Birmingham age-herald., 1895-09-21
THE THIRD AND LAST DAY.
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I | -~~~~@~-~~-~---~- of the pieces, which was loaded, and the | shell exploded within 3 feet of General | Roseorans' head, from which he mirae-
 ulously escaped without injury, as he told me since the war. I replied, Well, gen eral, I would have been delightd to have | killed you then, but now I am very glad | that you escaped unhurt." Bragg's Mistake. At the close of the battle. with victory on his side, General Bragg made the mis- take, too often made during the war, of failing vigorously to pursue the retreat ing foe. One or two days thereafter he deliberately moved ipe his army and be- sieseds Chattanooga. -Longstreet, now re-
 enforced by the brigades of Jenkins South Carolina and Andersons Georgia, of Hoods division, and Bryan's and Waf- ford's Georgia bfigades of McLaws divi- sion, was still on the left, his command
 extending. to the west side of Lookout mountain.
 1 was sent over into Lookout valley, where the Fourth Alabama, under Col onel Bowles, was picketing the river s
 sharp shooters, near the end of Raccoon
 mountain, and shooting the drivers and teams when they attempted to use the dirt wagon road on the other side of the river The picket line was extended by
 companies from my regiment clear up to Browns ferry. l had in reserve six com
 panes of infantry numbering about 200
 men, and section of the Louisiana bat tery. For three weeks we held this po- sition. Rosecnans was restricted to one wagon road to supply his army, which reached a condition Producing grave ap- prehensions that it would have to retreat. which it was mot prepared to do, or sur. render whicffft still less desired to do. A plan was devised to remove my com mand, and thus. raise the blockade, and when General Grant assumed command sA rI,t ts1fN |, of October, when he succeeded in landing 2200 men on my side at the ferry. I made the best resistance I could with my handful of men, but just as day was
 breaking on the 27th I was severely
 wounded and carried from the field. I had for two days reported indications
 and asked for endorsements to resist
 the attack, but they came not until that
 morning, when 1t was too late. Thus we
 lost Lookout valley. And Hooker's two
 corps, which came by way of Bridgeport,
 were thus enabled to capture Lookout
 mountain, after Longstreets troops were
 withdrawn therefrom.
 Bragg was forced to retire to Mission
 ary Ridge Longstreet's troops did not
 participate in the battle which occurred
 there on the 18th day of November, as he
 had gone with them, and Buckner's divi-
 sion to Knoxville to resist Burnside's ad-
 vance.
 
 was for Longstreet to crush Burnside or
 put him hors de combat and return in
 time to reinforce Bragg before Grant
 would be ready to assault him. But Burnside, with a superior force, was too
 strongly entrenched and Lohgstreet
 could not dislodge or drive him, and
 while attempting 1t sherman reinforced Grant, then attacked and beat Bragg and drove him to Dalton, Ga. and in conse-
 quence Longstreet raised the siege of
 Knoxville and retreated into east Tennes-
 see.
 Causes of the War. Fellow Soldiers: Pardon few ref1ec-
 tions on the primary causes of the unpre-
 cedented and unequal struggle, and the consequences of the war. Speak of me as l am, nothing eXtenuate nor set down
 aught in malice, then will you speak of one who loved not wisely but too well' We poor rebels lost all save honor, and now will you listen patiently for a brief period to one of them while giving his side a s impartially as he can? The old Confederate veteran can look backward without shame; he can stand erect with proud coEscientiousness that he fought for a just cause, which though lost was partially won, and say to all the world:
 Let the history of the great conflict be penned by an impartial hand, fully and fairly to both sides, and there will not be
 a sentence, line or a word in it to bring blush of shame to the cheek of him who did his duty in following the red starry cross of the late Confederacy. Let the blasphemous mouths of the
 bloody shirt shrekers be closed, and the truth be told, aud our cause and the be- roism which sustained it for four inn
 mortal years will illuminate the brightest chapters of the true history of that great conflict.
 There never was a war wherein the ob- Jeet of the invader was anything short of eXtermination, in which there was more involved or the result of which was fraught with greater consequences; nor was there ever war, the real causes of which Were so perfectly misunderstood by other nations, and many even of the American people.
 One of the underlying causes of the conflict of arms was that in our citizen ship there were two distinct types of clvlllzation-the Cavalier and Puritan. Between these there were frequent con- hicts in the mother country centuries ago.
 They were transplanted to this country by many of the Cavaliers settling in tho southern states and the Puritans in the northern and eastern states of the union. Roth were high types of civilization, but utterly unlike.
 The first well defined distinction be- tween them was in the, reign of Queen Eliza beth and the first of the Stuarts. along about the middle of the sixteenth century.
 The dissenters from the Church of
 England, who advocated purer doctrine and higher life, assumed to possess all the godliness and virtue. and not satis-
 fled with these, to prescribe rules to gov ern the consciences of others and who in a pharisaical spirit thanked God that they were not as other men. These were called Puritans.
 In this country they retained much of their original faith and practices until the lessons of the war vastly improved their manners.
 Cromwell. whose greatness was equal ed only by his meanness and cruelty. was of this type.
 Those who adhered to the church and
 the parliament and supported Charles l were called Cavaliers. They were noted for their conservatism favoring
 we'll established institutions, protecting
 the rights of property and pursuing the regular orderly methods of business
 They were never rigidly righteous, but liberal, generous. brave and disposed to | mind their own bushes and let that of other people alone.
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