Show I L NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY THE EARTHWORKS THAT GENERAL JOE JOHNSTON FORGOT ABOUT By J E B Edward EdwardR This dally daily serIes serle ot of anecdotes and t i 11 that throw threw new Interesting and frequently dramatic light on famous events and nd personalities ot of thom the past st have haVI P been collected b by Edwards durIng o rs ot lOss less t mate mao acquaintance with many man of ot the time e r Mch Eh anecdote or incident 1 i It fresh tresh from loin Mr E notebook and either r In whole or In it part constitutes t made n tho g news tho tYl history O New or News from r of equally yesterday lj er authoritative garnered t d from tg sources the e mon 1 As n who Im Ira f portent contributions of ot tho the Human Interest sort to American history theo thelO articles have hays a distinctive value all their own I t Joseph J W E E Johnston Shermans great opponent both before beCore and after artor he hoe had reached Atlanta was In Congress In in the seventies and arid early carly eighties representing the Richmond Va district It was my very good for fortune fortune tune to become well acquainted with him In the conversations comers between us ho told me many Interesting war stor ies los but the one that has stayed by me mo best related to the earthworks that Gen Johnston had hod foi forgotten gotten that he had ever aver built General I said to him him one day da I have just returned from a trip N C While there I load had to travel along a road that took mo me directly through some sarno elaborate earth earthworks earthworks earthworks works thrown up Just outside of the town From their very elaborateness I judged that they had been planned in anticipation of or fighting there a decisive battle and ond when I asked who ho had built them I was told that you ou had bad done so In the tho gen gemo general general eral oral for tor a moment Then a smile of recognition spread over his lola face Cace Why I r declare I had forgotten all about those fortifications he confessed But now I can recall them vividly vIvid 1 and they are especially Interesting to me Il 11 as n they do one of or the time things I had in mind when I was waiting for 01 Sherman to move north from Savan Savannah Savannah nah nab nahI nabI I reached fairly early in the winter and ond decided to o GO Into Sherman would would not start north n th before winter quarters there I knew that late winter or early spring and I also knew that It would be a very bad hood thing for tor my army to spend Its days daS in com corn complete I pIece Idleness at Fayetteville for tor Idle ness Is very vcr demoralizing to an army array much more so than It is among civil ians Inns So In order to keep my boys bos busy while they thoy and I r were awaiting tho the arrival of Sherman I planned what I think was as ported a system or earth Worth defense as I built during the tIre entire v war sir These earthworks commanded both sides of the road i running from Fayette to Raleigh With equal armies armi and equal generalship opposing a great greM and possibly a decisive battlo battle could have been boon fought In and amid before them Bul But they were acre not planned with such a pos sible contingency in mind were Well erected ere ted as I have hae said sole as a means of keeping my army arm busy and 1 t was w tho tIre only one who knew that thoy tho would be abandoned without a shot fired fiNd from them when the time came for mo me to move north For you know my own purpose in tho tire last year of the war was to delay and embarrass tho time enemy as much as lB possible with as ns little shed ding of oC blood as I could manage I realized In in my m heart that tho the war was nearly nearh decided and it seemed to me to be a I waste of oC blood to shed any more of It You say sa those old earthworks earthwork after all the tiree e eighteen years are arc In a good state of ot preservation pr I should surely like to see them again Perhaps I shall run down there sometime In n the tire sum mer men after aCtor Congress adjourns and may be Gen Sherman would like to go along alon with me although strange as It may seem seam he and I since wo have hae become warm friends do riot not talk much about the w war ar Wo o are 1110 both of oC us UJ at this time a great deal more Interested In III in questions affecting the time Immediate wel fare Care of the tile country |