Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/423

 Major J. Scheibert on Confederate History. 423

The pleasure of acknowledging such historical discussion is enhanced, when, as is the case with the matter in hand, the foreign writer is an old friend of the South, who evinced his interest, in the first place, by a visit to us during the war, and since that time has shown his zealous interest by several books and papers relating to us and our history.

The name and presence of Major J. Scheibert, of the Prussian Engineer Corps, will be remembered by many old soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia, with which this accomplished German officer saw some service during the Chancellorsville and Gettysburg campaigns. The respect and esteem won for himself while here is evinced by the friendly admiration in which his name and memory are yet held by his comrades and acquaintances of that period. The results of his observations and the impressions made during that sojourn among us were embodied in a little volume ("Sieben Monate in den Rebellen Staaten"), published in 1868; a work marked by such good sense and power of observation that it well deserves translation as a valuable contribution to the history of the times. Subsequently, in 1874, there came from his pen a volume of military studies of the war </' Der Biirgerkrieg in N. Amerika"), in which the Major does justice and pays intelligent tribute to the ability and skill of our leaders. The value of this work, as an able discussion, from a military standpoint, of the subject treated, may be inferred from its esteem abroad, where its importance as a professional treatise is evidenced by the fact that a society of French officers deemed it worthy of translation into their language. Intelligent criticism is always to be welcomed, even if it sometimes discovers our faults. The more welcome is it, of course, when it resolves itself, as Major Scheibert' s comments often do, into a eulogy of our people, and finds so much to admire in the splendid abilities and achievements of Lee and his fellow-officers and soldiers.

In a Berlin journal of recent date Major Scheibert has again con- tributed a series of articles to the literature of the subject, and in a manner that entitles him anew to our respect and gratitude. In this latest utterance he has attempted to enlighten the dense ignorance of his fellow-countrymen on the historical and political questions of our great controversy. In an admirable series of short studies of the subject, these questions and the material facts of our history are pre- sented in a light that is doubtless new and surprising to his readers; who, getting their ideas of American history from partisan sources bitterly hostile to the Confederacy and all it represented, have gene-