St. Paul daily globe., 1893-06-13
LEE TOLD THIS STORY.
The Only Story of the War He
Told-Smart Performance of
Confederate Scout.
The RecOunter Believes He Never
Told Another. Because He
Was Not Talkative.

The narrator hereof knew the late
Gen. Lee we'll, and passed through the
war close by him. So far as he knows
the following brief and. perhaps, not
very amusing war story. is the only war
story that he ever told. 1t is certainly
the only one that the recounter, who
heard him tell it. ever did hear from his
lips, says the Philadelphia Times.
Lee was never great talker except
under one condition, and that was when
he had young ladies to entertain, for
then his natural gallantry got the better
of him, and he was charming COM
panon, though not what might be
called loquacious, and he did not care
to talk OF the war, preterring to choose
other topics. 1t was in camp, however,
that he so far yielded to the desires of a
couple of fair visitors as to spin yarn.
lie had invited two young ladies, cousins
of his, to dine with him, and it was to
them and at their persuasion that he
told the story of the 1.-Two Confederate
Scouts"
Carefully arranging his napkin on the
table in front of him and sitting per-
fectly erect in his chair, as was his Gus
tom, Gen. Lee said: "When this war is
over you will hear great deal of praise
given the leaders of the armies, and in
the attempt to do them honor the private
soldier will to certain extent be over
looked. This is unfortunate, since some
of the noblest and most daring deeds of
the war were done by privates on both
sides. 60
II was once i'll absolute need of posi-
tive information as to the movements of
the enemy. My regular scouts we're cut,
so had to select from a regiment of
men who were familiar with the section
OF the country, if not with their mis-
sion. Two able-bodied and intelli-
gent men were sent me, to
whom | intrusted the dangerous task of
crossing the river and going into the
neighboring village to ascertain from
stragglers the coveted information.
They made the trip successfully and re-
turned the next noon, not only with the
facts, but with the traps and effects of
four Union soldiers, which they had Ob-
tanned in manner creditabie to the
coolest and braveSt men of either army.
After ferreting out the secrets of the
enemy, they started on the return trip,
but were detained by terrific rain
storm of several hours duration, which
forced them to shelter until night.
When they reached the river they
found, to their chagrln, that it was too
much swollen to be crossed in canoe,
and the only thing left was to make a
bed OF the pine tags Oh the ground and
sleep until morning. when they
would proceed unmolested. But
they had reckoned without their
host. The enemy's pickets. who had
also been driven to shelter by the rain.
were out early next morning inyestigat-
ing,and, seeking fresh tracks, suspected
something wrong. Five of them started
on the trail, plain in. the soft earth, and
soon came upon the sleeping scouts.
Feeling confident of having their prls-
oners secure, they thought to have some
innocent fun with them, and proceeded
to jab the back with the points of their
bayonets and request Il EN- to come In
out of the rain.
"'Hello. Johnny. what are you doing