The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-11-04


sayed the same duty and persisted. HI
asked Gordon If he thought he could fine
Longstreet. TO which the young man re
. spOnded that he felt sure he could II b..
could see a typographical map Of tn,
[ country to be traversed. and, further
7 could have the company Of zone of those
splendid black fellows Of yours familiar
T with the territory.
In another hour the future hero Of the
/ Chinese rebellion and Khartoum had his
dispatches securely fastened in his blue
jeans and was on his way to the front
His route was beseiged with difficulties
/ The direct line toward Longstreet was, al
/ the best, debatable ground with the enc
[ my across il in many places to a certainty
Ihls made it necessary for Gordon to de-
bouch to the left and make considerable
circuit. Without food OF rest he pushed
on, ana, next morning, came within sound
or Longstreets command in action. With
soldierly instinct he rode in the direction
OF the firing until he ran right into fight
that our right was hotly engaged in. As
he rode up he found himself in the midst of
a corps Of gallant youngsters who were
rallYing under cover of a bit of woods
after several Intellectual attempts to pos
sess themselves Of battery on a hill in
their front, which even then was PLAYING
havoc in the ranks. Capt. Gordon, still i'm
his old straw hat, saluted and stated that
he was courier with important dis
patches for Gen Longstreet and desired
to know where he could find that officer.
lie was Informed that the general was in
another part of the field and difficult to
reach just then. His informant-young
DinWlddie, scion of a noble house and
high private in the army-said that all the
officers Of his immediate command had
been killed or disabled, and asked Cor
don, inasmuch as he appeared to be pro
fessional soldier, If he would not lead the
boys and help them to take the battery.
The Englishman looked at the little com
mand of young Virginians around him,
and then at the hill in front with its blaz-
ing battery Of twelve-pounders and he
said: 'All right my lads; hand me a
sword, and follow me-" with a hearty
resounding rebel yell" Gordon and the
youngsters went for that battery and took
IL in short order.
The fight for the hill over and the bat
terry in possession Of his new friends, Cor
don was about TO start to find the general,
when young Dinwiddie approached him
with a note written on a scrap Of brown
paper, and asked him to hand that to
Longstreet when he should meet him.
Then the boys cheered their stranger
commander and he went on his way.
He found Gen. Longstret in his tent.
tired out happy over the results of the
mornings fight. 1t was then hiCh noon,
and the enemy had been driven In with Sc
rious loss of killed. wounded and prison
ers, guns, small arms and colors. Gordon
reported and suggested that as two cou-
riers who had preceded him had been
killed, it was probable that the federals
were in possession of the contents Of
whatever dispatches the dead messengers
had on them. Gen. Longstreet gave or
ders to put the whole command on the
alert and then read his dispatches in
Guiding the note on brown paper written
by Private Dinwiddie. This missive. of
whose contents the English captain was
quite innocent, informed the general COM
handing that Gordon, arriving upon the
field at critical juncture-just when the
-th Virginia Infantry had been repulsed
from battery which il had attacked,
and all the superior officers. field and line.
had been put hors du combat had led the
regiment to a fresh attack and carried the
guns VIGOROUSLY and gloriously
While these events We're transpiring
Gordon had been without sleep from the
time he left the federal lines, thirty-six
hours before, and without food, or nearly
so, for twentyfour hours yet it was nee
essary to send dispatches to the secIe-
tary of war without delay, and our for
eign volunteer never hesitated to UNDER
take the return trip after a meal and two
or three hours sleep in the generals quar-
ters. He arrived in Richmond without Sc
rious incident, and l met him at the war
Office as he reported. The reports from
Longstreet involved the necessity of com
municating with that officer again imce-
diately Again Gordon volunteered to re-
turn at once. The secretary said to me:
General take Capt. Gordon over to the
hotel and get him some dinner and by
the time you come back the papers will
be ready" When again we saw the gecre-
tary he handed Gordon his dispatches for
the front, and an unsealed envelope
which he requested him to open 1t con
tanned the Dinwiddie note. a note from
Longstreet requesting the war secretary
TO commission Gordon on his staff, ana
last, but not least, a commission as colo.
mel in the confederate service on the star
of Gen Longstreet .-
The Englishman rode off and never saw
him again. He served faithfully, bril-
liantly, but always modestly, with us. and
everybody in our army and government
felt deep regret when Col. Gordons leave
of absence from the British army ran on
in 1864, and he was compelled to resign and
return to his own country and the service
of his queen. Those who knew Gen. Cor.
don Pasha in his confederate DAYS fol.
lowed his after career with all the inter.
est of comradeship, and many battle.
Scared veteran wept bitter tears on hear.
ing how, neglected and deserted by tho
home ministry in the hour OF peril, he
fell martyr to duty under the savage
spears Of the Mahdist generals in his PAL
ace at Khartoum.