The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-05-30


| bearer, the riveter Of fet,ers in that
| deplorable episode in our national his
| tory. No, he was not referring To- the
| promethean torturer, by classic tradi-
| ton the vulture, by ornithologists the
| buzzard, "exulting in the glory of his
| might over the agonies of n shQckled
giant. A creature we are told of insati-
| able nav is that same bird with gorge
of honors such as a real hero has no
| right TO aspire beyond this gorgeous
| thing looks higher still. There must be
special grade. forsooth; up TO this time
recognized heroes re-created to fit
his transcendent merits. Tell it
not in Gath. publish it not in the
streets of Askelon. Did Hudson Lowe
reach the high command of the British
army? Did Simon. the Cobbler," ever
grasp the Marshals baton Of France?
No, he was not talking of such Il
thing as this. but of an old man III gray.
down ON the Mexico Gulf. who had
lately left us weighed down by cruel
usage and the cares of State. lie had
held the proudest and most difficult
place ever held by mortal man. and hill
ed it too. Aye. according % III" lion.
Mr.. Roebuck in the House Of Commons,
filled it as none other on the then alit-
ed globe could have done He was the
head and front of the sublimest cause
ever espoused by heroes to its death.
He was the head and front of our
offending: or at least as a vicarious sac
riiice they fain would so have finished
him, had the law and the worlds opin
ion permitted. Despite the systematic
tortures of this petty tyrant, he lived on
for twenty years and died as his friend
proclaimed him, and the discriminating
world now proclams him, zone Of the
grand men in the tides of time His
keeper. such by the accidency of cir
cumStances or the restriction i'll the
field of selection. is given the pitiful pow
err of degrading his own government in
the vain endeavor to degrade the other
by tyranny to its Chieftain. Pardon the
emphasis of my English, oh friends. for
it is my style under provocation, and is
bound to come out when the artesian
pressure at the bottom gives the impulse.
But to return. Besides checkmating
raiders, he was assigned to special duty
under General Beauregard to meet But
ler's movement near Bermuda Hundred.
pulsed the enemy's right. With him. as
the General in command. there is every
reason to believe that the battle below
Drury's Bluff would have been crush
ing and an overwhelming defeat to But
ler In special orders the day after the
fight. General Beauregard was pleased
to compliment his Divisional General in
most eulogiStic terms. On the 10th of
June. nearly month later, in his report
to the War Office. he virtually unsays
what was then published and animad-
verts on Generals Ransom and Whiting.
There be some who Opine that the
change of tone in the two documents as
to the first was simply self eXculpatory
when the commanding General discov-
cred that there was feeling of general
disappointment at general results that
day obtained. and that he preferred for
others to bear the responsibility to
shouldering it himself So did not Robt
Lee after Gettysburg?
| beg to add here the following state
ment made in a recent letter from that
good soldier that hard fighter; that de-
voted and faithful man, General Will
liam Castor Lewis
II shall always believe that the order
| received from General Robert Ran
som to forward and attack the enemy at
double quick saved Drewry's Bluff and
also Richmond"
BE that as it may. there is no denying
that the discrepancy of statement is very
extraordinary, to say the least Unfor-
tunately for him, it was not the first
time that that redoubtable gentleman
had had recourse to like tactics to ex-
tenuate his own incapacity in the hour
of almost assured victory. Superiors. as
well as subordinates must undergo like
criticism when he needed Il shield, as
witness the President and the
Senior General of the army. But
to return to General Ransom. In June,
1854 he was assigned to- the command
of Earley's Cavalry i'll his movement to
meet Hunter and was with him all
through his march to the rear of Wash
ingtom in July. 1864. He was taken
sick and relieved August 10Th, 1864 and
was on leave until September of same
year when he was sent as President
Iof Court of Inquiry to investigate out
RACES reported to have been done on
Morgan's last raid into Kentucky
In November, 1864. he was sent to
the command of Charleston and sur
rounding country. which renewed sick
ness compelled him to give up shortly
afterwards.
Such is the brief outline or synopsis
of the war record of Bob Ransom. and
it is one that any man and his posterity
might well be proud Of AS adjunct
to it, pardon q few extracts from n
manuscript letter of his of December.
1888. 1t was written to one of his old
soldiers and couriers, Professor Nat Al
len, of Kingstree, S. c., who submitted
Il sketch for magazine publication for
his revision and correction. They are
given as evidence of his high sense of
honor, of truth and honesty, which
would not permit him to profit by the
partial mistakes of a loving friend whilst
at the same time he modestly claims
what he was justly entitled to-
He writes: In some respects
lyou are mistaken. | did not supersede
or relieve Sam Jones in S. w. Virginia
and East Tennessee. | reported to him
as a subordinate. !. You We're
right as to my doing the work and
entirely independent of his directions.
for he gave me none. | did not decline
| to go to the trans Mississippi. but | did