The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-05
MILITARY CHAT AND GOSSIP.
OLD SOLDIERS WHO LONGED FOR A
REUNITED COUNTRY.

of Arixona-The Confederate Flag.
Pine Crest Villa, Maitland Fla, Aug.
4-Thinking to-day of the brave Southern
heroes of the Cuban and Porto Rican cam
paign, and in the latter campaigns of the
Philippines and China. in nearly all of
which many lost their lives wearing the
blue and UNFOLDING the "Old Flag" my
thoughts also went back to the eloquent
words of Daniel Webster, the expressed
wish that his eyes when closing in death
might behold an undivided, indestructble
union of states. All! what an inspiring
view would to-day be presented to his pa
trlotic gaze.
And that grand old educator, Prof.
Charles Davies cod Tush'D. for almost a
quarter of century the honored professor
of mathematics at West Point Military
Academy. expressed a similar desire.
when my eyes" he said. at a reunion
of graduates shall behold for the last
time the fading light on the mountain tops
of the highlands of the Hudson, next to
the hope of a better life, would be the
! con seriousness, that union, fraternity,
peace and mutual regard had reached the
heart and would regulate the life of every
| graduate of this institution.
What a thrill of emotion would gladden.
the heart of this grand old patriot and
! scholar If to-day he could revisit West
Point and. looking over our recent volun-
| teer military roster, see the names of
! Gems. Joseph Wheeler, Fitz Lee and
! Thomas L. Rosser among the wearers of
| the blue, and learn that Gen. Wheeler
! had been restored to the regular army
| And on the army roster he could see such
I IDAE.-
! H. Anderson, Fiiz Lee, Joseph Wheeler
and others, sons of fathers whom he once
| instructed in the military academy. Truly,
can it be said the day Prof. Davies so
earnestly prayed for, so far as the gradu-
ates Of West Point are concerned has
dawned in full-orbed glory. God be prais-
ed for a consummation so devoutly to be
wished.
A young man in Southwest Georgia
writes me TO ask If I know where he
could sell a copy of the last order issued
| by Gen. Lee al Appomattox, but incloses
no stamp Ga common faulO for a reply.
will say, therefore, that the order pos
sesses no money value, but should be
kept as a family relic. AS his father, a
senior captain. commanded the regiment
this order came to him. Granting THAI it
was a copy of Gen. Lees last order, 1t
had to pass through other hands to reach
the young mans father, consequently,
1t was no doubt a duplicate copy of an
order that went to many other COM
mands. If not valued by the soldiers
family as a relic, it could hardly find a
! purchaser
I am somewhat surprised that so learned
man as Gen. John w. DePeyster of the
noted New York DePeysters, should at
this late day. come out and oppose the
theory that the earth revolves on its
axis. Some years ago l was associated
intimately with the General as a writer
| for military publications, and came to re-
gard him as a man of uncommon mental
powers and a ripe student of the sciences
as we'll as military and civil history But
in these days of cranks and startlingisms,
10 be found in all grades of society, moth
| ing ought to surprise u.s.
A former citizen and active member of
the Oglethorpe Light Infantry of Savan-
| nah, takes me to task for calling the Ogle-
thorpe Infantry of Augusta a Light
Infantry. He says ANY school boy ought
to know" better. Well, that depends
upon whether the school boy lives in Au-
gusta or Savannah. AS I located the
company in the former city it certainly
could not be credited to the latter. Then
It did light service when it marched up
the Sand Hills and captured the Arsenal,
without firing a single gun, so Ii was then
really the Ogiethorpe NighO Infantry.
And now comes Mr.. NJ. Meyerson, the
jacksonville jsweler, with another last"
war relic-a shell. said to be the last shot
fred in the late Spanish-American war.
| Now we shall have a new controversy
about who fired the last shot. and when
and where 1t was fired. This shot is said
| to have been sent forth from the U. s.
| S. ManRrove Digit house tender. think
on Aug a. 1898, and aimed at the Span
ish gunboat Herman Cortez, then near
Caybarien, Island Of Cuba. Now let the
other last" shot men be heard from.
A recent biographer of Gen. Joe
Wheeler, says mis- first service was un-
der Old Glory at Fort Union, Mexico" and
that "he resigned his commission in
March 1851" Now, the Generals old army
record is very brief. He graduated num-
her nineteen in the class of 1859, and be-
| came brevet second lieutenant of dragons
and was assigned to duty at the cavalry
school for practice at Carlisle. Pa. In
June. 1860, he was transferred to the
Mounted Rifsmsn, and in September fol-
lowing, was made a full second lieuten>
ant. Then came a leave of absence, during
which April %, 1861 he resigned to enter
| the Confederate service. This Is the Of
fetal record without any stuffing or fril 6.
The presentation of a gold medal to Gen
E. Porter Alexander by President Zelaya
| of Nicaragua. for his valuable services as
| an arDllTdtOT Ill NllC bOuhNdAy oiSPN'S ~
tween that country and Costa RIGA, is a
tribute Justly deserved by one of West
| Points most meritorious graduates, he
| having graduated number three in class
| Of thirty-eight. in 1851, into the corps of
engineers. When the Civil War begun he
was assistant engineer to Gen. James b.
| Mcpherson Ckilled in battle of Atlanta
| July o. 1S64), who had graduated at the
| head of the class of 1858. They were in
| charge of coast defenses in San Francisco
| harbor and so deeply was Gen. Mcpherson
attached 10 Gen. Alexander that he begged
of him to stay in the army as a non-com-
blatant and he would have him assigned
| to duty where he would not be called into
The field to fight his Southern people. But
Gen. Alexander was made of different
stuff. and he promptly resigned on May
l. 1861 came home to Georgia and entered
the Confederate service. Although we'll
deserving of and capable of filling the
highest ranks in the service, he confined
| himself TO the important position of chief
of artillery in Longstreets Corps with the
lesser rank OF brigadier general.
| A correspondent seems to doubt my
| statement that President Davis favored en-
| listing negroes In the Confederate army
| as soldiers IL Is true that in the earlier
part OF the war he was not favorable 10
such step. but later on he changed his
views, and on Feb. q, 1865, he wrote as
follows to Hon John Forsythe. editor of
| the Mobile, Ala. Register: The article
De- IL strcr