The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-13

many who have read the article OF this
one OF the most distinguished graduates
of West Point recalled the fact that this
General Foster, who is a better soldier
than T. TO use General Gibbons words, is
our Gen. Sandy Foster?
SO near to Appomattox day. even If one
Of Indianas esteemed citizens were not q
conspicuous figure in one of the most nota-
BILE events in the worlds history, it were
we'll worth recalling. The remnant of
General Lees army. almost surrounded. es-
capped from Farmville at O'Clock Saturday
morning, April s. 1t had the direct and
shorter roads. At daylight the Army of
the James was started TO outmarch Lee
on longer roads running in the same direc-
ton. BY the route it marched the Army
OF the James OF 10000 men covered / irty-
seven miles between the hours of o'clock
Saturday morning and near midnight,
when it dropped, exhausted. in its tracks.
It was this army that was TO move at 8
o'clock the next morning. Is it surprising
that most Of it oversight? Is it not rather
remarkable that one division commander
did not sleep, but reused 1900 WORKOUT
and foot-sore men and marched them,
breakfastless, to the succor Of Sheridan?
1t was more than fortunate that General
Foster old not sleep. for. as his division
was on the way. a staff officer of General
Sheridan galloped down the road with an
urgent request TO hasten forward. 1t was
not a long distance, and General Foster
soon reported to the anxious Sheridan.
whose greeting was emphatic. Lees infan-
try was driving in Sheridan's thin cur
tain of cavalry, when Foster deployed his
division, checking the Confederate advance
until the remainder of the Army of the
James came up. The rest of the story Of
that Sunday morning is told in the larger
histories. Lees veterans saw the Army
of the James across their path, and, know
ing that further fighting was useless, sur
rendered. Here one may ask: If General
Foster had slept that Sunday morning,
as did others, what might have been?
Lees army might have escaped to Lynch
burg and the mountains and its surrender
might have taken place weeks later, after a
great sacrifice of life, and some other ham,
let than Appomattox would have been
raised from a local obscurity to a perma-
nent place in the worlds history.
The foregoing is not story told by Gen
eral Foster years after the war and now
recalled by the article of his dead COM
mander; it is history and fact that can be
| verified by reputable living witnesses. The
| veteran who did the best work in the war,
! whether officer or enlisted man, does not
| proclaim his valor on street corners or at
camp-fires. General Foster is no excep-
| ton. Such faithful service to a country
is not an asset to be put upon the market
nor can its value be measured in dollars.
In these years, when money counts for so
much and the dollar estimate is placed
| upon men as well as mines and stocks, it is
profitable to emphasize the fact that men
! can possess in character and deeds that for
which no wealth of lands and stocks can
| be exchanged, and compared with which.
| in the estimate Of the mass Of mankind,
mere material wealth has no value. The
| best public service which men can render
| their country and kind is not in devoting
/ money to schools and libraries, but the
| high performance of duty in civil as well
as in military life.