Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-11-25
A Gentleman and a Soldier.
ATLANTA ConstitutionJ

ATLANTA ConstitutionJ
The sudden death in New York OF Gene
raj Albert Ordway cuts off in its fullest
usefulness brilliant, yet busy career.
The telegram carried sadness TO hosts
Of friends all over this Union; warm
friends and true, won by the great IA
ture beneath the almost womanly tender
ness Of the dead soldier. Such men as
Fitzhugh Lee. Dabney II. Maury, Bradley
T. Johnson, and Kyd Douglas, of jack
sons military family. and many another
wearer Of the gray. were close intimates
of Ordway; and the writer knows that
even General Sherdan's rugged nature
turned TO gentleness toward him. ana
that the younger Federals, as typed by
Charles King, were his admirers ana
friends. In civil life he was the centre
of "A great circle in his Washington home,
where his ready aid. unfailing courtesy,
and tireless energy will not be soon re-
placed.
Suaye, polished. and the very incarna-
ton Of tact Albert Ordway would have
made his mark In any community. In
one with the opportunities of the capt.
tai, he impressed it deeply enough TO re-
main indelible. He was soldier, student
man of affairs, and-gentleman. His acts
were ever based upon principle and Just
regard for his fellows as in Sydney
high erected thoughts seated N the
heart of courtesy" Yet he possessed
hrmness beyond most men, and his MIND
once made UP from conviction was hct
to be swerved from its bent by fear or
favor-yielding only TO argument or iacts'
Intimately connected with him for some
he hpGna6
Military Committee of the national drill
at Washington, | never saw Ordway's
action once turned down" by our BOARD,
and throughout all the troublous times
following the action Of our southern
company on "the niger quesdI1.' he
was as placid-while equally az steady
as at dress parade. 1t was this supreme
self-control, based on conviction that
right was right, which made MS carly
career meteorc. and his later one as
placid and honored Commander OF his
regiment of sturdy Massachusetts, men
at q. brevet brigadier before he was u,
and the youngest in his service, and re-
tanned in the delicate duties OF provost
martial Of Richmond, after all other
volunteers had been mustered out, ord
way quickly made warm friends out OF
late foes He was an uncompromising
JTnionist but a conscientious Democrat.
When military duty was done he settled
among the people who loved him. and
whom he had learned 10 love; amid whom
he had chosen his life partner. There,
quietly pursuing his business way, he
was early named for Congress by the
Democrats of the capital Of the Con-
federacy.
Moving to Washington some ten years
later. he never forgot his friends in the
South. his door ever swinging wide to
them. his advice and influence always at
their service. And both were valuable,
for the sterling qualities of the man had
won him the confidence and backing OF
that ever-shifting wisdom Of the land"
which fills the Capitol wings. He was
entrusted with onerous, If delicate, duties
by Congress and the War Department,
under both party administrations: and
no great public pageant Of inauguration,
reception or the like but came from
chaos into order under his hand lie
organized the scattered and discordans
District militia, smoothed the asperities
between black and white battalions. ard
massed them into a brigade second to
no National Guard i'm the country. Com
missioned by Cleveland in his first term,
he was its brigadier at his death.
From his work under Congress, Ord
way leaves the most COnlpltlt anu du-
thentic gallery of officers portraits ex-
tant; every Confederate generals photo
graph and biography forming the part
of 1t in which he took most pride. OF
later years he had been manager OF the
Hotchkiss Ordnance Company. which,
added to his other work made him the
busiest man in Washington. Yet j do not
believe it is of record that he ever failed
TO answer a letter or to fulfil a commits
sion for a distant friend.
OF even temperament and domestic
tastes. and with a wife to whom he was
devoted. Ordways life was a measIrably
placid and happy one.
There Is no flock, however watched and
tended,
But one dead lamb is there;
There is no fireside. howe'er defended,
But has one vacant chair"f
So his home was Swallowed by one
great sorrow; but II he felt IL like man
he bore II also like a man. The pail
that drapes the broken home to-day Is
black and heavy enough. Let 1t rest.
It. c. DeLEON.