The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-05
SIDNEY HERBERT'S LETTER.
THE QUESTION AS TO WHO FIRED
THE "FIRsT SHOT AT SUMTER"

THE "FIRST SHOT AT SUMTER"
The Change to Be Made in the Guard
ArOundthe Tomb of McKinIey-The
Controversy as to who Command
ed at Honey Hill settIed-sOme
Southern Generals i'm the COnfed-
eracy who Were Sons of Northern
Parents-Pictures of Pickett's Fa-
nous Charge at GettYsburg-An
Important Discussion by United
states Judge Jones of Alabama.
other Matters of Special Interest.
Pine Crest Villa. Maitland, Fla, July
4.-There was a grave error in my let
ter of June q, but l forgot to correct
it in my last letter. Writing of patent
medicine ads" containing "puffs" of
so-called war generals. 1 said mot
half of them were ever generals in the
service" but it appeared were even
! generals" which wholly destroyed the
effect of my statement. d" In the
same letter 1 referred to Chaplain Har-
ry w. Jones, U. S. N. who has left
the Baptists and gone over to the Epis-
copalians. l should have added that
he was no doubt somewhat influenced
in his step by Chaplain Willard ]. Cas-
sard, U. S. N. who recently left the
Methodists and joined the Episcopal
lians at Newport, R. I. Jones is an
Englishman and Cassard is a Mary
! lander. 1t is First Lieutenant
| William K. mot H. J.) McCue, U. S.
A, who has a bigamy case on his
hands. He is native of Kentucky and
| had served four years as a private in
| the regular army before commissioned
a second lieutenant, in 1898, then a first
| lieutenant in 1900, and transferred from
the Ninth Infantry back to the First
| Infantry While it is true that cases
of such promotions ending in disgrace
are getting numerous, it must be re-
membered that there have been hun
| dreds of such promotions, and the num-
! Der that holds out and makes an hon
orable record is very large. We can
not overlook the fact that many of
our best generals came up from the
ranks while West Point officers, like
| Carter and WATSON, who graduated at
the head of their classes, went out of
the army in deep disgrace. The poet
well says:
Honor and Shame from no condition
rise;
Act well your Part-there all the Honor
lies"
Maj. John S. Roster of Port Leyden,
N. Y, who succeeds Gen. Allan c.
Blackwell of the City of New York as
commander of the Department of New
! York, Grand Army of the Republic, is
half way a Floridian, as he owns an
elegant winter home at St. Petersburg
| and spends the cold season down here.
| He is a wealthy manufacturer lost an
| arm in the Civil War, and is popu-
lar and prominent Grand Army man.
| He has many warm friends in the G..
| A. R. of this state who are greatly
| pleased with his deserved promotion to
the highest position in his department.
venerable and distinguished
Savannah lady as some persons would
| say-but l prefer to call her a noble
| oman--WriteS me an interesting letter
about the First Shot at Sumter" In
favor of the claim of Hon. Edwin Ruff
nm. So far as 1 know the matter is
yet at ISSUE there being several claim
ants for the honor. from the venerable
| Mr.. Rutfln. down to the youthful Miss
Pickens. Maj. Wade Hampton Gibbes
of South Carolina, who graduated at
| West Point in 1860, and resigned from
the United States Cavalry in January
1861, is also given credit, in the notices
| OF MS recent death, for firing that first
shot. There were other matters in this
letter which will be used later on.
Another change is to be made, July
l, of the guard around the tomb of ex-
President William Mckinley, at Can
ton, o. The detachment of the Eighth
| United States Infantry is to be relieved
by one from the First Infantry, now
at Fort Wayne, Mich. The Eighth In
EnVa 500 to -, - M.
| pines. 1t will be remembered that
First Lieutenant Frederick S. L. Price
of the Fourteenth Infantry was sta
| toned at Canton until February, when
his regiment was ordered to the Phil
ippines where he is now on duty with
1t. Lieut.. Price is a son of ex-Con-
gresham w. P. Price of Dahlonega,
Ga. l see that Col Charles j.
| Colcock of Charleston, S. c., has re-
piled to the brief communication of Mr..
Tison in one of my previous letters.
| Col c. wrote me a very courteous let
| ter, but it came to me while l was
quite ill and could not attend to it, Mr.
| Tison, l think, was innocent of doing
any injustice to the Col. Colcock in COM
mand at Honey Hill. as he simply re-
| piled, in brief, to an inquiry from a
| Morning News reader as to who COM
manded the Confederates at the battle
| of Honey Hill. Col. Colcock. l think.
has fully answered the inquiry by
showing that it was his distinguished
father, now deceased. The object OF
these letters is simply to correct err
| rors, and l have no desire to use them
to create errors. Mr.. Tison, no doubt.
was honest in his intention TO give cor
rect information, but he should have
been more certain that he was right
The late Col. Charles Colcock Jones,
the eminent Georgia historian. was
my dear friend and l should be sorry
to mar the pleasure of any of his kins-
men.
For the first time in many years the
illustrious name of Ulysses s. Grant
appears in the monthly Army List
and Directory" The June issue con-
tains this record: Grant, Ulysses S.
1t. FIT Sam Houston, Tex" No regi-
mental assignment is vet given the
members of this class, and he has gone
| to his fathers (Brig. Gen. Fred D.
| Grants) department for the present.
He does not report for active duty I'M
| til September. The death of
Brig Gen. Robert P. Maclay of Louis
lana takes one more from the roll of
| Northern West Pointers who entered
the Confederate service. He was a ma
tive of Pennsylvania. served with hon
or in the Florida Indian wars, and in
the Mexican War, after which all his
service was in Texas. He resigned in
December 1860. as captain of the
Eighth Infantry and became planter
| in Louisiana, from which state he en-