The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-04-19
GEN. RIPLEY.
A Tribute to the Memory Of an Honest Rebel.


death of Gen. Ripley, Of South Carolina, calls
TO the writer's mind an incident of the war in
which ne acted the part of good Samaritan 20
some of our prisoners in Charleston
In June, 1864 Gen. Ripley, as Confederate
commander at Charleston. sent q letter by fag
OF truce to our commander on Morris Island
informing him that he had confined SIN part
of the city exposed to the fire Of the Federal
guns, so officers of the Federal army This
was done ia retaliation for our Commandment
of the city, and in the hope THAT our people
would discontinue it. It was not many days,
however, before our gunners were reliably iu-
formed as to the location of these prisoners
aud after that they were as safe from Federal
shells as they would have been in their north
ern homes.
There was soon added to these prisoners
squad of naval officers, gathered from every
squadron on the Atlantic coast, and Of every
rank from Commander down. The main part Of
them took to their wretched prison farcaud quar-
tiers with heroic eqGanimIty. a few had money
toadd luxuries, but;n the main they We're peuui-
less. Among the latter was q chronic g5oWier
and sC0d and to silence him one morning one
of his brother officers asked him why he did
not make requisitiou on his Paymastcr for
some money and buy better grub. 1t is an old
gag among sailors when at sea TO inquire 40
the breakfast.tahle il the morning papers have
come aboard, and in this spirit tho GROWER was
tainted, suPp0sing the plan as difficult to carry
out IS to get a morning paper la the middle Of
the Atlantic. He dldu make a word Of reply,
but sat the remainder of the morning in a
brown study. He finally got up and announced
that if he could be furnished with paper and
pencil ne would make a requisition for money,
and one that would bring it. All were in
clined to laugh at him, but as he uufoided his
scheme it seemed worth the effort and all
hands Joined in trying to make it q success.
a Tequisitiou was drawn mp addressed TO the
Admiral commanding of Charleston, setting
forth that they were prisoners under fire in
Charleston and in need of money, and asking
that it be sent TO them; and also that they be
treated as officers in a foreign port and receive
their gay in gold.
1t may seem strange, but the requisition was
sent promptly under flag Of truce to our forces
on Morris Island, and BY them sent of to the
fleet. The rcquisitiOn was forwarded to Admi-
raj Dahlgren, who was in distant part of the
squadron. The request was new aud novel
one, and probably the only one Of tho kind
made during the war. The admiral, not know
ing what action to take, referred the matter to
the Navy Department. In due course Of mail,
which in those days was not rapid, the order
came from the Department to send each officer
requesting it a months pay, but adding that
the payment would have to be made in green
backs.
The Admiral forwarded the correspondence
W NeP-- NlSlliI tttii SCL4Jl yA--AcL til1Ai-3
ton, with instructions to see that the Depart
rnent orders were carefully carried out. Being
at the time PaymasteT Of Capt. Green's vessel,
(the John Adams / was instructed 20 get up
the proper vouchers write each prisoner u per-
sOnal letter, and iuclOse in each months pay.
| When completed the packages were iutrusted
| to two Of our most intelligent and cautions
officers, with instructions to take them to the
front and deliver them to the Confederate au-
/ thorites.
! Our white flag was met near Sullivan's
! Island by two Confederate officers in a crazy
4 looking boat, and the precious packages turned
/ over to them with the request that they be- for
! warded TO their destination. We thought at
/ the time that the chances Of the money reach
| ing our prisoners or enrichiug the Confederate
| Treasury were about equal.
/ a few days after this we took on board a
| rebel desertcr from Moultrie. IN the course OF
I pumping for information we learned that he
was in the boat that met our flag, and that Gen.
Ripley himself was the officer who received
( the money.
Gen. Ripley was stranger to Us, but well
| remember the smile of satisfaction that spread
over the face of Capt Green, who was an old
/ timer, on the receipt Of this information
" That being the case lie said, cur boys viii
receive all their money" and so it proved
every dollar went into their hands with as much
promptness as if it had been iutrEsted IN these
| times Of peace to one Of our express companies
This is only Que of thousand instances that
happened during the war to show the implicit
confidence of one Old veteran in the soldierly
honor Of another, no matter whether fighting
in the same or opposing armies.
In talking over this incident years after It's
occurrence with an army officer who was
prisoner at the time with our squad, be t0lG
me that Ripley brought the money into camp
singing Glory Hallelujah,' and that he took
the utmost pains to hunt out each individual
officer and deliver him his money person.
ally. He added that he was a jolly good Eel
low, aud we often regretted that ne was on tht
wrong side."-A. MONEY, Assistant Paymas
ter, U. S. n, ChiIIcotbe, Mo-
The three Rs brought Regret, Reproach and
Remorse to a great political party in 1881. Tht
three P's, when signifying Dr.. Pierce's Purga