The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-03
SIDNEY HERBERT'S LETTER
Facts of Interest to Confederate and un,on
Veterans and Others

iva SNEk(l ..
| Speediiy eliminated from any school
0ooA N which it is printed.
! Rev. f. Henry Bvrons Ca.
| tlohal preacher at New Smvrna M
VINO mas published numerous news,
| paper articles in favor of a. ..C.ro,,5 %
unioH OF the Blue and the Grav.' has
Mrltlen me n long letter in favor Of
S ne movement, and asks nv assistance
MY experience with these reunions bas
not peen gratifying, and I think the
oe.ser way is to quietly exemplifv
= lrdlef4al spirit in our daily lives.
l came South in 1869, and have ever
s,ii'.i4 practlced this helpful, fraternal
spirit. On the train coming South I
shared my lunch and my warm travel
ing robe with one-armed Confederate
soldler. That was over thirty wears
ago. ana L have kept it up ever since
even 10 marrying the daughter of a
confederate who gave his life to the
cause he espoused. ! have no desire
10 throw cold water on Rev. Nj. Fvrons'
movement, but am now too old and
teeoIe TO participate In it. Perhaps
the younger and more ambitions vete
rams OF the Blue and Gray may 90 into
TINS movement and make it a success.
think, however, that very little real
good comes from such reunions.
The Kimberly Publishing
company, of Kansas City, Mo-, promi
hent western military publishers, have
sent me The Cavalry Horse and His
rack, by Lieut.. John J. Boniface.
Fourth U. S. Cavalry, and the Cadets
Handbook" by Capt. John A. Lock-
wood, U. S. A. Both are books of
great value and should be in the hands
OF Georgia cavalry officers and instruc-
tors IN our schools and colleges with
cadet corps. THE Cavalry" book con-
tains over 500 pages and is profuseIv
Illustrated. Lieut.. Boniface covers the
Whole range of cavalry duties in the
care, training, use, ETC., of the horse
ana the duties of an up-to-date cavalry
man. Col. P. w. Meldrim should have
copies of this valuable publication nut
IN the hands of his cavalry troop com
manders. 1t is perfect encyclopedia
Oh cavalry horse information, and its
publication indicates that the day of
the cavalry is far from being over.
NO book of this size and value has vet
been offered cavalrymen, so far as |
have seen. 1t is a horse book through
and through.
1t is not generally known that An
napolis, Md, the home of the U. S.
Naval Academy, was originally named
Port Royal" and that next to st. An
gustine, Fla, it is the oldest city in
the United States. A Masonic stone
was unearthed al Annapolis, bearing
date of 1906. and has been preserved
as the Oldest Masonic relic in the coun-
try. Old Fort Anne and other de-
fences of the French and English were
Of
the city of Port Royal. The remains
Of the ancient powder magazine, the
stone to build which came from France,
are to this day one of the great at
fractions to visitors to Annapolis. It
is very singular fact that the Mill
tary Academy at West Point, N. Y,
and the Naval Academy at Annapolis,
Md, are both located on grounds fam
Gus for their ancient military history.
The Cadets at the former and the
midshipmen at the latter can find in
spiration in the old forts and other
defenses, whose remains yet tell the
story of early battles. Of course, as
compared to modern defenses and up
to-date warfare these old relics are
somewhat curious looking. AS the poet
says:
Little of all we value here
W dhES Ol4 int lIlOIll VI us
year.
Without both feeling and looking
queer"
The people of Blakely, in Early coun-
ty, may be interested to know that the
famous writer, Cyrus Townsend Brady,
is just now contributing to the big
Sunday issues of the Boston, Mass,
Herald, a serial story of very thrill
ling character, entitled, I'm the Wasp's
Nest" 1t is a sort of historical novel,
or narrative, having for it's ground
work the remarkable naval exploits of
Capt. Johnston Blakely, u. S. N, of
the Inflated sloop of War Wasp, lost at
sea, with all on board, in 1875. Capt.
B. was a North Carolinian and be-
came a midshipman in 1900, and reach
ed a captaincy in 1914. l presume this
narrative will be published in book
form by Charles Scribner's sons, as
they own the copyright. 1t will prove
valuable addition to our naval his
torical works of this character. as it
deals largely with the operations of
Capt Blakely's fighting sloop of war
always ready for the enemy.
Mr. Irving H. Kings article, THE
Fighting Families of the American Re-
public" was quite interesting, as far
as it went, but it failed to include
many fighting families-some in Geor-
gia-quite as worthy of notice as those
presented in the article, which appear
ed in a recent Sunday issue of the
Morning News. I see that he refers
to Gen. Nathaniel Greene, and states
that thirteen of the Greenes were in
the army or navy Irregular or volun-
teer) during the Civil War. The Mer-
GERS are mentioned in this article, as
they we'll deserved to be, but Georgia