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judgment in such matters, and that the naval committee were the proper gentlemen to be consulted.
The bill was accordingly referred to the Committee on Naval Af- fairs; and after various plans had been submitted, and the opinions of the leading officers of the navy obtained, said committee unani- mously recommended its adoption. Among the distinguished Con- federate officers who approved the design of Major Rogers and re- commended his proposed alteration in the national symbol of "The Confederate States" were: General Joseph E. Johnston, General S. Cooper, Lieutenant-General Ewell, Lieutenant-General Longstreet, Major-General Fitzhugh Lee, Rosser and Lomax, of the Cavalry; Brigadier-General Pendleton, of the Artillery; Major-General Heth, Major-General Smith, Governor of Virginia; General F. H. Smith, of Lexington, Va. ; Captain N. W. Baker, acting chief of Signal Bureau; Captain Wilborne, of the Signal Corps; Brigadier-General Wharton, Colonel J. S. Mosby, and many other distinguished officers of the army.
[From the Richmond, Va., Times, July 1, 1900.]
HOW THE SEVEN DAYS' BATTLE AROUND RICHMOND BEGAN.
The dash and romance of war is supposed to surround the cavalry branch of the service, but at times the red artillery comes in for its share, as was the case in the opening of the Seven Days' fight around the capital of the Confederacy.
Everyone knows that for a week General Lee, in command of that grand old organization, the "Army of Northern Virginia," attacked, defeated and drove the "Army of the Potomac," under General McClellan, from one battlefield to another, finally penning him up on the banks of the James River, under shelter of the Federal gun- boats, but very few at this late day can recall the incidents preceding the opening of the first day's fight at Mechanicsville, and how Gen- eral Lee maneuvered to uncover the heavy works built by McClel- lan across the road leading from Richmond to and beyond the Chickahominy river.
For weeks after the battle of Seven Pines General McClellan had been gradually extending his lines to the north of Richmond, until
