The herald., 1896-06-21
GENERAL GORDON TELLS
STORIES OF THE WAR

General John B. Gordon of Georgia, q
tall, lean, mild hammered man of SO, who
bears on his left cheek a deep scar made
by Union mimic ball, and who has such
rare gift of oratory that he makes an
| audience laugh and weep in turn, lee
tured yesterday afternoon to the Chau-
tauqua assembly at Fairmont park on
The Last Days of the Confederacy. The
lecture had been given by General Cor
don not long ago in the Auditorium in
this city, but large crowd heard him
yesterday.
General Gordon entered thu Confed-
crate army a civilian captain in 1861; he
came out a Acknowledgement the sue
cessor of Stonewall Jackson in Lees
councils, and the marshal of Jackson 5
famous old battalionS. In his first bat
tie Gordon rode into a "hornet's nest"
where 372 out of 62S of his men were shot,
and "a out of 46 officers were killed or
wounded. His horse was shot under
him and he came out with nine bullet
| holes in his uniform. The hottest cor
| nerS of the fields of Malvern Hill An
tietam, Charlottesville and Gettys-
burg, the deadly thicket at the Wilder
| ness, the bloody angle" at Spottsyi-
| Vanla the rocky barricades at Cedar
| Creek. the trenches a t Petersburg-Gor-
don was in them ALL sometimes a victim
and always the bravest of the brave He
Ne'o NoliiNu Iloili ttIt plOOuN lane at
Antietam with a bullet through the
right forearm, another through the left
| shoulder. third through the left cheek
| bone and two through the right leg.
| A NATIONAL FRATERNITY PLEA.
| General Gordon said nothing about
any OF these things yesterday; he talk
| ed of the bravery of others. and above
all his lecture was plea for the unity
| or the North and South. He began his
lecture with these words:
| Let me say, before ] begin this lee
| tCre, that there stands before YOU to-
DAY Southern man and a Southern SOL
| dier, but one as true as any in this broad
republic to that flag" He waved his
hand toward the silkcn flag which Mrs.
M. Frnech- Sheldon had carried 1000
miles into the heart of darkest Africa
ana which hung to the rafters at one
| side of the stage.
i am here to talk of war. but my mes
sage is one of peace and universal broth
i hood" continued General Gordon. Later
in his lecture he said:
Let me ask you in the name of this
| great country which we all love that un-
| broken friendships will bind together the
hearts of all soldiers of both armies.
Again he said: 1T makes no differ
ence which side won this or that battle.
Thanks be to the God of our country.
| each victory is monument to American
~ otiOtilcl ptIlOC Ill his lecture
ne SAID: Every man killed in that war,
as he turned his pale face toward heaven
| became a martyr-a martyr to the truth
as he understood it. When the sun went
| down upon the lost cause of Appomattox
1T let behind on both sides of the line
a record of American valor that the
| lapse of time cannot ob1iterate'
| General Gordon closed his lecture with
| these words: LAS the representative of
all the living confederate soldiers. as
their elected commander, L stand here
| today to say with you, my countrymen,
| that wherever that flag shall wave it
shall be protecting power to all Amer
lean citizens in all lands and on all
oceans. Wherever political truth shall
find foothold that flag, the proudest
| emblem of political freedom, shall float
| the most potential emblem of human
| liberty"
! After the lecture the veterans of both
armies, who had heard it, said to each
| other: IF we had more men like him
| there would be no more north or south
| at all"
| EXCELS AS A STORY TELLER
General Gordon's equal as story tell
er was never heard on a Kansas City
platform. He told yesterday of many
amusing incidents of the war. and the
| audience roared so much with laughter
|
! laugh with them. One story was of a
prayer meeting held in one of the con-
| federate regiments just before the end
of the war. when soldier who had been
all through it, prayed earnestly: "Oh
Lord. we're having powerful big fight
| we so hope you'll take a proper view of
this affair and give US the victory"
Another story was when the half
| starved confederates were being fed on
raw corn. General Gordon heard a ter
rible groaning one night and went out
| to investigate.
Hello. jake he said, whats the
NATTER"
II eat too much corn, 1 guess"
| The next morning General Gordon met
Jake and he took off his hat and said:
well, general. had a good feed of corn
last night, and now if you'll give me a
bale of hay I'll be all right"
Another story was about how the hat
| less confederates at Richmond provided
| themselves with hats. Visitors We're
| coming in by train loads to see the army.
| The soldiers would cut bush and stand
in line by the railroad track. AS the train
| came slowly in dozen soldiers would
| yell in tones of alarm:
| Look out.
| Each man on the cars that could would
stick his head out of the window, and a
soldier holding the brush would brush
| off their hats as the train went by.
| General Gordon told several stories
| of eccentric General Ewell. He was
standing near Gordon in battle when q
| bullet struck his leg with thud. Ewell
paid no attention to it.
| why, general, weren't you hit?" ask
ed Gordon.
| "Oh, yes, bullet just went through
! my leg, but that's a small matter; !
! don't mind it, Genral Gordon found OUT
| later that Ewell had a wooden leg
TELLS HOW DEAD MEN NET
The following incident of the war
brought hundreds of handkerchiefs into
play, but the story ended, after all, in
| delightful laugh:
.On the close of the first battle of
| Gettysburg 1 rode over that clover field
| made red by the blood of both armies,
and found major general of the federal
| army. l had seen him fall. His face
was turned to the broiling sun. He had
| been shot through the spine and could
not move. 1 gave him drink from my
canteen and asked his name. He said
he was Major General Francis c. Bar
| low of New York. He asked me to take
| from his side pocket bundle of letters
| They were from his wife. AS his eyes
rested upon them for perhaps the last
| time great tears ran down his face.
4 L L