The Savannah morning news., 1903-02-01

Mrs. Lewis will be remembered as
a lovely young lady, born in Column
bus, and the daughter of the late Mai
c. Howard Williams, a we'll known
Colum bus and Atlanta journalist
who was named for his gallant father
and noble nother-Charles Howard
The Savannah Mexican War veterans
Will remember Mary Anne Howard in
Columbus. where the Georgia volun-
teer regiment was organized. Gen.
Henry r. Jackson being made colonel,
and Gen. Chas. ]. Williams, major.
This latter officer entered West Point
Military Academy in 1887. but did not
graduate, and the fact that he had
a partial military education was in his
favor. Miss Howard, who married Mai.
Williams at the close of the war. pre-
sented the regiment with a flag Her
husband died, in 1862. as colonel of the
First Georgia Regulars, yet she sent
her only son into the army before he
was fifteen years old. On March -
1866, she issued her appeal through
the Columbus Zines, suggesting April
% as the time for a general decoration
of the graves of all Confederate SOL
diers. Her voice is silent in an honored
grave but all her long life of patriotic
service should he her ever present
witness in this case.
I am glad to learn from my friend,
Mai. Phil F. Brown, of the Blue
Ridge Springs, Va, hotel, that the
rigid discipline of Gen. Scott Ship,
the able superintendent of the Virginia
Military Institute. is to be fully sus-
tanned by the Board of Visitors. Mai.
Brown is A valued member of this
board, and has just returned from its
T1ppfiy1o Of 10
members of the third class who were
expelled in December for violation of
orders, and a gross breach of disci-
pline, were refused restoration in the
class. The board wisely insisted that
Il military school could not be a sue
cessful educator and trainer of young
men unless good order and strict dis
cipllne were impartially enforced.
outside influence. however powerful
as in the case of Cadet Bradley T.
Johnson last year-is not to be allow
ed to weaken the board in its deter
mination to sustain Gen. Shipp in
every case where prompt and just en-
forcement of discipline takes place
Mr. VIM. Riley Boyd suggests a rem
edy for haZing at military and naval
academies. hut l do not consider it
feasible. He would put each cadet who
enters upon his word not to engage in
hazing. This plan will work in some
small, select schools, but will fail i'm
large ones. Nor do 1 believe, as Mr.
Boyd seems to intimate that the acAd-
envy officials wink" at hazing. When
ever Congress. the War Department or
board of trustees can be relied upon
to sustain the officials, they have no
trouble in inforcing, as they do, strict
discipline. That is the only sure rem
edy.
In a recent letter I told how Col.
F. j. O'Brien. president of the South
ern Express Company, was instrument
tai in getting Sergt. Maj. Charles M
Busbee of North Carolina out of Fort
Pulaski through an exchange of pris-
oners during the Civil War; Col
O'Brien has since written me and said
he thought Busbee was now the at
torney for the express company in
Raleigh, ". c.. and he would try and
stop over there on his return to New
York to see about it, So | dropped
a line of inquiry to Maj. Busbee, who
sends me this reply on a letter head
of Busbee e. Busbee, attOrneys-at-
law: ut is my brother F. H. Busbee,
who is attorney here for the Southern
Express Company. But notwithstand-
ing that, 1 hope your friend, Col.
o. Rrien, will drop in and see me the
next time he comes South. l would
be glad If he could make it a point to
come to Raleigh, although he may
have no business here, and be my
guest for as long a visit as he can
make. l hope you will convey this
invitation to him. He did me quite a
service when he got me out of Fort
Pulaski, and | would be very glad to
see him and thank him again for the
'deliverance." Col O'Brien was on
duty under Col Robert Ould of Vir-
ginia, chief of bureau of exchange of
prisoners, and by him assigned to the
staff of Col. Hatch and it was this
service that enabled him to secure the
unexpected exchange of Maj. Bus
bee, whom he had never seen and did
not know personally. 1t was, how
ever, good deed, one fully appreci-
ated. and it is to be hoped that Col.
O'Brien and Maj. Busbee may soon
enjoy a pleasant meeting and talk
over their stirring war experiences.
Last Sunday 1 wrote of the Fremont
family in my letter, and stated that
two cities claimed to be the fathers
rthplace-Savannah and Charleston.
On the same day, in his letter to the
Constitution, it is claimed by bill
Arp" that Gen. John c. Fremont was
born in Savannah and educated in
Charleston. l know that it is true
that no man can tell from his own per-
sonal knowledge where he was born
but Gen. Fremont always claimed to
be native of South Carolina, and is
so recorded on the War Department
registers. 1 cannot agree, therefore,
with "Bill Arp" that "he was a Geor-
gian." A Savannah reader
(W.) of the Morning News kindly seeks
to correct my last letter in it's refer
ence to Lieut.. Gen" John b. Gordon.
who, he claims, was only a major gem
eral, although commanding a corps at
the surrender. Lieut.. Gen. Joseph
Wheeler's cited as a similar case The
same rule would keep Gen. Francis S.
Barlow in the list of colonies. AS
have before stated, it was Bartow's
case that led me, in making up my
Confederate roster of generals to con-
suit ex-President Davis, ex-Secretary
of War Walker and a number of other
eminent civil and military Confeder-
plan was right. / contended that Bar
tow, dying at the head of a brigade,
was fully entitled to rank as a briga-
der general; that Gordon and Wheeler,
commanding corps at the surrender.
were fully entitled to rank with the
lieutenant generals. And this rule APP
phys to all similar cases, except. ~
where an officer had been promoted
but failed of confirmation by the SEN
ate; and (2) where an officer was sim
ply filling the place of an absent Off
Ger. Mr.. Davis Endorsement of my
plan was strongly given, and 1 have it
in his own handwriting.
Sidney Herbert