The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-29
The "Reminiscences
 Of Gen. WoodlUard
BY WILL T. STEPHAN.
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 coming of Andrew Dexter, who hunt ed and killed deer within a few yards of what ia now Dexter Avenue. who saw an Indian village on the West End biuff, and talked with Arthur Moore, a white man living there in that, year, man who lived among the Indians. when the Creek Nation stood for the most populous Indian territory of the country. a man who fought with and against Indians with Andrew Jackson and General Macintosh, a man who commanded the escort for General La- fayette through the State of Alabama in 1S24 and who was present when Governor Pickens received the French patriot on the hill where the Capitol now stands; a man who knew Alabama when it was Indian country and who knew 1t when the white man first entered it--such a man will in the columns of The Advertiser tell plain. unvarnished story of 1t all.
 The Advertiser will from Sunday to Sunday print The "Reminiscences or General Thomas S. Woodward. They contain the finest pieces of personal history of the Indians and the first white men of Alabama that were ever put into print. Their value as hfstor- icaI matter, both for localities and for the State, ere beyond calculation.
 To every reading Alabamian they BnOul0 nave ah AUSOEOAnB AhtCi Co~s They give him a chapter fin the life of his State that he would never have found The series should be preserved in every scrap book in Alabama. The letters were, of course, not writ ten directly for the benefit of The Advertiser. The old warrior has long since gone to rest and lies buried in the soil of Louisiana, which was his home in the evening of a successful life. He was born in Ebert County. Ga. in 1794. The letters which form his rem iniscences were written in 1857, when he was entering a green old age at Wheeling. La.
 Written in 1857.
 The inspiration for the letter was no less person than Johnson J. Hoop CT, the author of simon Suggs," and the editor of The Montgomery Mail, a famous weekly in the old days. Gem eral Woodward had written chatty letter to his old friend. Horseshoe Ned' Hanrick, famous among pioneer Montgomerians and in this letter he had spoken of hunting on what IS now the business district of Montgomery. Hooper, a fine editor in his time. in- stantly saw the value of history writ ten by such d man. He urged General Woodward to the writing of his rem iniscences, and the old gentleman con- piled.
 Mir. Hooper published most of them in The Montgomery Mall. Others, one of which dealt particularly with the fight with Indians tn which General Woodward rescued a,white woman from Indian slavery, were published in Cofunabg,s -Gasge paper~--y-M Mrse Hooper later gathered them together and pub- liahed them in pamphlet form.
 But this was before the war ana much water has run under the bridge A aR fhA aaFnnhlAl containing the "reminiscences are rare. There may be several copies hidden away in old libraries. but the known copies in Montgomery number two, one owned by the state Department ot Archives and History and one by Ma for J. D. Barron. Believing that these letters present a picture of Indian ana pioneer life, from it's very rarity in existing literature which should Do of fascinating interest to Twentieth Century Alabamians The Advertiser will present the "reminiscences, Just as they are written.
 The field of General Woodward was quite different from that occupied by Col Albert James Pickett, who wrote the noted history of Alabama. Gem eral Pickett was the student-histo- rfan. a man of literary finish and pol ish, one who wrote as far as 1t went the best State history yet written. Colonel Pickett was the talented and trained historian who studied events. recorded them accurately and dressed them an the finest Of English.
 General Woodward was the soldier writing his Fecollections with fingers more accustomed to the bowie knife and trigger than to the pen. He wrote tust as he talked, plain and straight forward. Those who read the letters can feel that they are members or party sitting about a fireside while fine old Indian fighter recounts his experiences and adventures. But the letters show a remarkable lnteilect' General Woodward was strong man in his day, one who stood high among his fellows as one whom 1t pleased ms people to honor. The sense and foEe shown in the letters are sufficiently indicative of his strong character.
 POintn In Indian History.
 HA differed with Colonel Pickett on a couple of matters relating to the Indians of Alabama and stated his difference in a straightforward man ner. But for the historian he always entertained the highest respect Colonel Pickett was inclined to hold to that romatic theory which mas gained support in many quarters that the Indians were descended originally from the lost tribes of Israel cen eraI Woodward, after spending his life among them saw absolutely nothing that would sustain this theory.
 Colonel Pickett held that AIeXander Mcesillivray was the ablest man 0f Indian blood that ever lived and he called him 'The Alabama Talleyrand. General Woodward declared that while McGilliyray was a good man in ms v,av he was not out of the ordinary and that he had not enough education ta write the letters which bore his name and upon which his fame was built. These letters. General Wood- I,ard said were written by an educat- ed scotchman Edward Leslie, who was onA of the smartest men that ever had dealings with the Indian Nation.
 Ont of these minor differences there grew A brief controversy which was conducted in good humer and with mutual respect.
 In his preface to the pamphlet or letters .Mg. Hooper wrote:
 "one or two of the letters address, aA to the late lamented Colonel Albert Pickett. who did his state so much ServIce and himself so much credit by bis elaborate history of Alabama were ra,.er seen by that gentleman. They x,ara received by the writer about the tt,ne of Colonel Pickett's last illness. n, one of his letters General Wood ,,,.rd nays a sincere tribute to the r,en1orv of his old friend. In the same letter he speaks his admiration of and his regard for two other prominent Alabamians lately deceased-Governor Arthur P. Bagby and Colonel Charles McI.emore of Chambers County.
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