St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-12-17
Bill Arr Calls On the Surviving VET
Grams t. Take Aetion-Dr. Catch.
ing's Book Of Confederate
Memorles.

happened 10 ask Ma j. QUITE yeSteIuay
how many of his comrades he remem-
bered. He shook his empty sleeve and
pondered. "Thirty-five years ago" he
said. Il could call the roll of hundred
men in my company, but now do not
believe could name over 20 without
strain of mind and memory. Most OF
them are dead. and you know that when
a man. common man, dies he seems to
drop out of thought or recollection.
Only great men or notable men or
heroes are remembered long"
How, then. is a catalogue or list or
roster of our confederate soldiers to be
obtained. The legislature passed law
providing that the ordinaries OF each
county should make list for his coun-
ty and get information from any source
possible. and suppose they are doing
this, but of course ii will be imperfect
and incomplete. Col. Avery exhausted
all sources at his command in 1880 and
tabulated only the officers. OF this list
h. says: ut is admittedly incomplete
and painfully imperfect"
A generation changes in 80 years, but
our regiments and companies changed
so radically in four years that they can
hardly be identified even by their sur
viving comrades. / find in Col. Avery's
table that company A. First Georgia
regulars. that went into service COM
manded by Capt. Fl. D. d. Twiggs, had
12 captains. Almost every company
had two or more captains. The Four
teenth regiment had four colonies, hve
lieutenant colonels. four majors and 20
captains. The Twenty-second regiment
had "a captains; the Twenty-sixth and
p captains; the Eighth cavalry bad 81.
and the Ninth had 50. OF course the
privates suffered more frequent
changes than the officers and the men
are few who went in at the beginning
Of the war and came out at its close.
But even those few cannot remember
all the changes-the killed in battle,
the dead from other causes, the dis
charged. the transfers to other COM
panies and the recruits that continual
ly came to fiil up the ranks. Then there
were some few deserters and thousands
of prisoners taken, many of whom died
in prison and were forgotten by their
Georgia sent to the field 66
regiments and 25 battalions Of infantry.
ii regiments and 60 battalions Of caval-
ry and IS battalions of artillery. Ofall
those who served as volunteers during
the first two years it is estimated that
not over 20 per cent. are living. Only
five regiments brought back the same
they took out.
No: the listsare lost and will never be
made complete, but much can yet be
done to approximate them, and it
should be done quickly and put in book
or pamphlet form and distributed. ]
was ruminating about this because
that great-hearted woman. Mrs Eliz-
abeth Cabbctt. Of Atlanta. the widow OF
Q confederate who fell in battle. has
to execute the resolution
of the United Daughters Of the Confed-
eracy to present badges or crosses OF
honor to the veterans or their widows
or families. and this good woman Is
now perplexed to find them. Well. she
may bc. Hardly q week passes that |
do not receive letters from Georgia sol
diers or their widows written from the
v estern states and wanting to know
about our pension laws. Even their
here in Georgia do not know
where they are. for they keep moving.
md leave no sign behind. But Mrs
must not be discouraged. for
there are a few thousand within her
reach, and her work will be grateful to
them.
Then let US be up and doing before it
in too late. Let the veterans consider
IL and take action that will result in
systematic methods. The time will
come, in fact, It has already come. when
the child will feel proud that its father
or grandfather or uncle, was confed-
crate soldier. As the years FOIL on the
halo grows brighter. 1t In like the rev.
olution of 1776. We have preserved in
our family Boston newspaper Of that
year. It is in mourning. and across the
top are little cuts of cofiins-seventeen
black cofIins, with the names under
them Of those who fell ut Lexington.
Ny great-grnndfather's name Is there.
md I am proud Of it. and we veterans
believe that the cause for which we
fought was just as holy as that This
II our faith.
And now am pleased to see that my
friend DR.. Catching. Of Atlanta. has
been inspired 10 write q book OF con-
fcderate memories-not his own mem
ories, but those of other pcople-vet-
Grams and. their wives or widows. 1t
il not to be the lamentations OF Jere-
miah, but an entertaining and instruc-
tive compendium of how We lived and
got along during the latter part OF the
war, when the blockade was on Us. and
we had eaten up and worn out every
thing in all this southern land. he
wants everybody who was in the war
and has story to tell that Is funny or
or pathetic or mixed, to write
II down and send it to him 10 be put
in the book. Ny wife says she went
through enough to make book of her
own, and our good neighbor, Mrs.
Akin, has long since told as enough
to make two or three books. But of
course they must make selections and
mix up smiles with tears. Such book
would be . treasure in the family and
would keep the children quiet Of win
ter night. ~ grandpa or grandms read
to them these stories Of the war. l tel.
ycu my young friends Of tkis genera
ton. you don't know anything about
the poverty OF our people in 1854 and
1865. II was just awful TO experience.
and II was sublime 10 witness the hero
lGu with which oar wives and mothers