The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-15
SIDNEY HERBERT'S LETTER.
THE CONFEDERATE VETERANS
SKETCH OF BATHESDA.


Notice which Appeared in a Hon
OIuIu Paper-The Attention shown
Gen. Gobin-UncIe Sans Naval
Flag the oldest Flag of the Kind
AnOat-Other Matters Worth Be-
coming Acquainted With.
Pine Crest Villa, Maitland, Fla,
March 14.-Some time ago, in a Sun
day issue of the Morning News, both
Col Estill and myself referred to Capt.
Blakely. L. S. n, after whom the coun-
~ sat of Early is named. In the
Home Magazine of Washington. d. c.,
for March, in an illustrated article on
North Carolina, this Capt Blakely is
CLAIMED as a son of that state. But
Kemp P. Battle is wrong in the name
it is not Blakeley," but Johnston
Blakely. Nor did he command the
brig Wasp, but the sloop of war
persisted in 1915, as stated by Col. Es-
till and myself. However, the follow
ing important statement is made by
Historian Battle: THE General As
sembly adopted the infant daughter Of
Capt. Blakeley and paid for her sup
port and education $500 month for
many years" Capt. Blakely honored
mis- native state by a career of heroic
service that ended in the loss of his
life, and the state only did its duty.
The death of Mai. Gen. William B.
Franklin. L. S. A, following closely
upon that of Maj. Gen. William F.
Smith, L. S. A, removes another OF
the few surviving great commanders
of the Union army in the civil War.
He was born in Pennsylvania, but on
leaving the army, in 1866, became a
resident of Hartford, Conn. 1t was his
good fortune to graduate at the head
of the class at West Point, which, in
1S43. gave Gen. u. S. Grant and other
less famous commanders to the army.
The survivors of that class are Rev.
DR.. George Deshon (No. y of the Paul
tst Fathers, New York; Maj. Gen.
Samuel G. French, c. S. A. (No. 1D.
now of Pensacola, Fla; Capt. William
X Van Bokkelen ono. 20 of Brook
lvn. n. Y. Gen. Franklin was not
only a gallant soldier, but man of
fine executive abilities, and in civil
life had filled many high positions of
honor and trust. He was president
at the time of his death of the board
of managers of the National Soldiers
Homes, and had been president of our
Society of the Army of the Potomac.
The Confederate Veteran of Nashville,
Tenn, for February, contains an adj
mirable sketch of Bethesda, the white
field House of Mercy" being a review of
Bishop o. P. Fitzgerald, of the South
ern Methodist Church of Thomas Gam
bles booklet on the same subject. The
illustrations, a view of the buildings, a
portrait of the Countess of Huntingdon,
and an excellent picture of Col. j. h.
Estill, for nearly quarter of a CEN
fury the efficient and honored presi-
dent of the Union Society in charge OF
the noble charity. Bishop Fitzgerald,
whom / knew for years as brother
journalist, and whose opinions of men
ana their occupations stand the severest
tests, pays high but just tribute to
Col. Estill, of whom he says: Some
how you feel that his way is apt to be
the right way; you feel that you can
trust both his head and his heart.
This, I take it, is the secret of the sue
cess of a man whom the citizens of Sa-
vannah have so long honored as pres
ident, director or chairman of many of
their great enterprises. His way is
generally the best way, and he can be
trusted both in head and heart to lead
any great enterprise.
In my letter of March 1, in the para
graph about the rank and the title of
a COMMUNICATIVE ! said the title
of commander-in-chi should rest upon
and be sustained by supreme rank"
The late Gen. Henry c. Wayne took is
sue with me on this point in the case of
Gen. Washington. He commended that
Washington accepted the title of COM
mander-in-chief but not the rank of
lieutenant general. But in this con-
tention he was not sustained by the Off
cial records. At the close of the Civil
War Gen. J. H. Wilson, u. S. ", gave
Gov. Joseph E. Brown a parole. But
when the Governors arrest was later
on demanded from Washington. in or
der to get out4of a "hole' into which
he had put himself. Gen. Wilson tele-
graphed that he did not parole him as
Governor. but as commander-in-ch chief;
thus assuming that the two were dis
tinct and separate offices. The idea is
simply ridiculous. Joseph E. Brown
was commander-in-chief solely because
he was Governor. and the two offices
could not be made independent of each
other even under military rule, as en-
forced by Gen. Wilson at Macon after
the surrender.
In Scribner's Magazine for January
there is a poem by Josephine Dodge
Daskam. entitled THE Sailors Song"
each verse of which closes with this
line, And the mill cannot grind with
the water that is past" Now, this
line appears with no quotation marks,
and yet it is but slightly altered from
popular poem by the late BIT. Maj.
Gen. D. McCallum, U. S. v. in
charge of railroads, under government
control, during the Civil War. His
son, Lieut.. William B. McCallum of
the Fifth United States Artillery, now
dead was well known in Savannah
when his regiment was on duty in
Georgia after the war. Josephine Das-
kan can't Dodge the charge of pla-
giarism in this case. I have no copy
of Gen. McCallum's poem at hand, but
! think his line read something like
this, THE mill will never grind with
the water that has passed" The poem
was extremely popular years ago, and
possesses sufficient merit to keep Gen.
McCallum's name on the list of mono
poets" for years to come. The Das-
kan poem is an ordinary composition.
One Gen. CD George T. Afford of
Texas has been giving a Chicago COR
respondent for his paper a story-some
of it is a story-of the life of Douschka
Pickens of South Carolina, who is said
to have fired the first shot of the Civil
War at Charleston. He says her full
name was "Douschka Olga Neva Fran
els Dorothy Pickens. - Well, can
match it by a death notice in the Sun
day Advertiser of Honolulu, sent me
by DIR. Myers. 1t reads: David San
ford Berkeley Keaoililani Lelo Atch-
erley." Miss Pickens only used her
first name-Douschka- lived to