The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1907-01-31
A Welcome Truth Comes Out.
Charlotte Otyrerver.

In due course OF mail W. received
The following, III The nature Of ii per-
s,nitI litter, of date December 31.t,
{ ON IL we. .-kn bwn North CdrOliulan,
ana enuuIh have published It ere this:
j Your edit Orial of the Both on GeII-
eral Lee. i, interesting, and partlcu-
larly wLerrin it spoke oi Gtnrral
! Lrr's hIgli opinion III Generai X. r.
/ Huke. 1t IL EOJ generally known
/ that III 1864, after General Long
! street had bten wounded and General
! EweIl broke down, that upcn the au
thoritIes at Richmond ask ing Gener
IA. Lee who should succeed him in
commIhlId OF the Army Of North NIr
gInId III cast any lnisllap SHOULD be
faIl INN, Ia. .ir-I InnaieI General HOk..
! | know that such nds the rumDr Al
| the army III the summer Ul 1864, be-
cause heard 1t talked about by Cell
-rhl Bryan Grimes aud his staff dur
in1 General EarIy's crlrbrate. cam
! pn IN III the Nhliri; ald th~re Is this
further tact thdt look, Ike corrobnr-
alton:
! After the battles at SpOtsylvania
|
! nuOw. lOliuwrd Grant in his swing by
| ag,. lea tiHuk towards Richmond
| Dur!I- ttInj HI,,V'.IIeiIl, ,Dn che North
Aun river GeA. Ice so nlan-uver.d
IL To pee Ills army III wedge shape.
AIth the river III his front aud the
! / HHkceH on each lace OF the wedge,
Ind they remained III that position
| ,fr a ar 4 al ~
| ears ago III rOuVtI natIUu with Gen
..r,l II Dkr | asked him why it was
,hat General Lee iailed to take ad-
vantage of his mt rlOr position, lnass
lDn one Of Grants fanks and destroy
tIt. General HOke replied that such
had been General Lees plan but that
before he COul. Q .eCu'e t. suffered
III almost coinI'lete collapse from
OVcrwOrk an,. nervous exhaustion
II nee the Inactivity OF the army for
-,-yeral days. General HOke al o
said that for IL week or more General
Lee rode Ill ali Ambulance and that
nr knew these 10 be i cts because at
that time lie WAS III daily cOmrnuni-
cation with General Lee
81 then asked General HOke of the
truth Of the above report that ne
had been selected to take charge OI
OF the army III case General Lee should
Decome disabled TO this he made
no reply but began talking about
something else. | have from the
above fats always believed the re-
port WIS true.
NO one has IL higher regard for
General HOkr than |, but he owes it
to his State as well as to himself and
children TO tell many things about
the war that will die with him if he
does not, and in particular his inter
view with Governor Vance the day
General JOhnston's army fell back
through Raleigh. | am satisfied that
much history was made that morning
that has never, SO far as | know
been written
The writer of the above letter read
OF course with pleasure, the following
paragraph form the Raleigh cores
pondence in yesterdays Observer
confirming his story fully:
Your correspondent may say that
General Hoke has at last broken his
silence in regard to the tender to him
OF the position of commanding gen
rral of the army i'll case General Lee
became unable to fill it, On one oc
casion while riding with General Let
the latter told General Hoke that he
very much feared his health woull
break down and that to guart
against such Il contingency he haC
informed President Davis and tn,
cabinet that in such an event he wish
ed General Hoks to command tn,
armies of the Confederate States. [
is of course known that Il cabine
session was held. at which this mat
ter was discussed and all the arrange
ments made, but General Lee hpaltl
did not give away and so the steI
was pot made necessary
1t will be recalled that General Jul
lau s. Carr, in his article on Lee il
the Wake Forest Student for Jan
uary, reviewed in the Observer O
Monday last, developed the fOregG
. ing facts.
II What wonderful man Genera
Hoke Is, The Confederate govern
| ment stood ready toconfer upon him
If occasion arose, the highest homo
! ut it's commands; yet he kept the Sc
| cret locked in his own breast 70
! more than forty years, resorted t
! evasion or silence when interrOgate
= on the subject, and only spoke whe
it became public property throug
agencies other than his own. He di
not become commander of the Arm
OF Northern Virginia, because the il
domitable will of the great commano
er Sustained him to the end; but h
had been chosen to succeed him
e. the event of General Lees collaps
- and the fact is a crown of glory t
him and to North Carolina
They like the taste as we'll as maple suga
L IL " hut pnp II, NJ hnr yyrpta of K dy's To