Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1896-08-08
LOSS OF VICKSBURG.
EFFECT ON THE GENERAL WHO CON-
MANDED AT THAT POINT.
PembertOn Resigned and Took Service In
Lower Rank Ills Family Were
Wealthy Pennsylvanians, and He Was


q Lower Rank Ills Family Were
Wealthy PennsylvanIans. and He Was
Disinherited When He Joined the South.
In an address at San Antonio, Tex,
the Hon. John H. Reagan said:
while l am speaking of matters
connected with the war which have not,
so far as l know, gone into history,
desire to do an act of Justice to the
memory of Lieutenant General John O.
Pemberton, who was in command at
Vicksburg when that city was surren-
dered. He, with the balance of his COM
mand, was paroled after their surren-
der The great strategic Importance of
Vicksburg, commanding as it did the
Mississippi river, and the loss Of which
substantially bisected the territory Of
the Confederacy by the line Of that riv-
er, was SO important and was SO keenly
felt by our people that it caused deep
regret and great dissatisfaction, and
many of the people questioned the fidel-
ity of General Pemberton to our cause.
1t is of this that l wish specially to
speak in justice to his memory.
"He was citizen of the state of
Pennsylvania and major Of the feder-
al army when the war broke out. His
mother lived in Philadelphia and was
wealthy He believed the people of tho
south were in the right and that their
cause was just and determined to enter
the Confederate service. He notified his
mother of his intention, saying to her
that he was military man, and that
his age would require him to partici-
pate i'll the war, and that he could not
afford to risk his life in a cause which
he believed to be unjust. His mother
protested against this course and threat
ened to disinherit him if he persisted
in it.
You may well understand what
trial it must have been to him to refuse
to comply with his mothers wish and
to separate himself from his own section
of the country, greatly the stronger,
and unite with the weaker section, plac
ing his life at stake because of his con-
scientious conviction of duty. On his
merits as an officer he rose to the rank
of lieutenant general in the Confederate
service, and ON account of the conf
dence of the president in his ability and
fidelity to our cause he was put in COM
mand of the important military position
of Vicksburg
AFTER he was exchanged as prisoner
and released from his parole was with
President Davis in his Office when Gen
eral Pemberton called on him and stated
that the discomfort Oh account Of the
fall of Vicksburg had destroyed his use
fulness in high command and made it
proper for him to resign his commission
of lieutenant general, which he then
did, and he asked to be assigned to the
rank of lieutenant colonel of artillery
in the regular army of the Confederacy
The president, with expressions of sym
pathy and regret, accepted his resigna-
tion as lieutenant general, and he was
assigned to his line rank of lieutenant
colonel of artillery. This was the only
instance during the war Of an officer
voluntarily resigning high rank in the
army and asking for service in a lower
one
mot long after this General Butler,
in command of the Federal forces, NOV
ing portion of the army from the
south to the north side of the James
river, with a large force attempted to
capture the city of Richmond. Our line
of works i'll front of him was defended
by a number of siege batteries and by
infantry. The principal attack was by
field batteries on the line of the Will
ro1oro1
Pemberton was in command of our bat
teries, which covered that line of ap-
proach and in the immediate front of
the Federal batteries Colonel Preston
johnson of the presidents staff and l,
on hearing the heavy firing, rode out to
where we could witness the contest
We saw Pemberton standing on the
parapet Of the battery on the Williams
burg road, fully exposed to the most
terrific fire Of shot and shell, giving di-
rections to his command Seeing this,
we feared that the disaster at Vicks-
burg and the criticisms to which he had
been subjected were causing him to seek
relief in death. This supposition may
have been unjust to him, and his pur-
pose may simply have been to encourage
his comrades.
ION my return from prison in 1865,
in going from Richmond to Columbia,
s. G.. l met General Pemberton on
the cars at Greensboro, N. c., and
learned that he, too, was going to Co
lumbia to see Mr.. Trenholm, the late
secretary Of the treasury, his object, as
he told me, being to try to borrow mon
ey from Mr. Trenholm to enable him to
get on farm as means of support to
his family inquired of him if he I'M
derstood farming He said he had no
experience in farming; that he had no
profession but that Of engineer, and
that there was no opening for him in
that line, and he saw no other way of
supporting his family except ON a farm
He was then in q destitute condition
financially said to him that under
stood his family in Philadelphia was
wealthy and asked him if they knew
Of his condition His answer was, in
character with his past actions, that
they did not and never should know it
from him.
From this we can understand the
injustice of the criticisms to which he
had been subjected saw him no more,
but have since learned that he died i'll
Philadelphia and from this fact trust
that he became reconciled with his fam
lily learned from President Davis the
facts relating to General Pembcrton's
4 =. 4 4 n