The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-10

or Lee. FROM MS yOulu upWdAd hC
had walked with God. No man can
read his life and utterances and hest
tate in the opinion that this man was
not only believed, but had positive
knowledge Of the presence of the Di-
vine Spirit. His every announcement
of victory by his Incompatible army
was couched in terms of the sincerest
gratitude TO God.
And after all and more convincing
even than the unchallenged word and
the stainless record OF Lee, for his vim
dication there stands the record Of
the Confederate States of America.
There is the steadfastness, the con-
stancy, the sacrifices, the heroism of
eleven American states, an empire
vaster than that of imperial Rome
under the reign of an Antonine or a
Trajan. You cannot, said Edmund
Burke, indict a whole people. There
stands the far-flung battle line OF
gray. Who says a Northern his
torian, can ever forget that once look
ed upon it, that array of tattered uni
forms and bright muskets which Tor
four years carried the revolt on its
bayonets, opposing a constant front 10
the mighty concentration OF power
brought against it, which receiving
terrible blows did not fail to give the
ike anu WIuLA NlAdl Al "a 10 ~ -
died only with it's annihilation.' The
record of the Southern people and the
achievements of Southern arms. These
are the Vindica ton of the Southern
Chieftain and these we give in charge
to the historic muse who proud of the
sacred treasure will go marching with
it down to latest times
Napoleon has said that Marshal
Turenne was the only example of
ha
older. The campaigns of Lee VIII
demonstrate that aggressive from the
first his audacity was intensified un-
til the dawn of that fateful day at
Appomattox when the heroic remnant
| of our own gallant Gordon, marching
! to cut a pathway for his starving vet
erars. vas confronted by the over
! towering masses of the army OF the
! James, and the end was at hand. IN
! deed the most striking features of his
| generalship are a daring audacity as
ISOLATED with the clearest penetration
! of his adversaries designs, the pro-
foundest combinations of strategy, and
an influence over his soldierly unsur-
raised by that of a Napoleon or a
Caesar.
with his army at the very acme of
its morale, and it's efficiency, Lee now
determined to again cross the Potomac
and carry the war into the enemy
country.
Thus the campaigning of Gettys-
burg begun. No other great move
ment directed by the Southern COM
mander ever had more hopeful prom
Use of success. Never so formidable
was that heroic American army of
the Southern states, seasoned and in
ured to war, who marched under their
shot-riven battle flags to Gettysburg.
the high water mark of the Confed-
eracy. The story of this battle of
Titans is an Oft-told tale l Will not
discuss the causes of disaster there 10
the Army of Northern Virginia. The
profession of arms and the students
of history the world around, know
that il was ascribable neither to error
of military judgment or to faulty dis
positions on the part of the Conted-
crate commander. or to the want OF
valor and enthusiasm by his devoted
soldiery.
1--WE have seen Lee in victory. Let
us for a moment regard him in the
moment of defeat. Col. Freemantle
of the Cold-stream Guards is our wit
ness Picketts division had been de-
troyed. In the hour of their repulse
the Confederate officers were every mo-
ment expecting the counter-stroke, with
which at Waterloo Wellington had
crushed Napoleon. Said the distin-
guished officer of the British army,
from whose account quote:
The further / got the greater be-
came the number of wounded At last
l came to a perfect stream of them
floating through the woods in num-
bers. as great as the crowd in Oxford
street in the middle of the day. Some
were walking alone on crutches COM
IF fN1-n riHaC others
ported by men less badly wounded
than themselves, and others were car
ried on stretchers by the ambulance
corps; but in no case did l see a sound
man helping the wounded in the rear,
unless he carried the red badge of the
ambulance corps. They were still I'M
der a heavy fire; shells were continu-
ally bringing down great limbs of trees,
and carrying further destruction
amongst this melancholy procession.
Col. F'reemantle continues.
Dictation: THE conduct of Gen. Lee
was perfectly sublime. He was en-
gagged in rallying and in encouraging
the broken troops. and was riding about
little in front of the wood, quite alone
the whole of his staff being engaged
in a similar manner further to the
rear. His face, which is always placid
and cheerful did not show signs of the
slightest disappointment care or an
noyance; and he was addressing to
every soldier he met a few words of
encouragement, such as All this will
come right in the end; We'll talk it
over afterwards; but in the meantime.
all good men must rally. We want all
good and true men just now etc. He
spoke to all the wounded men that
passed him, and the slightly wounded
he exhorted to bind up their hurts and
take up musket' in this emergency.
Very few of them failed to answer his
appeal. and l saw many badly wound
ed men take off their hats and cheer
/ him. He said to me, This has been a
/ sad day for us, Colonel-a sad day; but
/ we can't expect always to gain vic
/ tories 1t was difficult, said Col. Free
/ mantle, to exaggerate the critical
/ state of affairs as they appeared about
! this time. Notwithstanding the mis-
| fortune which had so suddenly be-
/ fallen him, Gen. Lee seemed to observe
everything, however trivial. When a
mounted officer began licking his horse
| for shying at the bursting of a shell,
he called out. Don't whip him, Cap
tain; don't whip. him. I've got just
| such another foolish horse myself, and
| whipping does no good
Gen Lee and his officers were evil
IDENTIFY fully impressed with a sense Of
the situation: yet there was much less
! noise, fuss or confusion of orders thar
at an ordinary field day; the men. a;
they rallied in the wood, We're brought