The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-05-18

w. j. Hardee is highly spoken of, for
then and there he met Miss Mary
Lewis of that place, who later on be-
came his wife. Gen. John S. Bowen
regiment (First MissourD was given
a very eulogistic tribute by the Pres
ident, who referred in tender words to
the death of Gen. Bowen, who was a
Savannah West Pointer and ex-army
officer The sketch also states that
Rev. Dr.. John w. Beckwith Gather of
+ Mrs. Col. A., r. .Lawton of Savannah)
with his lovely wife and children was
received by Mrs. w. G.. VIM, and re-
manned two years with her, during
which time he had charge of Trinity
Church." Bishop Beckwith often had
in his congregations Gen. Polk. Gen.
Hardee, President Davis, Gen. Custis
Lee, Gen. Johnston, Gen. Cockrell,
Gen. Moore, Gen. Pettus, Gen. Writ
Adams and the refugee families of
many eminent men of the Confederacy.
The congregations were worthy of the
eloquence and culture of the distin-
guished rector, whose memory, as that
of one my dear old friends, / shall ever
keep green in my heart.
1 have in my collection the pictures
of the first two white children born
in what is now the city of Chicago.
One was born in old Fort Dearborn,
and the other at the Post Traders
Home. One is Mrs. Nelly Kinzie Cor
don, born June is, 1885, in "Cobweb
Castle" and now the beloved and hon
ored wife of Gen. William w. Gordon
of Savannah Ga; and the other, born
the same year in Fort Deaborn, is Mrs.
Georgiette Bailey Lahman, a. soldiers
widow, now living with her sister, Mrs.
Emma Baxley Lemon, at Guthrie Gen.
ter, Iowa. Mrs. Gordons father was
the Post Trader at Fort Dearborn and
a man of fearless patriotism and rec
ognized influence in that frontier coun-
try so full of perils and privations in
those early days. Mrs. Lahmans
father was Capt. Joseph M Baxley. u.
S. A., of Maryland, who went to Fort
Dearborn in 1880 as a first lieutenant
of the Fifth Infantry, became cap
tain three years later, but resigned in
1886 and died the next year. Soon af-
ter taking command he married a
wealthy Baltimore lady, and Geor-
giette was born in 1885, at the fort, and
Nelly Kinzie was born the same year
The famous Fort Dearborn massacre
occurred on Aug. 10, 1872. Gen An
thony Wayne. U. s. A., once a citizen
of Georgia, secured the land on which
the fort was built and where the old
French fort Miami stood in 1917.
The people realize how many years of
war and turmoil and hardships the SOL
diers and early settlers about Chicago
passed through before peace became a
reality, and happy homes and business
enterprises took the place of wigwam
and battle grounds. When Georgiette
Baxley and Nelly Kinzie were born, in
1885, there were very few white set
tiers in all that region of country. The
Indian tribes had been and still were
warlike and bloodthirsty, and Post
Trader John Kinzie, who was a man
Of dauntless courage and great inf1u-
ence, did much to assist the army off,
GERS at the fort in keeping Black Par
fridge and Winnemeg and other agrees
sive Wisconsin and Illinois chiefs in
friendly mood. Alas! How few of our
people, when they visit Detroit and
Chicago and Minneapolis and st. Paul,
and other great cities of the West, give
a moments thought to the brave men
and noble women who were the pion-
GERS in opening up and settling our then
perilous frontier territory. The good
old Army Mothers" of those days of
danger and hardships deserve a grand
monument. Sidney Herbert.