St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-09-13

ferrvman was away and we had to
wait an hour for him to come BACK.
So it was dark when we reached Eli
horton. The courthouse was lighted
IN and seemed full of people, ana tne
bows we're rapping aud calling Tor
ARP" "Bill Arp The preacher un-
loaded me near by, and tolo me 10
90 upstairs and open the ball "naie ne
went home to put up his horse. AZ
I hurried in the door the doorkeeper
stopped me and said: "Hold on, my
friend. YOU haven't paid" 1modestlY
told him that I was the speaker.
"Oh. yes," said he, maybe you arc
and maybe you amt. Several otne0
men have tried to pass on that scneo-
ule. reckon you had better pay.
So I paid a half dollar to 60 IN and
hear myself talk, but l got half OF 1t
hack when we divided proceeds.
Now. don't know that Nancy could
read or write, but she could shoot,
and in war times that is better. At
any rate Georgians are proud OF her
and her great-grandson, Tom Lee
has never furnished the name or fame
of the family. When John Randolph
boasted of his ancestral blood, Iris
tam Burgess, of Rhode Island, his Bit
ter enemy, rose up to say that gooo
conduct in posterity was OF more con-
sequence than good blood in ances-
tors. II have great respect" said
he, ''for the gentleman's English blood
and his Indian blood, but he should
remember that he is removed from
them by several generations, and
that only one-sixty-fourth part OF
Lord Rolfe or Pocahontas blood
flows in his veins. That is not much
to boast of. The rest is widely scat
tered, diluted and degenerated." Bur-
CESS and Randolph had many spats
like that, but they never came to
blows.
There never was time in the south-
land when so much eager interest was
manifested in tracing up ancestry
lineage. receive letters almost daily
from good people, from Caroline to
Texas, asking for help to trace up and
prove their claim to join the Sons or
Daughters of the Revolution or to
service of their father or grandfather
in the civil war of 10 years ago.
There is one other line that has
been shamefully neglected. From first
to last there were near 10000 Georgis
soldiers in the confederate army, and
yet there is NO record OF them
neither in the counties nor the state
nor at Washington. 1 do not suppose
there are ten in 100 of these soldiers
whose children or grandchildren or
near relatives can prove themselves.
Col. Avery did the best he could to
make up q roll of each regiment and
name the officers and the captains OF
the companies, but there is no roll Of
the men nor q record Of who was
killed. Some companies changed their
captains from three to eight times, but
what became Of those who dropped
out? Col. Avery says: ''The follow
ing list is painfully imperfect. It was
taken from the confederate war rec
ords at Washington, D. c., and from
the meager documents in the Georgia
archives and such personal informat-
ion as could be had. The war depart
ment of the confederacy was most
loosely run. Regimental muster rolls
were mingled and confused; the con-
stantly occurring changes were not
noted"
Now, ask any old soldier, Can you
prove your service by any undoubted
evidence? Is there any record that
you can go to? Two years ago Gov.
Gambler alluded to this shameful neg
lect in his message and urged the ap-
pointment of some one to gather up
and make record Of these Georgia
soldiers before the witnesses were all
dead, but nothing was done. Why
do not the veterans demand it? It
would cost but ittle-perhaps tho
salary Of a good man for year. The
children and grandchildren Of these
soldiers are interested and have right
to demand the preservation and record
of their fathers or grandchildren hon
orable service. Why not? Will there
be enough veterans or patriotism in
the next legislature to see to this and
have established muster roll-some
kind of a roll that the humblest citizen
can point to as the hall of fame?
BILL ARP. /