Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/315

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railed to know who was there, and the reply came back: " It's me; Harry Finney." And sure enough, it was Lieutenant H. B. Finney, of the Pmvhatan troop. He begged me to help him, saying he was badly hurt. I then found that I was standing on the edge of a very deep gully, and Lieutenant Finney was at the bottom of it. I fast- ened my horse and went to his rescue. He could scarcely walk. His horse had played him an ugly trick. I managed to get him up the steep bank and put him on my horse, and as daylight was coming on, took him back to the rear. During the day I got another horse and put him on it, and he joined some of his own company. I soon found some of my comrades, and together we rejoined the regiment. I learned from some of the men that a soldier from the 6th regiment had captured my lost horse. I lost no time in hunting him up, but had hard work getting him back. After much persuasion and many promises, I finally succeeded. Had I stuck to him all the time, I should have come out of that raid much better off than I did.

We captured a great many prisoners, among them a woman in man's uniform and with a gun; destroyed quantities of stores and wagons, brought off all the horses, and got back without the loss of a single man, so far as I know.

Thus, Mr. Editor, I have tried to jot down my recollections of one of the most remarkable rides and raids that it was my good fortune to be in during the war.

[From the Richmond, Va., Diputfh, July 2, 1809 ]

WHY THE CONFEDERATE STATES DID NOT HAVE A SUPREME COURT.

I am asked why the Confederate States never had a Supreme Court.

The Constitution of the Confederate States is a copy of that of the United States, " totidem verbis" except where the theory of the sovereignty of the States required changes in the Constitution to make that plain. Thus the preamble of the Constitution, that fruit- ful source of centralizing theories, reads: "We, the people of the I'nited States, in order to form a more perfect Union," was changed to read: "We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character, in order to form a permanent Federal Government."

Article I, section i, Constitution of the United States: " All legis- lative powers herein granted shall be vested in a congress, " &c. .