The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-02-28
GENERAL sICKLEs.

There may be some southern editors
who are still embittered against the
leaders OF the Union army because Of
the victory over the forces of the
south in the memorable struggle Of the
early SOS. The following from The
Atlanta Georgian indicates the editor
Of that publication is not one Of those
who holds an incurable grievance:
The bill which is now pending in
congress to advance Maj Gen. Daniel
E. Sickles to the rank Of lieutenant
general on the retired list of the United
States army calls attention to perhaps
the most distinguished figure in the
surviving group of veterans of the
great civil conflict in America.
More than eighty-fiv years have fur
rowed the brow Of this grim old fighter
for the union flag.
He was known on both sides of the
Atlantic long before the tocsin of war
sounded in 1851.
AS a member OF congress from the
state of New York during the decade
which Immediately preceded the war
he achieved an international reputation
by reason of his superb qualities of
leadership.
To say that not one Of his colleagues
of a half century ago in congress is
alive today, is to state what is doubtless
easily within the limits of exact truth.
He was not product Of West Point
But he possessed the martial spirit.
Moreover, he obtained some little
military experience in the twelfth regf-
ment Of the national guard; and when
the opening guns Of the war were fired
at Fort Sumter he organized and equip
ped at Camp Scott, on Staten Island,
the famous excelsior brigade of United
States volunteers and went to the front.
1t is doubtful II his record for gal
lantry was surpassed on the field of
battle. The fiercest fires of Gettys-
| burg ragged around him; and though
his corps was shattered by Longstreet's
assaulting column, he held his ground
on the left flank Of Little Round Top.
One of his limbs was sacrificed in the
terrific grapple; but for hours after re-
ceiving the wound he remained in the
saddle.
| General Longstreet himself was not
10th to say that the success OF the UNI
ion cause in the most decisive battle of
the war was fundamentally due to
General Sickles.
| Then why should an appreciative
country deny him this boon for the few
remaining days of his now well spent
| career?
When the war was over General
Sickles entered the regular army and
was rapidly advanced from one post of
honor to another
/ During the days of reconstruction he
was in command of the military de-
partment of the Carollnas, but his at
titude toward the southern people was
one of uniform kindness, and to this
effect Governor Orr of South Carolina
has testified.
In 1863 President Grant placed him
on the retired list of the United States
army, with the rank of major general.
! The movement to advance the old
soldier still another notch higher is
doubtless due to the clearer light which
recent investigation has shed upon his
heroic role in the battle of Gettysburg
and to the long life of tenure which has
made him on the list Of generals almost
the sole survivor of the iron drama in
which he bore SO gallant a part.
| If he has not earned the stars of the
| lieutenant general-then who of his
| comrades ever did?
In this era of good win between the
sections, when men of northern birth
are everywhere paying unstinted trib-
ute to Robert e. Lee, IL is no mere per-
functory mood that The Georgian com
mends this movement to honor an IL
lustrious veteran OF the blue, in whose
heart there doubtless never ranked an
unkind feeling toward his comrades of
the gray.