Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1869-07-02
ADDRESS
IR A j. NJ G ] n n L S.
On the Occasion of the Decoration of the
Confederate Soldiers at Bristol 1lth of
June, 1862


iuDllhHtl ny request OF the Ladies oil ine Memorial
association.
The respect felt for the dead, by all ma
tions, from the earliest history OF mankind,
naturally led them to various forms of out
ward mau'f- station of regard. Such as the
pomp Of funeril spemlit O., the ,nsocre.
tion of some particular spot for seputure,
aud the erection of monuments, to transmit
To posterity the remembrance OF the ser.
vices or virtues Of the dead. History teens,
and the void is dotted with such exam.
pies the gintic Pyramids Of Es,ut, the
wonder of mankind, some &C which are
supposed 10 contain the tmbalmed forms Of
Egyptian DemigDds; the vast caver S, hewn
cut If the cl H., surrounding tleir towns,
by the Phonecians and Greeks, for tombs,
with immense magt zines, containing the
bones of their fathers the memorials o.
the dead which s'rew the shores of Asia
N NOR, Africa and Cy3enais the grand
obelisks and tombs Of Persrpols, the ad-
miratious of the traveller Of all countries
the still more splendid mausoleums and
Sarcophagi which line tAe public highways
Of ancient Rome the celo brated catacombs
Ard subtcrraneous vaults o. France, hcaped
with The bones of many generations Of her
dsed he splendid statues and srowy col.
Abby, whtre sleep the heroes, statesmen,
sages aud poets of Britain; the pyrAmidal
structures and rude memorials scattered
through mexico, erected long Def re the
reign of he great Montozuma the villages
of swelling mounds scattered all over our
own landirom ocean to ocean, where sleeps
the rtd warrior with his battle.ax.
A y have w.tEsto)d the pom ferrous
wheels u rolling years, the fight of ages
and desoatious OF earth, aud yet dot the
shores ,f time poi ting 10 the shades III
departe, generations.
But he antiquarian himself, in his d I
gent recarches, has been unable to dot r.
mine rhetbor many of these grand memo
rails lave been the work OF love aud alice
ton FIR the good and great, or the vain am
bition Of Tyrants aud wicked rulers.
1erOdntus tells us, indeed, that the largest
OF the Pyramids is supposed to contain The
iema'ns of Cheops, VINO in his dlily forced
ahuIdred thousand of his subjects to la.
h)-, in its cous ruction, for twenty years,
AID he died d,t S ed by his people. S.,
diced, it is highly probable that of the
marble columns ard sub,erraneous vaults
# antiquity wers the work of vain ambi.
4, u, and not the me MORALS reared by a
grateful people to the mt mOry Of their Illus.
riuus and heroic dead. Not 50, my friends,
gith the memorials We Ch5r to day to the
cherish,d memory OF tho brave defenders
Of our homes and fresides. The curious
scar cher after past ev, nts, in the untold
ages of the future, will have no d hieuliy
10 determining the character Of your off r
ings TO dly on the shrine Of departed hero
ism. That giant and everlasting chron'cler
ofhuman events, History, as he moves by
the sliding generations to come, will inform
them, that in Virginia and all over our
down tIodvn Southern Stats at the close
or their four years struggle, OF 1851, fo7 the
institutions and liberties transmitted to
them 10y their illustrious ancestors, and
their final failures at such returning Spring
time, their fair MatrOns and MAideus, Men
and Boys-gray- haired sge and tender
childhood flew to the gardens and forests
and plucked the evergreen and first born
flowers, and 11cked by thousands to the
places where their heroes slept, and there
| mo stoned with the tears Of love, wreathed
| the tvergreens, strewed garlands OF flow,
ers, and planted the iadeless amAranth oveI
| their precious dust.
The student of history in coming time
when he reads this story will have no hest
tancyjn pronOuncing the character of thos'
| whose (remains were thus commemorated
| How Touching and sublime this occasion
| As we 40 forth here to s;rew flowers owe
those WHO sleep with us, perhaps on tn,
grave of some fair haired, blue-eyed bow
the pet Of fond mother, who perchanc'
4nows not where, her darling boy, the pre-
cious sacrifice on the altar Of her country
sleeps She too, may, within some conse
| Grated Enclosure OF Cor tolerate dlst, b.
scattering flowers over the ashes Of som
| loved one of ours.
| Historians inform us tia the Greek
| erected a splendid monument to the memo
~ OF tho immortal Leon das and his alan
band of Spartans, Thospiaus and Tuebani
who persisted at ThermopS Ia resisting ia
II invaders Of their country and annual
celebrated wor-games over their sepulchre
Suppose the noble women ami children
ancient Greece lad annually made the
verual offerings on the tombs OF those herr
ic def. nders of their country with VIII
rapture would the classic historian hay
dwelt upon the fact, In penning the glori,
Of Ggecian ~ owes. Aud ahat profound in
prcs,ions would the erusal of the accoul
make upon our minds of the santed men
, cries Of those heroic martyrs b Grecia
1 | hberty. Distant generations, yet in Il
! womb Of time, when they read the sccou
/ of these holy offerings OF the fair women
the South, upon tie graves Of heir hero
r defenders, their eyes will overflow wi
4 tears, and their hearts beat witt cmoto
a Of homage 10 the chiyalrous q )niedera
4 dead, so justly csnonized by those who
r they persisted 10 defending.
Mary sacred spots and cOnsecrated mr.
/ dotted our fair southern country before 1
o late civil war. Mt. Vernon, Ilollywoc
!. NJ lnticello, Montpelier, the Hermitag
a Ashland, and many others, 10 whose shIiu
The way-wOrn traveller, from all parts Of :
A civilized world, rcs)rted to mediate oy
/ the immortal dead. Those sacred 81,
/. were f3R and far apart. but now our /
l. loved South is a common grave yard it m
n be said, In Iced, that alriost "every sto
- entombs an heTO;" her valleys, Gel
/. planes, forests, del and mountain slJp
, from tho war-famed Potomac to the G.
y Of Mexico, are enrched with tho blood
r. hen oism.
:, Msny of our illrstr!cas dead We cant
a thus honor. They lie scattered all o.
this broad country. Many lie Just VIII,
,- they fell in The storm of battle, In the
Il ests aud fields, Gar from home and kndr
ar with 10 loving hand to round the lil
al mound over their mould, ring frames,
/, plant the evergreen where they rest. n
~ persisted On the cold battle field, and
ly loathsome prisons, with no tears Of sym
IN thy 10 moisten their blanched cheeks
an the gentle dews Of heaven NJ requi
ri to wall their departure but the molanch
al moan Of the night winds.
es The votTy Of true yslor, heroic gen
as ana christian patriotism, as be makes
be tout, 10 future ages, through this ba,tle-r