Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-04-27


the grave of Louis Philippe. In a
foreign land, amid crushed hopes and
ruined fortunes, the once powerful mon
arch fell asleep; yet, on his far-of, hum
BILE grave affection places its renewed
tribute, more touching, more sublime
than towering shaft or gorgeous monu-
ment Nv btl tA ttl tlN |
We have come here to-day, fair country
women, not to stony crypt nor monarch
tomb yet with hearts as full and affec-
tons as deep as ever mourned for fallen
greatness, to wreathe our immortelles
on the graves of our dead heroes, and the
sweet breath of spring flowers whispers
our unspoken sorrow: Regrets eternal
Regrets eternal! TO their memory |
dedicate these improvised lines:
In rank and file. in sad array.
As thro' their watch still keeping
Or, waiting for the battle-fray,
The dead are round us sleeping.
Shoulder to shoulder rests each rank.
As at their post still standing;
y Subdued, yet steadfast. as they sank
To sleep at Deaths commanding.
No battle-banner DER them waves,
No tle-trump is sounded:
They've reached the citadel Of graves.
And here their arms are grounded.
Their hallowed memory ne'er shall die,
But ever fresh and vernal,
Shall wake from flowers tbs, soft. sad sigh,
"Regrets-regrets eternal.
A year has passed since the curtain
fell on the dread drama in whose early
scenes these dead were actors. Let us
pause moment, and recur to the open
ing of that drama How fresh are its
incidents. A word reproduces them in
all their living, stirring reality. The
country excited The call to arms is
sued The young and brave mastering
We see them as the day of departure ar
rives. Throngs are gathered. The ban
ner, woven by fair hands, is presented,
amid shouts and tears. Paintings Fare
wells The mothers fond embrace the
fathers fearful God bless you" The
word to advance is given, and they are
gone; gone to the 'front.' gone to the
trenches; to the cold and weary watch |;
to exposure and disease; gone to mingle
in the bloody fray, as fearless, as brave,
as buoyant hearts as ever bounded forth
at duty's call Shall they return, and
how 2 Let the scenes of the last four
years answer
The air is full of farewels to the dying,
And wailings for the dead
The heart of Rachel for her children signing
Will not be comforteG.
Ali many of them sleep on Belmont
bloody field around Columbus and Bow
ling Green, and Chickamauga, and
Franklin; as noble, glorious dead as
ever died. And some of them sleep here
Preston Smith, Colonel Pres
ton, Colonel Kit Williams, Captain Ham
ilton, Captain Sterling Fowlkes, Major
Ross, Captain Eldridge Wright, John
Apperson, the two Donaldsons, Willie
Flournoy, Hall Flournoy, Bob Cox, Will
lie Wills, Captain Mcdonald, Billy Hart,
young Stokes, West Yancey, Rawlings,
Harris, Willie Shields, G. W. Dent,
Heiskel, chaplain of the l54th, and nu-
merous others we cannot call.
HALL all hail the patriots grave
HALL the memory of the brave;
Hail the spirits Of the dead.
"Time their triumphs shall proclaim,
And their rich reward be this;
Immortality of fame
Immortality Of bliss"
But while we dwell with tender interest
on the memory of our own loved dead
who rest here, or in their unknown graves
at Shiloh or Chickamauga, we will not
forget those who lie here with us in our
4" silent city" far from the home of their
childhood They came from Texas, from
Louisiana, from Arkansas, from Missis-
sippi and Missouri-went forth as ours
did, from the towns and cities Of their
native States, followed by the prayers
and blessings of yearning hearts. They
were brought back to our city from Bel
mont and Shiloh and died in our midst
in the Overton and the Irving hospitals,
and many in your own households, they
were watched and tended by the women
of Memphis Their last farewell whis-
pers were caught by you and transmitted
10 anxious friends and distant homes.
We closed their eyes in death and fol-
lowed them to this sad spot. Away
from friends, they were not friendless
Weeping parents whose soldier boys
sleep here in graves INTENDED by your
care, your sons were watched when
wounded and dying-are remembered
though dead, and on their mounds We
place the votive Offering of Spring floral
tribute. Nor will We be censured even
BY those who opposed us in the conflict
for this token of regard for the fallen.
These men went forth Mt the call of their
States. They were prompted by lofty
sense Of duty Their courage and en-
iurance were made glorious by princi-
pie. They believed they were defending
their country against unjustifisble inva-
sion, and they acted from this conyic-
ton. And though they had never felt
and though the causes which
aroused them to action may nof have
been sufficient in themselves TO have JUS
tilted the struggle, yet says the great
Webster of the revolution OF &c: Those
fathers accomplished the revolution on
strict question of principle. The Par
lament of Great Britain asserted the
right 20 tax the colonies in all cases
shatsoever; and it was precisely on this
question they made the revolution. The
amount of taxation was triting, but the
claim itself was inconsistent with liberty.
II was against the recital of an act OF
rather than against pream-
Bile. They fought seven years against
declaration. They poured out their
treasure and their blood like water
against an assertion which those less sa-
zacious, and not so well schooled in prin-
.iples of civil liberty, would have re-
yarded as bare phraseOlogy or mere
parade of words. On a question OF prin-
,iple, while actual suffering was yet far
III, they raised their flag against power
shose morning drum-beat followed the
AN, and keeping company with the hours,
.ircled the earth with the continuous
train of martial airs OF England
And was that conflict on accoant Of "a
bare preamble" "a mere declaration,