The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1901-11-23
SURVIVOR OF GROUP
OF GREAT FIGHTERS.
[FRoM THE PARIS MERCURY

s opera house last Thursday evening to an audience sucb 80 p.rh,
orroe county can aore furnish. Coming Is he did o. tho I.,
4 of the group OF great lighters who led and directed the armies ot
nederacy from Bulls Run to APpomattox, his visit had a significance.
cary tenderness OF meaning, from which no fault Of s,vle ~ I.oh .
IRE subtle qualities of oratory could detract. His audience for the
crt was OF a generation that has come on since the cur,aip rorod
In the last act of the nations tragedy, yet they hung with attentive
on every word of the great epic, looking on its narrator, a slender
nd sOderly man, as The last connecting link betweeu them and the
when the races heroism received its highest demonstration and the
Uorous but the darkest page in the republics history as WRITER
A.se IN impassioned phrase, he seemed to address himself nIesdirg
"a lust verdict OF pos'erny and declaring n a final burst "that every
Bra soldier who fell in the battle, with his white face turned to
was a martyr to his conception of right" In the audience was
lied remnant of gray haired men who had followed the dream of the
&deracy to its observation-disclosures who had followed Pickett up the
hill a Gettysburg, Others who had ridden behind Stewart and
oUn, and still others who had staked flesh and bone against fire
heel at Franklin or followed Price into a baptism of blood at Helena.
those who have known that strange and never.ceadng brotherhood
&re can appreciate the love with which lhese looked upon the
Dr. aged, but erect man, with a saber scar across bis face, who reclted
bouent word the story of their valor. To them he was at once the
rnaton of the battle spirit and the comforting preservation and
aIou for shattered hopes and a lost cause. They wept and laughed
aely as he told the old, old story, as he called them "boys" and
tred over the past.
ohn B. Gordon comes from a race of men VIII were equally at home
burt or emp. He is a typical cavalier, and The quaint old chivalry
i ante.belum day southern gentlemen is still with him, 1t would sit
hardly upon the man of today, but it becomes and adds to the graces
u of the Gordon type. His references to 'rbr ladies were frequent
pleasing, aud they were always couched in tones that spoke a lofty
"a Wiiuuo lcopNS'' Iho vas tPCOhhhg tuu !" us tuOHl vi MS WIG.
talures were those of an arIstocrat, a genuine aristocrat with genera
i of gentle blood behind him. His voice showed but little of The
&oraIon of age anil the rch vowels of a southern dialect LEM. it a
bmg and exquisite charm. His eloquence was of the Aorid, old
spned kind that loves to impress the stars aud natures varied aspect
4 rich metaphor-pleasng from its very rarhy-and his bumor as rich
rare as ever fell from human lips, broad, grim and good. He arose to
best in his tribute to Stonewall Jackson and his apotheosls of Lee in
last dreAry days at Appomattox, when the great commander.in-chief
4 by the hardest, restrained from throwing himself, at the head Of
IONS troops, into the breach made by Eiancocks columns in the
II tt.l na Tkn Nab. rofaranoa tnh hue on nrt Il, Ia lpt oh
i victorious charge of the war, was as modest as The heroic feat would
u.s. General, =" he said, 'you must 60 10 The rear No man can lead
men, Then came shouts from the men, "Lee to the rear!" and TIE
Nye of how the COnfederacy died with u shout of triumph on is lips,
@n men, ragged and starving, sweeping Hancock from his position.
Il Gordon finished IN a beautiful tribute 10 Grant and II final periorauon
Doe "od flag" closed his lecture. And 1t was here he displayed his
s. sc powers most crediably. Nothing could have been more pathetic
his description OF the Confederate soldiers hiding their talered battle
drds and nothing more inspiring or touching than his action IN
hing to The back of the stage, picking up the folds of the common flag
n telling why southern men should love it. This because southern valor
made and defended it, he said, and because southern craftsmanship
/ added all but a few of the stars to its blue field.
Here are some OF the stories Gen. Gordon told during hs lecture:
At Gettysburg the sun of he Confederacy passed lis zenith and went
b. to rise no more, but the confidence of the army in Lee remained
shaken. Aside from stragetcaI causes, we had two reasons for crossing
h into Pennsylvania. One was social reciprocity and the other because
we're hungry-mighty hungry. The Yanks had been over 10 see us
fHal times and we owed them a visit. Pennsylvania fat fields, with
Il The Potomac between, spread out before our eyes as a veTTtable
Haan-and we crossed. We went prepared to stay all summer, but the
option accorded us was of such a nature that we packed up ana got out
fast as we C ud. The region around Gettysburg was Inhabited by
Bat is commonly known as "Pennsylvania Dutch an unwarlike and
f@l people, with big red barns and horses almost as big. In the course
events some of these horses found their way into the Confederate camp
ID by some strange process, of which was of course ignorant a hne
Pre- was htched in the rear of my tent. Next day her owner, a fat little
kmau, came to claim her. He wanted to know 'what for l had taken
Il mare and | tried TO explain by stating that it was an act OF RECIPROCITY
\ similar reprisals made by the Yankees in Virginia Inns seemeu
Ashcory enough to me-, but didOt satisfy my visitor. l then ohereu
|m a fabulous sum in Confederate money. Strangely enough 10 refused
bs also. Finally, IN despair, wrote him out an order on freSldenl
lnnham Lincoln, and he was ABOUT to retire satisfied when the
Fortunate idea struck him-slOwly-that as a Confederate omcer NY
Fdr was hardly liable to be honored by tn" President. 'Shi'eT"' nc
hd, his face taking on an expression of sincere SORROW 81 nal pee'
BARRED to tree vifes, uud would not gif dot mare for Al o'e oom""S
Ad let him have her. This valuation of woman, however, a ho
general throughout the north. s,ergr
Talking of Confederate money and horses, reminds me oi "o'"e'
'Oy. War Is dreadful. but the humorous incidents were a"ays P'es'"-
/ big cavaryman O n, fine a mare as ever saw-she must nave oeeh o'
your Missouri mares-was cantern: along by my quarters u o"'
beard the following conversation between him and u private OF my com
band:
"ley, Johnny, what'n you take Tor IN ma'e'
"DOn't want to sell her Reb."
am give you s., 1000 in Con(ed money for her
"What! sell that mare for IS, 600! You are d-n FOOL man. Jus
PNd a thousand dollars to have her cnrr~d.'
Lees army was pious. We frequently held prayer "ce''"s'
one meeting at which both officers and men were present NoA
70 me was a tall. gaunt North Carolina private. lie W a o."