The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-06-24
Some Personal Recollections
 of Late Senator Morgan
By ;. ". DUBOSE


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 first class of citizens, but not to the
 second. Forrest, Hampton, Rodes, Cor l don. great soldiers from civil life. were | never lawyers.
 General Morgan stood high in the es-
 timate of General Wheeler and not in- | frequently was assigned to difficult
 military parts. But 1t did not develop
 that he possessed a soldierly instinct
 comparable to his kinsman. John H. | Morgan. .s
 l Among his later utterances on hts | military services, he confessed he had | possessed no ambitions to be a soldier | lie took very conspicuous part in the
 phenomenal Sequatchie Valley raid Of | General Wheeler in 1863, and as soon | as Wheeler recrossed the Tennessee at Mussels Shoals, he urged that Colonel | Morgan and one or two other officers be promoted for conduct. He was as-
 signed to difficult duty In Longstreet's knoxville campaign. He was brave l and earnest. but did not love war for 1 the sake of war.
 On or about June 20. 1864, in the midst of Johnston's Dalton-Atlanta campaign, about Marietta Brigadier General w. W. Allen was ordered to supercede General Morgan. The latter was ordered to Alabama and Mississip- pi on military duty of staff nature | and remained in those States thereaf- | ter He had a camp near Uniontown Tor slaves who might volunteer in the Confederate army when the end came. Upon hearing In his tent of Appomat- tox, he exclaimed: Tt will now be a man to man fight to maintain the right to live In Alabama" Prophetic words | indeed! Words forecasting a part he himself was to act--which is immor- | tal
 Leaving his camp as citizen, Gen. eral Morgan returned to his home in Cahaba, where he was met by an ar pltrary order of the government at Washington debarring a class of law yers under which he fell, from prac- tice. Seeing this, he hitched his war horse to the blow and stood himself between the handles, while his little son dropped the seed corn.
 It was not long, however, before the law firm of Byrd, Morgan and Lapsley opened office. Wm Byrd was elected 10 the Supreme Court by the hegisla- ture of 1S65-66. The law firm then be- came Morgan, Lapsley and Nelson. This law partnership received a very large business. I remember a case which illustrates how fees ran at the time. gentleman of Greensboro went to Selma to consult General Nor gan. He as administrator of his de- ceased fathers estate, had subscribed cotton to the Confederate war. It de- veloped that his authority for the sub scription was wanting and he desired to know how to save the cotton from the United States agents. All day he could not find Morgan. About dusk he ran upon him at a livery stable. about to drive to Cahaba, where he yet lived, for the night. In two minutes Morgan gave the necessary instructions there. on the spot to save the cotton. The cotton was saved and the client had a Tee Of $500 to pay for the advice of two minutes long.
 Rice and Morgan were the counsel of stanton, of Alabama and Chattanooea Railroad fame. This relation to stan ton brought Morgan and Governor Lindsay into collision. Morgan was one of the very few lawyers in Ala bama who could have maintained pub- lie confidence and Stanton's fees at one and the same time.
 The Campaisn of 1874. When the campaign of 1874 was about to take form,s for ousting the carpet-baggers. the trouble cropped out to find @ candidate for Governor, to lead 1t. Morgan was the first thought of every body among the redeemers. It was wonderful how sentiment turn ed to him. He declined peremptorily. When Houston found the leadership forced upon him, Morgan left his office and made a searching canvass of many counties in the hill country. This was a grand and glorious work. He told his family 1t was the only way left to him to save a home worth the having 1t was wonderful personal achieve ment and this little incident, told by himself, illustrates the kind of work he did. All alone, he was riding his poney to meet an appointment Near the road in grove of oaks he saw horses tied to trees, side saddles on many, and suspected at once that the usual summer protracted meeting was going on in the church hard by. Tie ing his poney, he entered the door where a devout congregation sat, and took a back seat. As soon as the preacher in the pulpit finished, coun- try man at the head of the row of seats rose, announcing the presence of General Morgan and suggesting that he be invited to address the audience at once. Morgan took the pulpit, turned over the leaves of the big Bible. took a text and delivered a speech ot two hours, which he laughingly de- clared was the best he had delivered in the campaign.
 An idea of his standing at the bar in the estimation of lawyers is formed
 
 Toombs came to Selma, about 1873, to address an Agricultural Fair, he ex- pressed a desire to prolong his visit one day to hear Morgan and Brooks discuss a point of law from opposing sides in the Circuit Court. A citizen of Selma, an educated Englishman. in- formed me that he very reluctantly took his seat on the jury. Morgan was defending a criminal case. He rose to addres the jury. The English man had never heard him before. He spoke in a conventional tone and in manner so natural. that when four hours of his harangue had been con stunned, this juror at least regretted the spech was over.
 It so happened that had exceptional opportunities for observing General Morgan's habits as lawyer. at the zenith of his practice. He habitually went to his desk after an early break fast. He did not leave until o'clock His carriage then took him home to dinner and took him back to the desk, about o'clock. He worked then until II o'clock at night This was the routine, seven days in every week, in the busy season. I remember he attended the wedding of one General I1ouaoa,s dau0hterS in Selma, in the