Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1903-11-18
AN ERROR CORRECTED.
Gen. M. w. Gary was Duly Com
missioned.

Our attention having been called
| to the fact that recently misin-
formed correspondent to one of the
daily papers stated that the gallant
Gen. Martin W. Gary was never
commissioned as Major-General,
we rise to correct the error. The
brilliant achievements of Gen.
Gary, both on the battle field and
in the trying times Of the recon-
struction, are we'll known to the
older generations, but let the re-
cord be kept straight as it is hand
ed down to those who shall come
after us and let no historian, without
protest, becloud or detract from
the records of the sons of Edge
field, who, for their valor aud
deeds Of heroism, shall be remem.
bered SO long as mortal msa shall
live. As the best evidence of the
fact that Gen. Gary was duly COM
missioned we publish an excerpt
from the speech delivered by Hon.
Geo. D. Tillman on taking the
chair to preside over a mass meet
ing held at Edgefeld on June Goth
1881 to raise a Gary memorial
fund, which speech was published
in.full in the Edgefeld Advertiser
of the .issuo of June 30th 1881 and
is in part as follows:
The Master Analyser of poor fallen
human nature has said:
"The evil that men do lives after
them. The good is oft inferred with
their bones."
$50 let it not be with Gary. He was
an aspiring, positive aud aggressive
man, Just the sort to provoke undylng
hatred in petty cunning natures VINO
NAV grant oblivion to his merits while
Keeping open his grave to blazon forth
his peccadilloes. But no true Caro-
linan, and above all, no right thinking
citizen of Edgefeld, will ever let the
good name and fame OF Mart i5ary
perish, He fought his way from Cap
tain up to Major General with valor
and persistence equaled by but few,
and surpassed perhaps by none. An
organized remnant Of his brigade cut
its way through the enemy's lines IN
Virginia and moving southwark, es-
cort.d President Davis and his Cabi-
net from Greensboro, N. c., to Cokes-
bury. For these services and his un-
uuailing resolve to fight on as long as
there was hope, as well as probably
for gallant conduct, just before Lees
surrender, he was made Major-Gen-
eral, and was perhaps the last officer
of that rank appointed in the Confed- :
crate army. 1 know this fact OF my
personal knowledge, because in return
| ing from Gen. Johnston's army, to, at
tend an extra session of our State Leg
islature in 1865, Travelled with Gen.
Gary's command as his guest, from
Charlotte, and I heard President Davis
allude to the promotion in the house OF
Gen. Gary's mother at Cokesbury.
had pre viously heard General Breck-
enbrIdge speak of 1t also in talking
about continuing the struggle. The
glory that Gary won upon a hundred
battle fields sheds lustre upon South
Carolina and especially on Edgeie!d.
Our people should shield his memory
as sacredly as if it were their own;
and their grand old countY-his home
WHOSE Re9ar har aa gae 16 1t Pt4Haa thai
whenever cowardly jaekals attempt to
dig up the memory Of his foibles, or
vices if you please, they shall first have
to overthrow an imposing monumen-
tai pile reared by his contem poraries
| tn his Yirtuea