Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-18
CONFEOERACY'S SCAPEGOAT
DEFENSE OF GEN. NoRTHRoP,
CoMMISSARY GENERAL, C. S. A.
Blunders of Southern Generals Often
Charged to the Subsistence De-
partment-Career Of the Man.

From Spare Moments.
The most abused man Of the Southern
Confederacy was, and still is Lucius Bel
finger Northrop. the commissary general
OF the Confederate State army. From
the first battle of Bu.. Run TO the last
battle before Petersburg. every disaster
to the south was blamed on the comm,,
sary department. and Gen Northrop tts
chief was made the scapegoat of the Con-
federacy. When Beauregard failed to ad-
vance on Washington after his victory at
Manassas, he excused himself by saying
that he was not supplied with sufficient
ratlons, whereas the stores captured at
the battle were enough to feed the Con-
federate army for several weeks. When
appleJack fuddled the brains of some of
the Confederate commanders in the Val
OF Virginia, who, having lost their heads,
lost battle after battle until they were
compelled to retire from every important
strategic point. and thus opened the way
Tor the gradual occupation Of the whole
valley, the Confederate commissary de-
partment was as usual, held responsible.
When Edward A. Pollard wrote his bril-
Hant, out bitterly pretudiced history Of
the lost cause. after denouncing Jefrer-
son Davis as the chief cause of the fall
ure of the Southern Confederacy. he at
tempted to bury Gen. >orthrop under a
sea or obloquy. Senator Foote of Mssis-
sippi, whose deadly enmity to Jefferson
Davis made him traitor to the south
published worthless book after the war.
In which he, also attacked Gen. North
rop. for no other reason than because he
was friend of Mr.. Davis James d.
McCabe, in his life of Gen. Lee initiating
the example of Pollard and Foote, went
out or his way to heap SANDER and abuse
upon the devoted head of the commissary
general. Johnston and Beauregard pur-
n ha al ,txlg
magazines and narratives in books, In
which they endeavored to cover up their
own shortcomings by ascribing their fall
Cres retreats and burnings to the de-
linquency of Gen. Northrop
Under all these various attacks. the
much-abused commissary general remain
ed so quiet that many persons supposed
him either dead or defensaIess He was
neither. but, proudly conscious Of his own
rectitude. he calmly waited for the re-
versal CT the unjust verdict of his enc
mics. knowing that sooner or later the
truth would prevail, and his slandered
reputation be vindcated.
How Northrop Was Appointed.
When the provisional government of the
Confederate states was organized at Mont
gomery, Ala. in January, 1861, Jefferson
Davis wrote to his old West Point friend,
Lucius Bellinger Northrop of Charleston,
'-
commissary general of the Confederate
army. Northrop was at the time prepar-
ing to remove with his family and slaves
to Arkansas, where he intended to engage
In planting cotton on large scale. He
declined the appointment. Mr. Davis
wrote him second and third letter urging
him to accept the position, finally appeal
ing to him in the name of the early
friendship at West Point, and their COM
radeship when serving as young officers in
the Indian Territory. Unable to resist
this last appeal, Northrop abandoned his
own plans and accepted the position thrice
offered to him.
When Northrop was lieutenant of
dragons on the plains, he had been Sc
verely wounded In the knee and was de-
clared by board of medical examiners to
be permanently disabled and unfit for mill
tary service. For twenty years he had
been living at his home In Charleston, re-
ceiving the full pay OF first lieutenant
but when Jefferson Davis became Secre-
tary of War, in the cabinet of President
Pierce, he promoted him to the rank of
captain. During these years Of inaction.
Northrop studied medicine merely to oc-
cupy his mind but with no intention to
adopt it as a profession; he practiced,
however, among the poor without pay.
Endorsed by Jefferson Davis.
Such was the quiet, uneventful life Of
Lucius B. Northrop. until his fiftieth year,
when he was called upon to take promi-
nent part in the most momentous strug-
gle of modern times. Jefferson Davis had
a high opinion of Northrop's ability and
fitness for the position Of commissary gen.
eral, for he said: To direct the produc-
ton, collection, preservation and trans
portation of food for the army required
man of rare capacity at the head of the
department. 1t was our good
fortune to find such a man in L. B. North
rop, who was appointed commissary gen.
eral at the organization of the bureaus of
the executive departments of the Confed-
crate government He had been an off,
Ger of the United States Army, had served
in various parts of the south; had been
for some time on duty in the commits
sariat; and, to special and general knowl-
edge thus acquired, bad strong practical
sense and incorruptibfe integrity. He per-
formed his difficult duty with success"