Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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WAR Si The Morale o? the < The Subjoined extracts are taken .'rom the writings of Kev. J. William Jones, who was first a private ami served ia the ranks, then a Chaplain ?0 the close of thc war. These ex iracts are taken from Vol. Xii, "Con federate Military History." The author ia now Chaplain General of thc knited Confederate Veterans. Dur "og thc war ho was liltingly desig nated a- the "Fighting Parson." Chaplain Jones is a mau of marked ability, with both pen and tongue. Ile is a Baptist minister. It will lc seen by persuing these in teresting extracts that the position of Chaplain in the Confederate army was >y no means a bombproof. In his testimony before "the com mittee on the conduct of tho war," Major-General Hooker-"Fighting ?foe" he wa^ affectionately and appro priately called by his men-uses this jemarkable and emphatic language: "Our artillery had always been superior to that of thc rebels, aa was ?iso our infantry, except indiscipline, and that, for reasons uot necessary io mention, never did equal Lee's army. With a rank and tile vastly inferior to our own, intellectually and physically, that army had, by discip lino alon?5, acquired a character for steadiness and efficiency unsurpassed, .r- my j idgmcnt, in ancient or mod . ? Limes. Wo have not been able to ?ivJ it." Now, we may fully accept the latter y rt of this statement of General ilwoker's as to the character of the Confed?rate army, without conceding ibat it was due alone to discipline. It was my privilege to be a member of ??ie army of Northern Virginia. As a private soldier or as chaplain I fol - 3owed its flag from Harper's Ferry in 'GI to Appomattox io '65, mingling freely with the men in camp, on tho march, in thc bivouac, on thc battle field, and in tho hospital. I know its most conspicuous leaders and made jt my especial business to know the heroes of the rank and file. I march with them along the weary road, bi vouacked with them in the pelting storm, went with them into the leaden and iron hail of battle, ministered to them in tho loathsome hospitals, la bored among them in those glorious revivals which made woll nigh every camp vocal with God's praises, result ing in the professed conversion of over 15,000 men; rejoiced with them in that long soricB of brilliant vic tories which have illustrated bright est pages of American history, and wept with thom when Lee was "com pelled to yield to overwhelming num bers and resources." Since thc war I have carefully btudied the official re ports on both sides .and everything that has been published which throws any light on the history of that army. I am prepared, therefore, not only to fully^ indorio General Hooker's opin ion of the infantry of tho army of Northern Virginia, but to go further and say that our artillery, though in ferior in guns, ammunition and equip ment, was always a match for that to which it was exposed; that tho mon who rode with Turner Ashby, Wade Hampton and Fitz Leo, or "followed tho feather" of "Jeb" Stuart, though greatly inferior in mount and equip ment to the Federal cavalry, were masters of the situation on any fair field; and that the army of Northern Virginia as a whole, was, in gallant dash, steady r?sistance, patient en durance, heroic courage, and all other qualities which go to mako up the best soldiers, not only unrivaled, aa the gallant general says, by the army of the Potomac, but the equals of any other army that ever maroued under any flag, or fought for any cause. And I give equal honor to the other armies of the Confederacy. The men who defended Fort Sumter and Charleston and Savannah and Mobile and Fort Fisher; who fought nuder Albert Sidney Johnson, Beauregard, Bragg, Joseph E. Johnston, Hood, Stephen D. Lee, Pemberton, Van Dorn, Price, Dick Taylor, Kirby Smith? Forrest, Joe Wheeler, John Morgan, and others, were the peers of those who followed Lee and Stonewall JP okson and deserve equal praiao. Tire world never saw better soldiers than thoBe who composed the Confed . erato armies. But we moat utterly xegjuliate the rewon General Hooker assigns' for the efficiency of the Con federate Soldiers. So far from ita befog due to "disoiplinc alone"-so far from its being true that the Con federates were "vastly iuferior, intel lectually and physically," to the sol diers on the other side, it can bo abundantly demonstrated that just tho reverse is nearer the truth, and 'that the world never saw an army composed of more?superb material, \ intellectually, physically and moral yiyy in all that constitutes what we ORIES. Jonfederate Army. I call morale in an army, than tlic ar tu i r* H of tho Confed?rate Slates of America. Hut perhaps thc bent evidence ot the morale of the Confederate annies ia their achievements, notwithstand ing the immense odds in numbers, re sources and equipments against which they fought. Thc population of the Northern States was about 20,000,000, while the population of the Confed erate States was only 5,000,000 whites. There were enlisted in the Federal annies, as shown by the official re ports, 2,80I,2YI men. while there were mustered in the Confederate armies a total of only 800,OOO men. Thc block ade cut oil' thc Confederacy from thc factories and gcueral supplies of the world and shut thc South up to its own scant resources: while thc Fed erals had not only the arsenals, thc navy yards and the shops of the gov ernment, and tin; numerous factories of the North, but those of the whole world from which to draw their war material. The Federal armies were equipped in complete style, their arms and ammunition were of the most im proved patterns, their supplies of every kind weru abundant and even luxurious, their transportation very superior and their telegraph, pioneer, 'secret service," and every other de partment of the highest efiicienoy; while thc Confederates were sadly deficient in all of these and, indeed, lacked everything save devoted pa triotism, ablo leadership and heroic hearts. And yet, with these over whelming odds against them, tho Con federate armicB for four years main tained thc unequal contest, fought over nearly all tho territory of the Confederacy, and in over 2,000 en gagements, great and small, won many victories which astonished thc world. * * * * In evidence of the high in?ralo of tho Confederate army, a letter from a gallant Union colonel, who served to the end cf tho war, is hero ouoted aa it was published in the Southern Hist rical Society Papers (Yoi. IX, pp. 142, 14H), iii which he Bays: "1 tako pleasure in reading thc Southern Historical Pipers, and consider thom invaluable. They show conclusively the great disparity of numbers and thc bravery and great sacrifices of thc Southerners in battling for their orin oipies and for what they honestly con sider were their rights. And I take a just prido, as an American citizen, a descendant, on both sides of my pa rentage, of English stock who came to this country about 1610, that thc Southern army, composed almost en tirely of Americans, were able, under tho ablest Amerioan chieftains, to de feat so ofton tho overwhelming hosts of the North, which wore composed largely of foreigners to our soil. General Hooker, in his testimony, surely overlooked this element, or h o would not have testified that thc Con federates were inferior to his people, "intellectually and physically," and acquired their superiority in stcadi ness and efficiency "by discipline alone." But tho point will bo obvious by oiting thc results of a fow of the many battles as illustrations. Wheo on aa count of the wounding of Gen. J. K Johnston at Seven Pines, Gen. ll. E. Lee was put in command in Virginia, Juno 1, 1862, tho situation looked dark indeed for tho Confederates. Tho capture of Forts Henry and Donelson , tho fall of New Orleans, the capture of Nashville, Roanoke Island and Norfolk, gave the Federals confidence of success and tended to greatly dis pirit the Confederates. The gloom had been somewhat brightened by the Confederate victory at Shiloh and Stonewall Jackson's brilliant Valley campaign, whioh terminated at Cross Keys and Fort Republie a few days after General Lee assumed oommand. But the situation was exceedingly threatening, for MoClellan waa strong ly intrenohed with 115,000 men with in sight of the spires of Richmond and almost within cannon range of the city. He had 10,000 more men at Fortress Monroe and waa confidently expecting McDowell, whose troops had been diverted by the movements of Stonewall Jaokaoo, to join him with 40,000 troops. Gen. Lee, to oppose this strong force, after reoeiving all of the reinforcements that he could draw from every source, could only muster 78,000 men, the largest army he ever commanded. And yet, with thia force Loe attacked McClellan in his strong hold, and in "Scvon Days' battles" drove bim from every position and forced him to take refuge under tho cover of his gunboats at Harrison's landing, forty miles below Richmond, j after a feries of brilliant Confederate I victories which inflicted immense os? ou thc enemy iu both men and material. <i<n. .J. li. Kershaw, of South Carolina, published some years a deeply interesting narrative conced ing "Richard Kirkland, thc humane hero of Fredericksburg," a sergeant io thc Second South carolina regi ment. After the bloody repulse of the Federals at Fredericksburg, near the foot ol Mary e's Hill, they left their many killed and wounded lying between the linc?, and the piteous cries of tho brave tuen on account of pain and thirst appealed to the sym pathies of the soldiers of both armies. Kirkland went to (Jencrai Kershaw, who was then in command of thc Con federates at that poiut, and said with deep emotion : "General, I can't stand this." "What is the matter, Ser geant?" asked the general. He re plied: "All day I have heard those poor people crying for water and I can stand it no longer. I come to ask permission to give them water." The general regarded him for a moment with feelings of profound admiration, and said: "Kirkland, don't you know that you would get a bullet through your head the moment you stepped over thc wall?" "Yes," he said, "I know that I may, hut if you will let nie, I am willing to try it."-After a j>msc the general said: "Kirkland, I ouu't't not to allow you to run such a rink, but thc sentiment which actuates you is so noble that 1 ?ill not refuse your request, trusting that God may protect you. You may go." With light heart and buoyant step the hu mane hero, armed with all of the can teens he could carry filled with water, crossed thc wall, went unharmed through the shower of bullets which at first greeted him, and reached and relieved the nearest sufferer, pouring down his parched throat the life-giv ing fluid, putting him in a moro com fortable position, and leaving him a canteen tilled with water. His pur pose now being apparent the Federals ceased to li ic on him, and for an hour and a half, amid thc plaudits of both armies, this angel of mercy went on his mission from man to man of the wounded enemy-his comrades gladly filling his canteens for him and being prevented from joining him in his labor of love only by the orders against their crossing the line-until all on that part of the field were relieved. It needs only to bo added-since "the bravest are the tenderest and the lov ing arc the daring"-that Sergeant Kirkland so greatly distinguished himself at Gettysburg that he was promoted for "conspicuous gallantry," and that he fell on the victorious field of Chickamauga, bravely -.oing his duty. But he will be K .?vn in the annals of war as "Th? humane hero of Fredericksburg," and as he had but a short time before found "Christ in the camp," I doubt not that he wears now a bright crown bestowed by Him who promises that a oup of cold water given in tho right spirit shall not lose its reward. * * * * * As for the treatment of prisoner?, despite all of the slanders that were published against the Confederacy and are still unjustly repeated, the fact remains that ' the Confederate re oords have been searched in vain for proof that the Confederate authorities over ordered or connived at any ill treatment of prisoners. The Confed erates did everything in their power to mitigate the suffering of prisoners and mado various humane proposi tions to that end, which were rejeoted by the Federals; and while the suffer ings of prisoners were very great and the mortality among them fearful on both sides, yet the official reports of E. M. Stanton, United States Secre tary of War, and J. K.Barnes, sur geon-general, show that nearly four per cent moro Confederates perished in Northern prisons than Federals in Southern prisons; and this not withstanding the faot that the Con federacy was deficient in food, rai ment and medicines for oven its own soldiers, while the Federals had ac abundance of all supplies. The truth is that our Christian President, Jef ferson Davis, and his generals con ducted the war on the higheat plane of civilization; that our rank and file caught their spirit and showed in this, as in other directions, their peouliar and lofty morale. The great English scholar and poet, Prof. P. S. Worse ley, wrote the truth in the Jines of blended strength and beauty in his poem dedicated to Gen. R. E. Le*!, in whioh he thus refers to the Southern Confederacy: "Ah! realm of tombs! but let her bear This blazon to the last of times: No Nation rose so white and fair. Or fell so puro of crime*." - It ?B not hoing kissed that a girl objeots to so mnoh as tbs way it is done. - It is an awful comfortable sen sation to be fat when you sit down too suddenly. - Wickedness would not be nearly so muoh fun if there was no risk of getting caught. - You couldn't make a woman be lieve that some man waa not trying to flirt with her unless ho was. - Either, a girl has a high instep or she thinks abo has. Hie Water We Eut. Bought aH food, water is a tolerably expensive luxury. in several in stances it costs something like $2 50 a glass, according to the estimates of H. J. Holmes in Pearson's. Let us begin with breakfast. Look at that loaf of bread. To all appearance it is solid enough. But it is not. When it came into the hands of thc baker aa wheat Hour it contain ed water only to the extent of 17 per cent. In working up the materials into dough, by kneading and other manipulation and in baking a zreat change takes place, and the quantity of water has more than doubled. The wheat Hour loaf contains nearly 40 per cent of water. Curiously enough, tts value as a food is increased there by. Tho percentage of water in the crust is about half that in the soft in side. "Cured" pork does not contain a large proportion of water. In fact, wherever there is a good deal of fatty matter there is also a scarcity of mois ture. So the man who enjoys his slice of breakfast bacon may comfort himself with the reflection that he is gettiug fairly solid value for his mon ey, because bacon contains only 22 p ;r cent of water. Fresh eggs, on tho other hand, are composed of no less than 05 per cent of water. The best dairy made butter, no mat ter how carefully prepared, contains a comparatively large percentage of water. Out of 1,500 samples of butter examined by well known authorities a small number contained over 16 per cent of water. The largest number contained between ll and Kl per cent. Carelessly manufactured or adulter ated butter often contains muoh more water than is permissible by law, and the breakfast table may include a sup ply of butter oontaining as muoh as 20 per cent of water. It is only to be expected that milk, owing to its origin, should vary con siderably in its composition. Much depends on the health and surround ings of the animal yielding it. It is interesting to know that morn ing milk as it comes from the cow is by no means as nourishing as the evening supply. There is more water in the former. The daily quart of milk, even in its purest state, con tains an average of 87.6 per cent of water. The choicest fish contains the lar gest percentage of water. Thus tur bot and sole are credited with 78 per cent, salmon 75 per oent, while the commoner inhabitants of the deep blue sea are oontent with from 40 to 60 per cent. aB in the case of the homely herring. "As cool as a cucumber" is a house hold term. The coolness is easily ex plained. Cucumbers are almost en tirely composed of water-that is, 95 per oent, or over 7.4 per oent more than is'contained in milk, whioh is itself a liquid. Lettuce must not be forgotten. Here is a further instance of how little substance may be in au apparent solid, for the cabbage let tuce holds 02 per cent of water. It will be seen that most of the good things of life are largely composed of water, but it is better for us that this is so. Nature knows more about our digestive powers than we know our selves, and she has designed her pro ducts-fish, flesh, fowl and fruit with so cunning a hand that the water contained in each is essential. Food oontaining very little water in its composition is not, as a rule, good to eat until a suitable process of cook ing has rendered it safe by adding a further supply of water to it, and boil ing, as is well known, is the process that renders our food most wholesome and easy of digestion. She Simply Wanted to See. Prof. D. P. Croop of the University of Colorado has invented a maohine that increases the height from one to five inches and the ohost girth from one to four inches. "It is amazing," said Prof. Croop the other dayr*'what an interest peo ple take in any change in their phy sique-the gain of an inch around the ohest or forearm, the loss of an inch in the neck or stomach. ''I know of a woman who ?pent July at the seashore, taking an ooean bath and a hot bath daily so as to reduce her weight. "The day she was to leave for home she entered a butoher shop and told the old man to out her off twenty pounds of pork. He ont and weighed this &ieafc chunk of meat and then said; 41 *Whoro, madam, shill I send it?' "But tho women ai she feasted her eyes on the pork, replied: " 'Oh, don't tend it anywhore. I don't want to buy it. Yon see, I have lost twenty pounds since I have been down here, and I just wanted to seo how muoh it was.' " - When a woman goes shopping it takes her all afternoon; When she goes buying it takes her only a few min utes. - When a man discovers he is a distant relative of a millionaire ho aots as if he bad been elected to e pub lic office. Kxpentdre ?hims. "Thc sultan presents his compli ments to the engineer in charge and wishes him to open the bridge in course of erection in Constantinople in order to let a ship from the dock yard pass through at once." When this message was delivered into the hands of the contractor re sponsible for the construction of the bridge he was thunderstruck, says Loudon Answe* He Lad been working on the bridge day and night, and when the orders for its opening from the sultan it was not half fin ished. He approached the minister of ma rine and finance and said it was im possible to obey his majesty's com mand, as he would have to pull every thing down, and it would take months to replace the scaffolding and pile driving machines. "It cannot be helped," replied the minister. "If the sultan says the bridge must be opened it must be done, or we shall lose our places, if not our heads." So the bridge was opened, and the ship came out of the dockyard at a cost of over $500,000. It afterward transpired that the sultan had found his infant son crying bitterly in the harem beoause he could not see the flag hoisted on his particular ship from the nursery windows. To humor the ohild's caprice the sultan ordered the bridge to be open ed at onoe and a large ironclad to be brought out of the dockyard and moored in front of Dolmabagtchen. This no doubt pleased the boy, but it caused enormous inconvenience to the people of Constantinople to say noth ing of the waste of moneywhioh had indirectly come out of their pockets. The State of Massachusetts lost $3,000,000 beoause a man living ri Boston left his window open over night. He was a silk grower, and in the hope of produoing a new brand of silk he experimented with somo gypsy months that had been cent to him from France. He left the moths under a glass shade by an open window one night, and next morning they had all dis appeared. The shade had been over turned and the draft blew the moths into the street. Eighteen months later Massachu setts was swarming with gypsy moths and they ate the leaves off every tree and bush for miles around. The dam age done in two years by the insect totaled $3.000,000, and the State au thorities spent another $750,000 try ing to exterminate the pests. One of the worst famines ever known in lower Egypt was caused by a eouple of John Bull's gunboats. The vessels went up into the marshes beyond Khartum, to capture slave traders. The slavers, who had made up their minds not to be caught easily, made a bold bid for freedom by out ting channels through the mass of vegetation whioh lined the main stream of the Nile. The majority of them escaped in I this way, but the channels they cut in their anxiety to get away brought ruin and famine to lower Egypt. The current carried the masses of loose vegetation down the river, and so completely blooked it that the Nile flood failed. United States. Senator George L. Turner, of Washington, lost his for tune and poverty stared him in the face. Turner was a lawyer,. and one day a party of miners, well known known to him, who had struck a lode up in British America, near Vic toria, came into his office and asked him to make out some papers for them. "We oan't pay you cash for your services, Mr. Turner," said one of the party, after their business had been transacted, ''but we will give yon some s took and call it square." At first Turner refused to take the stook, aa his oliente were old friends bf his and he preferred to do the work for nothing, but on being pressed hs took the certificates and tudked them away in his safe. Two years later Senator Turnor was a millionaire through these mining oh are 9, and tho mine that brought him tho money and mads the fortuno of his friends is tho. famous Ls Roi, ons of tho riohest in the weat. Two tourists a sm ped on the ridge of .a mountain lake near Como, a mining town in Colorado. While rn want of something to pass the time one suggested that the other should di-s into the lake and try to diseovsr I the bottom.. His friend stripped and j dived io.' He o arno up half a. minute later/ saying that he had found tho bottom with his head. 3 After he pat on his clothes he he-' gan to rah his head with his handker chief. "Look at the sand," hs said laugh* log. Bat his friend, who had been a gold miner, sprang up with a ory tl surprise. "George," he BbOuted "it's fgoldl" And gold it was. The. man ?to had <>;.v*w into tho lake had struck a placer gold mine of the riebest kind. Today the little lake neat ?omo ia tie fioest. placer in the whole weat, and perhaps thc moat remarkably discov ered ono on.record. . An Interrupted Meal- I ? - Some time ago, while ridiug over a J rice plaotation in South Carolina, as J I rode alongside of a small creek, my i attention was attraoted by a commo- 1 tion in thc water. The tide was very low, anl leaning over the bank I saw I on the mud just below me a sight that i made me glad 1 was on my horse, and ( at a safe distance, warned by my an tipathy to snakes, passed down per haps from Mother Eve, and caused by her misbehavior. There was one of the largest water moccasins, a snake j rather rare here, and even more dead- 1 iy than the rattlesnake. The copper- < head is the only snake around here \ more deadly than the moccasin. I I had often heard of snakes eating 1 rabbits, frogs and other small animals, 1 but had never had an opportunity of 1 watching the performance, and now I ' watched this one with great interest, for thc snake had caught and begun to eat a carp at least four inches wide, and I wondered how he oould possibly open his mouth wide enough to take it in. / , ? After watching him awhile I rode on to call one of the men to kill him, and when I returned sure enough, he had tho fish half eaten. I could make out his nose and bright little eyes, but would never have recognized his head, it was so contorted by the perfor mance. The meal seemed anything but a pleasure. The men killed the snako and the fish fell out of his mouth, stunned ap parently, but not dead, and the eld est of the men Baid the snake was the largest of its kind he had ever seen. I would have liked to have seen him catch the fish. I can only suppose he got it penned up ia the shallow water. Seeing this snake recalled to me a snake fight I had seen when a child, and the great impression it made on me. At breakfast one summer morning, our old servant asked if we would be allowed to oome in the yard, as he wanted us to see something, and just outside of our fence, in the middle of the road, was a king, or thunder, snake, and a rattlesnake, looked in deadly combat. The thunder snake was a little small er but had the advantage ia a good hold, and every now and then would give the rattlesnake a squeeze, which at every turn the rattler would try to get in a position to strike. This was about 8 o'clock in the morning and the fight continued ali day, the snakeB moving over very little Bpaoe, but fighting desperately. We watched it almost all day, and about 6 o'clock gathered to see the end. The king make bad conquered, and had succeed - ;d iu swallowing his victim, but had ?auged his capacity by his appetite, ind had overdone it, for at least three oches of the rattlesnake stuck out of iis mouth. Even for one who hates snakes these wo spectacles were most interesting ind well worth watobing.-News and fourier. Saved His Uta. This story is told, according to the boston Herald, at the expense of the ate Geo. Wilmon W. Blaohmar: Gen ital Blaokmar was Attending a camp, vhen he was approached by a seedy ooking man, wlio grce tod him pro usely. The general shrugged his iboulders and turned away, with the emark that they were nat acquaint ed. "But, general," said the stranger, 'don't you remember how yon saved ny life at the battle of the Wilder less?" Gen. Blaokmar at once became in terested, and he called a group of jomrades over to listen, saying: "I saved this man's life once. How was it done, old comrade?" "It was this way," was the response. "We were on a hill, and the enemy advanced steadily toward our in trenchments. A veritable hail of fire Bwept our position. Suddenly you turned"-hero the auditors wore ab sorbed and excited-"and ran, and I ran after you. I think that if you hadn't shown the example I would have been killed that day." Is There any Mother . There! A little girl once follpwed the work men from her father's grounds when they went home to their dinner, be cause sh? was very fond of a kind old man who was one of them. When he looked from his door he saw her sit ting on a log waiting for him, and in vited her to go into the cottage She looked in, saw the s ti inge faoes aronnd table, and hesitatedr When he surged her, she raised her sweet little face, and inquired: * "Is there any mother there?" "Yes, my dear, there is a mother here," he answered. "Oh! then I am not afraid if there ?B a mother there." A house may be small, but if it is a shrine of a mother's love it is a hap. pier placo than a palace would be without this blessed presence.-Her ald and Presbyter. - It is always a pleasure to the average man to boast another sinner down. - Should i |1 Auld m Acquaintance M Forgot I we s?y M again- M Forget lt H Uneeda 1 Biscuit J| IH i ' S HRH