Page images
PDF
EPUB

good feeling of the old slave habitation remains unbroken, a sacred relic of those times the "Northern fanatic is wont to term a barbarous age."

While slavery in the abstract is repugnant to every conception of liberty and equality, and its restoration would meet the earnest opposition of its former advocates, I nevertheless feel there are bright spots in its past upon which the memory will ever love to linger with pride, pleasure and affection.

RANK, RESPECTIVELY, IN THE UNITED STATES AND CONFEDERATE STATES ARMIES.

But,

The following succinct retrospect will be of interest to some. for definite information as to who were "full Generals" C. S. A., and who "Lieutenant-Generals," see ante, p. 190.

The Nashville Banner of February, 1904, says:

Only

The Confederacy was lavish in the bestowal of military commissions of high rank. It had more than twice as many full generals as the United States army has ever had in its entire existence. three men have held that rank in the United States service. Even Washington never held it. The Continental Congress commissioned him General and Commander-in-Chief of "the army of the United colonies." He was commissioned Lieutenant-General, July 4, 1798, and never held a higher rank. An act of Congress, March 3, 1799, created the office of "General of the armies of the United States,' but it was never filled. Knox, St. Clair, Hamilton, Wayne, Dearborn, Brown, Macomb, McClelland, and Halleck held only the rank of Major-General, although each of them commanded the army of the United States.

[ocr errors]

James Wilkinson, who commanded it from 1800 to 1812, was only a Brigadier-General; Josiah Harmer, who was in command from 1784 to 1791, was only a Lieutenant-Colonel and a Brigadier by brevet. The first full general in the history of the United States army was U. S. Grant. He was first given the rank in 1864, and was succeeded by Sherman in 1869, who was succeeded by Sheridan in 1883. These three are the only officers who ever attained the rank of General. Schofield, who succeeded Sheridan in 1883, was given the rank of Lieutenant-General by Congress previous to his

retirement. Nelson A. Miles also retired as a Lieutenant-General, and so did S. B. M. Young a few days ago, when Major-General Chaffee succeded to that rank. The number of generals in the Confederate service was eight. This equals the number of lieutenantgenerals in the United States army from Washington to Chaffee. The Confederacy had nineteen Lieutenant-Generals. Grant was the only Federal officer who attained this rank during the war, though at the beginning of the war General Wingfield Scott held this rank by brevet.

In the Confederate service the pay of officers was as followswhen they could get it-general, per month, $500; lieutenant-general, $450; major-general, $350; brigadier-general, $300; colonel, infantry, $195; lieutenant-colonel, $170; major, $150; captain, $130; lieutenant, $90 and $80. In the cavalry, artillery and engineer corps the pay of colonel was $210 per month, and other officers in proportion. In the cavalry privates were supposed to receive $12 a month, and in the artillery and infantry $11. But the pay was not what they were fighting for.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

From the description of the battle at Fort Gregg, April 2, 1865, by Captain A. K. Jones, of Mississippi, it would appear that the battle was fought exclusively by Mississippians (see Ante, p. 60.) I was surgeon at Fort Gregg all the preceding winter and early spring. I was with my command in Fort Gregg from start to finish, and know by whom it was defended. Captain Chew, of Maryland, with about twenty artillerymen, with two guns, was part of the "force. Chew's other two guns had been taken out of the fort to check the advance of the enemy in our front, but to no purpose; the lean horses could not pull the pieces through the numerous pine stumps in our immediate front, and had to be abandoned.

[ocr errors]

All this took place before we were reinforced by the men from Hatcher's Run, on the right. Besides Chew's men, there were some

thing less than one hundred supernumerary artillerymen from all the Southern States. They were armed with rifles for the time being, with the understanding that they would resume their respective com mands when the campaign opened in the spring. Thus we had one hundred and twenty men, and they were the men that Captain Jones found on his arrival at Fort Gregg. They had been placed there by General Lee. They had never made their escape from any place. Jones' statement is that they had escaped from the right and begged to go to the rear, and after hesitating to comply with their request he at last concluded to let them go, provided they would leave their guns with him; and to that they readily consented.

Surely Captain Chew and others who, I hope, are living, will sustain me in saying that no man left Fort Gregg out of Chew's command that day. We were reinforced by men who had been defeated on our right. There were no organized regiments or companies entering Fort Gregg. They came in singly or in squads, every man to his liking. Much of Captain Jones' report is correct in part, and I regret that he has the actual facts mixed in regard to the men garrisoned in Fort Gregg by order of General Lee months before the battle on the 2d of April, 1865.

After being recruited by about one hundred and fifty men, who came from the lines on the right of Fort Gregg, the defenders numbered two hundred and fifty men. With that small number we were opposed by the Twenty-fourth Army Corps of nine thousand strong. What other forces assailed us that day, if any, I don't know.

As Captain Jones says, we repulsed several determined charges with great slaughter to the enemy. The New York Herald acknowl edged a loss of two thousand and four hundred killed and crippled.

When the Federals were forming for their final charge, I sug gested to Captain Chew, of Maryland, to surrender, as there was no chance of ultimate success by holding out any longer. My advice was not accepted, as the captain said he had been superseded by some infantry officers, who had come to his help. There were so many Federals coming over the parapet in the last charge we could not shoot them all; they swarmed in and showed us no quarter. It was not so much their officers who caused them to desist from shooting us.

General Lee was looking at us, and when he saw what was going" on he dispatched his courier, William Callerton, to Colonel Poague's' artillery, ordering him to open fire on Fort Gregg with all his guns, which he at once did. The first shell fell close in front of me.

Four

or five Federals were killed. Then one shot after another in rapid succession drove all the enemy on the opposite side of the fort for shelter. Had it not been for Colonel Poague's guns I believe they would have killed every one of us. Captain W. Gordon McCabe's History of General Lee's Campaigns, on page 500, reports thirty coming out of Fort Gregg alive. As for myself, I counted twenty-seven only, when giving their names to a Federal officer. I could say much more, but enough! What I have said is only in defense of the plucky men that garrisoned Ford Gregg.

GEORGE W. RICHARDS,

Surgeon A. P. Hill Corps, A. N. Va.

THE HYPODERMIC SYRINGE.

First Used in the Confederate States Army.

The Chattanooga News of February 10, 1904, says: "The subject of the first use of the hypodermic syringe was discussed at the last meeting of the army surgeons in New Orleans last spring," said Dr. R. D. Jackson, "and one surgeon stated that the first time it was used he thought was in the Army of the Tennessee. While in the Tennessee army I wrote to a friend in Augusta, J. P. K. Walker, to try to get me a hypodermic syringe and send it to me. I never had seen one, but thought from what I had heard about it that it would be very useful in relieving the wounded soldiers of pain.

"My friend was fortunate enough to secure one from a physician and sent it to me while I was on duty at the hospital at Ringgold, Ga. I exhibited it to my friends-the surgeons there, eighteen in number-none of them had ever seen one before. At that time I was treating a severe case of dysentery, the patient being a chaplain from Texas and one of General Bragg's most reliable scouts. One of the surgeons suggested that we try the hypodermic syringe on the patient, which was done by inserting a quarter of a grain of morphine in the back. It is possible that the army surgeon at the New Orleans convention, who referred to the first use of the syringe in the Tennessee army, was one of the eighteen I have referred to."

INDEX.

Abbott, Dr. Lyman, 97.

Adams, Hon. C. F., His defense of R. E.
Lee, 89.

Alabama, Mississippi, Department of, in
1864, 48; closing scenes in, 49.
Allan, Colonel William, 34.

Anderson, Captain 49th Va., wounded, 26;
Captain J. R., 177.

Antietam, or Sharpsburg, Battle of, 32; U.
S. and C. S. forces engaged in, 36.
Appomattox, C. H., 284, 347.
Artillery. The Light, 297.
Ashe, Captain S. A., 357.

Atkinson, Colonel John Wilder, 141.

Bassinger, Major S. W., 134.

Baylor, Captain George, 365.

tion, 68; ex-Generals in the U. S. Congress
and Senate, 84; civilities between the and
the Federal, 24; chemicals and medicines,
how obtained, 100.

Conrad, Major Holmes, 253.

Cooper, General S., his portrait in the War
Department 86.

Courtenay, Captain W. A., 1.
Crampton's Gap, 33.

Crater, Battle of the, roster of members of
the 12th Va. Infantry engaged in, 271.
Crenshaw Battery, History of the, 275; roll
of, 289; commended by A. P. Hill, 280.
Crenshaw, Captain W. G., 275.
Crittenden, General George B., 168.
Crook and Kelly, Capture of Generals, 12.
Crumpacker, Judge, 90.

Beauregard, General P. G. T., 76; unjustly Crutchfield, Colonel S., 104.

blamed at Shiloh, 310.

Berham, Major Calhoun, 216.

Benton, T. H., his eulogy of Lee, 87.
Berkeley, Captain F. N. 14.

Bethel, Battle of, 347.

Bobbitt, B. Boisseau, 339.

Bond, Captain, W. R., 235.

Boteler, Hon. A. R., his house burned, 267.

Bradford, U. S. Navy Admiral, 333.

Breckinridge, General John C., 306.

Bright, Captain R. A., 228, 356.

Brooke, Colonel John M., 327.

Cutshaw, Colonel W. E., 177.

Daniel, Major John W., 205.
Danville, Va., 80, 334.
David, Torpedo Boat, 330.
Davidson, Captain Hunter, 327.

Davis, President, portrait of in the War
Department, 86; fast proclamation of, 337;
monument, 209; Major Sturgis, 12.
Depew, Senator Chauncey, 97.

Dinkins, Captain James, 298.

Dixon, Lieutenant, his daring, 330.

Brunswick Guards, Company H, 53d Va., Donelson, Surrender of Fort, 298.

[blocks in formation]

Canby, General E. R. S., 48.

Capers, General F. W. 3.

Carlyle, on whom to honor, 251.

Cary, Misses Hettie and Constance, 70.
Chaffin's Bluff Battalion, 141.
Chancellorsville, Battle of 282.
Chambersburg Burning of, 261.
Charlestown, Imboden's dash into, 11.
Chickamauga, Battle of, 155, 360.
Chisholm, Alexander Robert, 32.
Christian, Hon. George L., 250, 340.

City Battalion, Richmond, 25th Infantry,
officers of, 303.

Cleburne, General P. R., sketch of, 151;
death of 160; advocated enlistment of
negroes, 215.

Cold Harbor, Battle of, 61.
Company C, 37th Va Infantry, Roll of, 185.
Confederate Capital, Last, 80, 334; cabinet,
last meeting of the, 336; necessities and
privations of the, 38, 237; organization of
the army in the South in 1862, 293; num-
ber of, 303; pay of officers and privates,
369; number of Generals and Lieutenant-
Generals, 190; currency, the notes issued,
145; Navy, monitors Scorpion, Wivern
and Virginia or Merrimac, 71; privateer
Jefferson Davis captures the Echo, 53, 54;
torpedo boat David, 330; flag, its evolu-

Douglas, Major H. K., 65.

Duncan, Colonel 58.

Early, General J. A, 61, 340.

Echo, Capture of the Brig, 53.

Ellett, Captain James, 380; Lieut. Robert,

275: Captain Thomas, 275.

Englehard, Major J. A., 354.

Ewing, Master, 330; General Thos. C., 88.

Federal, Vessels destroyed, 53, 330, 331;
Union a compact, 87; vandalism, 267.
First shot of the war, 73.
Fisher's Creek, Battle of, 166.
Five Forks, Battle of, 284.
Flag, C S., Evolution of 68.
Forrest, General 318.

Forts, Battery Nine, 20; Grigg, assault of
and its defenders, 56, 60, 370; Haskell,
McGilvery, Meikel, Morton, Morris Is-
land, Sedgwick, 20; Stedman, 19.
Franklin, Battle of, 160.
Fredericksburg, Battle of, 282.
Friend Thomas R., 356.
Fusileer Francaise, 2.

Garland, General S., killed, 199.
Garnett, Captain James M., 32, 61.
Gettysburg, Battle of, 191, 200, 228, 283, 349.
Georgia, Independent flag of, 236.
Gibbes, Major Wade Hampton, 73.
Gibson, General R. L., 109.
Gilchrist, Major R. C., 6.
Gillem, General A. C., 125.
Gilmor, Major Harry, 12.

« PreviousContinue »