The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-04-20

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case take care of itself as it comes up.
Mrs. Garfield, who is an invalid, has a
s. 900 pension and sons and daughters
able to care of her; Mrs. Mckinley,
also an invalid. has an ample fortune;
and Mrs. Harrison will probably get a
$1,000 pension on account of her child
Ex-President Cleveland and wife are
rich and President Roosevelt is able
to take care of himself. Therefore, /
say, let them alone.
have often spoken of careless writ
ing in so-called biographical and his
torical articles. 1t is this carelessness
that makes US question much that is
written about prominent men and i'm
portant events. For example, a bio
ographer of Lieut.. Gen. Leonidas Polk,
c. S. A, says he was a classmate of
Davis. Lee, the two Johnstons and
Magruder, at West Point-not one of
whom was in his class. This class of
1921 was remarkable for the few dis
tinguished officers graduated, the most
noted being Gen! Polk and Gen. G. j.
Rains of the Confederate army, and
Gems. William Maynadier, N. B. Blu
ford and Philip St. George Cooke, of
the Union army. 1t is a singular fact
that all were Southerners by birth, be-
ing, respectively, from North Carolina
=
This biographer states that Gen. Polk
told him that after serving a short
time in the artillery he entered the
CHURCH" Bishop Polk could not have
made any such statement for the
army records show that he did not
serve" a single day in the artillery
to which he was appointed, but re-
signed during his leave of absence from
West Point after graduating. A re-
markable example of name tinkering
is found in Gen. Folks class. One
Stephen w. Moore of Charleston, S. c..
graduated as Spencer M. Westmore
He lived to an advanced age, was a
Mexican war veteran, and suicided at
his. home in New Orleans. His biog-
rapher says his original name was M.
West Moore. Then says his true"
name was Samuel w. West Moore, but
he died and was buried as Samuel NJ.
Westmore.
I am sure that my old friend ex-
Gov. Thomas G.. Jones laughed hearth
ly when he read in a news item that
United States District Judge Thomas
Leopold of Montgomery, Ala, will de-
liver the memorial address at Grants
tomb this year" Judge Jones was a
major on Gen. John B. Gordon's staff
and proved himself every inch a brave
and accomplished Confederate soldier
But when the war closed he was as
brave and intrepid in his efforts to re-
build the Souths shattered fortunes
and reunite the North and the South
He won national fame as we'll as a
handsome silver cup from a Northern
lady, through his first Decoration Day
Address, in which he gave utterance
to patriotic sentiments which thrilled
the Northern heart. Judge Leopold"
Jones will no doubt honor himself, his
state and the South in his memorial
address at Grants tomb. The time has
come in the history of this reunited
people when orators on both sides are
selected without regard to the color
of the uniform worn by them during
the Civil War. We hear Henry Wat
terson eulogize Abraham Lincoln and
the President of Brown University of
Rhode Island, pay tribute to Gen,
Robert Z. Lee, Grand Army posts in
vite Gen. John B. Gordon and Gen.
Joe Wheeler to their lecture platforms
and give them a hearty fellowship.
Homer Bassford has an illustrated
article on The House That Grant
Built in the April 18th issue of the
Saturday Evening Post In the main,
the article is reliable and interesting,
but SEVERAL errors are detected. The
der Grant came back from the Next
can War he left the army and took
up the life of an agriculturalist," is
one. of the errors that needs correction
Cant came back from the Mexican
War in 1S47 and was on duty most of
the time as quartermaster of the
Fourth United States Infantry at Sack
etts Harbor, N. Y, until 1852, when he
was ordered to California. A year later
na xnrea. a,ko -
regiment but resigned from Fort
Humboldt, on July 81, 1854, telling his
comrades that when they came East
they would find him "a well-to-do
farmer" near st. Louis. Another err
ror into which the writer of the sketch
falls, but for which he is not RESPONSE
BILE, is this statement: Judge Andrew
Shores of Clayton, a few miles north
of the Grant place, told a friend not
long ago that he was present at Jeffer-
son Barracks on the morning that Col
Cumming and the young soldier took
leave of each bother. When l saw him
talking to his commander down at the
barracks and when I learned that he
was about to leave the army" etc.
These errors show the careless, even
reckless manner in which magazine
and newspaper articles dealing with
distinguished men and important
events, are thrown off" rather than
prepared" for publication. Now,
Grant never was on duty at Jefferson
Barracks, at st. Louis, except for
about year In 1S43, at which time he
had just graduated from West Point
Judge Shores must have a very vivid
imagination, for there was no Col
Cumming then Grants commander
at Jefferson Barracks, for Grant left
the army out in California, at Fort
Humboldt. The only Col" Cumming
in the United States army was Gen.
Alfred Cumming, c. S. A, of Augusta,
Ga, then second lieutenant of the
Fourth Infantry, on duty out in Texas.
Jefferson Barracks was in 1851. three
years before Brevet Captain Grant re-
signed. The sorrow of Grants COM
mander over his resignation will hard
ly "hold water with old army officers
who knew why he resigned, and that
it was not purely voluntary on his
part He would hardly resign a soft
snap" to enter upon a life of toll and
privation on wooded land given him
by his father-in-law There he cut
logs and built a two-room cabin
then he hauled wood into st. Louis:
tried being a real estate agent in that
city; then went to his father at Gale
ma, ILL.,, where the Civil War found
him. After great deal of trouble
and many scouragements, he was
appointed colonel of a volunteer regi-
ment, but had to borrow money to buy
t,is 1oroa apd T,ic 11roiforrY1 Ia navay.