The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-11-11

The Great Commander as Capt. L. n.
Grise Remembered Him.

Yorkviile Enquirer.
Mis- Mary Johnston's latest novel.
The Long Roll" 10 getting q lot Of
valuable advertising because OF the
authors alleged ignorant and men,
dacious Misrepresentation Of the
character of Stonewali jackson. We
have not read Miss Johnston's book.
but understand that the row has teen
raised because the author has repre-
sented the famous general az a boor-
ian. unbalanced fellow. fond Of dis
pay. and dissatisfied. because ne dId
not Get the measure Of rec ignition to
which his merits entitled him. Al
though the present editor Of the En-.
ouirer has no nrst hand information
TO offer. ne feels - well qualified to
deny this impression az II he had
served under Jackson himself This
remark 10 based partly bn tho tact
that he has read hundreds Of hon
est pages about this red oubtable SOL
der. but more particularly on the
Testimony OF the late L. N. 0rist. the
writer's father. who was captain OF
Company A. 18th South Carolina vol
unteerS who belonged to Jackson's
command and who came In personal
contact with him on several occa-
siona The nrst time ever saw
Gen. Jackson the writer once heard
Capt 0rist say. ''was on the occasion
Of the capture Of Msnasas juno
ton. In August 1ss2. The Junction
was depot of supplies belonging to
the Yankee army. and our men were
almost famished. not having had a
satisfying meal for days II was very
we'll understood that We were to re-
main at the junction but q short time,
Ind Il developed upon me personally
TO see that my company got a share
OF the captured provisionA Under
the circumstances. the most practical
way to get what was wanted was to
nnd Gen. Jackson himself. did tnis
coming upon the General by the side
Of long train OF freight cars. There
were about him. coming and going. a
larsc number OF oficers In full uni
form. and. % far an appearance went.
he was the most inconspicuous man
In sight. He ala not even have
sword. I saiuted and told him what
wanted. Immediately he pointed to
commissary house a hundred yards
away. and told me to 90 there and
set my supplies. Accompanied by q
half dozen men did as directed. re-
peated Gen. Jackson's verbal orders
and got everything that the members
of my company needed. There was a
plenty for everybody. and to spare,
but 90 far az the provisions were con-
cerned. we did not got the benefit of
more than two square meals. because
almost everything had to be thrown
away In the march to Manassas
Plains. Jackson looked to me like a
very ordinary kind Of a fellow until
he spoke and when he spoke. you not
only felt. but knew that you had the
law. The feeling Of the men was, and
! shared II to a greater extent than
ever shared such feeling with regard
to any other man had ever seen be-
fore or have ever seen since, that Gen.
Jackson was the living emb odiment Of
righteous duty. There was no selfish
ness In his makeup. He knew no
master except Almighty God. and
considered Gen. Lees orders as COM
Ing from the Master. There was
never a minute that Jackson was un-
willing TO take any risk or share any
peril that he required Of the humb-
lest common soldier. and ne never
spared himself any more than he
spared his soldiers. There were
thousands who thought Jackson
should have been commander-in.
chief OF tho Confederate forces. but
there is no good reason to think that
he ever aspired to or desired such n
position. He had absolute confidence
In and the highest admiration for Gen
Lee. and even II the authorities had
desired TO place him over Lee. the
probability Is that he would not have
been willing to submit to the change.
Had Lee been killed during Jackson's
lifetime. there was no question as to
who would have been his successor. {"
10 In not To be- expected that the
general public will be impressed by
all this as the writer was impressed
but 10 far az we are concerned. that
is our estimate Of stonewaIl Jackson,
and no writer OF novels or history.
living Or dead can change that I'm, :