The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-02

he was elected governor Of Tennessee,
and since 1887 has sat in the senate at
Washington. Gen. Rosser was one of
the most daring of the confederate
leaders In q great degsee he resem-
pled Custer, whose classmate he was
at West Point. Once at auckland Mills,
IN virginia, as he was driven out, he
left a message with some ladies at a
farm house for the gallant leader who
died on the Big Horn. 1t read: You
have disturbed me at my breakfast.
owe you one, and I'll get even with
you"
He was as good as his word. He al
lowed Custer to cross the creek, then
sWooped down upon him while his
command was brewing coffee. 1t took
custer "a hours to gather his men after
this dash. Rosser Is now rich man,
and 1t Is interesting to record that it
was his old chum Custer who helped to
make him one. The surrender of Lee
left Rosser penniless, and, with a wife
and children to support, he was glad to
accept an humble place in the construc-
ton corps Of the Northern Pacific road.
There Custer ran across him, quite by
accident, and seeking out the chief en-
gineer of that road, said
There is a man named Rosser under
you as a construction boss?"
Yes was the engineers reply, "and
thing wrong about him?"
No" replied Custer, "but he was at
West Point with me, and afterward a
major general in the confederate army.
Can't you give him something better
than the work he is doing?"
Why, 1 have been looking for just
such a man." said the engineer.
And so Rosser, through Gen. Custers
kindly offices, was made second in COM
mand Of the engineer corps. When, a
few months later, he became its chief,
he made such shrewd use Of the oppor-
tunity the position afforded him for
speculation and investment, that today
he is worth half million dollars. Gus
ter, on the other hand, died a poor
man.
Like Rosser, Fitzhugh Lee is best
remembered by his old comrades in
arms as q dashing cavalry officer and
as brave and light-hearted a trooper
as ever led men into battle. When the
war began, he was a lieutenant colonel
under "Jeb" Stuart; when 1t ended, he
was commander of the cavalry of the
army of northern Virginia Before
that, he had been a lieutenant in the
old army. After the war he became
a farmer in Virginia. Il had been ac-
customed all my life,' he said, not long
ago, ito draw corn from the quarter
master, and | found it hard to draw it
from an obstinate SOIL but 1 did it,"
In 1884 Gen. Lee was made governor of
Virginia, and in the spring of 1895 Pres
ident Cleveland appointed him consul
at Havana, a post in which he
was continued by President McKin- |
ley
The surviving confederate brigadier |
generals still number upward Of four
score, q few of whom call for individ- |
ual mention. Francis M. Cockren and
John I. Morgan are members of the
United States senate; William r. Cox
is sergeant-at-arms Of the same body, |
and r.. r. Alexander, Lees old chief
OF staff, president Of the Central Rail-
road of Georgia. Bradley T. Johnson
is lawyer in Baltimore; Basil D.
Duke follows the same vocation in
and James A. Walker is a
member of congress from Virginia. |
Moxley Sorel iE superintendent of the
Savannah Steamship Company, and
Henry Fl. Walker a prosperous banker
in New York city. where Roger A.
Pryor is serving as judge on the local
bench
All these men long since accepted the
war as a fact accomplished, and
touching token of the new order is the
dearly-prized memento which Gen.
Buclsner displays to most visitors to
his Kentucky home-the note pencilled
by Gen Grant when Buckner visited
him at Mount McGregor. 81 have wit
messed since my sickness, . wrote the
dying and speechless captain to his old
friend and comrade, 'just what 1
have wished to see ever since the war:
harmony and good feeling between the
sections. The war was worth
all it cost us. fearful as that was. Since
1t was over have visited every state
in Europe and q number in the east
know as | cid not before, the value
of our inheritance"