Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-10-30
ADDRESS OF GENERAL WISE


readers:
ADDRESS OF GENERAL WISE,
FELLOW CITIZENS =
meet mourning people on the holy
ground of graves, the dust of which is more
sacrel than that of kindred You come to do
homage to the virtues and commemorate the
glorious deeds of heroes who died defending
the stricken land they lived in and they loved !;
and come to condole with and comfort the
living by invoking the spirits of the mighty
Confederate dead 1 come to search among
their ashes for the examples and lessons to
teach as hOao to SurUiUe their deaths :-ho,0
to Ire after them :-hO,c to nourish the seeds
Of indestretctibEe truths resown in this sacred
soil, now already terminating again in these
graves, and which shall yet again overshadow
and save the laud these heroes died for, as
sure as that the moral power of the Universe
will forever overcome all evil aud malignant
forces
Alas! who are the dead? The buried or
rather the bruised and broken survivors, who
daily die living deaths amid the ruins and
ashes of wronged and wrecked country,
scathed by wrathful war of conquest, ending
IN disasters worse than death, in shacLles. and
in shame worse than shackles All! the
blessed buried
Ot future tcmpesIs ora wreck shore,
Those who escaped are still exposed to both"
The buried have overcome death aud are
now immortal, whilst we survive to suffer and
need the succor their lives and deaths Can
give; TO- those who would not live in shame
nor die IN vain. Their names aud deeds need
no monuments or mausoleums OF earth Nor
stone, nor board may mark the clay where
they sleep so we'll" Though every turf
L. Al.
the dust of cemeteries may min.le mans with
mans remains in undistinguishabIe comrade-
ship, yet they are individually known at head
quarters above, and their names are separately
inscribed on the everlasting rolls and Heaven s
adJutants will forever keep them in the book
OF martyrdom MartyrdOm for imperishable
principles of faith, of truth, of honor, of re-
hSlon, of law, of liberty, and of right No
hostile hand can strike them now, and all the
mallgnity of good mems enemies cannot alter
or pervert the facts or the moral force of their
past lives and present being. Eternity has
sealed their testimony to the truth, and times
testimony will not permit human history TO
be Perjured to their shame. We need not fear
torthem. With them all is well. They are now
shielded by an mpenetrabIe buckler, the
bosses oil which Is the integrity as well as
courage with which they battled for their
7aith and tatherland They now wear an ar
NOR more than bullet-proof; and the missiles
and messengers of death were their better an
gels. and proved that they were preferred of
Heaven when they fell Ye mourning sur
vlVors, L bring you the full assurance that the
buried are not dead have commuued with
them, and they yet live, never to die We
the dead come not to bury the dead I'VE
have but to touch their turfs-thev have no
tombs-and be ourselves ''alive again. We
come not to raise funeral pyres, but to be
ourselves so terminated and re-invisorated
by the living spirits of the departed Faithful
and True, as to be able to prove ourselves
worthy of their sacrifices made for us. and of
still asserting, if not maintaining, the Faith
for which they fought So good FIGHT. and
which they consecrated by their precious
blood Aye: their foes shall build their
shrines, their friends are too despoiled to more
than mark the places where they lie. All
around them their invaders are gathering the
bleaching bones and ashes of those they re-
pulsed and slew; to raise mounds and monu-
ments to deeds made memorable, and to memo
ries made worthy of mention by their hero
ism; and every stone they pile on stone-the
higher the more expressive-shall tell the
story of the war to every passer by, of the
battles, by whom lost and won. aud of who
were the real Heroes This play of mopu>
ments is one in which the Hamlets of Hero
ism cannot be left ont.
We need their examples moro than monu-
ments, and more now than during the war.
and have need to heed them more. When
under arms we sought to follow the best and
brayest of the leaders; and now that our de.
fence has stacked its arms, we have more
need than ever, in the dismal straits of SUR
render and submission, to summon their wis
dom and virtue, their moral power and their
manhood, their constancy, their fortitude,
their patience, their endurance, their self.
denial, their frmness, and above all their
faith, to inspire and sustain our saddened
spirits, and counsel cur imprisoned action =
CHOW, more than ever We have cause IN fear,
And be upon our guard. The hand of Heaven
Spreads cloud on cloud DER beni..lIted hea rts
Aud wraPP'd in darkness, doubles our distress.''
five needed Gideons to bear us success
fully through the flaming furnace of the red
hot war, we need more than n Moses now, to
bear us mp in dungeons of defeat and to lead
us out by ways to prove us worthy of the
Great Trials with which our Honor is en-
trusted. In this gloomy, moral conflict. with
out the least Gduiia certamiais' of arms
of steel, there is moro danger, more toll, more
dust, disease and death than ever threatened,