McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1916-07-14
NEW YORK
LETTER

to a young lady from Columbia,
Maury county, one of the finest and
most prosperous sections in Tennes-
see. When this sweet thing heard
| was from McNairy county, she blurt-
cd out: why, | always heard that
McNairy was the poorest county in
the Statew There was no use in try
ing to teach her that McNairy was
full of self-respecting, self-support-
ing citizenship, and was by no means
the poorest portion of Tennessee. If
it had been my father instead of me,
he would, with his native wit, have
said to the young lady: Perhaps so,
but no McNairy lady would be SO i'm
polite as to say that about another
county" didn't think of that till
the next day, and it was perhaps just
as well, for the maiden had red hair,
and | had none to lose myself. What
| did tell her was that almost any
county was poor when compared with
Maury. but that we McNairians prided
ourselves on the output Of men and
women, second to none in the State;
and that | had seen land in Coffee and
Pickett counties that took ten acres
to raise a bushel Of wheat -and it
wasn't much wheat at that.
| wrote once of the wonderful rise
in the world Of a Chewala boy, Hon.
James L. Wilmeth, now Chief Clerk of
the United States Treasury Depart
ment at Washington, and am going
to say something about another one
Of our boys that has the makings of a
mighty big man in him Al Lea, son
of Glenn Lea, the noted farmer. But
just now my remarks will be directed
to the "noblest Roman OF them all,''
General Marcus J. Wright, of the
War Department at Washington
The General has now entered his
eighty-ifth year, but if you were to
go to his office in the granite palace
where the land defenses of the Unit
ed States are administered, adjoining
the White House, and tell him that
you were from McNairy county, he
would drop his most important work
and tell you to sit down and tell him
your name. Then, if you we're Nc
Marian "from way back" he would
tell you all about your relatives, and
treat you like son.
There will not be room to tell the
military and literary history Of Gen.
eral Wright here. 1t has been told
many times, in public documents
When he completed the stupendous
task Of gathering the Confederate
records, begun in 1878, Hon. Elihu
Root, then Secretary Of War, gave
him high commentator in preface
to the printed work. This remains,
more durable than a monument Of
stone, to be read by future genera
tions, and to add one more star to
Tennessee as Mother Of Great Men.
General Wright comes Of military
stock. His grandfather, John Wright.
was a captain in the Revolutionary
War, born in Georgia. His father
was lieutenant-captain and major Of
the ThirtY-ninth U. s. Infantry, and
was promoted by Andrew Jackson for
bravery at the Battle of the Horse
shoe. Marcus ]. was lieutenant
colonel of the 154th Tennessee Mill.
tia when the war broke out in 1861;
was military governor of Columbus,
KY, when he was 81 years old, and
was soon made brigadier-general, and
the list of his engagements and SER
vices would fill a volume itself. His
son John is captain of the regular
army.
Marcus ]. Wright was born at
Purdy. June 5, 1881. His mother,
whose maiden name was Martha Ann
Hicks, was noted beauty, and was q
lifelong friend of the old Mexican
War hero, Gen. Winfield Scott. they
having been born on adjoining planta'
tlons. Gen. Scott gave young Marcus
a dinner in honor of his mother al
Washington, when Marcus was eigh.
teen years old. | first saw Gen
Wright on coming to Washington il
the summer of 1891: a man of some
what portly building, smooth.shavt
except for a small beard on his lowel
lip; a man of impressively intelligent
expression, both in looks and Ian
guage, and yet, especially when talk
;,o, of b;o baloyad nativa oopntv bin