The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-11-29
lott, Peterkin, Harris and Capers were
soldiers in the Confederate army.


The state of North Carolina has pub
lished four large handsome volumes of
her military in the Civil War, edited
by Judge Walter Clark, who was a
lieutenant colonel in the service. In
a sketch of the Bethel Regiment" is
this misleading statement: Gen. Lee
had but three weeks before april 20)
resigned his position in the United
States Army as lieutenant colonel of
Albert Sidney Johnston's Second Reg
iment of Cavalry" This is one of the
popular errors that. have corrected
a half dozen times. and one that also
occurs in Gen. ]. e. Johnston's book.
Gen. Lee was colonel of the First
United States Cavalry from March Is
to April 25, not April 20, and, yet this
fact has failed to be recognized by
many so-cal1ed historians. This North
Carolina History refers to Gen. Hal
leck as "Commander-in-C Chief" which
was not his title. He was simply by
courtesy, "General-in-Ch Chief" In the
United States Navy the title of COM
mander-in-chief is given to the OFF,
Ger in command of a fleet or squadron,
but it never applies to the army eX-
cept by special act of Congress. con-
tend, however that Congress and Leg
islatures cannot confer this title, legal
ly, upon any officer in the army or
navy. The Constitution gives it sole
ly to the President or Governor.
MY good friend Harden does not
seem to fully understand my position in
regard to the name of Gen. Nathan
ael" Greene. l have not, think, de-
MED that fact If it be fact. What
has puzzled me- and what still puzzles
my thick head, is why the universal
use of Nathaniel. instead of his real
name Nathaniel. has been allowed to
go on for a century. l doubt II the
name Nathaniel can be found in the
old army records. All have ever seen
were Nathan Green" and 'Nath.
! Green" and Nathaniel Greene" There
was also a Captain Nathaniel Greene
of New Hampshire, in the Sixteenth In
| fantry in 1899 The history of the
quartermaster generals department
records it Nathaniel. and the same is
| true of the Journals of Congress-
| Sparks Writing of Washington, Simms
| Life of Greene, Bancroft's and Rid
paths Histories of the United States,
! and Worcester's Unabridged Diction-
airy. Also, the government report Of
| the Centennial Celebration of the
| Washington Monument at Newburg, N.
Y, in October. 1888.
Gen. Greene died and was buried
| near Savannah, where his monument
stands, and his grave has Deen, ana
| vet the Historical Record of Savan-
mar" by an editor of the Morning
! News in 1869, has it Nathaniel"
| And / think the same is true of Edi-
! tor Richardson's later guide to Savan-
nah" The big Georgia: Historical
! and Industrial" volume of nearly
| thousand pages, has it the same. So
! does Rev. George Whites Historical
collections of Georgia" and Whites
! statistics" as well. And he quotes
| from Judge Johnson's (of South Caro-
/ lina), two vols. of the life of Maj.
! Gen. Nathaniel Greene. The Rev.
| Adiel Sherwood, d. D., an honorary
/ member of the Georgia Historical So
| ciety, and corresponding secretary of
! the Historical Society of Illinois. calls
! him, in 1860, Gen. Nathaniel Greene.
So does Prof. ]. T. Derry's history
of the United States. Rev. DR.. Geo.
G. Smith, the veteran Georgia historian,
| also has it Nathaniel. The only excep-
! ton so far as 1 have seen, is Thomas
| CANDLES admirable sketch of Savan-
nah in the year book for 1900 where
he has it Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Greene.
Outside of Savannah, in historical
and other important publications, nine
! times out of ten, 1t is Nathaniel. Ex-
! Congressman Willis Brewers history
| of Alabama has il Nathaniel; so does
the Twentieth Century Cyclopedia
Britannica, and the Digest of the
! Worlds Encyclopedias. In the Bible