The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1901-09-13


sign Brown had asked counael 81 no
one, and with this cool prevarica-
ton the whole subject is dismissed
There is no allusion to the tolling of
funeral bells on the day of his exc
cution. There is no mention of spe-
cial services of churches draped in
mourning, or of flags hanging at
half-mast. And yet these things
we're so. And today he stands in
apotheosis the divinity of a new
sect, with an aureole about his brow.
and legend which declares that
his mode of death has made the gal
lows as sacred as the cross. And
his name and fame have united to
inspire, if not our national anthem.
at least the battle song of the repub-
lie s couquering armies.
The instincts of the South were
right! In the incursion of this
tough old marauder, half highway
man and half evangel, we bad pre-
monition of other hordes, more num-
eroas, yet not more scrupulous,
who, like him, were to ravage the
land with zeal quickened by ra-
pacity, with rapacity sanctified by
zeal.
l should like to call your attention
to the cold and formal terms which
are used in relating Federal disas-
ters, and to contrast them with the
effusion and glow and tumult which
depict their victories.
The Army of the Potomac, this
'teachable" history informs us, was
Checked" at fredericksburg and
again checked" at Chancellors-
vile. Which is very true. 1t is
likewise true that the army of Bona
parte was checked" at Waterloo
But no French patriot, not even
Victor Hugo, ever thought of put
ting it in that way. Now, turn the
page, and see Federal victory. We.
,are carried at once into a new at
mosphere-an atmosphere OF the
vivid, the picturesque, the dra-
matte Behold Sheridan-the illus
trious, and the illustrated-he of
the local black steed, " spurninq
the dull earth beneath him, Gov
cred with foam, his nostrils blown
wide open, his tail in conYulsions,
"dashing to the new front, and
sending the 'plundering Confeder-
ates whirling up the Valley of the
Shenandoah. "
On the next page (265) in a foot
note there is brief reference to
one of our cavalry commanders,
Gen. Forrest 1t is the only men
tion that this "teachable" history
makes of that remarkable man, and
every word is to his disparagement
And yet in all quarters of the globe,
wherever the art of war is studied,
the career of Forrest has been a
marvel and a delight. A wander
ing star in the military armament,
his magnitude has not yet been
measured, nor his orbit traced, but
his dazzling coruscations have be-
wildered the strategiStS of all chimes
and tribes. from Delhi to Kamschat-
ka, from Sierra Leone to the Horse
Guards. What would have been dis
aster and black ruin to other COM
manders was to him but a mild ex-
hilaration. Hemmed in by tenfold
numbers; we catch again his CHEEKY
words:
''Now, men; we've got 'em just
right They re ali around us, and
whichever way we go we shall mix
up with 'em!"
Truly, it might be said of him.
"Most master of himself and least en-
numbered
When most beset, surrounded and out
numbered. -
At First Manassas Dull RUM we
have the astounding information
that "the Confederates were driven
from the field, but were subse-
quently rallied. Then a shell burst
among the transfers wagons, a
caisson was upset, and Mcdowell s
men fled, )" etc. This trick of state
ment runs all through the book.
Mcdowell, it is true, was one Of the
nine generals who, in succession,
commanded the Army of the Poto-
mac, but we have no right to sup
pose that all school children are ia
miliar with that fact
The author is definite when he
describes the battle of Nashville.
He does not say that the army of
Gen. Hood was checked But he
says that Gen. Thomas 'tdrove the
Confederate forces out of their in
trenchments into headlong fight"
that 'the Union cavalry Numbered
upon their heels with remorseless
energy" and that 1.-THE entire Con-
federate army was dissolved into a
rabble of demoralized fugitives, :"
only 1.-THE rear guard" offering any
effective resistance. But he does
not tell you that that dauntless rear
sguard, which baffled and democrat
lied and outfought ten times its own
numbers, was commanded by Gen.
Forrest.
On the fatal third day of Gettys-
burg this author is equally definite.
He does not simply say that Lee s
army was checked. " But he goes
into details. He depicts it in all
the glory of its strength, so that be
may show how magnificently his
friends destroyed it. ''Out of the
woods swept the Confederate double
battle line over a mile long"
"a thrill of admiration ran along
the Union ranks as silently and with
disciplined steadiness that magnifi-
cent column of Is, 900 men moved up
the slope. And then we are told
how, when it met its masters,
whole companies rushed as pris-
oners into the Union lines, while
the rest fled, panicstricken, from
the field.
Myself a prisoner, I saw that
charge. I saw Pickett's heroes
cheering on the crest OF the works
which they had won. Whole COM
panies did not rush as prisoners
into the Union lines, nor did the
fragments of that devoted band say
pAnic-stricken from the field. It
isia liel That is bitter word, but
it Is an honest one. It is cold,
snlooth, smiling, deliberate Yankee
lie, and he who coined it will have
his anrfinn in the hnrnir,cr laka hic