The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-11
SIDNEY HERBERT'S LETTER.
IMPORTANT CHANGES MADE IN OUR
FLAG.

HI
Col. EstiIls Interest-The Pritch-
ard Bill for "A Monument to Gen.
Greene-A Commission Suggested
TO Find Out What Gen. Greene's
Real Name Was-TwO Errors Com
nected With the Surrender of Gen.
Robert E. Lees Army Which Are
Beyond the Ordinary Means of
Correction-The First Negro APP
pointed Chaplain in the United
states Army-SOme other Matters
of Special Interest.
Pine Crest Villa, Maitland, Fla, May
10.-Having been very ill for the past
ten days my correspondence has been
badly Interrupted, and parties who
have written me must be patient in
their waiting. Brig. Gen. w.
H. Jewell of Orlando, Fla, in command
of the Third Brigade, u. C. ", has
been put forward for representative in
the legislature. and will prove both an
able and eloquent member of the
House. The Dallas (TeXO
News says James D. Carter of Atlanta
w dS d CdPldlIlg SlAlGCn anu q nail S-cAA
old at close of war, Gen.
Leon Won Zinkin's staff. Perhaps so,
but 1 never heard of such a Confed-
crate general. 1 see constant
reference to Gen. William B. Bates.
This is another error growing out of an
unusual name. Gen. Bate has been
Governor of Tennessee and is now
United States senator, and his name
ought to be sufficiently we'll known to
make such an error of rare, not gen
eral occurrence. But unusual names
always suffer in this respect.
The adding of a new star to "Old
Glory" every time. new state is adj
mitted to the Union, which has become
a frequent thing in our rapidly devel-
oping country, has made constant
Encouragement of the white stars on
the blue field a necessity. The last
official change made by the war and
navy departments puts all the flags,
for all government uses, on the same
basis. There are six rows of stars, the
first row of eight stars, and the sec
ond of seven stars, and so on, ending
at the bottom in a row of seven stars,
thus making forty-five stars for the
present number of states. When a
new state is admitted the new star
cannot be added until the succeeding
Fourth of July. Some recent orator
spoke of our STARS and Stripes" as
the oldest flag because it had not been
changed. This was an error on his
part, as l hope to show in a future
letter. There have been several inn
portant changes in our flag since its
first adoption.
1 see that the old Confederate SOL
diers are organizing for Col. EstilPs
support in his candidacy for Governor
of Georgia That is as it should be;
they ought to stand by an honorable,
competent and worthy comrade who
seeks their support. I knew him as
a brave, patriotic, Jealous Confeder-
ate soldier in the bloody battle of the
first Bull Run, or Manassas, where he
was severely wounded and taken pris
oner. But his courage never quailed,
his patriotism never waVered and his
zeal enabled him to soon make his
escape back into the Confederate lines.
There was no drawer soldier on. that
field, and it was no fault of his that
he was so severely wounded as not
to be able to return to active service
with his command. In war and in
peace he has been true to his old COM
rades and the Cause for which they
fought, and they honor themselves in
giving him a hearty support as can
didate for Governor. How the labor
unions can oppose him is a mystery to
me. 1 have been a newspaper man
off and on for over fifty years, and 1
can unhesitatingly state that l never
saw a better managed printing office
A neater, better behaved class of print
ers than the Morning News Office and
its excellent force, Col. Estill needs no
defense on the labor question, for his
rare success is an unanswerable ar
gument on that point.
1 see that Senator Pritchard of
North Carolina has introduced a bill
for a monument to General Nathaniel
Greene" on the old "Guilford Battle
Ground" Now, somebody ought to
write the senator about that Ma
thanael Greene" coffin plate, that he
may change the Nathaniel to Nathan
ael. But then, how about the Greene.
have it Green as well as later on,
Greene" but Gen. George Washing
ton himself, in his diary, refers to
Gen. Green" The only place l have
ever seen the name Nathaniel
Greene" except in recent issues of the
Morning News, was in National Por-
traits" published in 1885. And even
then, the ANdlHdHdcl DCiiB III luS
printed sketch; Nathaniel Greene" is
printed on the steel engraving, but
the autograph is "Nath Green"
suggest, therefore, that a commission
be appointed to find out what was the
generals real name when christened. |
Was it Nathan, or Nathaniel, or Ma
thanael? And. further. was it Green |
or Greene? Have nine writer's out of |
ten called him 'iel" instead of "ael," |
and FIVE out of ten called him Green"
instead of Greene?" is the question.
The action of the U. c. ", the Sons |
of Veterans and the Southern Con-
federate Memorial Association, at Dali |
las, as to united action in regard to |
decorating soldiers graves, is in line |
with the views 1 have often expressed. |
The Southern Decoration was a sort |
of "moveable feast" arranged to !
suit different states, but under the |
new arrangement 1t becomes an Off |
cially established Memorial Day." on |
June 8, except in Georgia. After al |
lowing the credit of setting apart |
April 26 as Decoration Day" to be |
given Mrs. Mary A. Williams until |
after her death, Columbus now claims |
the honor for another lady of that |
city. and holds on to that date for |
Georgia, as heretofore. This conten-
ton has opened up an investigation |
that to my mind. proves that Column |
bus was not the first city in which |
soldiers graves were decorated after |
the surrender. and there seems to be