The times., 1899-08-27
"Pickett,s Division,

by writing this poem. New 1ork: liar
per & Bros. $1.75.)
aPickett's Division.v
A peculiar interest attaches to the his
tory of pickett and His Men" which is
the latest addition to the history of the
Civil War, from the fact that it is written
by the wife OF the great Confederate gem
eral. There have been biographies and his
tories written by the commanders who
were in part responsible for the events
which they recorded; there have been
others which were the work OF close
friends of these commanders; but this is
probably the first time that a wife has
taken upon herself the loving task of
writing the chronicle of her husbands s
military life, for the benefit of generations
to come. This in itself gives the work a
value of its own. The story OF Pickett S
Division"-a name which is a household
word North and South-has been written
by Mrs. LaSalle Corbell Pickett.
No more gallant men lived in all the
army of the South than Pickett's Virgin
ians, and that is saying much. They were
an example OF what human nature can do
under a leader brave, devoted, and patri
otic; and the results of such an alliance
| have frequently astonished the world
| When these men made their famous charge
on the stone fence at Gettysburg-when
they went, less than 5000 of them, into an
iron storm of bullets which seemed to
mean almost certain humiliation, they in
scribed the name of the division in letters
of fire on the history of their country
Neither by the blue nor the grey will that
charge ever be forgotten. 1t was the grap-
pie of two mighty forees-grim North and
fiery Southland Pickett's Virginians were
4 hot +hn i,rnr
more immortal proof of what the Lost
Cause" meant to those who fought under
the stars and bars.
1t is fitting, then, that the history of this
famous division should be written by the
| woman TO whom it is a living fact, not a
mere historical record, and this has been
done. Some additional interest is given
to the record by the authors statement
that she has drawn her material entirely
from the statements ofs:eyewitnesses and
participants in the events described, pur-
posely refraining from the consultation of
histories of the war. 1t may thus be said
that her book presents, If Eathing more,
an original view of the campaigns in which
the division took part. There is brief
introduction by General Longstreet, In ad-
dition to the preface by the author. In one
of the first chapters Mrs. Pickett states
that she lost the first manuscript OF the
story of Pickett and his men by fire.
The first part of the book deals with the
fall of the Confederate capital, and the
writer's personal experiences during that
time. She tells how, while alone with her
sleeping child and her young brother, she
heard the newsboys calling in the Streets
Grand victory at FIVE Forks, Pickett
killed and his whole division captured!'
This was of course at time when no
| news could be obtained from the front,
| with any reasonable certainty; and it was
| some time before this cruel rumor could
be disproved. Meanwhile the wife of one
of the greatest generals in the Confeder-
ate army was alone, without money, and
| without food except bag of beans and
some meal and hour-not even salt for
seasoning was at hand-and there was no
way OF getting out of the city. No steam
ers were running, and the railroads were
destroyed. However, when General Pick
EFT finally appeared on his little thor
oughbred, Lucy all other troubles SEEM
ed but trifing and the reunited family
finally succeeded in reaching the home of
| Mrs. Pickett's father who, while he had
little money, had still his plantation. The
story of this family is like that of many
another in the Confederacy after the close
OF the war; and the record Of these pa
| thetic scenes is worth preserving if there
| were nothing else in the book.
| But there are great many other things
| In the volume, and some of them are even
more interesting than this story, which,
after ALL was a common one in every
Southern State. The narrative throughout
| is thoroughly feminine, and that is what
makes the charm of it, for women repro
| duce the atmosphere of time and place,
with all the little side-lights and delicate
| touches, in a way that seldom occurs to
the man who writes history. When Mrs.
| Pickett tells OF her meeting with Gen.
| Rufus ingalls,, of the old soldiers gruff ten
derness toward her, and the way in which
he disarmed her still unconquered spirit,
We get glimpse of that old soldier which
would never have gotten into the ordinary
volume of "reminiscences, for ingalls, would
never have thought about telling it, and
it is not much more likely that General
Pickett would. There are little touches of
this sort all through the book. 1t adds
pathos to the narrative when We discover
that at the time of the fall of Richmond
the writer was only seventeen years old.
There are few tenderly -nurtured girls of
that age nowadays who would not shrink
from some of her adventures and expert
ences. For a time she and her husband
lived in Canada, and some of the incidents
of their life there are certainly well worth
recording for the picturesqueness and hu-
NOR of them.
After these preliminary chapters, the
real story of Pickett's division begins Mrs.
] Pickett tells the story OF her husband s
military life from the time when, as Cap
tain Pickett, he took part in the Mexican
| war. She sketches the history of secess-
ion from the Southern point of view, and
| then proceeds to outline the career of her
| husbands division of the Confederate ar
my during the Civil War OF course. most
OF this part of the book is merely repe-
| tition of statements already part of his
tory, but that Is inevitable The thing
which gives the chronicle its peculiar in
terest is, of course, the coloring OF per-
sonality. 1t always makes difference
whether a story is told by an Indifferent
observer or by one who had a personal
stake in its outcome. Perhaps the most
| fascinating chapters are those which de-
scribe the battle of Gettysburg. There are
graphic touches in this which are not found
in most records of that famous conflict
The story of Picketts charge is one of the
finest passages In the book
In a subsequent chapter the personal
element reappears and adds charm to the
story. 1t may not be generally known
that General Pickett married only q few
days after the battle of Gettysburg Miss
LaSalle Corbell, who had but a month be-
fore been a schoolgirl. 1t was one of the
romances of the war-the kind OF a ro-
nance which may be found In the pages
of the brilliant writers of fiction, who, for
the last decade, have been paying the
most beautiful of ell tributes TO the
South, But this romance was not fiction