The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-30
SIDNEY HERBERT'S LETTER.
SOME FACTS IN THE CAREER OF
CAPT. GREENE.

Belongs to the Several States-A
Threndbare Assertion of a MnGa-
zine COrrected-The Approaching
Marriage of Lieut.. Stanford Moses
to Miss Agnes Spencer-Why the
Finding of Court Martial Was Set
Aside-SOIne Things which the
Official Register of West Point
ShOws-COmmcn on the Election
of Gen. Black to Be Commander
tn-Chief of the Grand Army of the
RepubIic-Other Matters of Inter-
est.
Pine Crest Villa, Maitland, Fla, Aug
81 fear that in my haste wrote in
my letter of Aug. 16, the name of
'Wickersham" instead of "Wickham."
He was a Confederate congressman
from old Virginia and a Confederate
| general, but after the war became n
! Republican. His name is printed IN
semi-official publications as William
| c. Wickham," but it should be Will
liams." I have his signature to an
army document written WINS. c.
Wickham." Williams Rutherford
Johns Hopkins and Phillips Brooks are
unusual names that printers often
| blunder over. 4" Rev. Casper s.
Wright of the Broadway Methodist
Church in Augusta, Ca. recently
preached sermon to the United Con-
federate Veteran camp, in which he
said that mo name suits them so we'll
as Old Rebels" And yet there are
many very sensible Confederate Vet
Grams who object to that name from
any quarter.
The New York Herald has a lengthy
article on the Greene-Gaynor and Car
! ter case, largely devoted to Greene and
Gaynor in Quebec. 1t refers to Capt.
| Benz. j. Greene, formerly of Savannah,
| now of Quebec" and adds: "Mr. or
rather Capt. Greene, for he was an Off
Ger in the United States Army, and
was graduated first in his class at
! West Point some forty years ago. He
was born in Connecticut and went TO
Bowdoin College in Maine before he
entered West Point" There are sew
eral errors in this brief statement. His
name is not B. ]. G., but Benz. Dwight
Greene. He did not graduate QS6sl
first in his class at West Point but
was No. A. He was born in Massa-
chusetts and not Connecticut, but was
appointed to the Military AGA denny
from Maine, perhaps as a student at
Bowdoin College. He entered the En-
! gineer Corps of the U. S. A., in 1866
| as a second lieutenant and resigned
some years ago as a captain in the
corps.
The Jacksonville (Fla) Metropolis
publishes a sketch of Lieut.. Gen Mel
son A. Miles, U. S. A., in which it is
stated that he married 1.-The daughter
of Gen. w. T. Sherman" This is an
error as he married a daughter of
Judge Charles Sherman of Ohio broth
er of Gen. and Senator Sherman, and a
sister to the wife of Senator and Sec
| rotary of War Don Cameron. This
gave him the powerful influence at
Washington of three distinguished fam
| lilies 1 have searched the San Fran
| cisco papers in vain to discover the
boom" for Gen. Miles as commander
! in-chief of the Grand Army of the Re
public. The boom" appears to have
been in his private car, and was not
unloaded at San Francisco. But the
| general did unload something he sell
dom displays, cheerful smile, a gra-
cious greeting and cordial handshake
| to the old soldiers. Even his friends
| were surprised at the change in his
usually cold and reserved manners.
1t is very clear there is "bee in his
! bonnet" but whether it is a presiden-
tial or vice presidential one, or the
commanders in chiefship of the G. A. R.
or governorship of Massachusetts,, re-
mains to be seen.
The sudden death of Mr.. William
E. Dodge of New York at Bar Har-
Dor, Me, recently, was great shock
to me. We were of the same age, and
| with Stephen H. Tying, Jr intimately
| tot fAo fIny fONsc RS
in active Y. M c. A. work in New
! York. 1 had been a member of the
Boston association, the oldest in the
United States, and they were Jealous
in their efforts to enlarge the good
work of the New York association.
The father of Mr.. Dodge, whose hon
ored name he bore, was then alive, and
one of the noblest philanthropists 1
have ever known. And the son follow
ed in the fathers illustrious footsteps,
filling many of the offices made vacant
! by his death. 1t can truly be said of
the Phelps Dodge families that great
wealth to them was simply a trust
to be used judiciously to help every
good cause that in their judgment was
calculated to glorify God and benefit
mankind. William E. Dodge, my old
associate, has gone up to an abundant
reward.
It seems impossible to make some
! people understand that West Point MIL
itary Academy belongs and has al
ways belonged to the several states of
the Union. A late writer in the Out
| look magazine repeats the threadbare
| assertion that Gen. Lee was under
peculiar obligations to the nation. He
! had been educated at her expense at
! West Point Gen. Lee and 'Stonewall
Jackson and Stuart, not to mention
other Confederate generals from that
state were educated at West Point at
the expense of Virginia. Each state,
| by taxation in various ways, contrib
| utes to the support of West Point Mill
tary Academy, and is, therefore, EMIT
| led to a certain number of cadet ap-
pointments. Why single out Gen. Lee
! who fought for the state that educated
him, and overlook Pemberton and Rug
giles and French, and other Northern
i Confederate generals who fought
| against their native states by whom, in
fact they were educated at West
Point? 1t is time this foolish charge
against Gen. Lee should be dropped for
ever.
1 was about to kick" on account of
a bad out in the second paragraph of
my last letter as it puts Sergt. Boyd
in a false position, but I find in the
last Portland (Me.) Sunday Telegram
similar out, which shows that such
things are common. 1 wrote, "Only
we differ as to methods" But the
printer left out something in the next
]