who were moving in the direction of Chancellorsville, in the rear of Lee, across the same river at Bank's ford. At this juncture the fate of our army seemed to hang upon a mere thread-the slightest error or mistake, though only of a feather's weight, might have turned the scale against us. The supreme moment had arrived. Sedgewick must be crushed, for he was already pressing Lee's rear, and was aiming to unite with Hooker, which might prove disastrous. But Lee, like the great and unequalled commander that he was, proved equal to the occasion. He had left General Gordon with several brigades at Hamilton's crossing to guard in the direction of Richmond. Gordon moved in echelon-that is, one brigade behind another at greater or less distance apart, forming a somewhat lengthened line of battle, each brigade ready by a rapid movement to support one another in case of either one meeting too strong resistance. He in this way struck Sedgewick's left flank and rear like a tornado, and poured such a torrent of shot and shell, grape and canister into his strongly massed legions as had seldom or never been seen before on any field of battle, while Lee in person, with McLaw's division, and such other troops as he had at hand, moved quickly in Sedgewick's front at Salem Church, piercing his centre. As his (Sedgewick's) left and rear had already suffered severely from Gordon's well-planned and well-executed attack his entire force was defeated and put to flight and compelled to cross the Rappahannock after midnight. This splendid echelon movement made by Gordon, which proved so successful, seemed to have come to him by intuition. He was a born soldier, and did not realize at the time that he was but repeating a movement that Poshua, Hannibal, Charlemagne and other eminent commandants had used ages before. Of all the brilliant victories achieved by General Gordon this one will be studied and admired by students of military science for coming generations. Certainly to Lee, Gordon, and all the officers and private soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia belong glory, honor, and fame, which will go sounding down the ages with increasing splendor and brilliance, and will inspire the youth of coming generations with patriotism, true courage, and every ennobling virtue that goes to make up the very noblest ideals of perfect, self-sacrificing manhood and devotion to duty.

With no desire to criticise or in the least to depreciate the chivalric valor of magnificent courage and heroism of the gallant troops of our Southern States, nor to underestimate the valor of our opponents, the writer, as a Georgian and commander of a Georgia regi

ment, hopes that he will not be taxed with exaggeration, or as claiming undue credit for the troops of his native State, when he says they covered themselves with glory in the bloody conflict they took so conspicuous a part in and around Chancellorsville, Va., on the 3d and 4th of May, 1863. The Georgia troops who took prominent parts in the several engagements were those of Phillips's and Cobbs's legions and the Sixteenth, Eighteenth, and Twentyfourth Georgia regiments-the latter regiment the writer had the honor of commanding. These brave sons of noble old Georgia did their duty well and unflinchingly, losing heavily both of officers and men. Hundreds upon hundreds of these brave boys are now filling unmarked graves and long neglected trenches in and around Chancellorsville and all along the banks of the Rappahannock. These silent homes of honor and neglected abodes of patriots still speak not only to Georgians, but to the entire world and say, we who lie here died in vindication of a righteous cause, a cause, though it failed, left not a stain on the unsullied escutcheon of our State or one foul blot on a single page of her history. No dishonorable act of ours in this contest should cause a blush to mantle the cheek of any honest, true-hearted Southern man.

OLD SALEM CHURCH.

Old Salem Church, around whose hallowed portals were enacted so many deeds of heroic valor and awful scenes of desperate conflicts, will long be remembered by every one who witnessed them. Scarcely ever before in the history of ancient or modern warfare was so horrible a spectacle of death and carnage presented to human sight. This venerable old edifice, that has so long been consecrated to God, and so long used for His service by the followers of the Prince of Peace, standing as it did, midway between Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, was the very centre of one of the fiercest and most destructive battles of the war between the States. Here hundreds upon hundreds of the wounded of both armies were gathered up and brought for surgical attention-the building being used as a field hospital. The scenes of death and carnage witnessed here no human tongue or pen can adequately describe. Even the stoutest hearts of those who had been long inured to scenes of blood and suffering, stood pale and speechless and trembling as they beheld these heartrending sights. After the house was filled the spacious churchyard was literally covered with wounded and dying. The sight inside the building, for horror, was, perhaps, never equalled within so limited

a space, every available foot of space was crowded with wounded and bleeding soldiers. The floor, the benches, even the chancel and pulpit were all packed almost to suffocation with them.

The amputated limbs were piled up in every corner almost as high as a man could reach; blood flowed in streams along the aisles and out at the doors; screams and groans were heard on all sides, while the surgeons, with their assistants, worked with knives, saws, sutures, and bandages to relieve or save all they could from bleeding to death. These heart-rending horrors are now, after nearly forty years has elapsed, as vivid in the memory of the writer, and probably in the memories of many others who witnessed them, as though they had occurred but on yesterday.

This venerable old edifice was badly wrecked during the battle, but in consideration of the fact that the wounded Federals received just as tender and careful treatment at the hands of our surgeons and their assistants as the Confederates did, caused some generous citizens of the North soon after the war closed, to show their appreciation of the kindness shown their suffering soldiers, had the house rebuilt in a very handsome manner. So old Salem Church stands to-day one of the most beautiful houses of worship in all that part of the country, and a noted landmark of one of the bloodiest battles of the late civil war.

In conclusion, I will state that seldom so overwhelming a victory. was ever gained over such fearful odds as General Lee's over General Hooker at Chancellorsville. By it, Richmond was saved and the Federal army, one of the largest and best appointed that had ever been encountered by our troops up to that time, was thoroughly beaten and forced to save itself from almost utter extermination by ignominious retreat. According to statistics taken from Hooker's and Lee's reports, now on record at Washington, and recently published, is taken the following figures: Hooker had in the action 113,838 troops, 404 pieces of artillery, besides small arms, and lost 17,287 men, while Lee had only 59,681 troops, 160 cannon, besides small arms, and lost 12,000 men. These figures clearly show the military genius, skill, and ability of General Lee and his subordinate officers as well as the pure metal of which the Confederate soldier, from the highest officer to the humblest man in the ranks, was composed.

Colonel C. C. SANDERS,

Twenty-fourth Georgia Regiment.

[From the Charlotte Observer, November, 1901.]

A CONFEDERATE PLAN FOR ARMING THE

SLAVES.

It was overlooked at the time of its publication in the Richmond Dispatch, but the New York Sun makes a summary of a strikingly interesting documentary contribution to our Richmond contemporary by Mr. Irving A. Black, who, during the civil war, was assistant adjutant-general on the staff of General Patrick R. Cleburne, who commanded a division in Hardie's corps of the Confederate Army of the Tennessee. The document is a paper prepared by General Cleburne in December, 1863, in which for the first time a military officer of prominence definitely advocated the employment of slaves as soldiers for the South. The paper was submitted to the brigadier-generals of the division, and Mr. Buck's recollection is that the project was approved by them unanimously; but when it was referred to the general officers of the army it was opposed by several of them, though, continues Mr. Buck, "my impression is that Generals Hardie and Johnston, however, declined to forward the paper to the War Department on the ground that in tenor it was more political than military. Subsequently it was sent through another channel to Jefferson Davis, who indorsed on it these words, substantially:

"While recognizing the patriotic motives of its distinguished author, I deem it inexpedient, at this time, to give publicity to this paper, and request that it be suppressed.

"J. D."

All copies were supposed to have been suppressed, but a few years ago one was found among the effects of a deceased officer of General Cleburne's staff and sent to the Confederate Record Office of the War Department at Washington, by which it was referred to Mr. Buck for authentication.

General Cleburne in this paper, according to the narrative, described the straits to which the Confederacy was reduced in the latter part of 1863, and said:

"In this state of things it is easy to understand why there is a growing belief that some black catastrophe is not far ahead of us, and that unless some extraordinary change is soon made in our condition we must overtake it."

The "extraordinary change" advised by him was this:

"That we retain in service for the war all troops now in the service, and that we immediately commence training a large reserve of the most courageous of our slaves; and, further, that we guarantee freedom within a reasonable time to every slave in the South who shall remain true to the Confederacy in this war."

He goes on to argue his case with very considerable ability, referring finally, to the military aptitude of negroes as displayed in the Union army and elsewhere, and concluding by saying that “If they can be made to face and fight bravely against their former masters, how much more probable is it that with the allurement of a higher reward, and led by those masters, they would submit to discipline and face dangers?"

General Cleburne-an Irishman born and a gallant spirit-was killed in the battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864. A little while before this event, a bill had been introduced in the Confederate Congress which embodied some of the features of his plan. It was bitterly opposed, a representative from Mississippi saying, for example:

"All nature cries out against it. The negro was ordained to slavery by the Almighty. Emancipation would be the destruction of our social and political system. God forbid that this Trojan horse should be introduced among us."

Finally, however, the bill was passed, but with a provision "that nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize a change in the relation of the said slaves." But Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, had denounced it as involving emancipation, advancing this argument, among others, that "negroes now are deterred from going to the enemy only by the fear of being put in the army. If we put them in they will all go over." But the bill passed only a few months before General Lee's surrender, and never became operative.

The Sun asks whether or not, if it had been made effective at the time General Cleburne proposed it, it might not have changed the whole course of events. Reason and religion both say no. The seeds of that war were implanted in the Constitution, and their germination was only a question of time. War was inevitable, and, like other things, the manner of its termination was directed by the innate Power. But for the consolation afforded by this belief, the Southern people, at its conclusion, would have been of all men most miserable.