The Savannah morning news., 1903-02-15

The most singular thing, however, in
the case of Cunningham" is the fact
that his name, so far as I can dis
cover, does not appear in any official
record as an officer of the Colonial
navy. The article by James Barnes
is called 1.-The Tragedy of the Lost
Commission" 1t seems that Capt. c.
was given a commission issued in
blank to John Hancock as president
of the Colonial Congress, and no record
was made of it after Conyngham' s
name was filled in. This commission
was lost a few years later and only
recently found in Paris, and this eX-
plains why the brave Conyngham's
name does not appear in the naval
official records with those of John
Paul Jones and John Barry and Mich
olas Biddle. Year after year the poor
old sailor appealed to Congress for
recognition and back pay; but his
failure to produce his lost commission
was fatal to his claim, and he died, a
poor, detected, badly abused man, in
1919, and was buried at st. Peters
churchyard in Philadelphia. His ca
reer in foreign waters was full of
startling adventures, and his capture
and Imprisonment in British dungeons
was a matter of history; and yet it all
counted for nothing with Congress in
which he claimed to have command
ed war vessels of the Colonial navy. 1t
is wonderful story that Barnes tells.
Some time ago l referred to the
want of a finished education on the
part of that great cavalry leader,
Lieut.. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest
c. S. A, of whom Gen. James r.
Chalmers once said: an writing, as
in fighting, Gen. Forrest was a law
unto himself" One of his expressions
| quoted who gets thar fustest with
the mostest guns" Another was:
Lieutenant, lower your cannon lee
tie higher" But Capt. j. H. Mathes
gives a more forcible one: az told
YOU twist (twice) Goddammit, know"
This was his final, emphatic denial of
a furlough to one of his men who had
twice before applied for it. Gen. For
rest, it is true, was an uneducated
man, yet in no sense an ignorant one
His career as a soldier, from a private
to a lieutenant general, would do
credit to the best educated man the
world ever knew. And as a citizen,
a business man and public character,
he always won success. could men,
ton thousands of cases where unedu-
oughly educated men have failed
David Dickson, the greatest cotton
millionaire in Georgia, was an exam
pie of the Gen. Forrest class.
On several occasions I have also
spoken of the habit of swearing in
dulged in by Gen. Sherman, Gen. Hook
err Gen. Early and other famous fight
ing generals, and I might have added
the names of famous naval command
ers. Admiral Farragut was a model
man, but he swore about the sunken
torpedos in his great Mobile naval bat
tie. However, after the fight he ex-
pressed surprise that the God of Bat
ties" had overlooked his profanity and
given him q safe victory 1t is on
record, and I think, correctly so. that
preachers of the Gospel who were in
the Civil War, sometimes in the heat
of battle, cried out, Give 'em hell,
boys" Many of the worlds best fight
ers were noted for their profanity. Mr..
Justice Brewer of the United States
Supreme Court. tells a good story on
member of the court who had the
appearance of a rector of an Eplsco-
pal church An argument was being
made in favor of a patent on a coll
lar button, when this justice asked II
II was such a button that II II fell
out Of a mans shirt front while dress
ing and rolled under the bed. the man
could recover II without swearing The
court smiled. and in the language OF
the poet