The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-04
GEN. LAFAYETTE McLAws.

Appropriateness of n Monument to
His Memory by Savannah.
With great appropriateness Savan-
nah has erected a monument to Maj
Gen. Lafayette McLaws. He was this
city's defender; was chosen by his COM
rades the first president of their Con-
federate Survivors Association and re-
manned their honorary president for
life. This was his home, and it was
here his life passed away and his per-
sonal presence was exchanged into an
abiding memory. The hours necessary
to tell the story of his devotion to the
state are not now at my command. The
outlines of his personal character and
history are alone permissible now; but
they suffice to portray him as a peer of
the realm in the Republic of Fame.
He had the training of the military
academy to direct the bent of his mind
toward the military profession. From
West Point he was ordered to the
frontier; then through the war with
Mexico, at Corpus Christi, Fort Brown,
Monterey and Vera Cruz next on duty
in the then new Pacific possessions
and Western wilds, rising from his
cadetship by successive steps until pro-
NOTED captain in 1861 in the regular
army of the United States. Gen Nc
Laws in this period of life. as well as
by his subsequent career, will pre-
sent to our countrymen the thorough
bred, well trained. steady, reliable mil
itary leader, reared under democratic
institutions, who respects the civil au-
thority and is competent to safely COM
mand men who are armed to defend
the rights of free people.
Chose the South's Cause
He had reached his rank in the Unit
ed States army by a service of twenty
years, which brought him to the ma
tured vigor of forty years in 1861, and
he had then an assured prospect of
steady promotion in the military serv-
ice of a country to whose glory he had
dedicated himself. 1t was at this ele
walton that there came to him the Sc
rious question which men of his time
had 10 face. Shall he give up his
state, his people and his principles or
will he sacrifice his military prospects
of promotion? Without hesitation he
followed the example of Moses, the
hero of Israel, who chose to suffer af-
Fiction with his people rather than to
have the riches and crown of Egypt.
The severe trial through which the Of
licers of the United States army and
| navy from the Southern states passed
in changing their relationship to that
army and navy and the flag which
| foated over both merits the public
recognition of their services as a spec
| ial feature in their military heroism.
! Many of them were away from their
| states, far from the influences of the
! stirring local enthusiasm prevailing
| through the South and, therefore, their
conclusions were reached in the cool
| contemplation of duty, and their de-
| cisions were made under the power of
| the same heroic spirit that gave Wash
| ington to lead the armies of the Rev
olution. It wa sthis spirit that caused
numerous Southern officers in the
army and navy to resign their COM
missions and gave us the ablest Off
GERS of the federal army. Albert Sid
ney tombstone, Joseph E. tombstone. A.
p. Hill, Ewell, Hardee Stephen D. Lee,
Wheeler Kirby Smith, Hood, Long
street Buchanan, Semmes, and above,
all, Robert f. Lee. 1t was this same
sense of duty that gave to the South
the services and the fame of Lafayette
McLaws.
Hero of Many Battles.
/ would love to trace his services in
the first days of the war, in the York
town and Peninsula fighting where he
won special commentator. l would
follow him over ground familiar to
myself and see him again on the burn