Watson's weekly Jeffersonian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1907, June 27, 1907, Page PAGE FOURTEEN, Image 14
PAGE FOURTEEN
“THE CONFEDERATE VET
ERAN.”
The June number of the above
named 'magazine is full of intefr
esting and valuable matter. Indeed
there is no periodical of its class
more uniformly excellent. Never
rancorous toward the North, and
never apologetic for the South; nev
er bitter toward those who fought
us, and never less than superbly loy
al to the heroes who defended us,
the “Confederate Veteran” is a
model Southern publication.
In the June number is an article
on “The Women of Mosby’s Con
federacy,” which is one of the most
remarkable war papers we ever read.
Consider this sketch of Gen. John
S. Mosby:
“The people of Fauquier believed
implicitly in Mosby, and his men had
unbounded faith in him. When I
recall Mosby as I saw him for the
first time at the head of his battalion
in the little village of Salem, in
old Fauquier, in the autumn of 1864,
splendidly mounted, his lithe, ele
gant form attired in a showy, new
uniform, slouch hat with gilt cord,
and sweeping plume shading his
clean-cut cameo face, I thought of
the days when ‘knighthood was in
flower’; that he was the knighliest
of them all. He was the beau ideal
of a ‘ beau sabreur ’ —a Centaur,
Mars, and Apollo all in one.
“In many respects Mosby was
unique. His power over his men was
complete, but they did not love him.
He had no magnetism; he was as
cold as an iceberg, and to shake
hands with him was like having the
first symptoms of a congestive chill.
He was positive, evidence of a self
centered man, and did not know
what human sympathy was. He
would have been a Stoic had he lived
in Athens in the days of Pericles.
The general impression of Mosby is
that he was a rough-and-ready, fight
ing Cracker Jack. On the contrary,
he was a literati, a classical schol
ar, and a thorough student; but he
reminded one strongly of Goldsmith,
“ ‘Who wrote like an angel,
But talked like poor Poll.’
“Mosby was fond of reading the
old English literature, and he was fa"
muiar witii Lord Chesterfield’s let
ters, yet withal he had tfte manners
of a Piute Indian. It has often
been said of him that he made an
enemy every time he shook hands.
He was a fascinating character to
study; but he was a ‘stormy petrel,’
a born soldier, a light cavalryman
by instinct, and a partisan who un
der no orders could accomplish won
ders, but in the regular army he
would never have been heard of. In
the piping days of peace he was a
fifth spoke in a wheel, and steady,
plodding work was his abomination.
He was of the meteoric type. Yet
though cold, indifferent, and utterly
selfish, he was the greatest leader of
irregular warfare that history or tra
dition tells us of. Sumter and Ma
rion were no more to be compared
to him than Alvarez was to Cortez.
Mosby, with his battalion numbering
some three hundred fighters, caused
more trouble to the Army of the Po
tomac than any corps in the Confed
erate army; and they kept over thir
ty thousand Federate guarding their
communications, their railroads, their
army posts, their frontier towns, and
their depot of supplies, when but
for this übiquitous ranger these
forces would have been in active
service in the field.”
The author relates the following
story which is new to us and, maybe,
to you:
A Fauquier tot, three years old,
was sent, soon after the war was
over, to visit her aunt in Boston.
When she knelt to say her prayeis,
the night of her arrival, she put into
the old, old petition of “Now I lay
me down to sleep,” the Southern ad
dition of “God bless General Lee
and Jeff Davis.”
Her aunt mildly interposed with,
“Mollie, the war is over now, and
we are one people, and you must
pray for the Yankees, too.”
Once more the little knees were
bent; oncel more the little hands came
together; and once more the infant
tongue lisped in prayer. This time
the innocent and earnest addition to
the old form was:
“Oh, Lord! Bless the dam Yan
kees, too.”
The author tells of an incident
that would be incredible were we to
read of it in a novel. A Confederate
soldier, on his way to see his sweet
heart, was surprised by a troop of
Union cavalry, whose captain he
shot. Then the race for dear life
was on:
“Waller sped straight down the
road with the crack of the pistols
of his pursuers sounding loud above
the thunder of the beat of the hoof
strokes. A high rail fence ran along
the highway, and there was nothing
for him to do but keep straight on.
As he neared the mansion he saw
that the gate was closed, but he was
well mounted and a light weight and
he just cleared it; but his horse lost
his balance and fell to his knees, and
in an instant Waller was off and ran
up the steps into the house.
‘ ‘ His sweetheart had seen the whole
affair. The Federate had to stop to
open the gate, and this gave him time
to reach her side before the Feder
ate reached the house. An ordinary
woman would have screamed; an
extraordinary woman would have
turned white to the lips, and
would have thrown herself before
his bearded foes and thus have given
him a chance to fly; but a heroine
did neither. She heard the order to
the troopers to surround the house,
and, worse than all, she heard the
clanking of spurred feet hurrying
along the gravel walk. There was
no time for tears, no time to think,
only time to act on an inspiration
that saved a human life. To do so
was violating every principle of fe
male modesty, every precept of the
world, and doing violence to every
finer feeling and performing an act
which would in the common course
of events cause her long and contin
ued shame and regret. She loved
her country, she loved its defenders;
but she loved most of all the man
now being hunted to death. She
stood in the passage, her tall form
rendered more imposing by the mon
strous crinoline skirt, worn during
the first two years of the war. She
made her lover stoop down and she
stood over him, her broad skirts ef
fectually concealing his diminutive
figure. As the bluecoats came
streaming into the hall, an officer in
front, with his cocked Colt’s in his
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
hand, demanded to know where the
Rebel was. She motioned them to a
rear door, and she stood like a statue
all the time they were searching the
house. When interrogated by the of"
fleer, she answered coolly, calmly,
and plainly, as if she were discuss
ing a dinner; and her magnificent
nerve kept her standing there so na
turally that not one of those men
had the slightest suspicion that she
knew anything of the Rebel fugitive.
“After her sublime act, it would
seem that Fate would have watched
over and protected her lover; but
her heart was broken when a year
later tidings came to her that he had
fallen in the front-of bittie line,
with a bullet through his heart.”
Have You Seen It?
WHAT?
w Watson’s Jeffersonian
MAGAZINE FOR JULY
I If you have not already seen the July
I number, don’t fail to get it, either from
I the news stands or by sending subscrip-
I tion price ($1.50) direct to the Atlanta
I office. This number is a “hummer” and
I you can’t afford to miss it. Here is the
I table of contents:
ROBERT TOOMBS—Frontispiece.
EDITORIALS Thomas E. Watson
Illustrated by W. Gordon Nye.
Between the Mill-Stones—Stretching the
Constitution—Corporation Encroachment
—Shameful National Finance—Editorial
Notes.
x A SURVEY OF THE WORLD
THE BLACKNESS OF PENNSYLVANIA Scott Nearing
JIM—A REMINISCENCE OF SLAVE TIMES
Frank E. Anderson
ANN BOYD—A Serial Story Will N. Harben
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ANDREW JACKSON
1 Thos. E. Watson
I NOT OUR FUNERAL w W. B. Sloan
THE INFLUENCE OF NEGRO NURSES UPON
SOUTHERN CHILDREN A Southern Mother
ROBERT TOOMBS Thos. E. Watson
EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE
, BOOK REVIEWS
f WHAT THE PRESS SAYS OF US
SAY OF OTHER EDITORS
I Those subscribing now and wishing
I the back numbers can secure them. Do
I it to-day.
I Watson’s Jeffersonian Magazine
I 608 TEMPLE COURT
I Atlanta :: ~ :: Georgia
Very touchingly and vividly is the
situation and the heroism of the
women of Fauquier described. We
can only quote in part:
“In many houses there were no
men; every man capable of bearing
arms was in the field. Often a par
ty of us would stop at some lone
farmhouse in the dead of night; and
after an interval, a light would
gleam, and the white faces of a
group of women would be seen hud
dled together for safety. Then, no
matter what the hour, they would
start a fire and cook us a frugal
meal. How those people lived, God
only knows. In the lower part of
the country there was no poultry, no
hogs or meat of any kind; for a Fed-