Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 391 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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INDlAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
329
Hood's retreat Mr. Jones marched bare-footed ou
of Tennessee. His feet were so badly wounded bJ
the rough stones of the turnpike along which thb
soldiers trudged that be was compelled to go to thb
hospital, where he remained for two weeks, aftel
which he returned to the army on its way to Nortt
Corolina, and was made Adjutant-general of Granbury's
old brigade, commanded at the time by Col.
Cole, of Memphis, Tenn. His command was
ordered into the battle of Bentonville, N. C., but
the Federals broke line and retreated, leaving their
dead and wounded on the field, as this part of the
Confederate force came in sight, and the brigade
was consequently not engaged. Shortly after the
surrender of Jobnston's army near Jonesboro,
Granbury's Texas brigade, which enlisted 6,000
strong at the beginning of the war, surrendered
one hundred and thirty-seven guns to Gen. Sherman.
Thousands had gone in those days after
days of battle, shock and dreadful carnage, to soldiers'
graves. They rest now in peace in Fame's
great Valhalla. Their memories are enshrined in
loving comrades' hearts. For them
"The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo,
No more on life's parade shall meet
That brave but fallen few.
On Fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And Glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead.
The Macedonian Phalanx under Alexander, the
Tenth Legion under Caesar and the Old Guard under
the first Napoleon did not display a fortitude and
valor superior to that of this heroic brigade.
Its history was singularly brilliant. After Granbury
and Cleburne fell to rise no more upon the
hard contested and blood stained field of Franklin it
maintained the reputation that it had earned under
those leaders undimmed until the Confederate
colors were furled under the shade of the tall pines
of North Carolina, never again to be shaken out to
the breeze and lead brave hearts on to victory or
death. When the last sad act in the drama of war
had been played the battle-scarred survivors of the
brigade separated sadly for their homes, many of
them to meet no more. As a soldier Mr. Jones
sought, like he has in all the other walks of life, to
do his full duty, and as a consequence was respected
and beloved by his comrades in arms.
He says the negro question was undoubtedly the
main issue in the war, that he always regarded
slavery as a moral wrong and that the Southern
people are well rid of the institution, but that it ist deeply to be deplored that it could not have been
yabolished without resort to war.
e " I have seen more dead men " said he, "on one
ebattle field than all the negroes in the country were
r worth."
i How short-sighted is human wisdom. The philosopher
Locke and other philanthropic men of his
time conceived the idea of sending agents to Africa
to negotiate with various tribes and buy a number
of prisoners captured in the fierce tribal wars of
extermination then prevailing and carry them to the
plantations in North America. The humane design
of these great men was in the first instance to save
the lives of the unhappy wretches, in the next to
transport them to new scenes, where they could
learn the peaceful art of agriculture and become
civilized, and finally after these ends had been
accomplished to send them back to Africa to civilize
and Christianize that continent. What appears at
the time to be the height of human wisdom is in
reality the height of human folly, and what appears
to be wholly right not infrequently has at its heart
the seeds of radical wrong. What a dismal end
awaited the schemes of those philosophers! The
slave trade, with its unspeakable atrocities, soon
grew to frightful proportions under the impetus
of New England cupidity. Its foul annals are
familiar to the students of history.
Under the Constitution it was abolished shortly
after the formation of the American Union. The
Constitution recognized, however, the slaves
already in the country as property, and provided
for the recovery of fugitives fleeing from one State
to another. The anti-slavery party precipitated
the war. Through its influence every acquisition
of territory was opposed, citizens of the Southern
States murdered when they attempted to remove
with their property to territories purchased by the
common blood and treasure of the country, the
express provision of the Constitution providing for
the surrender of fugitive slaves to their masters
upon demand, nullified by express statutory enactments
in many Northern States, or trampled under
foot by armed mobs, and all manner of bitterness
stirred up until the hearty hate of one section for
the other culminated in one attempting to peacefully
sever its connection from the other and live
apart, and a war that has no parallel in ancient or
modern times. It was a direful day when the first
slave was brought ashore upon American soil.
The evils that have followed have been innumerable.
How different would have been the history of the
country if such an event had never taken place I
The fearful storm of war that swept over this
devoted land from 1861 to 1865 shook the very
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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/391/?rotate=270: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.