The herald., 1896-05-09
GENERAL LEES GOODNESS III BATTLE

The Hon. John III. Reagan, who was
postmaster-general of the southern con-
federacy. delivered lecture in San An,
tonic, Texas, on the evening Of April
2Gth, in behalf of the fund for confeder-
ate monument, and "the southern battle
abbey" in the course of which he re-
lated the following:
"On the morning of the second battle
of Cold Harbor. in 1864, Judge Meredith
and Judge Lyons, two of the judges In
Richmond, and myself rode out to the
battlefield crossing the Chickahominy
at Mechanicsville, and riding along
road few hundred yards in the rear of
our line of battle. The battle was then
raging the whole length of our line.
Squads of prisoners were from time to
time being brought back to the road we
were on When we reached the front
where we had a view of the Gaines hill
farm we saw that the enemy's shells
were falling in the field about Gen. Lees
headquarters. At that time there was a
good deal of solicitude. both in the army
and among civilians, about Gen. Lees
exposing himself so much in battle; ana
il was felt that his loss would be great
calamity. l suggested to Judges mere
dith and Lyons that would ride down 10
the generals headquarters. They SAID
they would not go, but asked me to sue-
rest to Gen. Lee the question as to wheth-
or he could not cover himself by some
large trees a few hundred yards in MS
rear. and from these send his orders
and receive reports. as well as from the
exposed position he was then in.
when reached his headquarters his
staff officers were all out; none but an
orderly with him. I mentioned that
good deal of artillery was peins useu;
He said: Yes, more than the usual
amount on both sides He ADDED: rms
does not do much harm. anu the
his hand off pretty much 10 .ne
front of him. where the musketry nrihg
wade a noise much like the tearing Oh
sheets he said: That is What kliiS Iiet.
I then mentioned to him what Judges
Meredith and Lyons had suggested apout
his covering himself ny tne iaIse NAV uu
i'm his rear TO this he replied tnat wneli
the shells began to fall in the neld Wnere
he was he had ordered the wagons con-
tanning the Quartermaster 5, colni,i
sarv. ordnance and medical STORES sN uaN
hehind the timber. but that II was iieSes
sary for him to be as near '"e '''
battle es practicabie. cront
"ue then said to me that Gen. Graht
was at that time assaulting ms iines az
three different places with columns w
fror, six to eight deep. Upon TINS ash
cd him if his line should be broken what
reserve he had. He replied 'Not a Tesi-
ment.' and added if he should shorten
his lines TO make a reserve the enemy
would turn him, and il he should weaker,
his lines to make a reserve they would
be broken And he said that had oeen
his condition from the opening OF tne
campaign on the Rappahannock. he
also said that he had lost more men from
excessive fatigue and from want OF veg
etables than from bullets. and requested
me 10 see the commissary general on
nv way back and urge him to send. as
soon as possible. all the potatoes. onions
and other vegetables he could. he said
that he had requested the men TO eat
sassafras and grapevine buds as SUB
stitute for vegetables, but that these did
but little good.
There he was, with his back on Rich
mond seven miles from the city, his line
being assailed by force vastly more
numerous than his own. and he was ap-
parently as cool and self-possessed and
as free from excitement as ii nothing
unusual was occurring. even then keep
ing in mind the welfare and necessities
of the soldiers under his command. 1t
made such an impression on me of the
greatness and grandeur of his character
that / could not forget it, and because of
that impression l have made you this
statement.
"As illustrative of the intrepid valor
and military enterprise of Gen. Lee.
when that quality would serve his pur-
pose, l will mention another incident,
which. as far as | know. has not been
noticed by the historians of the war.
when the federal army was at Cold
Harbor in front of Richmond, in 1864
with the white house at the head of
York river a s their base of supplies. Gen.
Lee determined to move the great body
of his command around Gen. Grant g
right, and put himself between Grant
and his oase of supplies. and to put
Grant between his Gee's) command and
the city of Richmond. This movement.
If it had been executed. would have re-
suited either in the destruction of the
federal army or the fall of Richmond.
After some of Gen. Lees divisions had
been put in motion to execute this plan.
he received dispatch advising him tha t
the federals were advancing on Lynch
burg in force, and that without imme-
diate help, that city, which at that time
contained large amount of military
stores, must fall into the hands of the
enemy. He Immediately ordered Gen.
| Breckenridge to go to the relief of
Lynchburg with his division Gen.
Breckenridge was furnished with a train
of cars. and with all haste reached
Lynchburg in time for his men to get
off the cars fighting, and saved Lynch
burg. This diversion caused Gen Lee
to abandon his plan of getting into Gen,
Grants rear.