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"half-moon" Virginia pies were quite a factor in the secret service of the Army of Northern Virginia. The eighteen-year-old daughter was really the head of the family.

It was to this place we were hurrying, when about two o'clock the second night out, on a broad, sandy road, now little used on account of the position of the armies, the quick ear of our scouts caught the sound of a rapidly approaching horse. We had hardly concealed ourselves when the horse and rider had reached us. With a bound like wildcats, Jackson and Bond had the horse thrown back on his haunches. Instantly a bright pistol flashed in Jackson's face, but I had already grasped the wrist and the bullet went singing through the air. Reuben Boon took the pistol from the small hand, and she cried out, "Would you murder a woman?" I replied, “What are you doing here alone at this hour?" This is Captain, and the very man I am looking for!" It was the younger daughter of the family above mentioned. In lifting her from her saddle, I found her to be thoroughly wet and shivering with cold. We wrapped her closely in the folds of two army blankets, and I gave her some whisky from a small flask given me by Gen. A. P. Hill before starting. She soon became quite comfortable, and seated at the foot of a large pine tree, though far from home and with four men whom she only knew as rough soldiers, without a particle of trepidation, in a clear voice she told us that on the day before her family had observed unusual activity in the army. The young brother went out and soon returned to inform them that the whole Army of the Potomac was already on a forward movement. The plan was clear to turn Lee's right at Five Forks and Dinwiddie Court House. With Sheridan then to force his way to the South Side R. R., and there cut off Lee's retreat, then by a general forward movement, the effort would be made to destroy his army. The young lady said that her mother prayed for quick means to inform Gen. Lee, and watched anxiously for some scout to come along. She astonished her mother by telling her she was going that night to give the Confederates information. She kissed her mother goodby, and mounting their only horse, she sped away in the darkness to give her countrymen, over thirty miles away, the news. She explained that in fording a creek about twelve miles back, her horse fell in water waist deep. She kept her pistol dry, leading the horse out. Again, about seven miles back, a "Halt" rang out, and a minnie ball passed over her head.

We were astonished at the important news and the wonderful action of this remarkable Virginia girl. I told her that we must get this news to our army as Hoon as possible. She said the men could go, that surely one of them might get through, and added: "I want you to see me home, Captain." I decided to take her home, and had lifted the then helpless girl on her horse, when, after a warm clasp of the hand with each scout and a "God-speed and protect you," she turned to go. I also bade them farewell, with an admonition to let nothing stop them until Gen. Hill was informed of the situation. They started for our army, while I went in an opposite direction to deliver to her mother the grandest heroine history has ever recorded.

I instructed her to stay from four to six rods in my rear, and let this distance separate us unless she wanted to speak with me.

The gray of dawn was beginning when we reached the vicinity of her home. Concealing her in a pine thicket near, I quietly as possible approached the house. Looking through a crack between the logs, I saw the mother and sister sitting by the fire. Their pale, anxious faces told the tale. No sleep had come to them through that long night of anxiety. "Thank God! thank God!" was the only reply that the mother could make when told of her daughter's safety. I lifted her from her horse, but she could not walk a step. When clasped in her mother's arms,

she fainted as if dead. Her tired nature was exhausted and the reaction had come.

Two cups of genuine strong coffee and a good breakfast somewhat restored me after thirty-six hours without rest or sleep. I bade farewell to this grand heroine and good family, and with their prayers following me, I started on the perilous journey to Lee's lines.

Grant's entire army was on the move. The usual routes were blocked. Several times I ran upon them. Once a regiment of cavalry forced me into a creek with nothing but my nose above water and head under drift. I had to remain until they crossed within a hundred feet of Another time

that day I lay under a culvert almos buried in mud while a brigade of infantry and a battalion of artilery passed over it. Late that night I got into the promised land to find Lee's entire army ready for battle.

Reaching Gen. A. P. Hill's quarters, I found him up and dressed. I gave him such additional information as I had gained. He told me one of the scouts had been captured, but two arrived safe, with the information. In less than an hour after they reported, couriers were dashing in every direction, and in five hours the army was in line of battle. Bushrod Johnson and Pickett had been sent to Five Forks and Dinwiddie Court House, and reached there before Sheridan.

By the patriotic courage of this young woman, Lee met Grant at every point, and but for her the surrender would have been at Petersburg, and there would have been no Appomattox.

I have never heard of this noble Virginia family since that eventful night. Nor have I seen but one of the three scouts. Jackson lives in Oklahoma. The others I have never heard from I suppose they have. gone to join Hill, "Stonewall," Archer, and Lee.

The VETERAN would be glad to learn of this family and fully of its members.

Miss Sue M. Monroe, Wellington, Va., near the Manassas battlefield: "I was very much interested in the short account of Maj. John S. Monroe, of New Orleans. Can you answer me in the VETERAN if he is still living, and where, and if dead, the particulars? John and Spence Monroe, two Highland Scotchmen, settled on Monroe's Creek, Westmoreland County, in this State. Spence was President Monroe's father, and John was my great-greatgrandfather. Major reminds me of my own father, and I would have done just as he did if I had to die for it."

The

GEN. BASIL DUKE ON CAVALRY SERVICE.

M. B. Morton writes from Frankfort, Ky.:

I take much interest in the most picturesque figure of modern times, "Old Johnny Reb Who Wore the Gray," and note the excellence and the evident success of the VETERAN.

I had the pleasure recently of hearing Gen. Basil W. Duke's lecture on the "Confederate Cavalry Service," which he delivered in this city to perhaps the most distinguished audience ever assembled in the Frankfort Opera House, consisting of the entire appellate bench of Kentucky, the State officials, and the most prominent citizens of Kentucky's capital.

It is hardly necessary to say that Gen. Duke was Morgan's "right bower" during the Civil War, and after the death of his dashing chieftain, was the leader of his famous command until the final surrender. He is one of the best lawyers in the South.

In this State where he has an extensive personal acquaintance, and where so many persons have heard his clear, incisive legal arguments and his charming conversation, his lecture has been looked forward to as an epoch in Confederate history. Though he was one of the chivalric figures of the war, and has upon his person the angry scars that bear testimony to some of the many fierce conflicts through which he passed, he would never be selected as a veteran of a war that closed thirty years ago. He is lithe, active,

and vivacious, and his auburn hair and full, cropped beard are merely tinged with silvery threads. While telling his story simply and without ostentation, he holds his audience in rapt attention during the two hours consumed in its narration.

The chief object of the lecture is to show the importance of the service rendered by the bold riders of Forrest and Morgan in inspiring confidence in the Confederate sympathizers of Kentucky and Teunessee, striking with terror the loyal hearts of Ohio and Indiana, and drawing off large bodies of Federal troops in their pursuit who would otherwise have been engaged in active hostilities against the beleaguered armies of the South. He adorns his narrative. with many charming incidents; some of the most interesting of which occurred in Tennessee and in Sumner County, which, with a voting population of 2,800 at the breaking out of the war, furnished 3,000 soldiers to the Confederate Army.

Though he spent four years of his youth in the camp, in the military prison, and in the wild fray, Gen. Duke is a man of fine literary attainments, attested by his well-rounded periods and rapidly flowing diction; but occasionally in the heat of action he throws aside his glittering ornaments and tumbles headlong into the wild vernacular of the camp, and occasionally uses the African "et" for " "ate." Then the auditor loses sight of the elegant figure in evening dress before the footlights: sees only the slouched hat and gray uniform of the plunging trooper, and hears the "rebel yell" and the angry notes of the navy-six and double-barrel shotgun that Morgan's men adopted.

F, O'Brien, of Berwick, La., reports the death of another old comrade, Wade Coleman, during the first week in January.

CHICKAMAUGA PARK.

The visit of Gen. A. P. Stewart, Commissioner for the Chickamauga Park on behalf of the Confederate side, who was the special guest of the Ladies' Hermitage Association at its annual gathering January 8, was improved by the VETERAN for a conference about his work. He was glad of so good an opportunity to make some statements to its fifty thousand readers, explaining that the Southern people do not seem to be as well informed as they should be in regard to it. His association with the two Commissioners representing the volunteer army and the regular army respectively, has been very pleasant, and he is gratified that the government gives equal liberty to the States which served the Confederate Army with those that furnished soldiers for the Union Army:

In August, 1890, the Congress of the United States passed a bill, which was approved by the President, to establish a National Military Park on the battlefield of Chickamauga. The work was to be under the charge of the Secretary of War, who was authorized to appoint a commission composed of three members, who were to be taken from the survivors of the battle of Chickamauga and the battles around Chattanooga. There was also to be an assistant in historical work. The Secretary of war organized the commission by selecting one member of it from the Northern volunteer army, one from the regular army, and the third from the Confederate army. The assistant in historical work was also selected from the Northern side. This Commission, acting for the Secretary of War, and with his approval, proceeded to purchase the lands embraced within the limits of the battlefield of Chickamauga. They have bought nearly six thou-. sand acres lying on both sides of the road leading from Rossville, in Northern Georgia, to Lee & Gordon Mills, on the Chickamauga River. The road from Rossville Gap, on Missionary Ridge, along the crest of the ridge to the north, was made one of the approaches to and parts of the park. Also the road from Reed's Bridge, on the Chickamauga, to Ringgold; the road from Lee & Gordon Mills, by way of Crawfish Springs and Glass's Ford, on the Chickamauga; the Crawfish Springs road from Rossville, passing through McFarland's Gap and Missionary Ridge, to Cra fish Springs; all these roads, as well as the road from Rossville across the point of Lookout Mountain and Lookout Creek, were made approaches to and parts of the park.

In March, 1892, the work of construction on the park began. All the roads running through it, at least those which existed in 1863, had been graded and thoroughly surfaced, some of them with broken stones and gravel, and others with gravel alone. The road from Rossville Gap and along the crest of Missionary Ridge has been graded and surfaced, making one of the finest driveways in the world. The road from the Tennessee and Georgia State line, at Rossville, through Rossville Gap and Lee & Gordon Mills, and then toward Crawfish Springs. has been graded and surfaced. The forest over a very large proportion of the area of the park ha

been cleared of undergrowth, so as to restore it to the condition of open woods. The intention is to bring the whole field as nearly as possible to the condition it was in at the time of the battle of Chickamauga. The lines of battle occupied by the troops on both sides will be indicated by placing on them large iron tablets, containing a brief history of the operations of the troops on both sides.

The act establishing the park authorized every State that had troops engaged to locate the positions of their troops, and to mark them in any suitable way by tablets or monuments, and made provision to that end, but as yet no Southern State has taken any step in that direction. Nearly all the States that had troops engaged there, either North or South, have been commissioned to assist the National Commission in determining the location of the troops. The State of Minnesota has erected four monuments on the field of Chickamauga, and one on Missionary Ridge; the State of Ohio has erected some fifty-five monuments on the field of Chickamauga, and besides has placed a large number of stone markers indicating the positions of its troops; the State of Tennessee had in the battle of Chickamauga a larger number of regiments and batteries than any other State, North or South, and ought to take steps to mark the position of her troops, and to place on these monuments a brief outline of the part taken by each on the field of battle. The same thing should be done by every other Southern State. No distinction is made by the law establishing the park between the States of the two different sections of the country; all have the same rights.

The battle of Chickamauga is regarded by many as affording the best illustration, given by any battle of the war, of the military prowess of the American sol

dier. When the plan has been completely carried out, a visitor to the field will be able to trace out the positions occupied by the troops on both sides, and to understand just how the battle was fought, and to appreciate the result. appreciate the result. The battle began on the morning of the 19th of September, 1863, and closed about dusk on Sunday, the 20th. The whole Federal Army left the field in possession of the Confederates, and retired to Rossville Gap, and the next day to Chattanooga. It was certainly a glorious field for the Southern troops, and the Southern States owe it to them to commemorate their deeds in an appropriate way on the park.

Two months after the battle of Chickamauga, on the 25th of November, 1863, the Confederate Army, which was then occupying the crest of Missionary Ridge, and which had been greatly reduced in strength by the transfer of Longstreet and his corps to Knoxville, was attacked by the army of Gen. Grant, which had been largely reinforced, and driven from its position. The odds, however, were practically as great as four to one. The left flank of Bragg's army was turned by the force which Hooker led across the point of Lookout Mountain and through Rossville Gap. The position became untenable and was abandoned by the Confederate troops to avoid capture.

The scheme for the National Park embraces the ridge, and crest road on the ridge, as well as the field of Chickamauga. The commission has erected three observation towers on the Chickamauga field, one of which is on an eminence in the extreme southern part, near the Chickamauga River; another on a high point in the northwestern part of the park, near the road leading to Reed's Bridge; and the third on the famous Suodgrass Hill. Two other towers have been

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battle, September 19-20, 1895. The President and his cabinet, members of Congress, officers of the army and navy, Governors of States, and the surviving soldiers of the war, are to be invited to be present on that occasion. An appropriation of $20,000 has been made to defray the expense. Ample preparations will be made to provide accommodations for every body, and doubtless, on that occasion, there will be the greatest reunion of the Gray and the Blue that has ever taken place, or that ever will occur.

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(This monument to Gen. Hegg is the same as the Government has erected to Gens. Preston, Smith, Helm, and Deshler, and to the four Federal brigadiers killed on that field.) The government exhibits a liberal policy in it all.

mortally wounded. The spots where these officers fell have been located and marked by triangular pyramids, each having a base two or three feet high of the limestone quarried on the park, and with a superstructure made of eight inch shells, the whole rising to a height of ten or twelve feet. This work has been done by the National Park Commission. The names of the four brigade commanders on the Southern side were Helm, of Kentucky; Colquitt, of Georgia; Deshler, of Arkansas; and Preston Smith, of Memphis, Tennessee; on the Northern side, King, Baldwin, Hegg, and Lytle, the latter being the Cincinnati poet. The work of construction on the park has been nearly completed, but there is a great deal that ought to be done by the Southern States in the way of erecting monuments or some other markers in honor of their troops.

A bill has passed Congress for the National Dedication of the park, on the next anniversary of the

GEN. BARNARD ELLIOTT BEE.

Son of Col. Barnard E. Bee, and Miss Aun Wragg Tayssonx, and grandson of Judge Thomas Bee of Revolutionary fame, was born in Charleston, S. C., in the year 1824. He, and his elder brother Hamilton, moved to Texas in 1837, with their father, who contributed his sword in the defence and liberty of his adopted State.

Gen. Bee was a graduate of West Point, and served in the United States Army all through the Mexican war, having been twice brevetted on the field for bravery, and for which South Carolina presented him a beautiful Sword, now the in possession of his brother, Gen. Hamilton P. Bee, of San Antonio, Texas. In 1860 on the secession of his native State from the Union, he tendered his resignation to the United States Government, and volunteered to defend his native State with the Sword she had given him.

Battery Bee, which contributed her full quota on the 12th and 13th of April, 1861, in the expulsion of the garrison of Fort Sumter, under the command of Major Anderson, was named for him.

Soon afterward he went to Virginia, where the belligerent armies were gathering to face each other.

The Battle of Manassas, on the 21st July, 1861, found him amongst the foremost, and while gallantly fighting for the South, eager to advance even to the cannon's mouth, to inspire his brave men to follow Gen. Jackson who was leading, he pointed to him, and with an outburst of patriotic eloquence cried: "Look! there is Jackson, standing like a Stonewall! Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer!"

Conquer we did, but a fatal bullet piorced his noble form, and the Angel of Death bore his immortal spirit into the arms of the God of Victory. He lies buried beside his father and mother in the cemetery at Pendleton, S. C. JAMES M. BEE.

MR. POLK MILLER AS A LECTURER.

A review of Mr. Polk Miller, as a lecturer and a delineator of negro character, was inadvertently omitted from the Christmas VETERAN, and now the comment by Rev. Dr. G. W. F. Price, President of the Nashville College for Young Ladies, is substituted, which is a finer tribute. It is taken from the College paper:

Never has there been a greater and more pronounced success won by any platform speaker, than that which was scored in this city by Mr. Polk Miller, of Richmond, Va., in his recent visit to our community. His characterization of the grand old ante-bellum days upon the Southern plantation, and his delineations of the negro character in its most pleasing aspects, were listened to by an audience. which drew together all extremes of age, and which represented the education, the culture and the social prestige of Nashville.

Mr. Miller is simple, artless, unaffected. He speaks out of abundant knowledge and a sympathetic heart. His personal experience of the events, incidents and characters which he reproduces lends the pleasing spice of autobiography to his inimitable. recitations and stories. It requires no effort for him to give the negro dialect. It is as natural to him as his venacular. He knows the negro character, his method of thought, his philosophy of life, his religious susceptibility, his subtle craftiness, his biting humor, his spontaneous drollery, his irrepressible gayety, and his quaint superstitions.

With banjo in hand, Mr. Miller so wonderfully personates the plantation darkey, that one rubs his eyes under the delusive spell to assure himself that the veritable Sambo is not there in person, manner and voice. Interspersed with the drolleries of the hour come many a pathetic touch, bringing tears to the eyes of those who are old enough to read between the lines. Mr. Miller is doubtless about the last amongst us who will ever be able to reproduce out of personal knowledge these vanished phrases of a civilization at once unique and splendid.

At the College Mr. Miller carried the girls by storm, and for the time quite broke up the schedule of the day. While he sang, played or talked every eye was fixed on his slightest gesture, and when he ceased a tumult of applause gave an irresistible encore. So, too, in Watkins Hall, his public audience. seemed rooted to the spot, unwilling to let pass from eye and heart a figure whose like we shall not see again, unless, as we all devoutly wish, in his own. person. Come again, come often, Mr. Miller.

GENEROUS ACTION OF A COMRADE.

Miss Claudine Rhett, wrote from Columbia, S. C., October 30th: Last Sunday night, we had a large gathering of Survivors, and citizens, at the First Baptist Church of this city, where the convention which passed the ordinance of Secession first met, to listen to the annual sermon preached to Camp Hampton, by the Rev. S. P. H. Elwell, their chaplain, himself a one-armed Confederate soldier. This discourse was eloquent, manly, and true to the principles of "the right of self-government." His text was from Samuel, 2d book, 27th verse: "How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished." Gen'l M. C. Butler commands Camp Hampton.

During a pause in one of the engagements fought in Virginia, Col. M. C. Butler, of Hampton's Cavalry, and Major Farley, the famous scout, were sitting quietly on horseback talking together, when suddenly a ball struck Col. Butler above the ankle, passed through his horse, killing it, proceeded to crush Major Farley's leg, and killed his horse also.

Some of the soldiers rushed quickly forward, and disengaged the fallen officers from their dead horses, but it was found that both of these gentlemen would have to suffer the amputation of a limb. Surgeons were sent for, and they were laid in the shade of a big tree near by.

When the surgeon, Dr. B. W. Taylor, arrived to perform the double operation, he first approached Col. Butler, the ranking officer, and said to him, "Colonel, I have very little chloroform, but I will share it equally between you and the Major."

"No," replied Col. Butler, "keep it all for Farley, who is worse off than I am. I can bear the pain without it."

The ordeal was accordingly endured, without the aid of this alleviating adjunct of surgery, and the generous hero happily survived the operation!

As soon as he was able to ride, Butler returned to the field of duty, resumed the command of his regiment, and rose to be the youngest (and the handsomest) Major General in the service of the Confederate States.

He now holds the position of United States Senator from South Carolina.

The gallant Farley died a few days after the above mentioned incident, in spite of the magnanimous self-renunciation of his comrade.

H. H. Stephens, who was of Company I, Seventh Mississippi Regiment, Byhalia, Mississippi, writes:

I notice in the November issue of the VETERAN that W. H. Albertson, of Lake Charles, La., wishes information concerning Doug. McIntyre, who enlisted at Holly Springs, Miss., and was captured and caged in "Rock Island" in 1864. Mr. McIntyre went to Texas some eleven or twelve years ago, where he was actively engaged in teaching school. One very cold day in mid-winter a party of gentlemen was out on a lake shooting ducks, and in the midst of their sport the boat capsized and poor Doug. was drowned.

I can't tell him anything about Bester Coleman or J. A. Barefield, about whom he also inquires.

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