Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-01-05


Capt. Howell Tells Of His surprise At
Learning That the Northern soldiers
Us,uid fight ~ Well as Southerners
Capt. e. p. Howell, of Atlanta, who
is serving on the A1ger relief commits
sion, is adding to his already well-es-
Hablished reputation as story teller.
Whenever the investigation 1ags, which
has been pretty often up to date, ow-
ing, no doubt, to the many pressing
business engagements of a private
character of Chairman Dodge and
other members Of the board, Captain
Howell comes to the rescue and re-
lieves the monotony of the session OF
the commission with story.
The following is the gist of story
told by Howell to Gov. Woodbury., of
Vermont. Woodbury. and Howell have
become fast friends since they met to-
gether on common grounds in relief
work Woodbury. was Union soldier,
and left an arm somewhere in the
South Howell served throughout the
war in the Confederate ranks.
There used to be a time," Captain
Howell went on to say, addressing his
remarks for the most part to his
friend Woodbury., when ] labored I'M
der the impression that one we'll
equipped Southern man could whip half
a dozen Yankees with one of his hands
tied behind him, without half trying.
That was just before the war, and don t
! you /AEow it was the general impress
\Siof that existed throughout the South
At that timer. If our people had only
known the truth, perhaps things might
n an, n
nothave been SO eager for scrap. But
| am not going to moralize, but relate
TO you a little experience that came
under my personal observation.
A short time before Sumter was fired
upon, a strong-lunged man appeared in
our locality-no one knew from just
where, and no one stopped to inquire,
so far as | know-who would be desig-
mated to-day as professional agitator,
walking delegate or something Of that
kind. He let himself loose every night
in the court house square to an enthus-
iastic crowd of men and boys. The
burden of his talk was that the South
ern people were the bravest and best
people upon the face of the earth.
Every mothers son of us knew how
to ride and shoot, and-there was not
the slightest doubt about it-one
Southern man could put a whole regi-
ment of Yankees to flight They were
towards by nature, and did not know
one end of a gun from another, and
besides, they were so wrapped up in
making money that they would not
fight anyhow. Well, Sumter was fired
on in few days after that, and most
of us young fellows, burning with a
desire to whip a whole regiment of
Yankees, made haste to enlist. Our
only fear was that the Yankees would
surrender before we had a chance to
get at them and win any glory.
"A few months later l went into my
first engagement. Somehow the Yam
KEGS did not retreat very fast In fact
they sood their ground and shot back
at us.
Il turned to Bill, my chum, and said:
Say, Bill, there must be some mistake
commander must have attacked
some of our fellows for those id
pYankees.'
Looks like it. certain. said Bill.
The next moment Bill got ball in the
leg, and | dragged him back behind a
tree. The tree was fully a foot thick,
but it seemed to me to be the smallest
tree that l had ever seen. 1t didn't
begin to be big enough for the occasion.
The firing in front grew hot, and pres
emily our entire line began to fall back.
What's the matter?' inquired Bill,
\fr1syaa Mil -.a1,-i