The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-02
OF Confederate
Generals.
THE SURVIVORS.
Gordon's Bravery and How
Custer Helped Rosser.

The appointment Of Gems. Lee, Wheel
volunteer army has served to call at
tention again to the surviving. confed-
crate commanders, of a majority of
whom little has been heard in recent
years, writes R. r. Wilson in The New
York Evening Post.
Beauregard, who died several years
ago, was the last full general, but of
the lieutenant generals. seven survive
Simon B. Buckner, Wade Hampton,
Stephen D. Lee, Joseph Wheeler, Alex
ander P. Stewart, James S. Longstreet
and John B. Gordon. OF these all but
| Hampton, Lee and Gordon are gradu-
| ates of West Point. Buckner and Grant
were classmates at that institution, and
| in this connection an interesting and
| little known story Is told. A few weeks
before the first Bull Rum several con-
| federate officers were dining together
| in Richmond. The talk at table turned
upon the merits Of the men who then
held high command in the Union army,
and it was the opinion of the majority
that the ablest soldiers of the old army
had cast their fortunes with the south.
Buckner was the only one present who
Gentlemen" he said, there was a
man in my class at West Point whom
you must not omit from your calcula-
tons. He left the army years ago, and
1 don't know whether he is still alive
or not, but if he is and turns up on the
northern side, he will cause us trouble.
Perhaps some of you remember him.
His name Is Grant"
BuclSner proved a true prophet. Dur
ing the following four years three Of
the men at the Richmond dinner table
Lee, Pemberton and Buckner him
Iself-surrendered their armies to Grant
who, in 1861, had fallen so completely
out Of sight that his old classmate did
not know whether he was dead or alive
Gen. Buckner, who Is a veteran of two
wars, was elected governor of Ken
lucky in 1887. Since his retirement from
that office he has lived quiet life, with
his family and servants about him. His
home is in the mountains Of Kentucky,
and is only to be reached by water on
his private steamer, and, although only
hundred miles from Louisville, it re-
quires an entire day to make the trip.
| He keeps a large retinue of ante-bellum
dependents, and probably is as nearly a
| feudal lord as can be found in America.
| Than Wade Hampton no Drawer man
| served in the confederate armies.
Among the earliest in the field, he led
the Hampton Legion" atsthe first Bull
Run, in which battle he was wounded,
but as soon as possible resumed serv-
| ice in the army, and was wounded for
the second time in the battle of Seven
Pines, where he commanded the caval-
ry of the army of Northern Virginia.
Later he commanded the cavalry oper>
ating in Virginia, was wounded the
third time at Gettysburg, and was
| leader of the rear guard which fell
back before the victorious advance of
| Gen Sherman. When the army in
which Gen. Hampton was serving sur
rendered to the union forces, his mills
tary experiences were ended. His pub
| lie career since then is familiar story.
| Gen. S. D. Lee, another civilian gene
raj conspicuous for skill and bravery,
| is now a farmer and president of the
State Agricultural College Of MISSISSIPPI
| pi; Gen. A. P. Stewart is q member Of
the Chickamauga state commission;
Gen. Joseph Wheeler, before the open
! ing of the present war, was for several
! years a member of congress from Ala
bama, and Gen. James s. Longstreet
has lately been appointed railroad
commissioner by President Mckinley.
| Gen. Longstreet, or "Old Peter" as he
was called by his men, is counted by
many careful students of the civil war
the ablest Of all the confederate cap
| tains. Cautious, clear-headed, and a
master of military science, no sobriquet
! fits him so we'll as the Thomas of the
Lost Cause"
John B. Gordon was its Murat. The
son of Baptist minister, Gen. Gordon,
when the war broke out, was trying to
! develop coal mine in northwest
! Georgia. Down there in the mountains
he raised a regiment of natives and
reached Virginia in time to take part
in the opening of the war. In the first
engagement of his hardy mountaineers
two-thirds of his men were killed or
wounded. Every officer except Gordon
was slain, and his escape was mira
Gle, his clothing being riddled with bull
| let's.
The mark of a minie-ball in Gen.
Gordon's cheek is a reminder of the
bloody and wrathful day when the bat
| tie of Seven Pines was fought. The
| 9Th Alabama, commanded by Gordon,
was at the front of the fight. Sudden
" there came an order, from whom
was never discovered, directing the
regiment to charge across an open field
and capture q battery that was sta
toned in a thicket, and pouring terri
| BILE fire into the confederate ranks. 1t
| was like the charge of the Six Hun
bred. Some one had blundered But
at the head of that yelling and racing
| thousand Of men, and in the face of
that murderous fire, Gordon sprang to
obey the fatal command When the
i shattered remnants of the regiment
| were hurled back across that death
strewn field, it's colonel bleeding and
/ wounded in five places, was carried
to the hospital tent, where for weeks
| his life was despaired of. Neverthe-
i less, he recovered and within two
! years rose, by hard fighting and merit
as a commander, to the rank of lieu
tenant general. AS commander of the
/ confederate second army corps, he was
the first to attack at Gettysburg, and
he held the last line at Petersburg,
/ fighting with stubborn valor for every
inch of space. Yet Gen. Gordon had
| not had a particle of military train
ing, and when the war closed, was only
! 30 years OF age. Since then he has
been twice governor of his state and
twice a member Of the federal senate.
Among the surviving confederate
/ veterans who held the rank OF major
/ general are John H. Forney, who is
living in retirement at Jenifer, Ala.
1 Samuel G. French, now a planter in
Florida; William J.. Cabell, a merchant
in Dallas. Tex; James r. Chalmers of
/ Fort Pillow memory, at present a
! leading member of the Nashville bar;
| G.. w. G. Lee, until lately president of
| Washington and Lee University, at
Lexington Va, post his father, Rob-
ert E. Lee, held before him; Matt Ran
some, long a United States senator
and minister to Mexico under Cleve-
land; Matthew C. Butler, who lost a
leg at Brandy Station, and who, after
three terms in the federal senate, is
ending his public career as a major
general of volunteers. and William IS.
Bate, Thomas l.. Rosser and Fitzhugh
1 Lee.
/ Gen. Bate went into the army as a
! private and rose by stout fighting and