The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-07
CONFEDERATE GENERALS.
OCCUPATIONS AND CAREERS OF
THE SURVIVING SOUTHERN
CAPTAINS.
Some New Stories of BucI>ner-His
secluded Life - Gen. GordOn'S
braVcry-R oSser and Custer.

ana Butler 10 high commands in the vol
unteer army has served to call attention
again to the surviving Confederate COM
been heard in recent years.
Beauregard, who died several years ago
was the last fun general. but of the lieu
tenant generals, seven survive-Simon b.
Buckner, Wade Hampton, Stephen d. Lee,
Joseph Wheeler. Alexander p Stewart
James S. Longstreet and John b. Gordon
OF these all but Hampton Lee and Cor
don are graduates of West Point. Buck
ner and Grant were classmates al that in
sitution, and in this connection an inter-
resting and little known story is told A
few weeks before The first Bull Run, sew
eral Confederate officers were dining to-
sether in Richmond. The talk at the table
turned upon the merits of the men who
then held high command i'm the Union
army. and it was the opinion of the ma
jority that the ablest soldiers of the old
army had cast their fortunes with the
South. Buckner was the only one present
who failed to agree with this belief.
Gentlemen" he said there was a man
in my class at West Point whom you must
not omit from your calculations. 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. His name is
Grant"
Buckner proved true prophet. During
the following four years three of the men
at the Richmond dinner table-4Lee, Penn
Derton and Buckner himself-surrendered
their armies 70 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
veteran of two wars, was elected Gov
ernor of Kentucky in 1887 Since his re-
urement 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 al
though only a 100 miles from Louisville, 1t
requires an entire day to make the trip.
lie Keeps a large retinue of ante-bel lum
dependents, and probably is as nearly
feudal lord as can be found in America.
Than Wade Hampton no drawer man
served in the Confederate armies. Among
the earliest la the field he led the "Hamp-
ton Legion" at the first Bull Run, in
which battle he was wounded but as
SOOu as possible resumed service IN the
army, and was wounded for the second
time in the battle of the Seven Pines,
where he commanded the cavalry of the
Army of Northern Virginia Later he
commanded the cavalry operating In Vir-
ginia, was wounded the third time at Get
tysburg, and was leader of the rear guard
which fell back before the victorious adj
vance of Gen. Sherman. When the army
in which Gen. Hampton was serving sur
rendered to the Union forces, his military
experiences were ended. His public career
since then is a familiar story
Gen. S. D. Lee, another civilian general
conspicuous for skill and bravery, is now
a farmer and president of the State Agri-
cultural College of Mississippi Gen. A.
p. Stewart is a member of the Chicka-
manga 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
s. Longstreet has lately been appointed a
railroad commissioner by President Nc
Kinley. Gen. Longstreet, or "Old Peter"
as ne was called by his men, Is counted by
many careful students of the civil war as
the ablest of all the Confederate captains.
Cautious, clear-headed, and a master of
military science, no sobriquet fits him so
well as the Thomas of the Lost Cause"
John B. Gordon was its Murat. The son
of a Baptist minister, Gen. Gordon. when
the war broke out, was trying to develop
a coal mine i'm Northwest Georgia. Down
there in the mountains he raised a regi-
ment of natives and reached Virginia in
time to take part in the opening of the
war In the first engagement OF his hardy
rnountaineers two-thirds of them were
killed or wounded Every officer except
Gordon was slain, aud his escape was a
miracle his clothing being rlddled with
bullets.
The mark of a minie-ball in Gen. Cor
dons cheek is a reminder of the bloody
and wrathful day when The battle of Sew
en- Pines was fought. The Sixth Alabama,
commanded by Gordon was at the front
of the fight. Suddenly there came an or
der, from whom was never discovered, di-
recting the regiment to charge across an
open field and capture a battery that was
stationed in a thioket, and pouring ter
rible fire into the Confederate ranks. 1t
was like the charge of the Six Hundred
Some one had Numbered. But at the head
of that yelling and racing thousand of men
and IN the face of that murderous fire,
Gordon sprang 10 obey the fatal command.
When the shattered remnants Of the regi-
ment were hurled back across that death
strewn field, its colonel bleeding and
wounded in five places. was carried TO the
bospital tent where for weeks his life was
degDaired Of Nevertheless, he recovered
and within two years rose, by hard fight
ing and merit as "A commander, to the rank
OF lieutenant general. AS commander of
the Confederate Second Army CORPS he
was the first TO attack at Gettysburg and
he held the last line al Petersburg, fight
ing with stubborn vaior for every inch Of
SPACE Yet Gen. Gordon had not had a
particle OF military training, and when the
war closed was only thirty years of age
Since then he has been twice Governor Of
his state and twice a member Of the fed
eral Senate.
Among the surviving Confederate veter-
ans who held the rank of major general
are John H. Forney who Is living ia re-
tirement at Jenifer. Ala. Samuel c.
French. now planter in Florida; William
L. Cabei, a merchant in Dallas Tex. !;
James r. Chalmers Of Fort Pillow mem
ory. at present leading member Of the
Nashville bar; G. W. G. Lee, until lately
president Of Washington and Lee Uniyer-
sity, at Lexington. Va, post his father,
Robert Il. Lee held before him. Matt Ran
som, long a United States senator and
minister to Mexico, under Cleveland; Mat
thew c. Butler, who lost a leg at Brandy
Station. and who, after three terms in the
federal Senate, is ending his public career
ae a mn Tor general of volunteers. and WI