The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-10-13

oilers, AsOOclatfn4o ~ WolnoAle, -
G., September ~ 1SSS.
Knowing the, interest sitA which the
people of our State regard The utterances
of General Wade Hampton at this critical
junction of public affairs, We lay before
them this morning . full report Of his
speech delivered at walhalla, Pickens
district, on the 29d ultimo: no
Fellow-citigens and brother soldiers Of
Pickem,--In response to your kind invita-
ton to Join you to-day, have come to
participate In the grateful ceremonies Of
this occasion. II affords me great satisfac-
ton, assure you, to do so, because It Is
cminentiy fit and proper that every sur.
vivipg soldier Of the South should at all
times and everywhere pay all possible
respect to the memory Of his dead com.
radcs. Another reason which urged me
strongly to be present to-day was that I
might have the pleasure Of seeing
again SO many Of the men who fought 30
long and SO well under my command. l
remember with pride that the brave Kill
patrick, who now sleeps in soldiers
grave, brought his gallant company of
mountaineers to fight under the banner Of
my old legion on the glorious fields of Ma
nassas, and take pleasure in saying here
to-day, before their kindred and their fell
low-citizens, that they did honor to their
State. Pickens gave to me, besides CAL
houn's brave men and volunteers In that
noble German battery of Bachman, one
whole company in the gallant First South
Carolina Cavalry, which formed so import
ant part of my oldand beloved brigade
that brigade which, though it fought on an
hundred fields, never knew defeat.
recollect that when that regiment made
its first charge l had the honor to be with
it. Irecall that bloody 9th of June when,
at Brandy station, its glorious banner was
baptized in blood. All the stirring incl
dents of that eventful day rise up wildly
before me as | look upon the faces of the
veterans who were sharers in its glory. l
see again that magnificent panorama Of
fertile hill and smiling vale lighted up by
the lurid glare of war. ] see our cavalry,
separated, fighting in every quarter against
heavy odds. | see the enemy gaining
ground everywhere, save where your bril-
gade was fighting, while our gallant chief,
the heroic Stuart, with characteristic
courage, dashes himself first against one
column and then against another, but in
vain. The circle of fire slowly but surely
closed around that devoted band until
they were the only ones within its folds.
There was but one road over which you
could withdraw, and across that were the
serried ranks of the enemy, whose guns
were already laundering upon you.
All saw the critical position in which
YOU were placed, but though all saw it, not
one man quailed. The day seemed lost,
and so it would have been but for the
"Old Brigade" as we all loved to call it.
With banners proudly flying, with sabres
glstening brightly, with ranks as regular
US if on parade, it turned to meet the new
enemy, who vainly hoped to bar its way.
The noble Cobb Legion-than which no
better regiment ever fought-was in front,
your regiment next, followed by the brave
old First North Carolina and the dashing
jeff. Davis Legion, when / ordered the
charge. Artillery ploughed through your
ranks-dsmounted men, in line of battle,
covered the hill, and cavalry, by its coun-
ter charge, tried to check your progress.
Not shot was fired by my men, but with
drawn sabres they rode steadily through
that storm of fire for more than half mile,
and sweeping over the hill, they left upon
it not one enemy save the dead and
the wounded, whose CHASTITY wounds told
more eloquently than words could do
what good work my keen sabres had done.
Artillery, standards, prisoners, were all
captured in that charge, and the fight was
over. remember Upperville, where again
the fortunes Of the day seemed lost, until
that brigade, by u series Of desperate
charges, which have never seen surpass-
ed, snatched victory from the very grasp of
defeat. And Gettysburg, with all its CORY
memories, brings to my recollection the
brave deeds of these tried soldiers. have
not forgotten-I never shall forget, brother
soldiers-that when borne wounded from
that fatal field sent word back to my men
to hold their ground to the last, how nobly
and at what cost they carried out what l
then believed to be the last order should
ever give them. ....
Ali these proud but sad memories come
thronging fast upon my heart when l look
again upon the men who shared with me
for years the privations, the perils, and the
glories of the past. And though meeting
them under such circumstances as the pre-
sent is, traught with many sad reflections,
t is source of infinite qualification to me
to see them once more. You, of my old
command, never failed to respond when l
called upon you, and now that you call on
me to join with yoa in paying merited
tribute of respect to our martyred dead, l
would be ungrateful indeed were to re-
fuse to answer to the appeal.
To record the names of the brave men
who gave their lives to the country to
perpetuate the memory of their heroic
deeds; to deck their humble graves with
flowers, as we mourn their untimely fate,
are the sad and the only privileges we
have. In our poverty, we are not able to
raise suitable monuments to mark their
last resting-places; III our defeat, we feel
that, as far as human wisdom can fathom,
they died in vain and in our grief at their
loss, we can scarcely reconcile their death
with the perfect justice and the infinite
mercy Of the Almighty. 1t was not per-
mitted to surviving kindred and friends to
consign their loved remains to their last
home, with all the tokens of respect and
honor; but they sleep, nevertheless, in
honorable graves, and their duty nobly
done, they have
"Sunk to rest,
~ BY all their country's wishes blest."
No pious hand collects their sacred dust.
They sleep wherever the folds of the South
ern Cross has waved in triumph, and they
find fit resting-places on the fields their
yalor won. Your Government sets apart
and coDsecrates great national cemeteries