The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-02-11
AlsI''S ANNALS.
Reviewing Articles on the Ilntc

conquer your prejudices." Daniel
Webster said that or words to that cf-
feet, and if he was alive today he could
say 1t to all Of us for we are all the
slaves Of prejudice. I was thinking
about this while reading the last num-
Der Of The Century. In the December
number General Lew Wallace wrote an
account Of the battle Of Shiloh and |
thought it was very fair and considerate,
considering that he was a Federal gem
eral. l believed him to be sincere.
And now comes General Grant in the
last number and says that Lew Wallace
did not obey orders and bungled up
things terribly. General Grant starts
out by abusing General lIallcck, his su-
perior officer, and digs him under the
short ribs severely. The biggest thing
in his long article is General Grant, and
he takes up a good deal Of space in
telling about his horse falling down and
hurting his ankle, and about his standing
by n tree all night in the rain. Well,
that was bad-and we are sorry he had
it to do, but it was tw~enty-thrce years
ago, and wa are all we'll Of it now. He
says that the Confedcrates had over 40
VO men the frat day, and he had only
25,ON il. line ; but he v had any
doubt about whipping the fight. He
says further that Lew Wallace came up
after the first days fight with 5000 men,
and Bell came mex morning with 90
OUO more, and this made a total Of So
600 for the second day. He says he did
not need Bells force, but was glad to
see them and they did all that there was
for them to do.
Well, now let us look at VIM. Pres
ton j ohnston's ccoun in the same num-
Der. He says that Grant had an army
Of $1,000 men in camp, nearly $1,000 Of
whom were electives. Buell. was near
at hand with $1,000 moro, and Mitchell
not far distant with $4,000. In all Grant
had 10000 effective men, and opposed
to him were less than 10000 effective
C%onfederates.
So. it seems that Grant was to have ca
silly whipped the 10000 confedcrates
with his 10000 federals without any help
from Buell..
.eAnd on the other side it seems that
Grant had 10000 men pitted against
10000. Everybody is at liberty l sup
pose to believe either one or the other;
hut reckon most people will do like
juries do when the lawyers get them ali
rbefoddled-just split the difference aud
find a verdict.
Beauregard and his friend Jordan
make up a pretty good story for their
side, and WIN. Preston Johnston handles
them without gloves and makes up a
better one for General Albert Sidney
Johnston, and sc it goes, and nobody
knows just how it was exactly, and
never will know I reckon. Idon't Lc-
lievc any Of these writer's can tell it
just as twas for they are all just hu-
man and have prcjudices and it is i'm
possible for them to see it from the
same standpoint. And we their readers
will believe or not believe according to
, our ~prejudiccs, for we cant help it. We
inherit u love Of sour side us like VIC
inherit our politics or our religion. It
is a'trait in thurman nature that contrib
ates to our good and makes us happier.
but hke all other things it can be in
dn4ged in to extremes, and then it makes
us selfish and conceited and uncharita-
BILE.
! know that the truth Of history ought
TO be indicated if i. can be, but | don't
see That all this wrangle abont the hat
tie of Shiloh is doing any good. 1t is
pretty we'll settled that We got badly
whipped somehow or somehow else and
the rs" and the ''pcradventurcs' are
LOO uncertain to make up history. They
ramind me Of an article I read about
General Jackson ut New Orleans. Tho
writer said TINT "Old Hickory" was The
second savior Of the world. for if he
hadent command At New Orleans and
killed old Packenhan, old Puckcnham
would have whipped that fight, and then
gone back to England and taken charge
OF the English army. for he raskcd
wellington and Napoleon and would
have whipped him at Waterloo. for
lackenham was a poor General, and then
the French would have whipped Eng
land and all the rost Of mankind, and
the whole world would by this time lie
under the French Empire and be eating
frogs OF catching them for a living,
One thing is certain though. the re-
bells did some good fighting on several
occasions, for General Grant says so and
several other Federal generals havcEsaid
81. believe they do give us credit for
getting up . little stampede at Bull Run,
and now there seems to be a fuss abou,
that. Yor aenorol pottor.,,,, .ol