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From tlio New Orleans Sunday Time*.
Hon. A. H^Stephens.
BT MAHT B. BBYAS.
A desolating storm of strife has passed,
Misery and wronsc have seared a goodly land,
Change lias swept OYor it with w ild waves since last
In the pale Autumn light. I saw thee stand
And heard thy thin lips prophesy of things
Now with the awful past, and watched tiiine eye •
Darken and deepen, till thy words seemed wings
Os mighty omen, shadowing the sky ;
While mutterings of disaster and of doom
Knelled from the impending years ; until the gloom,
Thy trustful spirit pierced with rays of hope ;
Shine such to-day upon our horoscope.
The temple of our pride la in the dust,
The banner of our chivalry i3 furled,
And yet, the altar of a nation’s trust
Has not been wholly down to ruin hurled ;
For still the storm of w-rath has spared us tliee,
And mighty spirits like to thine, that stand—
Lone pillars o’er the ruins—grand and free,
Though scathed by fate, which yet our eyes may see,
With gathering faith, that Heaven may save the land
Which human power has scourged with ruthless hand.
But thou—what hopes are thine ? Oh, thou, to whom
Genius unfolded all her promise rare,
And to thy spirit gave her eagle plume
The heights of thought, the sun of power to dare ;
To whom ambition sung her loftiest hymn,
Whom fame has crowned with laurels nobly won,
Comes there no cloud of disappointment dim
Between thy eagle vision and the sun ?
No shade of sorrow (yet unstained with shame)
That faith to thy sad country through all blame
Lost thee the guerdon it was thine to claim,
Os place, and power, and an appointed name?
The eagle is the eagle still ; liis wing
No traitorous thought pollutes; his steadfast eye
Fixed on the goal, forever brightening—
The sun of truth in heaven’s eternal sky.
No meteor goal—applause of changeful men,
Or gilded laurels—that brave pinion speeds,
And clearer pierces the unclouded ken,
And brighter with the memory of good deeds ;
For thy fair record of those turbulent years,
No sta in of cruelty or error sears.
That fierce apotheosis of physical power,
When shook the world to trumpets and the tread
Os conqueror’s mailed heel. What brought that hour
To tliee, calm spirit ? What honors for tliy head ?
Gray hairs, that never came trom selfish cares,
Wan brows through watching by the dying bed,
Wealth spent with thoughtful hand to stay the fears
Os widowed mothers wailing for their dead,
And trembling for their helpless living. Thine
Are deeds that no historic muse may twine,
But bright in Heaven’s immortal wreath they shine.
The eagle is the eagle still ; his way
lies far above the vultures that we see
Whetting the beak of selfish greed to-day,
Above the carcase of dead Liberty.
He recks not of the clamor that they raise ;
liis aim is clear, his meed securely won ;
Him, with their love, a noble people praise,
And miTiisterlnjj breathe “well done.”
Ruin is round him, darkness gathers nigh,
Yet still he points to stars within the sky.
To hope’s pale beam and mercy's watchful eye.
Spirit serene, amid the howling storm
Os angry faction, and the thunder shock
Os change and revolution—steadfast form.
Grounded on virtue’s everlasting rock,
Alone—yet holding wide the beacon light
Os love across a wild, tempestuous age,
That passion lashes, error shrouds in night—
Stand and upbear our hopes, until the rage
And strife are past, and peace shines forth to shed
A sunset glory on the honored head.
Red River, La.
BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF MAJ. GEN’L
PATRICK R, CLEBURNE.
[by GKN. \Y. J. HARDEE.)
[concluded.]
About this time the terms of enlist
ment of the three years’ men began to
expire. It was of critical importance to
the Southern cause that these men should
re -enlist. The greater part of Cleburne’s
division consisted of Arkansans and Tex
ans, who were separated from their homes
by the M ississippi river. This river,
patroled by Federal gunboats, was an
insuperable barrier to communication.
Many of these men had not heard from
their homes, and wives, and little ones for
three years. To add to this, the occa
sional reports received from the Trans-
Mississippi were but repeated narratives
of the waste and ravage of their homes by
the Federal soldiery. No husband could
know that his wife was not homeless—
no father, that his children were not
starving. Every instinct that appeals
most powerfully and most sacredly to
manhood, called upon these men to re
turn to their homes as soon as they could
do -o honorably. Cleburne was a man
of warm sympathies, and lie felt pro
foundly the extent of the sacrifice his
men were called upon to make : but, with
Roman virtue, lie set high above all
other earthly considerations the achieve
ment ot Southern independence. He
adapted himself to the peculiar conditions
of a volunteer soldiery, and, laying aside
tiic commander, he appealed to liis men,
as a man and a comrade, to give up eve
rything else, and stand by the cause and
the country. He succeeded in inspiring
them with his own high purpose and ex
alted patriotism, and the result was the
cariy und unanimous re-enlistment of his
division. The Confederate Congress
pa.-vrd later a conscription Act that re
tained the three years’ men in service ;
but those whose terms of enlistment ex
pired in the interim would meantime have
leturned to their homes, and the moral
effect of voluntary re-enlistment would
have been lost to the cause.
Cleburne fully comprehended the dis
proportion in the military resources of
the North and South, and was the first to
point out the only means left the South to
recruit her exhausted numbers. In Jan
uary, 1864, he advocated calling in the
negro population to the aid of Southern
arms. He maintained that negroes ac
customed to obedience from youth, would,
under the officering of their masters, make
even better soldiers for the South than
they had been proven to make under dif
ferent principles of organization for the
North. He insisted that it was the duty
of Southern people to waive considera
tions of property and prejudice of caste,
and bring to their aid this powerful aux
iliary. He pointed out further that re
cruits could obtained on the borders,
who would otherwise fall into the hands
of the Federal armies, and be converted
into soldiers to swell the ranks of our en
emies. His proposition met the disfavor
of both government and people. A
year later it was adopted by Congress,
with the approval of the country, when
it was too late.
The following extract of a note written
about this time to a lady, a refugee from
Tennessee, in reply to some expressions
complimentary to himself, and to a hope
expressed for the recovery of Tennessee,
is characteristic of the man :
“To my noble division, and not to my
self, belong the praises for the deeds of
gallantry you mention. Whatever we
have done, however, has been more than
repaid by the generous appreciation of
our countrymen. I assure you, I feel the
same ardent longing to recover the mag
nificent forests and green valleys of mid
dle Tennessee that you do; and I live
in the hope that God will restore them to
our arms. I cannot predict when the
time will he, hut I feel that it is certainly
in the future. We may have to make
still greater sacrifices—to use all the
means that God has given us; hut when
once our people, or the great body of
them, sincerely value independence above
every other earthly consideration, then I
will regard our success as an accomplished
fact. Your friend,
P li. Cleburne.
In a brief absence from Dalton, with
one exception, his only absence during
his service, Cleburne formed an attach
ment as earnest and true as his own no
ble nature. The attachment was re
turned with the fervor and devotion of
the daughters of the South. Much
might be said of this episode—of its ro
mantic beginning, and its tragic end ; but
the story of the loved and lost, is too sa
cred to be unveiled to the public eye.
General Bra"’" had been relieved of the
command of the Western army, at his own
request, after the battle of Missionary Ridge;
subsequently General J. E. Johnston
was assigned to the command. To the
Federal General Sherman was given the
command of the armies assembled at
Chattanooga for the invasion of Georgia.
The campaign opened on the 9tli of May.
The history of its military operations,
under the conduct of General Johnston,
is the record of a struggle against largely
superior forces, protracted through a
period of seventy days, and extending
over a hundred miles of territory. The
campaign was characterized by brilliant
partial engagements and continuous skir
mishing, the aggregate results of which
summed up into heavy battles. When
the army reached Atlanta, notwithstand
ing the discouragements of constant
fighting, frequent retreats, and loss of ter
ritory, it was with unimpaired organiza
tion and morale.
In this campaign, Cleburne’s division
had two opportunities of winning special
distinction. At New Hope Church, on
the 27th of May, it formed the right of
the army in two lines, the first entrenched.
In the afternoon of that day the 4th
corps of the Federal army advanced, as if
to pass its right. Cleburne promptly
broil "lit his two brigades of the second
line into the first, extending it to face the
Federal advance. This line received the
enemy’s attack, made in seven lines, on
open ground, with no advantage on our
side, except a well chosen position, and,
after an obstinate fight of an hour-and-a
lialf repulsed it. Cleburne’s troops were
not only greatly outnumbered, but were
outnumbered by resolute soldiers. At
the end of the combat about TUG Fed
eral dead lay within thirty or forty feet
of liis line. During the action a Federal
color-bearer planted his colors within ten
paces of Cleburne’s line. He was in
stantly killed; a second who took his
place shared liis fate ; so with the third
and fourth ; the fifth bore off the colors.
We read of little more effective fight
ing than that of Cheatham’s and Cle
burne’s divisions in repelling an assault
made upon them by Blair’s corps of the
Federal army, on the morning of the
'Jitli ot June, at Kenesaw. The con
duct ot the Federal troops on that occa-
Mißfflii eg in
sion was as resolute as in the instance ;
above. When they fell back, more than
300 dead bodies were counted within a
few yards of the entrenchments some of
them lying against it. Hisloss was two
killed and nine wounded, certainly less
than Ito 100 of the enemy. On the 18th !
of July, Gen. Johnston was removed from j
the Western army, and Gen. Hood pro
moted to its command.
On the 21st, while the army was occu
pying a line encircling the northern front
of Atlanta, Cleburne’s division was de
tached to oppose an attempt of a corps of
the enemy to turn the Confederate right,
and penetrate to Atlanta at an undefended
point. His troops, newly arrived at the
point of attack, had no protection, other
than the men provided themselves in the
brief time allowed for preparation. They
were attacked by large odds, in front and
on both flanks. At one time Cleburne’s
line was so completely enfiladed, that a
single shot of the enemy killed nineteen
men in one company. The position was
maintained, the enemy repulsed, and At
lanta preserved. Cleburne described this
as the “bitterest fight” of his life. On
the 22d of July, in carrying out a plan
of general attack, my corps, consisting
then of Cleburne’s and three other div
isions, assaulted and carried the en
trenched left of the Federal army. The
troops opposed to us were McPherson’s
army, of which Blair’s corps formed a
part. On the 27th of June, Cleburne
had repelled an assault of these troops
with a loss signally disproportionate. It
bears strong testimony to the soldierly
qualities of the Confederate troops, that
on the 22d of July,they, in positions ex
actly reversed, carried works equally
strong, manned by the same troops The
loss of twenty-seven of about thirty field
officers in Cleburne’s division, in this ac
tion, attests the gallantry of the officers
and the severity of the eonllict.
On the 2Gth of August, the Federal
commander, Gen. Sherman, commenced
to turn the Confederate position at At
lanta. A Federal force made a detour,
and occupied a position at Jonesboro’,
about twenty-five miles south of Atlanta.
On the night of the 30th, Gen. Hood, re
maining in Atlanta with one corps of his
army, sent the remaining two, Lee’s and
my own, under my command, to dislodge
this force. It was found to consist of
three corps, strongly entrenched The
attack upon it was unsuccessful- Clo
burne commanded my corps in this action,
and achieved the only success of the day,
the capture of some guns and a portion
of the enemy’s works. On the night of
the 31st, Gen. Hood withdrew Lee’s
corps towards Atlanta, and the Federal
commander was reinforced by three ad
ditional corps, so that on the morning of
the Ist of September, my corps, in which
Cleburne had renewed his place as division
commander, was confronted by six Fed
eral corps. Gen, Sherman had, mean
time, arrived on the field, and taken com
mand in person. The enemy at once
took the offensive. It was of the last ne
cessity to secure the safe withdrawal of
the remainder of the army from Atlanta,
that this Confederate corps should hold
its position through the day. The odds
were fearful, and the contest that followed
was a very trying one; hut the position
was held agaiust the attacks made upon
it through the day, and the remainder of
the army retired in safety from Atlanta.
Cleburne’s services were highly valuable
in the operations of this and iy.
In the fall and winter of 1864, Gen.
Hood marched into Tennessee. In this
campaign, at the battle of Franklin,
November the 30th, Cleburne fell at the
head of his division. He was one of thirteen
general officers killed or disabled in the
c
combat. He had impressed upon his offi
cers the necessity of carrying the posi
tion he had been ordered to attack, a very
strong one, at all cost. The troops knew
from fearful experience of their own.
and their enemies, what it was to assault
such works. To encourage them, Cle
burne led them in person to the ditch of
the opposing line. There, rider and horse,
each pierced by a score of bullets, fell
dead agaiust the reverse of the enemy’s
works.
The death of Cleburne cast a deep
gloom over the arm)’ and the country
Eight millions of people, whose hearts
had learned to thrill at his name, now
mourned his loss, and felt there was none
to take his place. The division with
which his fame was identified merits more
parlicular attention. It was worthy of
him, and he had made it so. Its numbers
were made up, and its honors were shared
by citizens of fiver communities—Arkan
sas, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and
Tennessee. In it was also one regiment
of Irishmen, who, on every field, illus
trated the characteristics of the race that
furnishes the world with soldiers. No
one of its regiments but bore upon its
colors the significant device of the “crossed
cannon inverted,” and the name of each
battle in which it had been engaged.
Prior to the battle of Shiloh, a blue bat
tle fi ag had been adopted by me for this
division ; and when the Confederate bat
tle flag became the national colors, Cle
burne's division, at its urgent request,
was allowed to retain its own bullet-rid
dled battle flags This was the only divi
sion in the Confederate service allowed to
carry into action other than the national
colors ; and friends and foes soon learned
to watch the course of the blue flag that
marked where Cleburne was in the bat
tle. Where this division defended, no
odds broke its lines ; where it attacked,
no numbers resisted its onslaught, save
only once—there is the grave of Cleburne
and his heroic division. In this sketch
of Cleburne there has been no intention
of disparaging, by omission or otherwise,
the merits ard services of other officers
and troops, some of which are eminently
worthy of commemoration ; but the limits
of a sketch, personal in its character,
and giving a bare outline of the military
operations with which the subject of it
was connected, necessarily preclude an
account of the services, however great, of
others, even when rendered in the same
action.
Cleburne, at ihe time of his death, was
about 37 years of age. He was above
the medium height, about 6 feet 11 inches,
and though without striking personal ad
vantages, would have arrested attention
L oin a close observer as a man of mark.
His hair, originally black, became grey
under, the cares and fatigues of cam
paigning. His eyes, a clear steel-grey in
color, were cold and abstracted usually,
hut beamed genially in seasons of social
intercourse, and blazed fiercely in mo
ments of excitement. A good sized and
well-shaped head, prominent features,
slightly aquiline nose, thin, greyish whis
kers worn on the lip and chin, and an ex
pression of countenance, when in repose,
rather indicative ot a man of thought
than action, completes the picture. His
manners were distant and reserved to
strangers, hut frank and winning among
friends. His mind was of a highly logi
cal cast. Before expressing an opinion
upon a subject, or coming to a decision
in any conjecture of circumstances, he
wore an expression as if solving a mathe
matical proposition. The conclusion,
when reached, was always stamped with
mathematical correctness. He was as
modest as a woman, but not wanting in
that fine ambition which ennobles men.
Simple in his tastes and habits, and ut
terly regardless of personal comfort he
was always mindful of the comfort, and
well are of his troops. An incident which
occurred at Atlanta illustrates his habit
ual humanity to prisoners. A captured
federal officer was deprived of his hat
and blankets by a needy soldier of Cle
burne’s command, and Cleburne, failing
to detect the offender or to recover the pro
perty, sent the officer a hat of his own,
and his only pair of blankets.
Among his attachments was a very
strong one lor his Ad jutant-General, Cap
tain Irving A. Buck, a hoy in years, but
a man in all soldierly qualities, who for
nearly two years of the war, shared Cle
burne’s labors during the day and his
blankets at nigh}.
lie was also much attached to his
youngest brother, who was killed in one
ot Morgan’s fights in Southwestern Vir
ginia. .1 his brother inherited the brave
qualities that belonged to tlie name, and
alter being promoted from the ranks for
“distinguished gallantry,” fell in a charge
at the head of liis regiment.
. Cleburne had accent enough to betray
liis Irish birth. This accent, percepti
ble in oi dinary conversation, grew in
times of excitement into a strongly marked
brogue. He was accustomed to refer to
Ireland as the “old country/’and always
in the tune ot a son speaking of an ab
sent mother. He possessed considerable
powers of wit and oratory, the national
heritage of the Irish people; but his wit
perhaps characterised by the stern in
fluences that had surrounded liis life was
rather grim than humorous. He had
a rnaiked literary turn, and was singu
larly well versed in the British poets.
Indeed, he had at one period of his life
woed the muse himself, and with no incon
siderable success, as was evidenced by
some fragments of liis poetical labors
which he had preserved.
It was known that he had a brother in
the Federal army, but he seldom men
tioned his name, and never without clas
sifying him with the mass of the Irish
who had espoused the Federal cause, of
whom lie always spoke in terms of strong
indignation. His high integrity revolted
at the want of consistency and morality
shown in the in the course of that class of
Irish, who, invoking the sympathies of
the world in behalf of “oppressed Ire
j land, ” gave the powerful aid of their arms
j to enslave another people.
Cleburne’s remains were buried after
j the battle of Franklin, and yet rest in
| the Polk Cemetery, near Columbia, Ten
-1 nessee. Generals Cranberry and Strahl,
brave comrades who fell in the same ac
tion, were buried at his side. On the
march to Franklin,, a few days before his
death, Cleburne halted at this point, and
in one of the gentle moods of the man,
that sometimes softened the mien of the
soldier, gazed a moment in silence upon
the scene, and turning to some members
of his staff said, “it almost worth dying
to rest in so sweet a spot.”
It was in remembrance of these words
that their suggestion was carried out in
the (hoice ot his burial place. In this
cemetery is set apart a division called the
“Bishop’s corner.” Here were buried
the remains of the late Right Bev.
Bishop Otey of Tennessee—here are to
be placed the ashes of the heroic Bishop
General Leonidas Polk, and here is
is purposed that the tombs of the future
Bishops of Tennessee shall be ranged be
side these illutrious names. In this spot,
where nature has lavished her wealth of
grace and beauty, in ground consecrated
by the dust of illustrious patriots, church
men, and warriors—in the bosom of the
State he did so much to defend, within
whose borders he first guided his charging
lines to victory, and on whose soil he
finally yielded to the cause the last and
all a patriot soldier can give—rests what
was mortal of Patrick uleburne, and will
rest until his adopted State shall claim his
ashes, and raise above, them monumental
honors to the virtues of her truest citizen,
her noblest champion, her greatest sol
dier.
Cleburne had often expressed the hope
that he might not survive the indepen
dence of the South. Heaven heard the
prayer, and spared him this pang, lie
fell before the banner he had so often
guided to victory.was furled—before the
people he fought for were crushed—be
fore the cause lie loved was lost.
Two continents now claim his name ;
eight millions of people revere his mem
ory ; two great communities raise monu
ments to his virtues—and history will
take up his fame, and hand it down to
time for exampling, wherever a courage
without stain, a manhood without blemish,
an integrity that knew no compromise,
and a patriotism that withheld no sacri
fice, are honored of mankind.
Selma, Alabama, May 1, 1867.
Death of Judge W. M. Semple.—
A large number of our readers will
hear with surprise of the death of this
well known journalist, though his health
had long been failing, anil to the mind
of every one who knew him, the event
eon Id not long be postponed. The de
ceased was a native of Fredericksburg,
Va. He had studied civil engineering,
as well as been admitted to the bar, and,
besides holding a public office, had con
ducted journals in Fredericksburg and
Lynchburg, For a long time lie was the
Washington correspondent for a number
of leading journals, and was well versed
to the day of his death in the political
news and gossip of that capital, lie came
to this city a year before the war, and
wrote with marked ability the leading ed
itorials of the New Orleans Orescent. At
the time of the capture of New Or
leans, by the Federal fleet, he left the city
to- go into the Confederacy, and there
contracted the seeds of a disease from
which he never fully recovered.
Affected by ill health and the failure of
the Confederate cause, Judge Semple
never appeared quite the same man after
his return to the city, and only showed
in his declining days the talents and force
of which he was naturally possessed. His
old friends missed the bonhommie which
led him to readily enter into accustomed
amusements; his temper had become
despondent, and he frequented the society
of only a few old friends. But to the
last he showed himself a man of hiffh
honor—steady-in his convictions and prin
ciples, as well as his prejudices, and al
ways incapable of a mercenary or a mean
act
His funeral will take place to-day at 10
o’clock, from No. —Caroudelet street,
when all that is mortal of a worthy man
will be transferred to the keeping of the
tomb.— X. O. Times, April 11 th.
Presentation of a Testimonial to
Mr. John Martin —About a week ago
Mr. Martin paid a visit to Manchester, in
order to complete the necessary inquiries
as to the claims of the various sufferers
for whose benefit this appeal was made,
when a number of friends at Manchester
took advantage of the opportunity, and
presented Mr. Martin with a most touch
ing address. Mr. Martin made a most
feeding reply, and in the course of his
observations he alluded to the fact that
out of a population of 100,000 Irish
people in Manchester, they did not pos
sess a suitable building in the shape of an
atheneum or other similar institution de
voted to Irishmen.
[ l nicer sat Xews, March 21.
When you hear a man say “Life is
but a dream,” tread on his corns and
wake him up. Life is real.
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