The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-12

| ana omclal reports. Gen. William j.
Worth, u S. A, suffered in this manner,
| as did Col. Isaac W. Avery. If you want
it l., ten to one it comes out j., and vice
versa. Gen. l. NJ. ST. John, c. S. A,
| was another victim, as was Gen. Isaac NJ.
Trimble. The only remedy seems to be
| in writing out John or James or Isaac or
Isaiah in full as the given names. Too
little care is shown in the recording OF
names even in an official way. Take, for
example, any roster of Confederate Off
GERS, and it will be a surprise to see how
many names are incorrectly given. And
this same carelessness can be found In
our so-called histories. The name of
| Gen. c. w. Field is very often given as
Fields, and Rodes as Rhodes, and Hagan
as Hogan. I have very old army reg
| lister that bears the name of Maj. D.
E. Twigs." Mrs. Leonora Jones Stacy,
wife of Rev. DIR. Stacy of Newman, Ga,
| who was one of the "Old Midway Church"
| congregation, says that the celebrated
| character known in history as Button
| Gwinnett, was really Button Gwinnett.
| In crossing his he accidentally crossed
the l and was heneceforth known by thus
signing the Declaration of independence,
/ as Button, instead of Button.
The son of a Confederate officer In Sa-
vannah, a Mr.. Murray NJ. Stewart, writes
me a very interesting letter about the
survivors Of the Confederate cruiser Ala
| bama He seems to have misunderstood
my reference to Lieut.. Armstrong as be-
! ing for Capt. Bulloch and says the latter
was not the last survivor. According to
Mr.. Stewart. and he appears to be cor
rect, Lieut. Armstrong, now living in
| Halifax, N. S., is not the sole survivor of
| the Alabama's officers. DR.. Francis l..
| Gait was appointed surgeon in the C.
s. N. on April Is, 1861, being early in the
| service, and on August "A, 1862, find that
| he was attached to the Alabama. The
| assistant surgeon, DR.. D. H. Llewelyn,
was drowned in the final engagement of
! the Alabama and Kearsarge. Now. Mr..
| Stewart writes that he visited DR.. Gait
| at UpperVille, Va, at the foot Of the Blue
| Ridge. His home is some nine miles from
| the town, and Mr.. Stewart spent fort
night there some two years ago. In my
| next letter 1 will give some interesting
| Items about the Alabama which he OBJ
| tanned from DR.. Gait. But the doctor does
not appear to be the sole survivor If Mr..
| Stewart Is correct in stating that Mid
shipman Anderson" is alive and a resident
of Savannah. Edwin M. Anderson was
appointed a midshipman in the c. S. N.
on Nov. "a, 1861, and was assigned to the
| Alabama on the same day with Surgeon
Gait. presume this is the Savannah An
| derson to whom Mr.. Stewart refers.
The Youths Companion of May 9 has
| story about Grant and His Old
| Friend''-a Kentucky Confederate soldier,
in which it is stated that President U. S.
Grant offered this old friend who was
Democrat, an office, and said Think it
| over, Sam, till evening. Then come and
| dine with Mrs. Grant and me. If you
want Democratic talk she and her father,
Gen. Dent, will give you all that your
| heart desires 1 promise you Twill not
| break up the reasonable camp" Now,
| this may seem a strange conversation. for
| a Republican President but it is con-
firmed by later conversations of Mrs.
| Grant herself with me and my wife. One
| evening as we were all sitting on the We
randa, l spoke of my connection with
| Gen. Van Vliet and A. T. Stewart in an
| effort to bring Gen. Grant out as "Peo-
| pies Candidate" but the Republicans
| Caught on" to the movement and NOM
| mated him. And yet" said Mrs. Grant
my husband was a Democrat but not
a politician" The Dents were Democrats
and had considerable influence over Gen.
Grant long after he became Republican
| President.
| Under the head of "A Veteran of Three
Wars Answers His Last Tattoo the At
| lanta Journal of Monday announces the
death of Col. Bedney F. Mcdonald, son
of Gov. Charles ]. Mcdonald, at Gaines
| vile, Ga. 1 was just in the act of pre-
pairing Gov. Gambler "a roast" about his
| unwarranted attack on Atlanta for Civ
ing Gen. Sherman a grand reception, etc.
| (Which it never gave), when this an
nouncement met my eye. Col. Mcdonald
was a prominent figure in Gen. Sher-
mans first visit, after the war, to At
| lanta, and was the only man, so far as
know who paid him any marked atten-
II II
of the Georgia State University and
celebrated military school in England, was
appointed second lieutenant of the Third
United States Artihery on May q, 1S47,
and resigned Oct. 81, 1S49, with the brevet
rank of first lieutenant, for gallant and
meritorous conduct at the battle of Hua-
manila.
Gen. Sherman was in Atlanta during
the first ((Kimball's) Cotton Exposition,
and the Mexican War Veterans held a
meeting out at the exposition hall the
day he was there. Gen. Henry r. Jack
son, of Savannah, was, think, the pres
ident, but be that as 1t may, he was the
orator of the occasion. Gen. Sherman,
Gen. Poe, Col. Dayton, and myself sat on
the front seat. In his address, Gen.
| Jackson paid a noble tribute to Gen.
| William Henry Talbot Walker and other
Ccnfederates who did such heroic service
in the Mexican War, and no one applaud
ed his utterances more heartily than Gen.
| Sherman Near the close of the meeting
Col. Mcdonald arose in the audience and
stated that there was present a distin-
guished general OF the United States army
who was a Mexican war veteran, and he
felt sure the old soldiers would be glad
to hear from Gen. Sherman. UP to this
time nobody had taken any notice of him,
and when Gen. jackson invited him to
| speak, the general was very modest in
his remarks.
After the meeting Gen. Sherman told
me that he was very much gratified to
hear Gen. Jackson pay such noble and
deserved tribute TO Walker and other
| heroic Confederates who won fame and
| brevets in Mexico. And he said to me:
Now, Herbert, l want you to see your
friend, Gen. jackson, and beg him to
have his address published in pamphlet
form, for l am sure there are hundreds
of old army officers who would be glad
to have a copy to preserve" The next
day, as his train was leaving the union
depot, Gen. Sherman called out to me from
the rear platform: Herbert, be sure and
see Gen. Jackson about that address"
| Neither at this time, nor during any
other visit that l know of-and 1 was
very intimate with him-did Atlanta or
her people, except ex-Gov. Joseph L.
Brown, pay even decent respect to Gen.