The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-10-14
Still In Great and Increas-
ing Demand.
Mr.. GILMORE'S LINCOLN"
Captain Mitchel's confessions of
an Aide-de- Camp"
ARTICLES ON THE SPANISH WAR


y. Gilmore, whose new book, Personal
"reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln and
the Civil War" Is just now receiving the
attention of the reviewers, is ono of the
most interesting of that surviving group
of civil war observers and historians which
suffered such an irreparable loss in the
death of Charles A. Dana late last year
Though perhaps not now resident of this
town, Mr.. Gilmore has long been a famil-
lar figure on the streets of New York, and
there is scarcely publisher who is not
glad to claim him as friend.
Mr.. Gilmore, who was known to the
reading public more than IA generation
ago as Edmund Kirke, is now 75; but,
judging from tho vigor of the sentences in
his Lincoln" his pen has not yet lost its
cunning, nor is it likely to for some years
TO come. This should DO ooonsidered mat
ter for real congratulation to all who hope
for an ultimate clear understanding of
the truth regarding many things connect
ed with the civil war, for In some respects
he is exceptionally well posted and he
certainly possesses the ability to tell what
he knows with clearness and accuracy.
GiImore's Civn War Services.
Mr. Gilmore spent n good part OF his
later minority In the south buying turpen-
tine, cotton and grain from the planters
rs an agent Of an antebellum New York
commission house. In this pursuit ne
did so well that at 10 he was made part
ner in the firm BY the time he was 25
he felt strong enough TO establish com
mission house of his own, and when he
was "a, in 1857, he had secured fortune
which he considered large enough to justi.
fy retiring from commercial life This
did not mean idleness, however, as he had
made heavy investments lin real estate
near New York, and he devoted his time
alternately TO looking after its manage
ment and travel. He had written good
deal for the press at intervals, despite the
pressure of his business affairs, and the
fall of Sumter in 1861 found him visiting
/, in the south and engaged in the prepara-
tion of y volume which afterward became
famous under the title of "Among the
Pines
Ho came north at once, and believing
he could be of more service TO the right as
he saw il by the exercise of his pen than
In any other way, devoted himself for
some time TO writing and to editing The
Continental Monthly, jointly established
by himself and Charles g. Leland, the
Hans Breitmann of the fifties. All this
time MIR. Gilmore enjoyed the closest
friendship of President Lincoln, who re.
peatedly called upon him for informa-
tion concerning southern affairs and south
ern men, much of which had come into |
his possession through his business con-
nectiCA3 Several times he was intrusted |
with the most delicate personal missions |
TO the front by the president, and in 1854 |
hn dol. Tod xx,ttl -.s
jefferson Davis at Richmond to talk over |
possible peace.
This did not come to much apparently. |
its only surface result being the making |
Of declaration by Mr.. Davis that peace
could be arranged only on the basis of |
Confederate Independence. That was real |
ly of the utmost Importance, however, as
IL broke up the peace party, so called, at |
the north, which was exactly what Lin
coin, who was really an arch politician,
desired. From this skeleton story of Mr..
Gilmore's civil war work 1t can be seen
that he enjoyed unusual facilities for
knowing many inside facts which could
not properly safely be given to the public
until after the lapse of years.
civil War Novelist.
Captain II. A. Mitchel's civil war novel,
Confessions OF an Aide de Camp" comes
out as the complete story" in Lippin-
colts Magazine at practically the same
time rs Mr. Gilmore's book. In its way
the story is almost ms enlightening too.
for while In no sense autobiographical,
the plot being entirely imaginary, the au-
thor Of Confessions of an Aidede- Camp"
was himself in fact an aide -de-camp on the
staff of his father, General q. NJ. Mitchell,
and the story depicts the life of an aide in
the civil war 20 the letter. The general
would undoubtedly have played very i'm
portant part I'm the civil war had not his
career beon cut short by yellow fever I'm
1852.
Captain Mitchell has been writing
civil war fiction for several years now,
and his stories Of "Chickamauga" and
Chattanooga have had wide circulation
both In book and newspaper serial form.
He has also produced few short stories of
the civil war. Some day he may write a
story based on his yellow fever expert
ences. Should hc conclude to do this, the
-. n 1