The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-04-12
SIDNEY HERBERT'S LETTER.
THE CLAIM THAT WITHOUT BIOG-
RAPHY THERE CAN BE NO HISTORY

Georgia WOman's Poem Showing
Her Love For Her Native state.
A Young Man who Is True to the
Traditions of His High-Bred An
cestry-MentiOn of the Genial and
Patriotic Spirit Which Pervades
the Southern Society of New York.
An Interesting Reference to West
Point Cadets-A Brief Sketch of
Gen. Oates-Other Matters of Gem
eral Interest.
Pine Crest Villa, Maitland, Fla, April
lin my last letter, in the final para
graph, the name of Ben S. Roberts is
printed Gen. S. Roberts, and the
name of Gen. Finley, in the preceding
paragraph, is given as ''Linley. 1 also,
in the names of Gen. Evander McIver
Law and Gen. Alfred Iverson. AL
though the former as a South Caro-
linian and the latter a Georgian, one
resides at Barlow and the other at
Kissimmee, in this state. ~ l have
OllGn ISlGII6d W the lCdl0lC ia
reform schools, in public and private
schools, ETC., but the American Boy
monthly of Detroit, Mich, for April,
contains a photo engraving of a camp
scene of "A Squad From the Boys
Brigade" of the First Presbyterian
Church of McKeesport, Pa. The boys
are handsomely uniformed and we'll
armed, and appear to be well trained
and disciplined. In Florida and Geor-
gia, not to mention other states, there
are many schools and colleges where
the military feature is prominent, and
this fact gives promise of a fine feed
err to the new National Guard organ
izations. The Home Magazine of
Washington, D. c., proposes to uni
form and equip rifle clubs of boys, free
of expense. Rules for drill ETC., sent
on application.
In recent letter 1 spoke of the Jones
family in war, but neglected to state
that it gave six generals to the Con-
federate army, all except John r. Jones
coming from the United States army.
They were Sam and David r. Jones,
major generals; and John M, William
E., Thomas M. and John R., brigadier
generals. And there were sixteen OFF,
GERS of volunteers in the Mexican war
from the Jones family. In the Union
army, during the Civil War. there were
ffty-five volunteer officers named
Jones. in rank, from second lieutenant
to major general. Eight of them were
brigadier generals. The author of "a
Corner in Ancestors" will please note
this fact in her next edition of that
fanciful work of fiction. The United
States navy has had over ITO officers
named Jones.
A sketch of Lieut. Gen. Stephen D.
Lee of the United Confederate Veter-
ans states that he is the second Off
Ger, after Gen. Gordon" of that or
ganizat ton. This is not a clear state
ment, as he is the second officer, but
the first latter Gordon" He has been
and still is considered the legitimate
successor to Chief Cor
don. William r. Thayer of
Boston, Mass, has written very able
essay on Biography as the Basis of
History" His claim that biography is
or may become one of the chief ele-
ments of history, from my humble
standpoint is not quite strong enough.
Without biography there can be no his
tory, for there is nothing to make his
tory where no actors are in the arena
Great men and noble women, the world
over, make history in their daily lives.
Ebert Hubbard, the we'll
known writer and orator, in noting the
fact that the son of Pericles and AS
pasta was one of the generals executed
because they failed to win a certain
battle. adds The scheme of behead-
ing unsuccessful soldiers was not with
out its advantages but the plan re-
veals the fact that the Greeks had
so little faith in their leaders that
the threat of death was deemed neces-
sary to make them do their duty" If
this plan had been in use during our
Civil War the heads of Mcclellan and
Pope, and Hooker, and Burnside, and
others in the Union army. as we'll as
the heads of some Confederate gener-
ais would have fallen into the basket
of the public eXecutioner. The
Atlanta Constitution prints a picture
of the well-known "Leyden House."
on Peachtree street. with a small pic
ture of Gen. Sherman in one corner.
and refers to it as having been che
generals headquarters during his &C.
cupation of Atlanta. From my gen.
eral conversations with Gen. Sherman
l was led to believe that the Judge
Lyon residence, now the Girls High
School. on Washington street. was
Sherman's headquarters at that time.
Mrs. w. w. Braswell, formerly of
Atlanta. but now of Oklahoma. has
published a poem in the Times OF
Oklahoma, in which she unfolds her