Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 35.djvu/71

Rh and ranks high in the Masonic fraternity, and is Major-General of the Alabama Division of the In ted Confederate Veterans.

General Harrison has a case containing a number of relics of the cruel war, among which are to be seen a well-preserved flag of the 32nd Georgia Regiment, made of the silk dresses of two young ladies, and presented to General Harrison by Miss Fannie Cohen (now Mrs. Taylor, of Savannah). To keep this flag from being captured it was substituted and sewed to the General's saddle blanket and concealed from the enemy.

General Harrison is in perfect health and looks to be a man several years younger, and every indication points to his being among us many years to come, and that such will be the case, The Post and his many friends sincerely trust.

[The merit of General George Paul Harrison, Jr., is cordially conceded, but there may have been other officers with the rank of Brigadier-General as young as he was. It has been claimed that General Thomas M. Logan, of South Carolina, commissioned Brigadier-General of Cavalry, February 23, 1865, to report to General Robert E. Lee, with rank to date from February 15, 1865, was the youngest officer of the rank in the Confederate States Army. Another youthful commander is in evidence, General William R. Johnson Pegram, whose signature was "W. J. Pegram." He was born in Petersburg, Va., in 1841 ;. grandson of General Wm. R. Johnson, "the Napoleon of the turf," son of General James W. Pegram, and nephew of Colonel Geo. H. Pegram, the Confederate commander of the battle of Rich Mountain. W. J. Pegram left the study of law at the University of Virginia in April, 1861, and enlisted as a private in "F" Company, of Richmond, Va. "Willie" Pegram was of small stature and wore glasses, but he was every inch a soldier, and born to command.

While in camp at Fredericksburg, Va., in May, 1861, he was elected a lieutenant of the Purcell Battery of Artillery, commanded by Captain R. Lindsay Walker (subsequently Brigadier-General), and distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry at Manassas, Cedar Run, Chancellorville and Gettysburg, attaining the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery. Under an act of the Congress of the Confederate States he was appointed to the