The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-03-25
WRONG RlGE1IED
An Old Veterans Petition Turned Down
and Brand, d as False.
WANTS His PENSION

WANTS HIS PENSION
A. s. salley, Jr., State Historian,
Writes an Article in Which He
Cites His Unbc unded Faith in the
Honor Of the Gallant Old Conaed.
crate Soldiers.
Confederate veterans ought to be
chary indeed about disputing claims
made for pensions by others, more
especially when their only reliance
for such action is upon their men,
ories, after the lapse of nearly half
a centur. So thinks Secretary A.
s. Salley, Jr., of the State historical
commission, who cites recent n
stance where the State board Of pen
sions, guided wholly by the PERSONA
recollections Of member, disap-
proved an application for a pension,
when examination of the records
showed the applicant to have made
statement entirely truthful, even tc
have undervalued his own military
service; for he did not mention i'll
his papers the fact that he was cap
tured and kept for several months IN
Federal military prison.
The applicant was Private j. W.
Crook, now living near st. George,
who claimed that he served in Com
pany H, 18th South Carolina Volun.
teers. After his application had been
disapproved, member OF the board
who served in the 18th regiment hav-
ing declared he remembered no such
man in that command, Mr.. Salley
wrote to Washington for informa-
tion and was advised that such a
person had been a member Of the
company and regiment as stated In
the application.
In reference to the pension contro-
versy, the following signed article
has been given the press by Mr.. A. S.
Salley, Jr.:
AS the Confederate records OF this
State are in my custody as secretary
of the historical commission Of South
Carolina, and as I am engaged in
working them into shape for practi-
cal use, l feel that / should have
something to say in the matter OF the
controversy now going on in the
newspapers over the condition of the
pension rolls. It has been alleged
that there are men drawing pensions
who did not render service in the
commands whics they claim on their
pension papers 10 have served in. In
every case officers or men who are
known to have served in those COM
mands swear that the applicant did
so serve. Therefore, If the claim Is
false the applicants have perjured
themselves. I ho not believe that
such Is the case. No evidence but
the memory of individuals sustains
the charge. I have been engaged in
historical study now for over twenty
years and for over IL years historical
work has been my chief business oc-
cupation. My experience teaches me
that the memory of man is a very
treacherous thing and that the hu-
man mind rebels at accuracy. An
old soldier can not possibly remember
man as being in his own company
If that man was not in that company,
but if the man was in the company
and one of his former comrades does
remember him then that feat of MEM
ory Is a much more reasonable feat
of memory that that Of the man who
does not remember any such conf
rade, yet is willing to assert that no
such man was in his company or reg
iment. l have jlst done a little in
vestigating on a case that came to
my attention when the pension board
met last week and the result of 1t is
an excellent illustration Of the frall-
ty of the human recollection of such
matters. A member Of the pension
board for whom / have strong per-
sonal liking came into my office with
an application for pension from j..
W. Crook of Dorchester county, and
said to me: "Now, here IS man
from Dorchester county who says he
was a member OIL Company H, Elev-
enth regiment, and I will swear that
there was no such man in that COM
pany, for l was a member of that reg
lment and I don't remember any such
man. Let's look Oh yonr rolls and
see if his name Is there" I replied:
my friend, toese rolls were COM
piled from memory after the war by
survivors of the various commands,
and the people who handled them
before I took charge Of them were
unframed in such work and they are
not to be relied upon We looked
on the roll Of Company II, Eleventh
regiment and, sure enough, Mr..
Crooks name was not there. Thai
convinced my friend Of the pension
board that Mr. Crooks claim vas
false, but it did not convince me. |
pointed out the fact that two men
whose names were on the roll in my
Office had sworn that Mr.. Crook had