The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-01-19

1
i'm Gen. Grants closing campaign, one
and a dozen more OF them, few feet
away. with guns aimed where they
would do most harm, If discharged,
demanded surrender.
Within three quarters OF an hour
stood face to face with the great Con-
federate soldier.
When. I'm a gentle voice. full, of SYM
pathy. he looked ut a wounded NeN
York major and asked, "Are you badly
wounded, major?" and the major said
he was and Lee replied, II am sorry,
am sorry, major; take good care of
him gentlemen" ] joined i'm saluting
the enemy's leader, great man with
a gentle, kindly heart.
A moment later the IDOL of the Con-
I federacy with his staff and escort.
was hurryng to the field whore a por-
ton of Gen. Warrcn's Fifth corps was
driving the Confederate Gen. Mellow
ans division back to white Oak road.
The next morning. while our defect
ed band OF prisoners was on its way to
st. Petersburg, Gen. Lee, his staff
and escort were met They were rid
ing rapidly, for already Sheridan hal
begun his successful attack at Five
Forks. | recall my feeling as | look
ed into the troubled, anxious face II
the speeding general that forenoon in
! 1865 when | said to . friend II. hope
Gen. Lees army win be soundly whip
ped today. and that our folks do moth
ing worse than capture him."
/ have related these incidents for the
purpose of saying that while they led
to growth of admiration for the
man Lee and the Gen. Lee. the man
and the general who at the most crit
ical moment of his military life could
ark dying soldier what he asked tho
New York major, and then, with Is
/ much sympathy as n fond mother
might address u dying son, say: Il
am sorry, I am sorry" has nothing
whatever to do with my firm belief
that no northern soldier or citizen
should raise II voice or put an obstacle
in the way of placing a statue Of Gen.
Lee in the hall OF fame at Washington.
There are many reasons why | give
: expression 20 this belief. In the first
place, the law OF Congress gives each
state the right To place in the Hall Of
Fame statues of two persons chosen
by the state. Nothing is said as 30
how the statues shah be madc--how
clad What pleased Illinois should
have been accepted. Wisconsin chose
Pere Marquette. and in the garb of Il
Catholic missionary priest. a few peo-
lple criticised Wisconsin for the selec-
ton, particularly the garb in which
the statue appeared, but Wisconsin
had her way as she should have done.
| Virginia, without a dissenting voice
chose George Washington and Robert
f. Lee. Does it not so without say
| ing that these are two of the greatest
Virginians?
1t is insisted by some that the statue
of Gen. Lee should not exhibit the
Confederate uniform. Virginia chose
Lee in his uniform and Washington
in his. Both, it is true, wore the uni
forms lighting their respective coun-
tries.
Unquestionably, II was a source of
real pleasure To every Virginian who
served under Gen. Lee. and to every
living Confcd rate soldier, and the
south. generally. that Virginia desired
that the statue of Gen. Lee should
show him in the uniform of the great
general they little less than worship
ped and her soldiers willingly fought
under.
AS northern soldier | am frank to
say that i'm this late day, nearly half =
century after Gen. Lees surrender at
Appomattox, where he and his soldiers
were so generously treated by another
great American general, to whom he
surrendered, that | am glad to see the
old Confedcrates who followed Lee,
made glad. What harm can come from
making them glad? What danger Is
there in the gray uniform? IL is but a
memory. 1t makes Gen. Lee none the
less one of the very first generals of
the American republic of the world
who, before wearing that uniform, had
honored the United States as but few
officers of his rank had ever honored
IL.
In years to come the fame of such
soldiers as Grant and Lee, Sherman
and Stonewall Jackson, Sheridan and
Longstrect Thomas and Joe Johnston.
Meade and Joe Wheeler, will contrib
ute largely TO the honor and glory af
the American nation, and few will stoD
to ask which army they served in.
They were leaders In the greatest
event the nation has known. an event
that absolutely had to come II America
was to become the great nation that IT
u.s. ana Is To be, the first of all of the
nations In the wiGe world Comprom-
Using had failed to cure the cancer:
all other efforts had failed; and MANY
OF them had been made by the most
able and distinguished of our states
men.
only the clash OF arms. the thrust of
bayonets. the rattle OF muskctry and
the Shrek of shells and solid shot
could constitute the needed remedy
Tor the correction OF something TINT
sim plV had Ia a. ,,r-..t.1 a.