Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-09-15
ATLANTA. GA, Sept. 6, 1902.

ATLANTA, GA, Sept. 6, 1902.
Editor Journal:
have seen a notice of a roster compiled
by Judge Foster. of the North Carolina
troops in the Confederate service. If this
roster is what 1 hear 1t is, each volume Is
worth its weight in gold. There was new
err better. truer and more gallant and
fearless soldiers than the tar heel" boys
of the old North state. None endured
music Of the shot and shell with more
alacrity than they. They are entitled to
all the good that can be said or done for
them. They were a noble representative
of a grand old state and right well did
they perform their part While these
things 1 write of the boys of old North
Carolina are true. say in truth. the
"Goober Grabblers" of Georgia were their
equal in all things that constitute soldier
or a good, deserving son of a great state
And yet Georgia has no compiled record Of
her sons. save that of a pension roll.
They will not all appear on that roll.
Many of the bravest and best lie buried
in distant states. Many of like character
living and dead will not appear there.
Are they to be forgotten?
Reader. do you know, or even thought Of
it-Georgia's noble sons, under the leader
ship Of gallant Barlow, opened the first
great ball game at Manassas? So well did
they do their part with others, nations Of
the earth stood amazed
Was it not Georgia's sons, under the
leadership of Tige Anderson and General
Toombs, who refused to permit General
Hooker at Sharpsburg to unite his forces
with General Mcclellan and crush Gen
eral Lee?
In the Battle Of the Wilderness, didn't
Old Tige tree them and Old Rock, hearing
his bay, rush in and together press them
so hard they set fire to the woods and
leaves, building a sea of fire to prevent
capture or a total humiliation?
How stood Georgia's sons at Fredericks-
burg commanded by the gallant Tom
Cobb? Did they give up one inch Of
ground. and after the battle was not the
sight Of dead and dying sickening to look
at?
We read and hear much OF Picket's
charge at Gettysburg. The government
has seen fit to make park of the battle
field. Lines are drawn and slabs placed
to mark the place where each command
stood and how they advanced. If these
slabs are worth anything to the future
historian-Georgia's sons will not be for
got. Far to the front of all and on the
federal lines we find slab with this in
scription on It: THE charge of the Srd
Georgia. the bravest and best regiment in
the Confederacy, was so terrific and Sc
we're against the 59th New York stationed
here, that out of 596 men carried into ac-
ton, they New York; lost 1923 killed and
2l3 wounded. Two other New York regi-
ments were required to dislodge them,
with a severe loss, before they( 3rd Geor-
gia) gave back, and even then they retired
with their faces to their foes and contin-
ued firing as they retreated. One month
later these Georgians Wrights brigade,
500 strong, faced and fought General
French's corps, 1900. killing and wound
ing five times their number. and as Gen
eral French afterward, said came near
whipping his command"
This record could be continued, but why
-Georgians ever did their duty. When at
the surrender at Appomattox of one of the
most gallant and victorious armies the
world ever saw, Georgia's sons, under the
leadership of our gallant Gordon, Evans
and others, were found driving their foe
back, when word came to them to cease
firing, the immortal Lee had surrendered.
What these old guards did on the field of
battle should place them far beyond any
commercial value. Is this all that is to
be said Of them? Returning to their state
and loved ones to find their property all
gone, homes destroyed, loved ones crying
for the comforts of life-those they had
cared for IN infancy and administered to
so tenderly in sickness, had forgotten
these things and were running riot over
the state under the leadership of the most
God-forsaken demons the world ever saw.
Pen cannot picture the scene-the mind,
except to those who were eye witnesses,
cannot conceive IT. We had fought in the
open, gallant brave and daring men-here
we had the sneaking, snarling, craven,
beastly, tiger hearted things they called
man. officer. There was no more the IN
stincts of man in one of these things than
you would find in an enraged tiger. To
Il h
jected one to Incarceration, assassination,
murder Rule, ruin and robbery was their
hourly thought. They even visited the
home OF the dead in search of plumber.
The Freedman's Bureau, one of the most
damnable blots on the American history,
was their Sgillalah. / am sorry to say 1t,
but il is true, there were very many men
wearing the uniform of Federal soldiers,
Joined the gang. Some there were who had
faced us on the field Of battle, would not
and did not countenance such doings.
When they could they gave us their as
sistance. The gang was so powerful what
these did for us had to be done in hidden
manner.
How often. oh, how often did the pray
ers of the old guard ascend to high hea-
ven for a Moses to lead them. He, yes
they came. Word was passed down the
line for the old guard once more to come
TO the front. The ship of state must be
saved. Our homes and dear ones must be
protected. How eagerly they obeyed the
call. There was heard no booming of
cannon, nor the rattle of musketry; ST.
lently they stood and silently did their
work. They had learned all flank move
ments, how to play them and how to meet
them. Had they not taught the nations
of the earth a new tactics-how II is pos
sible for a small body OF men to meet and
put to flight a much larger one? Had they
not done il too often TO be unequal to the
task then?
Some of the gang that had been our mas
tiers heard the tramp of the old guard
and hastily departed to other fields. Some
who heard and needed not, whose craws