The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-21
CONFEDERATE GENERALS.
Distinguished Survivors Still "A ct:ollntcd for
.NcirS nnd tUniior.

nc appointment oi 'iciS. ''eN,
Wheeler and Butlcrto high commands
in the volunteer army has served to
call attention again to the surviving
Confederate commanders, Of ma
iority of whom little has been heard
IN recent years.
Bcaurcgard, who died several years
ago was the last full general, but Of
the lieutenant generals, seven sur
vivc-Simon b. Buckncr, Wade
Hampton, Stephen d. Lee, Joseph
Wheeler, Alexander F. Stewart, James
S. Longstrcct and John B. Gordon.
OF these all but Hampton, Lee and
Gordon are graduates of West Point.
Buckncr and Grant were classmates
at that institution, and in this con
ncction an interesting and little known
story is told a few weeks before
the first Bull Run several Confcdcr-
ate 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 abcst soldiers Of
the old army had cast their fortunes
with the South. Buckncr was the
only one present who failed to agree
with this belief.
Gentlemen he said, "therc was
a man in my class at West Point
whom you must not omit from your
calculations. lie left the army years
ago, and 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.
Buckncr proved a true prophet.
During the following four years three
Of the men at the Richmond dinner
table-Lee, Pemberton and Buckncr
himself their armies to
Grant, who, in 1861, had fallen SO
completely out of sight that his old
classmatc did not know whether he
was dead or alive. Gen. Buckncr,
who is veteran Of two wars, was
elected Governor Of kentucky 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 Ken
lucky, aud is only to be reached by
water on his private steamer, and,
although only hundred miles from
Louisville, it requires an entire day
to make the trip He keeps large
retinuc of ante-bcllum dcpendants,
and probably is as nearly fcudal
lord as can be found in Amcrica.
Than Wade Hampton no bravcr
man served in the Confederate Ar
mics. among the earliest in the
field, he led the Hampton Legion"
at the first Bull Run, in which battle
he was wounded, but as soon as pos
sible resumed service in the army, and
was wounded for the second time in
the battle of Seven Pines, where he
commanded the cavalry of the Army
of Northern Virginia. Later he com
manded the cavalry operating in Vir-
ginia, 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. lamp
ton was serving surrendered to the
Union forces, his military experiences
were ended. His public career since
then is similar story.
Gen. s. D. Lee. of South Carolina.
another civilian general conspicuous
for skill and bravery, is now farmer
and president of the State Agricul-
tural College of Mississippi; Gen. a.
T. Stewart is member Of the Chicka-
mauga State commission; Gen. Joseph
Wheeler, before the opening of the
present war, was for several years a
member Of Congress from Alabama,
and Gen. James A. Longstreet has
lately been appointed railroad COM
missioner by President Mckinley.
Gen. Longstreet, or cold Peter" as
he was called by his men, is counted
by many careful students of the civil
war the ablest of all the Confederate
captains. Cautious, clear r-headcd, and
master of military science, no sobri-
quet fits him 80 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 O coal mine in