The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-02-23

gcneral-then coIonei-!Tom Green II,
ordered the charge against the Seventh
infantry, and that knightly officer, Wflii
W. Lang, headed the charge with lancel
set marching against a regiment OF reg
ulaf infnntry--and Land fell. and most o
his command fell with him. Thence WI
proceeded TO Santa Fe. You know thu
result OF tho battle Mt Pigeon ranch.
We all remember about the retreat al
we camc through Santa FL, Albuquerque
ana III Paso, and when we reached Sar
antonio the condition we were In. / had
become captain of the batteTy Of artillery
When we stopped. in July. 1862, west OF
san Antonio, we had TO send into the city
10 tue ladies' 10 get clothes to allow us
70 make decent appearance In the city.
Ihat was our condition; that was the con-
ditlon OF my men, and you know that n
anybody Jared well it would be the captain
J ana mon OF light battery of artilirey,
because they were allowed TO forage wher-
ever and whenever they would
I Went next to Louisiana, and then the
I nghting began. was there until the
ciese OF the war, except while | was in
the vicinity of Galveston. The members
OF Green's brigade distinguished them
selves. If such was true In reference TO
our troops, how was it In reference to
other troops In other parts of the State
anu IN other parts OF the Southern Sthtes?
The ships of the Federal government ha I
blcckaded every port in the South and
denied admission to other countries pre-
venting us from securing arms for ru,,
men ald clothing for our army. When
the declaration of war was made. or rather
when the FIRST gun was fred there was not
one cap factory south OF the Potomac, no I
one arsenal OF any kind. We had To de-
pend exclusively on what we caplured
from the enemy, and such as we were abb
10 make during the progress OF The war
- 4 Ia .s.l
held secured some arms, hut they ware
not the best used by the Federal army
Our artillery, until captured from tho
enemy, was the poorest manufactured 1
remember the old howitzers Our men
didn't know how 10 fire n gun, remeln
Der at Val Verde when the order was
given TO Lieutenant Wood to fire. he put
the tail piece OF the gun against a gtiun
and broke it NIL to pieces He did not
FIRE but once. / guess ! would have done
the naue thing. II is no disrcgpeoL TO
him. mention this 70 show you how una
prepared we We're The records of b III
armies show that from first 10 last there
were only about 100000 men In the field
In the Confederate army. against them
more than 2l00, 600 men in the Federal
army, the latter having all Of the arsenal
stores. all of tho ordnance stores, al OF
the quartermaster's stores, all OF tho com.
nlissary stores, and all of the medical
stores; yet the 500, 900 men. without ships,
without stores and without arms held the
q 210.000 men Mt bay for four years, and
this Without the sympathy and support of
the world outside,
rev months ago, lust before the break
Ing out OF the Spanish war, | was engaged
In the preparation OF bill for the sup
port OF our army and navy IN the field.
We had the reports Of all the officers,
the comnssnry general tho quartermnster
general and all others in authority, and
n al ~ I naiy, al
Tor this latter and whom II was handed 10
mo | saw that IL had coffee. sugar salt.
beer, bacon, Hour bread cornbread pep
per, vinegar, and--weil, The truth about
tt Is that tho slim of rations was about
ten inches long ! asked you don't
suppose wo are going to the expense of
buying all Of these things. do you" The
reply was Yes answered; IF we
had had all that food during the civil war.
we wonld have been nghting you yet"
Notwithstanding the long list OF rations,
when the house met few days later n
member from New York. representing one
of me dairy districts. had bin introduced
mandatory on the ccmmissary general 10
furnish ration OF cheese to every soldier
IN cuba lt would have walked OFF. They
talk about food, We would have eaten
grumbled. These boys don't know any
thing about soldering 1 don't suppose
the embalmed beef was any worse than
The cattle we drove from San Antonio to
New deSico.
Now. | am not apologizing for the en-
balmed beef scandal | am not apolorlzine
for those fellows. II thny are guilty. IN "
ought TO be brought to justice. III they are
guilty they ought all to be put in the
penitenuary
Talk about rations! The boys fought for
four years. and If they had had something
&c eat, they never would have laid down
Now, i want TO ray something pleasant
TO you old Confederate soldiers. have
been in congress many years. and have
heard many bitter debates. aud have read
many unjust criticisms in the newspapers:
but | have never heard one word uttered
or saw one word written by any man north
OF the Mason and Dixon line In disparage-
ment Of the Confederate soldier; and |
want TO say In behalf OF the man OF wlom
af the political enemy President Nc
hinley. that he did me the h nor to invite
me iltc counsel with him, and said II me,
Mr. savers II YOU knnw OF n Confeder.
ate soldier young and strong enough.
want prclpf n % STAR - Lion .
You can talk about Won Mnltke and
ths great French general, Napolean; II
Napoleon had been in the position of
hpRaff % i.eo ne would not have b en- In
command two years, The superiority az
forces AGAINST NAPOLEON Wag not enuaI IN 4