The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-05-29

Gettysburg.
History and song alike magnify Gettys-
burg as one of the greatest battles of
modern times; its effect ON the Confed-
eracy was marked and conspicuous, and
from the hour when Pickett withdrew his
shattered and broken but heroic column
from the nights of Cemetery Ridge, 1t was
apparent that the fortunes of the Con-
federacy had reached the flood tide, and
must ebb and ebb and ebb until they
should leave the Army of Northern Vir-
ginia stranded amid gloom, distress and
sorrow at Appomatox.
LAS the men under the eye of Lee, great
est soldier and man. comrades, the world
ever produced, crossed the valley and
wrote in their life blood on the pltiless
rocks OF Gettysburg Heights the inefface-
able glory of Southern gallantry and
daring, the worlds heart quiekened with
admiration and wonder at the splendid
display of heroism and nobility and man
kind gave those illustrious men unstinted
praise for their superb conduct in the aw-
full and terrible scenes of that dreadful
sacrifice. The coming and going of the
years will brighten, not dim, the grandeur
and sublimity of that spectacle, and no
pen has yet been facile enough to describe
in fitting terms the daring and intrepidity
of those who Joined in that fateful but
valiant work
ChickamauEa.
"All the bloodshed was not poured out on
the Potomac. In 1868, two mighty armies
met in fiercest conflict on "a stream near
the Georgia and Tennessee line called
Chiekamauga, a name antedating history,
and called by the red man Stream of
Death" 1t may be that prophetic ken re-
Vealed to the red man as he drank of its
cooling waters, or rested in its grateful
shade, that the white man who was to
drive him from his home and possess his
land, would on its banks and amid its
waters meet in fiercest array and stain its
current with the flow of blood
Here on the 18th day of September, 1863
5000 Federal troops and 10000 Confeder-
ates were to engage in deadly encounter
No fiercer fight had ever been witnessed
on the American continent. On these two
days a dreadful casualty list was to be
added up. Reserves were out of the Dues
ton, and every man was needed. All
were to go to the front and face the foe
The men who had achieved distinction on
the battlefield of Virginia were to assault
side by side with the men who had won
renown at Shiloh and Iuka, Corinth and
Stone River, and, in friendly and generous
rivalry, seek glory and victory in this
ans soon learned that the Western men
were their equals in all that makes SOL
diers. Their daring and superb courage
lost nothing in comparison with the men
who at Antietam, Malvern Hill, Second
Manassas, Kernstown, Port Republic or
Seven Pines had written in the Book of
Fame" the story of Southern courage.
the'ti'cm inf life -moavoo yONne T SITS
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Antietam and Franklin.
THE casualties at Antietam played hav-
&C with the best troops Robert e. Lee
ever commanded, and now the perth
nacity, courage and intrepidity find their
noblest commentaries and their worthiest
praise in the dead and wounded which
covered the field over which this MUIR
derous conflict was carried on. 1t was
long remembered by both Federals and
Confederates as one of the really terrible
battles of tile war. McClelland was an
able general and in this battle was back
ed by some of the best subordinates that
ever followed a Federal leader, while Lee,
with Jackson Hill, Longstreet and
Stuart, with as Valient soldiers as ever
aligned faced the awful war storm that
broke in such violent and vehemence
along those Maryland ridges. No Drawer
men, no more furious conflict marked the
history of any war, and in this the SOL
ders of the army of Northern Virginia
showed they were a worthy and fit match
for any soldiers that ever entered into
conflict; and no soldier, from the army
of Northern Virginia, from the army of
Tennessee, from the Trans Mississippi
department does not feel his heart quick
en- and his cheek glow with pride when
he remembers the scenes of that battle.
THE men of the West recognized the
valor and the inexhaustible courage
which disting uished this great struggle.
They have only TO speak in praise and
commentator of all that was done by
their comrades of the East on that fear
full occasion, but away in the West, on
the bloody field of Franklin, there was a
more than counterpart of the destruction
and horrors of Antietam. In the battle
of Franklin, it was reserved for the army
of Tennessee to make its last great strug-
gle and in that struggle to suffer prac-
tical humiliation, but in its death 10
make a record of noble manhood and pa
triotic courage which will stand contin-
uous with time itself.
The TireIess Forrest.
Claiming only equality and not superior
dty, operations of similar nature were of
a most successful type. Gen. Streight
with a splendidly equipped force, was
sent IN April, 1863, to cut the railway COM
munications of Gen. Bragg's army and to
destroy the arsenal at Rome, Ga
Hardly had the Federal cavalrymen
emerged from his supports when Cen
Forrest. prepared 10 destroy or capture
him, was close at his heels. The moment
Streight felt the first stroke of Forrest s
hand, he realized that a tireless, skilled
foe was on his track, and for 90 hours
never by day or night, was the Federal
column at rest.
Like some iusatiate monster. the Con-
federate general follows the Federal col
umn, and whenever and wherever found
there was a vigilant and aggressive at
tack. In i64 miles he fought eight battles
by day and three by night and In two
of the latter, where artillery was drawn
by his men to within 100 feet of the enc
my's line the only guide or light was the
fash of rifles and the blaze of cannons.
"Streight was himself man of nerve
and resources. Skilfully arranged am
buscades, fierce charges and stubborn re-
sistence met Forrest, and in a fair pro-
portion of the conflicts, the Federals held
their own, but they greatly outDumbered
the men of the Gray
THE fierce onslaught of Forrest, his i'm
petuous attack, his unyielding tenacity
and fiery assaults, combined with his
swift and rapid movements, were enough
to paralyze the stoutest heart and make
the bravest soul question the outcome.
Like a fierce and tireiess bloodhound fol-
lowing his prey this wizard of the sad
die pursued the hard marching Federals
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