This book contains a selection of "best" stories from Confederate Veteran Magazine.
Thrilling Story By A Union Veteran
About night in going through some thick brush we found, lying on the ground on an old army blanket in which his men had dragged him from the field, this young man; his uniform torn in shreds, both legs broken, his face, neck, and hands burned black and badly torn, his eyes seemed burned out, and blood trickling from his whole body which was swollen in fact, he was the worst looking object to be alive I ever saw.
Test Of Courage For A Soldier
The story of a special act of bravery by Jim O’Mera of the Virginia 11th Cavalry Regiment who volunteered to draw fire to ascertain the strength of the yankee line. "They'er thar yit, Gin'ral."
Sketches of Prison Life
The chaplain of the Alabama 36th Infantry Regiment tells of his imprisonment at Nashville and Washington.
A Tribute To Jefferson Davis
This article was published in two successive issues of the Confederate Veteran. We have combined both here.
To do honor to a man whom we should look upon, not as an unsuccessful leader of a "wrong" cause, but as a stainless, incomparable patriot, whose conduct was such that the people whom he represented can face the whole world with pride in the name, as a man of blameless integrity and of spotless character.
General Sherman's Colonization Scheme
To attempt to hold all the South would demand an army too large even to think of. We must colonize and settle as we go South, for in Missouri there is as much strife as ever. Enemies must be killed or transported to some other country.
In The Battle Of Chancellorsville
The author was colonel of Alexander's Battery at Chancellorsville. The battalion was composed of six batteries-four Virginia, one South Carolina, and one Louisiana while the general composition of a battalion was only four batteries. This battalion and the more noted Washington Artillery, of New Orleans, with four batteries, composed the Reserve Artillery of Longstreet's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. We were called "Reserve" because we were not specially attached to any division, but kept for use whenever and wherever wanted; hence the battalion explanation that we were called "Reserve," because never in reserve.
Wounded Confederate Prisoner
Chaplain Norman Fox of the New York 77th Infantry Regiment tells of the death of private Thomas J Roberts, Co. I, 12th Georgia Infantry. "...he told me about his friends at home, speaking also of those from his own family circle who had already been killed in the war. While we were talking he asked for a drink of water. I brought it, and as I raised him to a sitting posture, so that he could drink, he leaned his head forward upon my shoulder, and without a struggle was dead."
Battle Of Chickasaw Bayou
"I immediately advanced the remaining companies of the Twenty-Eighth Louisiana and Forty-Second Georgia, and compelled the enemy to retire with considerable slaughter. ... Besides the regiments already mentioned for gallantry I would mention the Third, Thirtieth, and Eightieth (Sixty-Second) Tennessee Regiments, occupying the pits where the enemy made his most formidable attack. They displayed coolness and gallantry, and their fire was terrific."
Regiment Captured By One Confederate
"It was one man against hundreds, and Sergeant Bell determined in a moment to capture the regiment and take the colors with his own hands. Without a moment's pause he dashed boldly forward, firing his musket full into the ranks of the enemy, crying: "Surrender! Throw down your arms!" The Seventh Georgia heard the cries and shot, and dashed across the field, but too late to rob the gallant Bell of the honor achieved by his daring act. Bell had captured them single-handed, and had in his possession the colors of the Nineteenth Wisconsin Regiment. "
Reminiscence Of Old Fort Gibson
"All about the place there seemed a grand requiem which will sound along the corridors of time as long as men have honest convictions and the courage to stand for them. From this scene we passed to a humble two-room cottage in which Jefferson Davis' family lived and in which he spent the greater part of his honeymoon with his first wife, the handsome daughter of Gen. Taylor. "
Theodore O'Hara
Theodore O'Hara is one of the few poets whose title to immortality rests on a single poem, The Bivouac of the Dead." This story gives a biographical sketch and includes the full poem.
Vivid History Of Our Battle Flag
This is a first-hand account by Gen. W. L. Cabell of the meeting between he, Gen. Johnston and Gen. Beauregard in which Gen. Beauregard proposed the design of the Confederate Battle Flag.
United Sons Of Confederate Veterans
Biscoe Hindman, Commander in Chief, of the U.C.V. speaks of the organization’s creation and mission. . Our Joe Wheeler and our Fitzhugh Lee have lived to serve both the South and the Union, and have served both causes well, and they now wear the uniforms of generals in the army of the United States. Truly we now have "One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, one nation evermore."
Shall The History Be Perpetuated!
A speech given by Gen. John B. Gordon... "The decision made by the arbitrament of war was... that the right of a State to secede should no more be asserted; that there should be on this continent the one great republic and one flag over all forever. But the question of which side was right in the conflict was not settled. No result on the field of battle can ever settle a question of right, and I can no more consent to deny my children the privilege of believing that their father was right than I can consent to write dishonor in my mother's dust.
Let us settle this question now and forever. Let us settle it upon a basis consistent with the self-respect and manhood of both sides. Let us settle it upon a basis consistent with the welfare of the great republic. There is a basis on which we can all stand. It is that monumental truth which history will yet record and heaven reveal at last-namely, that both sides were right because both sides were fighting for the constitution of the fathers as they had been taught to interpret it, and both were right."
Secession Spirit (1861) In Illinois
Judge J. M Dickinson, a Tennessean, but now residing in Chicago, refers to some interesting history set forth in Erwin's "History of Williamson County, Ill." Some extracts are as follows, beginning on page 257:
But among the old liners a strong sympathy for the South was felt. By the 1st of April, 1861, the parties were nearly equally divided, and excitement was running very high. Our leading men were in trouble, and some were noisy and clamorous for Southern rights. In a few days after the inauguration, Peter Keifer made a speech in the courthouse, in which lie said, "Our country must be saved;" but it was understood that "our country" meant the South, by the motion of his hand. Sympathy for "our Southern brethren" became stronger and stronger every day. Propositions for organizing the people into companies and regiments were made. Secession was openly talked of until the 9th day of April, 1861, when it began to take shape... They went to Mayfield, Ky. and joined Company G, One Hundred and Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Tennessee Volunteers, and were in Gen. Cheatham's command.
Death of Prisoners
The Confederates captured nearly 6,000 prisoners at Gettysburg, and proceeded to parole them on the field, but when they had given parole to about 2,000, this order of the Dark Ages from Secretary Stanton came to hand, and the other 4,000 had to foot it to Richmond, a weary march of several hundred miles, to undergo the discomforts of Libby or Andersonville. Was this torture needed to make these brave men respect the dignity and power of their government, when each one knew that such an order was a violation of the solemn honor of his government, which it had willingly carried out whenever the South held more prisoners than it did?
