"Representing nothing on God's green earth,And naught in the waters below it,"
"Representing nothing on God's green earth,And naught in the waters below it,"
in Carolina, at least,
"Like our dream of success—it passed."
"Like our dream of success—it passed."
Reaching Augusta May 13th, we divided the teams allowed us for transportation and with one dollar and twenty cents in silver paid us at Greensboro for fifteen months' service, we bade our comrades in arms a tenderand affectionate farewell, broke ranks for the last time, and turned our weary steps homeward.
The flag we had followed for four years was furled forever and the Southern Confederacy was a thing of the past.
I would be doing violence to the expressed wishes of an old comrade and messmate, one whose friendship for me was born at the camp fire, and was strengthened and intensified by common hardship and danger, if I were to close these records without adding a word in behalf of the cause for which we fought. Were these four wasted years? Was the war on the part of the South only a wicked rebellion, as our Northern friends have been pleased to term it?
Speaking only for myself as a humble unit in the four years' struggle, and yet feeling assured that I fairly represent a vast majority of my Confederate comrades, I can say that I never kneeled at my mother's knee in childhood with a deeper sense of duty nor a purer feeling of devotion than impelled me when, with her tear-wet kiss upon my boyish lips, I left the old homestead to take my humble station under the "Stars and Bars." I can say further that looking backward over the record of the years, that Providence has kindly granted me, no four of them come back to me with a deeper sense of satisfaction than those which marked my service as aConfederate soldier. The convictions formed in those old days of the absolute righteousness of the cause for which we fought have only strengthened with the passing years. While the South failed in its purpose to secure separate national existence I have never felt that in the struggle it had anything to regret but failure. Despite the tremendous odds against which it fought, despite the fact that it entered the contest without an army, without a navy, without military supplies, with the sentiment of its border States hopelessly divided, and with the sympathies of the world against it, but for the loss of its ablest Western leader in his first battle, it would not, as I believe, have had even failure to regret. If Albert Sidney Johnston had not fallen on that fateful April Sabbath when Grant's demoralized and beaten legions were cowering under the river bank at Shiloh, he would, in my belief, have duplicated in the West, Lee's victories in the East and Appomatox and Greensboro would have had no place in Southern history. Even in '64, if President Davis had heeded the appeals of Gov. Brown and Gen. Johnston, of Howell Cobb and Joe Wheeler, Sherman's constant apprehension during the Dalton and Atlanta campaign would have become a reality. Forrest, the greatest cavalry leader of the war, and, in the opinions of Lee, Johnston and Sherman, the most brilliant genius developed by it, would have been turned loose on Sherman's rear; Atlanta would never have fallen, Lincoln would have failed of re-election and the "reconstruction" that followed in the wake of the war would have been confined to the geography of the country, rather than to Southern State governments at the hands of carpet-baggers. Lincoln expected such a result and bent every energy to end the war before the peace sentiment of the North could find expression in the election of McClellan. The failure to utilize Forrest's genius in the destruction of Sherman's communication, the removal of Johnston and the resultant fall of Atlanta, turned the tide and the Confederacy was doomed.
Defeat brought with it some measure of humiliation, and yet it is pleasant to remember that our short-lived republic stands in history today "without a blot upon its honor and with no unrighteous blood upon its hands." With its territory scorched and scarred by a foe, in whose military lexicon the word "humanity" found no place, the South struck no blow below the belt. It fought with rifles, not with firebrands, and made its war upon armed foes, not upon helpless women and children. It had no brutal Shermans, nor Sheridans, nor Butlers, nor Hunters in its ranks, but it is pleasant to know that it left to the world the legacy of a Lee and a Stonewall Jackson, whose military record stands unmarred by the faintest shadow of a stain and unparalleled in Anglo Saxon history. While the North fought, not for the flag, not through sympathy for the slave, but by the admission of Lincoln himself, just as surely for commercial greed as if the dollar mark had been woven into every bannerthat led its hosts to battle, it is a pleasant reflection that the South sought only to free itself from an alliance that had become offensive and dangerous to its liberties. And while Lincoln has been canonized as a martyred saint, I am glad to know that Jefferson Davis or Robert E. Lee would have suffered a thousand martyrdoms before they would have penned a proclamation deliberately intended not only to beggar a whole people but to subject innocent and helpless women and children to the horrors of a servile insurrection.
And so I feel assured that when in coming years posterity, unblinded by prejudice or passion, shall give to all the claimants in the Pantheon of Fame their just and proper meed, as high in purest patriotism as any rebel that fell at Lexington or starved at Valley Forge, as high in lofty courage as any hero that rode with Cardigan at Balaclava or marched with Ney at Waterloo, or fell beneath the shadow of the spears with brave Leonidas, will stand the rebel soldier of the South, clad in his tattered grey, beneath whose faded folds is shrined the Stars and Bars of an invisible republic, that lives in history only as a memory.
Co. B. 12th Ga. Battalion. Co. A, 63rd Ga. Reg.
Capt. J. V. H. Allen—Promoted Major 63rd Ga. July, 1863.
Capt. Louis A. Picquet—Wounded May 28, '64, leg amputated.
Capt. Wilberforce Daniel—Died in 1898.
Lieut. W. G. Johnson—Died since the war.
Lieut. *A. W. Blanchard—Wounded June 27, '64, promoted Capt. Co. K, 1st Ga., 1865.
Lieut. C. T. Goetchius—Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900.
Lieut. Geo. W. McLaughlin—Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900.
1st Serg. *W. A. Clark—Promoted 1st Lieut. Co. K, 1st Ga., April 10, '65.
2d Serg. *O. M. Stone—Promoted 1st Lieut. 66th Ga., '62.
2d Serg. J. W. Stoy—Captured July 23, '64, near Atlanta.
3d Serg. W. H. Clark—Promoted Asst. Surgeon, C. S. A., March, '63.
3d Serg. E. A. Dunbar—Promoted ensign, 1864.
3d Serg. R. B. Morris—Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900.
4th Serg. Jno. C. Hill—Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900.
5th Serg. S. C. Foreman—Wounded Jonesboro, Aug. 31, '64.
Com. Serg. *W. J. Steed—Wounded June 27, '64, arm amputated.
1st Corp. *Burt O. Miller—Promoted Lieut. 47th Ga., May 5, '64.
1st Corp. Geo. G. Leonhardt—Wounded Atlanta, July 22, '64.
2d Corp. E. Thompson.
3d Corp. B. B. Fortson—Promoted ensign, died near Tuscumbia, Nov. 6, '64.
4th Corp. *L. A. R. Reab—Captured at Kennesaw, June 27, '64.
5th Corp. J. H. Warren—Living in Virginia, 1900.
6th Corp. W. H. Foster—Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900.
7th Corp. W. H. Pardue—Wounded at Kennesaw, June 27, '64.
*John Q. Adams—Wounded accidentally, Thunderbolt, July 12, '63.
W. F. Alexander—Living in Oglethorpe Co., 1900.
R. H. Allen—Living in Burke Co., 1900.
J. K. Arrington—Living in Alabama, 1900.
Philip Backus—Died since the war.
C. T. Bayliss—Killed at Kennesaw, June 27, '64.
Henry Beale.
*Jas. A. Beasley—Wounded at Bentonville, March 19, '65.
C. W. Beatty—Died of disease, Aug. 31, '63.
*D. C. Blount.
Thos. Blount.
Geo. W. Bouchillon—Died since the war.
Jas. W. Bones.
Henry Booth—Wounded Peach Tree Creek, July 20, '64.
*T. F. Burbank—Wounded near Kingston, May 19, '64.
*W. W. Bussey—Wounded Huntsville, Aug. 11, '62, and Kennesaw, June 27, '64.
*J. L. Bynum—Wounded Atlanta, July 22, '64.
Wm. Byrd—Living in Columbia Co., 1898.
H. T. Campfield—Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900.
Jno. A. Carroll—Wounded June 18, '64, died of wound.
J. H. Casey—Wounded June 18, '64, died of disease July, '64.
Andy Chamblin—Died since the war.
W. L. Chamblin—Wounded and captured, Kennesaw, June 27, 64, leg amputated.
H. A. Cherry—Died since the war.
H. C. Clary—Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900.
E. F. Clayton—Transferred to 12th Ga. Batt., killed March 25, '65.
W. A. Cobb.
*J. R. Coffin—Captured, Kennesaw, June 27, '64.
W. S. Coffin.
W. C. Colbert—Died since the war.
W. C. Corley.
A. N. Cox—Transferred to 24th So. Ca., June, '64.
H. C. Cox—Transferred to 24th So. Ca., June, '64.
C. M. Crane—Promoted Q. M. Serg. 1st Ga., Apr. '65.
Floyd Crockett—Died since the war.
H. M. Cumming—Acting Asst. Surgeon 63d Ga., '64.
M. B. Crocker—Died of disease in hospital July 20, '64.
Miles H. Crowder—Wounded, Atlanta, July 22, '64, leg amputated.
*Wm. A. Dabney—Wounded, Kennesaw, June 25, '64, promoted 1st Serg. Co. K, 1st Ga., April 10, '65.
Jno. B. Daniel—Living in Atlanta, Ga., 1900.
John M. Dent—Living in Waynesboro, Ga., 1900.
*Joseph T. Derry—Captured, Huntsville, Aug. '62, captured, Kennesaw, June 27, '64.
*Edgar R. Derry—Ordnance Serg. 12th Ga. Bat.
Wm. F. Doyle—Died since the war.
Wiley Eberhart.
J. R. Edwards.
J. L. Eubanks—Died since the war.
R. R. Evans—Living in Atlanta, Ga., 1900.
R. C. Eve—Promoted Asst. Surgeon, C. S. A.
*W. R. Eve—Captured at Kennesaw, June 27, '64.
J. L. Fleming—Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900.
L. F. Fleming—Disabled in R. R. accident, July 5, '62.
W. T. Flannigan.
H. Clay Foster—Wounded, Atlanta, July 22, '64.
J. A. Garnett—Died of disease, Atlanta, June 19, '64.
Joel Gay.
C. G. Goodrich—Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900.
J. H. Goodrich.
Jno. C. Guedron—Died since the war.
Wm. Guedron—Died since the war.
Jno. A. Grant—Living in Atlanta, Ga., 1900.
S. M. Guy—Killed at Atlanta, July 22, '64.
S. H. Hardeman.
C. A. Harper—Died since the war.
J. E. Harper—Died since the war.
*Geo. A. Harrison—Captured, Kennesaw, June 27, '64.
R. W. Heard—Wounded, Kennesaw, June 29, '64.
J. T. Heard—Died since the war.
W. M. Heath—Died of disease, June, '64.
Geo. S. Heindel—Died since the war.
B. T. Hill—Died since the war.
H. L. Hill—Killed near Kingston, May 19, '64.
A. M. Hilzheim—Fatally wounded and captured, June 27, '64.
*V. G. Hitt—Promoted Asst. Surgeon in '62.
H. W. Holt—Transferred to Co. K, 63d Ga., Aug. '64.
John Hood.
T. J. Howard—Living in Lexington, Ga., 1900.
*W. T. Howard—Captured, Kennesaw, June 27, '64.
F. T. Hudson.
J. T. Hungerford—Died since the war.
Theo. Hunter.
J. H. Ivey.
H. B. Jackson—Wounded near Dallas, May 27, '64.
J. A. Jones—Living in Texas, 1900.
W. H. Jones—Living in Columbia Co., 1900.
M. S. Kean—Died since the war.
Jno. C. Kirkpatrick—Living near Atlanta, Ga., 1900.
Cephas P. Knox—Fatally wounded near Kennesaw, June 18, '64.
W. T. Lamar—Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900.
Frank Lamar—Died since the war.
R. N. Lamar—Promoted Lieut. of Cavalry, Jan. 10, '65.
E. H. Lawrence—Died since the war.
J. W. Lindsey—Captured, Huntsville, Aug. 11, '62.
D. W. Little—Died since the war.
M. S. Lockhart—Wounded near Kennesaw, June 19, '64.
E. J. Lott—Fatally wounded and captured, June 27, '64.
T. E. Lovell—Died since the war.
A. T. Lyon—Company bugler.
A. D. Marshall—Captured, Kennesaw, June 27, '64.
C. O. Marshall—Transferred and promoted Lieut., '64.
Jno. T. May—Transferred to 12th Ga. Batt.
J. P. Marshall—Living in 1900.
T. W. McAfee—Living in Chattanooga, 1900.
A. W. McCurdy—Wounded near Dallas, May 28, died June 12.
J. T. McGran—Died since the war.
*J. K. P. McLaughlin—Wounded, Atlanta, July 22, '64.
L. H. McTyre.
J. M. Miles.
T. A. Miles.
Jno. T. Miller—Wounded June 18, '64, near Kennesaw, killed at Bentonville, March 19, '65.
Wm. Megahee.
G. T. Mims.
*A. L. Mitchell—Wounded June 27, '64, at Kennesaw, arm amputated.
Geo. K. Moore—Died since the war.
*W. B. Morris—Wounded June 27, '64, Kennesaw.
Geo. D. Mosher—Living in Savannah, 1900.
St. John Nimmo—Transferred to Barnwell's Battery.
A. J. Norton—Missing near Murfreesboro, Dec. '64.
*H. J. Ogilsby—Wounded July 22, '64, Atlanta.
*J. H. Osborne—Promoted Serg. Major 1st Ga., April, '65.
F. C. O'Driscoll.
Alex Page.
S. A. Parish—Living in 1900.
J. O. Parks.
J. H. Patton.
J. F. Phillips—Missing June 16, '64, died in prison.
J. C. Pierson—Transferred to 5th Ga., June, '64.
A. Q. Pharr—Died since the war.
A. Poullain—Transferred to 7th Ga. Cavalry.
T. N. Poullain—Died of disease Nov. 12, '63.
Geo. P. Pournelle—Missing June 27, '64, Kennesaw, probably killed.
Jabe Poyner—Living in Oglethorpe Co., 1898.
R. A. Prather—Living in 1898.
Joe Price.
W. H. Prouty—Died since the war.
W. H. Pullin.
R. A. Quinn—Wounded July 22, '64, Atlanta.
R. Quinn, Jr.
J. T. Ratcliff—Died of disease Nov. 5, '64, Tuscombia.
R. R. Reeves—Living in Columbia Co., 1900.
*W. H. Reeves—Wounded June 27, '64, Kennesaw.
Aaron Rhodes—Living in 1900.
J. Z. Roebuck—Died since the war.
Jere Rooks—Living in Richmond Co., 1900.
Obe Rooks—Fatally wounded July 22, '64, Atlanta.
B. F. Rowland—Wounded June 27, '64, Kennesaw.
W. Radford—Living in Columbia Co., 1900.
J. J. Russell—Living in Atlanta, Ga., 1900.
A. M. Rodgers—Died since the war.
Chas. Richter.
J. B. Rogers—Died since the war.
Geo. D. Rice—Died since the war.
J. M. Savage—Missing in Tennessee, Dec., '64.
W. N. Saye—Living in Atlanta, 1900.
R. Stokes Sayre.
P. A. Schley—Living in Richmond Co., 1900.
J. L. Shanklin.
C. D. Sellars.
W. A. Sims—Died since the war.
M. C. Smith—Died since the war.
W. J. Smith—Wounded June 18, '64, near Kennesaw.
J. T. Steed—Wounded May 15, '64, died of disease, Oct. 10, '64.
— — Stevens—Died in '63, Thunderbolt.
Geo. R. Sibley—Q. M. Serg. 12th Ga. Batt.
A. W. Shaw—Died since the war.
*F. I. Stone—Wounded March 19, '65, Bentonville, promoted ensign, '65.
F. M. Stringer—Died since the war.
J. J. Stanford.
Robert Swain—Transferred to Co. K, 63d Ga., killed Sept. 3d, '64, Lovejoy Station.
Jas. Sullivan.
Elijah Stowe—Company fifer.
Floyd Thomas—Captured June 27, '64, Kennesaw.
J. E. Thomas—Died since the war.
Whit Thomas—Living in Richmond Co., 1900.
Jas. Thompson—Died of disease in '65, Montgomery.
R. F. Tompkins.
J. W. Tucker—Missing Dec. 1, '64, near Murfreesboro.
Miles Turpin—Company drummer.
*Geo. J. Verdery—Living in North Augusta, 1900.
*Eugene F. Verdery—Wounded July 20, '64. Peachtree Creek.
R. W. Verdery—Died since the war.
J. C. Welch—Died of disease, Dec. '64.
R. A. Welch—Living in Richmond Co., 1900.
John Weigle—Wounded June 27, '64, Kennesaw, died of wound July 13.
W. H. Warren—Died since the war.
J. W. White—Died since the war.
G. W. Whittaker—Living in Richmond Co., 1900.
J. W. Whittaker.
J. O. Wiley—Wounded July 22, '64, Atlanta.
J. E. Wilson—Died Since the war.
R. T. Winter—Living in Richmond Co., 1900.
S. F. Woods—Wounded March 19, '65, Bentonville.
H. Womke—Drowned April 18, '63, Thunderbolt.
J. F. Wren.
W. T. Williams—Died since the war.
S. M. Wynn—Died since the war.
— — Wynn—Died '62, Knoxville, Tenn.
*In addition to those registered above as survivors in 1900, those marked with an asterisk are known or reported to me as still living. I regret my inability to secure a complete list of the survivors.
When the Oglethorpes offered their services to the Confederate government in '61 the married men in its ranks were, by a vote of the Company, excluded from the enlistment except as commissioned officers. After the departure of the Company for the seat of war the members, who were left behind, effected a new organization and were known as "Co. B." Their purpose was to organize for home defence, but in November, '61, they were ordered to Savannah by Gov. Brown, and were assigned to the 9th Regiment Ga. State troops, then in process of formation. Gen. W. H. T. Walker had thrown up his commission in Virginia because President Davis had seen fit to take from him the brigade he had organized and had assigned to its command his brother-in-law, Dick Taylor, who was subordinate in rank to every Colonel in the brigade. Gen. Walker could not brook what he deemed a pure case of nepotism, and on his return to Georgia he was placed in command of the brigade of State troops, to which the Oglethorpes, as Co. A, 9th Ga., had been assigned. The Company, on account of their proficiency in the manual of arms and in company evolution, became a sort of pet of Gen. Walker's and when his quarters were visited by ladies fromSavannah the Oglethorpes were ordered out to drill for the benefit of his fair guests. Mr. Frank H. Miller, who was a lieutenant in the company and afterwards adjutant of the regiment, by Gen. Walker's appointment, relates a characteristic incident that occurred during the General's service at Savannah as his commanding officer. One of his men had "run the blockade," had spent the night in Savannah and while hustling back to camp in the early morning hours, was overhauled by the sergeant in charge of the guard at the General's quarters. The soldier did not relish the idea of being placed under arrest for his escapade and backing himself against a tree he drew his knife and threatened to carve up any man who laid hands on him. The noise awakened Gen. Walker, who was sleeping in a tent near by, and rushing out en deshabille, he shouted, "What the d—l is the matter out here?" The sergeant, who seemed to be suffering with a nervous chill, stammered out, "He won't be arrested, General. He says he'll kill anybody that touches him." The General rushed up to the man and said, "Give me that knife, sir." The soldier handed it over with a smile on his face and the General saw as he took it that the weapon was entirely bladeless. Turning to the sergeant he said, "Turn that man loose. I won't have any man arrested who can back out a whole guard with a knife that hasn't got a blade in it." And the "blockade runner" went scot free.
In May, '62, their six months term of service havingexpired, the company was mustered out at Augusta. A majority of its members soon effected a re-organization for regular Confederate service and the new company was ordered to Corinth, Miss., and for a time was assigned to the 5th Ga. Regiment, then serving in the brigade of Gen. John K. Jackson. Before leaving this camp the 2d Battalion Ga. Sharpshooters was organized, under the command of Major Jesse J. Cox, of Alabama, and the Oglethorpes became Co. C of that famous organization known in the Army of Tennessee, as "Cox's Wild Cats." For the remaining years of the war this battalion was identified with every movement and did gallant service in every engagement of the Western Army. As "Sharp-shooters" it fell to their lot to serve almost continuously on the skirmish line, opening every battle in which their division was engaged. Transferred from Tupelo to Chattanooga in the summer of '62, they took part in Bragg's Kentucky campaign and at its close were stationed for a time at Knoxville and then at Bridgeport, rejoining Bragg again in time to participate in the battle of Murfreesboro, Dec. 31, '62. During that engagement, at Gen. Polk's request, the battalion, with Jackson's brigade, was temporarily detached from Hardee's corps and was sent into the famous cedar thicket where they were exposed to the concentrated fire of Rosecranz's parked artillery and lost half their number. Among the casualties sustained by the Oglethorpes was the loss of their gallant commander, Capt. E. W. Ansley, and thebrave color-bearer of the battalion, Edward H. Hall. Lieut. M. G. Hester succeeded to the captaincy and the colors were given to Geo. F. Bass of the Oglethorpes, who seem to have furnished all the ensigns for the battalion. During the Kentucky campaign the colors had been borne by Corporal M. V. Calvin, and after the transfer of Bass to another command, they were entrusted to another Oglethorpe, Wm. Mulherin, who carried them with marked gallantry until his capture at the battle of Nashville, in the winter of '64.
Through the battles of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, with Johnston through the hundred days from Dalton to Atlanta, and with Hood at Franklin and Nashville, the "Wild Cats" sustained their hard-earned reputation as a fighting organization, closing up their soldierly record with the surrender of Johnston's army at Greensboro in April, '65, at which date Lieut. George P. Butler was in command of the Oglethorpes. A number of the gallant survivors of the company are still living in or near Augusta, among them, Orderly Sergeant Wm. K. Thompson, Serg. M. V. Calvin, Corp. Brad Merry, Corp. W. H. Miller, Musician W. B. White, Evans Morgan, W. H. Hendrix and W. D. Shaw.
Brad Merry's name recalls an incident that occurred at the Charleston Reunion in 1899. Brad and the writer had agreed to make the homeward trip together. Onreaching the train I failed to meet him. The coaches were crowded, but I finally secured a seat with a stranger, who after the formation of a railroad acquaintance, proved to be Rev. T. P. Cleveland, living near Atlanta. After a pleasant chat about our mutual friends in Atlanta and elsewhere, I strolled through the train in search of my friend Brad. Finding him in a forward coach, I chanced to say, with no special reason for making the statement, that I had a seat with a Rev. Mr. Cleveland. "What's his full name?" asked Brad, with a look of interest. "T. P." I replied. "Tom Cleveland! Why there isn't a man in the world I'd rather see. We were old schoolmates. Where is he?" Taking him back to my coach I said, "Mr. Cleveland, here's an old friend of yours, Brad Merry." The meeting was a very joyous one. As the glamour of the old days came over them and with glowing faces and happy hearts they talked of the long ago, a lady stepped across the aisle and said, "Didn't I hear this gentleman call you Mr. Brad Merry?" "You certainly did, madam," said Brad. "Why, Mr. Merry, I know you. Your battalion was camped near my father's house for a long time and you and your comrades came over nearly every evening and sang for us. We had mighty pleasant times together in those old war days." Brad's smile reached from his chin to the back of his neck as he grasped her hand and said, "I am delighted to see you again. I remember you distinctly. Your father had three girls, Virginia, Alabama and Tennessee." "Well," saidshe, "this is Virginia," and pointing across the aisle to her sister, "there's Alabama." The ride to Augusta was no longer tiresome or tedious. In the renewal of their old time acquaintance and the revival of so many personal memories the hours sped swiftly and when I left the train Brad was using all his persuasive power to induce the entire party to stop over at Berzelia and brighten for a time his Pinetucky home.
They were strangers to me, but I enjoyed their happiness and was glad to have been the unconscious instrument in bringing them together again. But for the accident of my finding that special seat vacant, these four ships would have "passed in the night," possibly to hail each other no more until with wearied sail they cast their final anchor in the harbor that lies beyond the sunset.
(Company A, Ninth Regiment Georgia State Troops.)
Edwin W. Ansley, Captain.Frank H. Miller, First Lieutenant.Thomas H. Holleyman, Second Lieutenant.M. G. Hester, Third Lieutenant.Ed. F. Kinchley, Commissary.W. C. Sibley, Secretary and Treasurer.G. E. Boulineau, Orderly.G. W. Hersey, Second Sergeant.S. A. Verdery, Third Sergeant.Ed. E. Dortic, Fourth Sergeant.W. A. Paul, First Corporal.J. M. Weems, Second Corporal.W. H. Frazer, Third Corporal.James Heney, Fourth Corporal.
Armstrong, Pat.Bruckner, J. D.Butler, G. P.Barrow, Wm.Bailie, G. A.Butt, Wm. P.Cheesborough, Wm.Chenell, John.Calvin, M. V.Cress, J. G.Cheesborough, C. M.DuBose, Robt. M.Davis, Jas. S.Duvall, R. B.Davies, John N.Day, John H.Fleming, Peter L.Gartrell, Jas. M.Glover, Wm.Heard, Henry.Henry, Jacob A.Hett, Ed.Hitt, Dan W.Hubbard, Jas. C.Jonas, Chas H.Kerniker, Ed.Kenner, Jas. H.Lane, Lucius A.Mulherin, Wm.Marshall, Jno. D.Merry, Brad.Nunn, Tom P.Norris, W. B.Nelson, Tom C.Niblett, Jas. M.O'Hara, Thos.Parker, Gustave A.Phinizy, Thos. A.Page, Alexander.Richmond, H. P.Roulette, Mike.Shackleford, J. H.Setze, Jno.Shaw, Alfred W.Simmons, R. R.Smythe, Wm. W.Stevens, Jno.Samuel, Wolfe.Shaw, Wm. A.Tant, Wm. D.Tuttle, Dan W.Thomas, Wm.Thompson, Wm. K.Travis, Luke.Tant, Alexander.Verdery, Eugene.White, Wm. B.Wiley, Landly J.Wingfield, W. J.Woodard, C. B.Wolfe, Mike.Youngblood, Sam. M.Young, Jas. R.
COMPANY C, 2DGA. SHARPSHOOTERS.
Captain, Edwin W. Ansley.First Lieutenant, M. G. Hester.Second Lieutenant, Jas. M. Weems.Third Lieutenant, E. E. Dortic.First Sergeant, Wm. K. Thompson.Second Sergeant, Walter H. Frazer.Third Sergeant, Geo. P. Butler.Fourth Sergeant, Wm. A. Griffin.Fifth Sergeant, J. D. Marshall.First Corporal, W. H. Miller.Second Corporal, Thos. O'Hara.Third Corporal, Bradford Merry.Fourth Corporal, M. V. Calvin.Secretary, Henry P. Richmond.Musicians, W. B. White, E. A. Young.
Anderson, W. F. E.Bruckner, J. D.Bunch, G. M.Bass, Geo. F.Boddie, John S.Boulineau, W. A.Cheesborough, C. M.Carroll, J. R.Cleckley, A.Duke, J. B.Duke, John F.Duke, B. F.Duvall, R. B.Duddy, Wm.Epps, W. D.Fowler, J. C.Gardiner, H. N.Gates, Wm.Hall, E. H.Hall, A. G.Helmuth, F.Hendrix, W. H.Hinton, G. W.Isaacs, Wm.King, Jesse.Kerniker, Edward.Lamback, Geo. F.Mulherin, Wm.Manders, J. J.Morgan, Evan.Mathis, J. T.Nelson, T. C.Peppers, J. M.Peppers, A. H.Roberts, Chas. P.Roulett, M.Robinson, James.Shaw, A. W.Shaw, W. D.Stephens, E. A.Samuels, W.Tobin, John.Tant, Alex.Talbot, J. M.Taylor, Wm.Tuttle, D. W.Wise, T. C.Wolff, M.Young, J. R.
As this is my first, and will probably be my last attempt at authorship, in deference to the possibly too partial judgment of friends, I have ventured to include in the volume two additional sketches in no way connected with the memories, which precede them. Yielding to the same kindly criticism I have added also a war poem, intended to perpetuate an incident whose hardly paralleled pathos has not, I trust, been marred by the poetic dress in which I have attempted to preserve it.
Personal courage, when from the lack of selfish ends, it rises to the plane of real chivalry, has always met with willing homage from the hearts of men. I do not know that hero-worship has entered largely into my own mental or moral makeup, and yet for thirty years and more my heart has paid its silent and yet earnest tribute to one, who in unadulterated grit and innate chivalry was the peer of any man I have ever known. I have called him my hero, but he was mine, perhaps, only by right of discovery. I found him in a little Florida village in the winter of '66. There was nothing in his appearance to indicate the hero. No title, civil or military added dignity to his name. So far as I know no stars or bars had gilded the old grey uniform he had laid aside with Lee's surrender. He was simply plain Bob Harrison. Of his lineage or earthly history I learned but little. I knowthat he was the son of a Methodist minister who, some years before, had moved to Florida from South Carolina, and who, by right of apostolical succession, was not only a good preacher but a good fisherman as well. I know, further, that in one of the battles in Virginia my friend had been shot through the lungs and had been left upon the battlefield to die.
The surgeons in their hurried rounds passed by on the other side, declining to waste their time on one, who in a few short hours would be beyond the reach of human aid. Despairing of any relief from them, he had tied his handkerchief around his chest to staunch the life blood that was ebbing away, and through the long, long lonely night had waited for death or help to come. On the morrow the burial corps had found him still living, and in the hospital he was nursed back to partial health again. The press had placed his name among the dead, and far away in his Southern home loving ones mourned for him until one summer's day his feeble footsteps on the walk and his pallid arms about their necks brought to their hearts a resurrection just as real as that which gladdened Mary and Martha at the tomb of Lazarus. Of his service as a soldier I know no more than I have written. My claim for him is based upon incidents that occurred when the war had ended and his record as a soldier had been made up.
At the date and in the section of which I write the tide of lawlessness that followed in the wake of war hadnot yet reached its ebb. During my stay a party of toughs came to the village and for a week or more terrorized the place. An effort was made to secure their arrest by civil process, but from lack of nerve in the officers, or failure to secure a posse, the effort failed and the gang was having its own sweet will without let or hindrance.
At this juncture Bob Harrison rode into the village one day from his country home. The lady, at whose boarding house these men were stopping, told him of their misdoings. He was living six miles away and had no personal grievance against them. His wounded lung had never healed and frequent hemorrhages from it had paled the color in his cheeks and weakened a body none too strong when in perfect health. But the appeal stirred the chivalry of his nature and he did not hesitate a moment. He went to them and in vigorous English denounced their conduct as ungentlemanly and dishonorable and told them it must stop.
That afternoon a challenge came to him to meet them at a designated place next morning to answer for the insult he had given. He rode in before breakfast and at the appointed hour he was promptly on hand armed with a brace of pistols and a bowie knife. For three hours he offered satisfaction in any shape they chose to take it, and with any weapon they might select, but his nerve had cowed them and the offer was declined. Then he said to their leader, "You have been making threats against my friend, Charlie P— for some fancied wrong. He has awife and children to mourn him if he falls. I have none. I stand in his shoes today and any satisfaction you claim from him you can get from me here and now." The bully failed to press his claim. The gang soon left the village and quiet reigned again.
A short time prior to this incident a young lady had made her home in the village—a stranger, without relatives or friends. A citizen of the place taking advantage of her unprotected condition, began to circulate rumors reflecting on her character. These reports reached Bob Harrison's ears. She was bound to him by no ties of blood or special friendship, but her helplessness was claim enough. He called on the author of the slander and asked to see him privately. The man showed him into a room and Bob locked the door and put the key in his pocket. "Now, Mr —," he said, "you have circulated slanders about Miss —. She has no relative here to protect her and I have come to put a stop to it. I don't propose to take any advantage of you. I am going to lay these two pistols on this table. You will stand with your face to that wall and I will stand with my face to this. When I give the word if you can secure a pistol first you are at liberty to shoot. If I get one first, I am going to shoot. You have got to do that or you have got to sit down at this table and sign a "lie bill." The man looked into Bob's eyes a moment and said, "I'll sign the lie bill," and Miss —'s name was safe from slanderous tongues from that day on.
In neither of these cases did he have the slightest personal interest.
His conduct was prompted solely by the chivalry of the man. He impressed me as ordinarily one of the gentlest and mildest mannered of men and yet I believe he would have led a forlorn hope to certain death without a tremor.
With the close of winter I returned to my Georgia home and over the gulf of silence that has intervened since that spring day in '67, no tidings have come to me of my friend, Bob Harrison. If he still lives my heart goes out in tender greeting to him today, and if he sleeps beneath the daisies I trust this little tribute to his worth will cause the sod that lies above him to press none the less lightly over his manly heart.
Just fifty years ago in the unceiled, unpainted and largely unfurnished rooms of an "Old Field School," holding a blue-backed speller in my boyish hands, I sat with a row of barefoot urchins on a plain pine bench and watched with sleepy eyes the mellow sunshine creeping all too slowly towards the 12 o'clock mark cut by the teacher into the school room floor. This primitive timepiece that marked the boundary line between school hours and the midday intermission, known in schoolboy vernacular as "playtime," was never patented, althoughit had the happy faculty of never running down and never needing repairs. To the student of today reveling in the luxuriant appointments of the present public school system there may come sometimes a touch of pity for the simple methods and the meagre equipment of the old field school, whose teachers in addition to the inconvenience of having to "board around," were sometimes forced to receive partial compensation for their work in home made "socks." Such of my readers as may be disposed to discredit the free and unlimited knitting of socks as a circulating medium for the payment of school salaries, are respectfully referred to my friend, W. J. Steed, for the historical accuracy of this statement.
And yet—and yet, minimizing as we may the limited advantages of those old school days in the '40's, and magnifying as we do the wondrous advance in educational methods and appliances in all grades from the kindergarten to the university, the fact remains that "there were giants in those days" who seem to have no successors. Examples might be multiplied both in our state and national life, but I give only two. The places of George F. Pierce in the pulpit and of Benjamin H. Hill in the forum and on the hustings have never been filled. It may be true that Dame Nature requires after the production of great men a period of repose and rest, and if my limited observation is not at fault she is enjoying a good long nap. Whatever may have been the explanation of the fact mentioned, the privilege of hearing these men in their palmy days, of feeling the "cold chills" creep up the spinal column as they soared to the empyrean heights of impassioned oratory, of losing consciousness of time and place and environment under the magic spell of their almost superhuman eloquence, furnished some measure of compensation for the meagre advantages, on educational lines, of the last generation.
The writer's first opportunity to hear Ben Hill occurred at Mount Moriah camp ground, in Jefferson county, in the presidential campaign of 1856. On the disintegration of the old Whig party Mr. Hill had aligned himself with its residuary legatee, the American party, and was canvassing the State as an elector on the Fillmore ticket. He was 33 years of age, just in the rosy prime of a superb physical and intellectual manhood. I was only a boy and knew nothing of parties or party politics, but I remember that for three hours and more he held the rapt and untiring interest and attention of that vast audience.
At the close of the speech Major Stapleton announced that a messenger had been sent to Mr. Stephens asking a division of time with Mr. Hill at the former's appointment in Burke county, on the next day. Mr. Hill was sitting on the pulpit steps, and when the announcement closed he said, "Yes, I am not afraid to meet "Little Aleck," nor big Aleck, nor big Bob added to them," alluding to Mr. Toombs. Mr. Stephens did not consent, but met Mr. Hill afterwards at Lexington, Ga., in thesame campaign. Out of this debate grew Mr. Stephens' challenge and Mr. Hill's refusal to accept it, an incident which had large influence in ending the reign of the code duello in Georgia.
Two years later I had the privilege of hearing Mr. Hill again in the State campaign for governor. A joint canvass of the State had been in progress, but after a few discussions Governor Brown found that he was no match for Mr. Hill on the "stump," and he wisely cancelled further engagements. In giving his reasons for such action he said that Mr. Hill was too much of a sophist, that he could make the worse appear the better cause, and to enforce the point he related the "pig and puppy" anecdote, a favorite illustration with political speakers in those days. In the speech I refer to, delivered at Covington, Ga., Mr. Hill gave his opponent the benefit of a statement of the reasons he had assigned for his withdrawal, with the anecdote included, and then with the smile that always gave premonition of a happy retort, he said, "And now, fellow-citizens, in this campaign I have made no effort to make anything out of anybody but Mr. Brown, and if I have made nothing better than a pig or a puppy it was the best I could do with the material I had to work upon."
Mr. Hill never employed the anecdote argument in his speeches, but if used against him no man of his time or perhaps of any other time was able to turn its edge more readily or more effectively on his opponent I recall onlyone passage from the address and as it has not been preserved in his published speeches I give it in illustration of his style at that date. After disposing of his opponent and the State campaign he turned his attention to national issues and in urging his audience to resist Northern encroachments on their rights closed a burst of impassioned oratory with these words: "Has the spirit of Southern chivalry folded its wings for an eternal sleep in the grave of Calhoun? Shall the breezes, which blow from the 'cowpens' where the infant days of Jackson were spent, now fan the brows of a nation of slaves? Rise, freemen of Georgia! Arise in your might. Shake off this Delilah of party for she is an harlot and will betray you to your destruction. Arise! drive back the invader from your thresholds, or like Samson of old, pull down the pillars of the temple and perish in one common ruin." Its effect upon the audience may be inferred from the fact that it has lingered in my memory more than forty years. I heard Mr. Hill no more until some years after the war. His nerve in putting an end to the seizure of cotton by Federal agents in the South in '65, his "Davis Hall" and "Bush Arbor" speeches and his "Notes on the Situation" had given him the very highest place in Southern esteem and affection. And then came his acceptance of an interest in the State Road Lease and his speech at the "Delano Banquet," which placed him under the ban of popular distrust and postponed the day when Southern character and Southernhistory was to find its brave and complete vindication at his hands in the halls of Congress. During this shadowed period in his life I heard him several times in Atlanta, and on one of these occasions occurred the incident which forms the title of this sketch. Chafing under the criticisms and abuse to which he had been subjected he boldly defended the consistency of his record and pointed proudly to the day in '65 when the lips of every public man in Georgia were sealed except his own. "And now, my friends," said he, "when the lion of military government had prostrate Georgia in its cruel grasp, these men, who are now decrying me, were hiding away in quiet places afraid to face him. But when largely through my persistent efforts his clutch was loosened and he was recalled to his den in Washington, the whole breed,