The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-08-07
WAR STORIES.
w Whee1ers Cavalry Last Confederate Troops
With President Davis
atlanta Jo,t,p.a7.

Young, himself gallant follower OF
the peerless John H. Morgan. In
making comparison of the achieve.
ments Of the cavalry Of the Armies OF
Tennessee and Virginia, Forrest and
Morgan are prominently mcntio ned
and Wheeler only incidentally. Private
w. G. Dodson, Of this city, ever on
the alert where his old command is
concerned, writes the following we'll
timed rcjoindcr for publication in The
Lost Cause, and which we are permit
ted io print iii advance. I. contains
some matters Of history not generally
known, and will be read with interest
by all xConfcderates, and Whcclcr's &
cavalry especially.
His rejoindcr is as follows:
[ have just read the splendid address
Of Col. Bennett H. Young at the open
ing of the reunion at Memphis. In
making comparison of the achieve
mcnts Of the Army Of Tennessee with
that Of the Army of Northern Virgin
la, he has done something | have for
years wished to see done, and no one
could have done it better, as his ad
dress is admirable in temper, conser-
vative in tone and eminently patriotic
in sentiment. AS he truly states, the
valor displayed by Southern arms
challenged the admiration Of the
world, and the record is the heritar
of ull 'Confederates alike, no matter 10
what army they belonged, and in call
ing attention to what was done by the
soldiers Of the West he dctracts moth
ing from those of the East, but SIM
ply adds to the glorious legacy be-
queathcd by the men Of 81 to '65 to
their children and ohildren's children
for all time.
lam not one who insists that every
man who served in the Confederate
army was Of necessity hero, but the
men who followed the failing fortunes
of our army from Kentucky to the
Carolinas passing and repassing, as
many Of them did, almost literally by
the doors Of their homcs-who with
never leader who commanded their
entire confidence, yet who fought al
most to annihilation and remained
faithful to the cnd-I wish to 60 on
record us saying that they had In
them the stuff OF which heroes are
made.
wish, too, to say that endorse all
that Comradc Young says of Forrest,
Morgan and Wheeler, though might
change the order in which he mentions
them, in my estimate of the value
they we're to the Confoderacy. I
might even go farther and make COM
parison Of the different conditions uu-
der which our cavalry leaders of the
Western army earned their well de-
served regulations, and emphasize the
advantage possessed by an officer with
an Independent command, free to ad-
vance or retres: at will and to select
his OWE tine and place for fgnting,
over another attached to and forming
a part Of o large army and that army
almost continually in retreat; forced
often to fight when defeat was inevita.
BILE; forced to protect front and TANKS
Of his army with picket lines some
times nearly hundred miles in ex-
tent; with no base of supplies, and no
time or place 70 rest or recruit either
men or horses. But / will suggest
this comparison in the same conserve
tive spirit which Colonel Young dis
plays in discussing the armies of Ten
nessee and Northern Virginia, and
without any desire to detract from the
fame Of Forrest and Morgan for whom
Ihave the most profound admira-
tion.
This address must have given great
pleasure to the survivors of the Wes-
tern army, and to the cavalry especial
ly, though to the men who rode with
Wheeler the pleasure was not unmixed
with disappointment that their SER
vices to the common cause were not
considered worthy Of special mention.
Surely this omission could not have
been for lack Of material, for is there
not official record of the masterly man
ner in which they covered Bragg's re-
treat out Of Kentucky, in which they
were engaged twenty-six times before
the pursuit was abandoned at Rock
Castle; their grand raids around Rose.
Grams army during the battle Of Muir
freesboro, which 80 crippled the Fed
erai commanders resources that he
was not in condition to resume his ad-
vance for four months; their participa-