Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1903-02-06
Telephone In Office connectswith all
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Mr.. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS ON
GEN. LEE.

At the 18th annual banquet of tn
Confederate Veteran Camp of Ne
York, which took place at the Wa
dorf-Astoria on Jan. 25th. Mr.. Charlie
Francis Adams responded to toast t
Gen. R. E. Lee, Mature made hir
and then broke the mould
Mr.. Adams is known to be a grea
admirer of Gen. Lee, and has the coul
age of his convictions. Usually in th
North to admit that Southern gen
eral-unless he has deserted to tn
Republican party since the war-o
even soldier, was aught but the veri
est traitor, william, cut throat an,
murderer, is treason of the basest sort
In speaking of Gen. Lee, Mr. Adam
in part said:
AS an American-as an ex soldier o
the Union, as one who did his best IL
honest, even fight, to destroy tina
fragment of the army of the Confed
eracy to which he found himself op
posed rejoice that no hatred attaches
to the name of Lee. Reckless of life
to attain the legitimate ends of war
he sought to mitigate its horrors. OPP
posed to him at Gettysburg, [ here
forty years lately, do him justice. Nc
more creditable order ever issCed from
commanding general than that for,
INFLATED and signed by Robert E. Lee
as, at the close of June, 1868, he ad
vanced on a war of invasion. mo
greater disgrace" he then declared,
can ''befall the army and through it
Onr whole people than the preparation
OF barbarous outrages upon the inno-
cent and defeDseless. Such proceed
ings not only disgrace the perpetrators
and all connected with them, bnt are
subversive of the discipline and effici-
ency of the army, and destructive of
the ends of our movement. 1t mu st
be remembered that we make war only
on armed men, Lee did not, like
lilly and Melac, exhort his followers
to kill and burn, and burn and kill,
and again kill and burn, to make war
hell. He did not proclaim that he
wanted no prisoners. He did not en-
join it upon his soldiers as duty to
cause the people of Pennsylvania to
remember they had been there. l
thank heaven he did not. He at least,
though Confederate in arms, was
still an American, and not lilly nor
a Melac.
The courage of Mr.. Adams, his
splendid tribute to great and humane
soldier, are appreciated by those who
followed Lee, but why did Mr.. Adams
go back SO far to find ard cite the Or
ders of commanders like TiIly and |
Melac2 Those men lived in a barbar-
Gus age, when war was hell, and when |
conquest meant devastation. Why
send the youthful mind on journey of |
three or four hundred years into the
past to ascertain how war was made
by lilly and Melac, and refresh their
historical repertoire with learning of
so ancient date, and of so little value ?
WI ny did he not choose more fitting
comparisons and cite presidents more
recent ? A good logician proves his
case by the most recent as we'll as the T.
most apt cases or illustrations. This
Mr.. Adams did not do Certainly his
contrasts to show the humanity in =
len. Lee might have been made with
nen of Gen. Lees day and more espec-
ally by orders issued by Generals of
ne armies opposed to Gen. Lee in the
cry same war. Gen. Sheridan might q
ave been cited for ''kill and burn.u !,
nd burn and kill'' order. Such a =
ontrast would have been apt, to the y
ONT and known positively to havel =
cen true. The mold of 400 years is y
OF on Sheridan's orders, as on those
lilly and Melac, and the doubt of =
me and often magnifed reports which
me brings to occurrences of long ago =,
I'VE no place in the orders of Sheri- -.
n. There was "kill and burnn and
snty of it. This Valley, in which we VI
re, yet bears many marks of the
rch to testify of Sheridan's humani
and many mounds are yet visible to oa
Ve evidence of the contrast between ~
character as soldier and that of w
e. When Gen. Lee on entering the ~.
emy's country said to his soldiers.
10 greater disgrace can befall the ~
ny and through it our whole people AZ
IN the preparation of barbarous -
'rages upon the innocent and de- o,,
seless, he exhorted them to the w.,
y KIND OF warfare he could or would %,
&c. 'oi
VIII
hermann march to the sea might m =,
Q also been aptly cited, for through. fnll
were devastation, death and "a. ~ q
dealt with unsparing hand. IL,
certain Gen. Alex. Hunter march bec,
lso through this valley. His blood nair
ned and blackened trail remains tn n
yet. No Tilley or Melac need he sea
for the sake of illustration while has
names OF Sheridan, and Sherman. ba p,
80, orc iehehDered. Here tenn
>, anu ALL ana XIII and they
~ ino"'iaoie NAV OF war ing
;rammed with just such food nv if
contemporary with t1On
oppooo" " nlm IN the war this
made him famous. Later. too. thor,
I'VE Gen. Jake Smith. But let Ms Ana,
him by as unworthy to be men bnsi,
d in this presence. cssio
uld that those who today are mode
1g the South and who grow fran Tho
hen Lee s name is mentioned in do n,
}, could wipe from the page of tho =,
~ the evidence of their own deo.
ion by tearing from the pages of
y the orders of Sheridan, of Sher.
Of Hunter, and others, and writ Of
their stead tho 80. Wa
;, 80. uoi VI Lee. Roose
"ooiu 'ney 40 IL, and high mite,
their horoes be raised in the remar
e of fame. The damned s,ot monet
n ont II so+Lo.,... 'po0 Bryan
VOC pooHooic tuaG In comm