The Savannah morning news., 1904-02-21
SIDNEY HERBERTS LETTER
Facts of Interest to Confederate and Union
Veterans and Others

! Milt Saul, the Washington corre-
spondent of the Atlanta Journal, has
I been inspecting the Confederate flag
! records at the War Department in that
| city, and the following items will in
| terest Savannah Confederate veterans:
"3S9-Battle Nag of the Seventh Geor-
| gia. S27--Battle flag of the Fiji
| tenth Georgia, captured by Corpl. John
| Keough, Company e, Sixty-seventh
| pennsylvania Volunteers, at the battle
| of Sailors Creek. Va, April g. 1865.
No. 5O2--Rebel flag. Captured by
Warren Dockum, private Company H,
| One Hundred and Twenty-frst New
York Volunteers, in~the engagement at
J Sailors Creek, April 8, 1865. Inscrip-
I ton, For Our Affairs and Our
| Hearth. Savannah Volunteer Guards.
| 1852. Loaned to Col. r. Olcott, One
| Hundred and Twenty-first New York
| Volunteers BY order of the Secretary
of War (IIon-. Z. M. Stanton)." The
| other flags mentioned are of the First
| Georgia (Col. Ramsey, Twelfth Geor-
/ gia, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth,
| Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty first,
! Thirty-fifth,. Forty-ninth, Forty-fourth,
I Forty fifth, Forty-eighth, Forty ninth.
| Sixtieth, Seventy-sixth, a Cobb's Lee
| gion flag, a Clayton county flag, and
a Confederate flag with coat Of arms
| of Georgia. and two flags captured in
| the fight at Columbus, the last impor-
| tant conflict of the war. All these
/ flags are In the attic of the War De-
| partment building and will not be
loaned or returned to their old CONF
mands.
| don't see much point in the MRS.
/ Clevelands Joke" about pants and
I 'pantaloons." Both Mrs. C. and her
teacher were wrong, from, a legal
| standpoint. Pants" and ''pantalooEs''
are not recognized in courts Of Justice,
| as the proper name for these articles
| is trousers" The Mexican Herald
| announces the arrival in the City Cl
| Mexico of Mr.. Albert Percival Whip
| pie from Rochester N. Y, whose
| wardrobe was contained in fourteen
| trunks, one item alone being 13S pairs
| of-not pants" nor ''pantaloons." but
| trousers All advertisements Of
| army quartermasters, for clothing,
| contain the word trousers" 1t may
| be true, as Mrs. Cleveland's teacher
| wrote her, that gents wear pants,
| gentlemen wear pantaloons," but she
| failed to add that men-solders and
| sailors wear trousers. Inc
| Augusta Herald publishes a list Of liv-
| ing Confederate ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
| but errs in giving Gen. Buckner sec
| ond place. The list should be: Ste
| phen ID. Lee and Andrew p. Stewart
| and Simon b Buckner and Joseph
| Wheeler, all West Pointers. Lee and
| Stewart were commissioned the same
day June 20, 1864; Buckner on Sept.
| 20, same year: Wheeler on Feb. Is,
| 1865. Longstreet was commissioned
| Oct 9. 1862, but the next day Hardee,
| Polk, Holmes and Jackson were also
| commissioned.
! Gen. H. ". Boynton. U. s. ", the
| once noted Washington, d. c., newspa.-
| gefd after Gilman.
! Peck and Colby, three distinguished
| college educators. for the "glaring err
| rors'' in their New international En-
| clycopedia;" but a typographical error
| in his criticism puts the ordinary read
er in fog. Gen. ID. T. Hill rs re-
| ferred to. Now there was Lieut..
| Gen. Al. p. Hill and Lieut.. Gen. d.
| H. Hill, and the perplexity comes from
not knowing which letter is incorrect.
l Did he mean d. III. or A. p, and was
| the error in the D. or the r? This
may seem a small affair to some OF
my readers, yet IL involves the reputa-
/ ton of a great general. Too much care
| cannot be exercised in the matter or
| natnes. which should always be made
| plain. Tflere are some names that cam
| not be used In condensed form, sucn
as J. b. Gordon and r.. HI. Anderson.
| for example. as John b. Gordon and
! James b. Gordon and Richard H. An
| dcrson and Robert H. Anderson were
| Confederate generals. In all the histo-
| ries and official records of the Civil
/ War confusion arises from the failure
| TO properly designate the officer, and
not put 1t Gen. Lee or Gen.. Johnston,
! or Gen. johnson or Gen. Walker, there
being several generals of the same
name.
Military writer's who simply say
Gen. Jones' or Gen. Lee" or Gen.
| Anderson" compel their readers to go
| to great deal Of trouble to find ont
| just who they mean. Now the Ma
| tional Tribune refers to Gen. Jones'
at Piedmont. Well. there were six
generals in the Confederate states
Army named Jones' four of them West
Pointers. There were also eight An
dersons, six of them West Pointers, and
six Lees. five West Pointers, and all
ex-United States Army officers. OF the
eight Walkers. five had been In the
United States Army. There were two
j. B. Gordons-John and James-two
r. H. Andersons--Dick and Bob-and
three Fitzhugh Lees--"Fitz' and Will
liam Fitzhugh ard William Henry Fitz-
hugh--which shows the necessity OF
properly designating the officer refer
sed to by his full name. Gen, Barlow
saw the name OF Gen. J. b. Gordon in
the list of killed and thought 1t was
h Gen John b. Gordon of Georgia, and
did not discover the mistake for some
time. The officer killed was Gen. James
b. Gordon of North Carolina. But only
a few days ago saw Our Gallant Cor
don" called by newspaper James =.
Gordon" The death notice OF Mr.. ID.
b. Meginnis of Tallahassee. IN the
Times Union, says his daughter is the
wife OF Col w. II. Wssells, U. 8. A.
Father Gem and son both II. w. W.
1 see that Midshipulan Bradley y.
Johnson, grandson Of the late Gen.
Bradley T.. johnson. escaped expulsion
at Annapolis for bad conduct through
family influence, but was given pub
lie warning for the future. This Is
the young man who was cadet at the
Virginia Military Institute and was ex-.
PEELED for hasing Gen. johnson was
then alive and strong influences were
brought to bear for Cadet Bradley's re-
admission, but the board of visitors
fully sustained Gen. Scott Ship, the
| efficient superintendent, and the boy
was later on appointed TO the Naval
Academy, where his conduct seems not
10 have improved. Supt. tCaptD
| Brownson has appealed to Congress
not to repeal or alter the law prohibit
ing expelled cadets from being restored
And Supt. Mills at West Point protests
against it's repeal. have often stated
that the defects in discipline at both
institutions grew out Of political infiu-
o.oo tt,uf oIfoxepd congreear1au to have