days but from the stray soldiers gath
er that he has met with great disaster. Come to me-
"The telegram was signed Jefferson Da-
Wis. Gen. Hardee then said Johnston has
gone on that train that you hear now, and
never saw Johnston for three years after that
day. then said to Hardee We'll, what is
the next move on the military chess board ?
He replied WELL If this is true it's all over.
Any man that is killed now is murdered We
will retreat rapidly and surrender at Hills
boro', for there are only 10000 muskets in
this army This is in fact only a mob, the
debris Of all our armies. You had better
leave. A disbanding army is dangerous At
ter this interview with Gen. Hardee went
back to DR.. Masons and bade Mcqueen good
bye, never expecting that l should see or
hear Of him again.
"Rufus Tucker asked me to bring pair of
mules and servant with me South for safe.
keeping, and 1 did so. l came right back
over Sherman's track and was never moest.
ed for one minute. drove through in five
days to Columbia and from there went to
Anderson. The day after got to Anderson
the mules Of Tucker were stolen by compa-
ny Of raiders, who rode into that place.
tried to save the mules, and told the raiders
that the war was over, but they would not
believe II and so l lost my mules.
when l returned to Charleston in June
found letter awaiting my arrival from Lieut..
Mcqueen, and also one from Ger. o. o.
Howard, saying that il he could be of any
service must call on him. The first service
that got from Gen. Howard was the pardon
Of Mr. George A. Trenholm
Years passed on, and nothing served to
disturb the uneventful current of my life un-
til in October, 1867, 1 conceived the idea OF
establishing the great educational institution |
OF which am the rector-the Holy Commu-
nion Church Institute-which grew out of
the calamities Of the war and is record Of |
Gods wonderful providence.
ION one of my visits to Washington met |
Con. Sherman, who asked me IL there was
nothing that could be done for me in return |
for what had done for Lieut. Mcqueen. l |
replied that the government did not have |
money enough to pay me for the risk of my |
life in serving Mcqueen that had done it |
as act of gratitude and that it was not a |
thing that could be paid for in dollars and |
cents. When Charleston was given up as a |
military post, however, 1 visited Washington |
l went to see Gen. Sherman and told him |
that the time had now come when he could |
do something-not for me, but for the coun-
try. He said that he knew all the work that |
had been doing and that the government |
ought to be thankful that it could give me |
possession OF the arsenal in Charleston. Gen. |
Sherman exerted himself among the Repub- |
lican members Of Congress. When the mat
ter came up in the Senate, S nator Edmunds |
-
Butler read what Sherman had said where |
upon Edmunds declared that he had no OBJ. |
lection, and so the resolution was passed |
granting this valuable property for education |
al purposes. II will be seen from what ap- |
parently Insignificant circumstances the grand |
est results follow.
"Lieut. Mcqueen and myself have CORES. |
ponded with each other through all these |
years. When Senator Hampton went out to |
Illinois to deliver an address before the Win |
nebago agricultural society, in 1877, twelve |
years after the destruction of Columbia, he |
stopped in the middle of his speech to recite |
some Of the episodes Of the war, and men
toned the story of my letter to McQueen. |
When he had finished speak ng a young man
stepped ont of the crowd, and going up TO |
Senator Hampton said 4 am Lieut.. John |
A. Mcqueen, and this is the letter (produc- |
ing the letter that you have in your hand) |
laration OF the modest Illinois farmer can be |
imagined better than it can be described. |
Senator Hampton took the letter and read il |
before the crowd of 10, ONO people, aud it |
created tremendous sensation. He wanted |
to keep the letter but Lieut.. Mcqueen, of |
course, would not part with 1t for anything |
in the world.
Last year was invited to go to Chicago,
and while there l went over TO Elgin to visit |
I WI m ia md tba
night with him. He introduced me to his |
four bright and lively children, telling them
that was their grandfather, and ndively sug- |
gesting that must be their grandfather. for
that if it had not been for me they would not |
hove had him for their father McQueen's |
wife is dead. He is bringing up his children |
in the right way. Ho is one OF the finest |
men 1 have ever known. He is a staunch |
Presbyterian, and in one OF his letters TO me |
he said that Congressman Aiken had said that |
he (Aiken) was opposed to the lease of the |
arsenal TO me, because it would be sectari- |
an school, but that when he thought of the |
Presbyterian boy in the arms OF the Episco- |
pal minister he blessed God for such sectari-
anism and wished that we had more of it.
''Several weeks ago 1 received letter from
my Yankee friend, enclosing the somewhat |
historic epistle which was written by me in |
Columbia little moro than nineteen years
ago. He asked that the letter might be read |
to the boys, and prayed Gods blessing to
rest on them and on tho teachers and direc- |
tors of the Institute"
During the recital Of the stirring incidents |
contained in this narrative of the war DR.. |
Porter was frequently interrupted. The day |
on which the story was told was as beautiful |
as dream. Carriage aftor carriage loaded |
with Northern visitors drove through the |
splendid campus of the Holy Communion
Church Institute, while numerous pedestri-
ans sauntered through the grounds or paused
for a moment at the wide-Open gate 10 catch
a glimpse of the great educational temple
within where 80 much has been done for the
cause of Christian culture. A lady heavily
veied and dressed in deep black came into
the reotor's study with small sum of money
neatly wrapped in white paper-it was the
widows mite A strong man stood mp in the
doorway to ask that his son might be taken
into the school, and his soul looked out
through only one window, for one Of his eyes
! had been lost in battle this was q cry for
help. And so from day to day the touching
history of this institution il written in human
hearts, and the work that it is doing is max
| ing its imp preston upon society and the world