The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-22

liar name. 1t is so easy to make L.
w. s. Pratt out of Spratt, because
everybody is not familiar with the
Jack Spratt'' and wife stanzas. Edi-
tors and printers find it hard to escape
errors in such peculiar names. In this
case great injury is done to distin-
guished man who was a member of the
South Carolina Secession Convention,
and signed it's ordinance.
1t is a great pleasure to me to get
track of my dear old friend Gen. e.
Porter Alexander. 1 had lost sight of
him, simply knowing he had LEFT the
Estate of Single Blessedness' and again
gone into the state of Matrimony,"
but could not locate him. When l call
him my dear old friend" I do so with
sincere regard. He Is the only man
in all this wide world that 1 ever al
lowed to smoke in my office, my rule
being to forbid any person, high or low,
rich or poor, to do that, to me. a very
unpleasant thing. Why I allowed him
to do it the Lord only knows, and He
has never told me. / remember well
the first time it occurred. The general
came in one morning as CHEEKY as a
hooking bird, took off his coat, hung it
up, tipped himself in a chair against
the wall, made up a nice little cigarette
der of wonders 1 never offered a word
of protest. yet the next day forbid a
distinguished Atlanta preacher eXer-
cising the tobacco habit in the same
room. There was something about
Gen. Alexander so genial, so compan-
ionable and so charming in his discus
sions on literary topics. that l formed
the warmest attachment for him.
often wondered why a man with such
a daIipo 70 nYNroYnpiatin nf nnafrU md
the higher types of literature should
have spent four years at West Point
studying dry mathematics and grad
uating (No. 81 into the Engineer
Corps.
But I am way off the track. I
started to give the reader a letter from
Gen. Alexander, dated Annandale, S.
c., Nov. Il, in regard to an item re-
ferring to him in one of my recent
letters. II am sorry to hear" he
writes, that you have been held up
to ridicule' for saying, on my authority
that Gen. Bob Garnett was killed at
Rich Mountain. when in fact he was
killed at Carricks Ford, Va Your
critic has opened his mouth and put
his foot in it. Minute accuracy not
being in order in our random cores
pendence I spoke of Rich Mountain
as a general term to cover the little
campaign of several small combats
within three days and perhaps forty
miles of each other, none of them of
enough Importance to be generally
known. Carricks Ford was one of
these; the casualties on Confederate
side being thirteen killed and fifteen
wounded. But Gen. Garnett was not
among either the killed or wounded.
His small force was retreating before
a much larger one and was DELAYING
the enemy at every ford and defile.
After safely crossing and leaving Car
ricks Ford. (but with loss of some of
his wagons) he was killed at a name
less ford a mile or so beyond. He
had stopped with only ten rifiemen,
behind a pile of drift wood, to enforce
a little pause on the part of the pur-
suers, while his main force took
fresh position to defend a short dis
lance further to the rear. He exc
posed himself freely to give example
to his men, and he also detained the
enemy longer than was prudent, Cor
just is he started to withdraw, he and
one of ten men were killed, and his
body fell into the hands of the enemy.
These are the facts from the records
of that time"
The Hon. VIM. Harden's recent
article in the Morning News, so full
of historic interest, calls to mind a
long list Of similar cases to that of
James (EdWardl ORlethorpe In all