Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-04-30

-
THE following is the Grafton of
Z. b. Clark, Esq, in honor of the
Southern Dead. delivered at the
Vicksburg Cemetery, April 2G:h,
1870:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN when
was iir,t solicited to take so con-
,picuous 4 part in these interesting
memorial ceremonies, | must con-
irss that | was reluctant to take
upon myself duty winch | felt 30
little fitted to discharge but there
va, something in the occasion
which brings u together here to-
dly-,Omcthing in the sacred Of.
ices which We lrc here 10 perform
something IN the rccollcctions
winch crowded upon Inc as / held
them IN oAtcmplllion-something
in the reverence which | feel for ali,
ond IN the friendship that | bore to
some OF the fallen brave who sleep
around us-sOmcthing in the ven.
Grafton which ] shall ever for the
memory Of that Tag, which, upona
woctul April day, went down at
ApomattuX, amidst the dews of a
nation, sorrow, tina, forbade me
to decline.
| need not tell you that we meet
here, to-day, under auspices of pc
eullar sadness. | see the touching
consciousness OF that fact depicted
IN the c0untcmancc of every man,
woman and child about me. We
are here to do homage to the dead
OF our lost cause-to strew the ii.
lent places where they rest with
%garlanis, fresh from the bosom OF
the soil which, in life, they loved so
well. The breath Of returning
spring brings back, once more, the
sacred duty which the women OF
the South have set apart to them
selves, ireiglited with the added
tenderness of another year and the
beauty which, despite the wilher-
Ing touch Of war aud pCstilcucc and
poverty, s'i.l blossoms upon these
historic hills, has come to do honor
to ;he valOr tina. sleeps beneath the
sod OF the valley.
The history Of the struggle, In
which those who sleep within this
enclosure yielded up the precious
boon OF life, is familiar to you all.
aud Il would be a useless and ILL
timed task for me to recount, upon
this occasion, the trials, the suffer.
ing and the misery that marked its
duration, aud the woe, immeasurn-
bic, that has followed It's unhappy
ending. II is deeply craven upon
every heart here present: its snd
mcmentoes are In every household
in the land. The weeds Of widow
hood and the wall Of unprotected
Infancy are among the legacies il
has left Us, while oppression. iniu..
llcc, Insult, every manner of wrong
that 4 deprlyed human nature can
impose, or a sublime human nature
endure, are among the woes it has
entailed upon US. But, far be il
from me, in this sad hour, to call
up from its entombed resting place
in the past the bitterness Of that
struggle, 10 open afresh its half
healed wounds, or to thrust aside.
with ruthless hand, the veil with
which time has kindly curtained
It's narrowing scenes. We are not
here to justify or to defend the
dead, or the cause In which thew
died, but to honor and praise them
for the virtue that was in them.
while they lived-for their glorious
while bravely struggling for
a cause, which in their hearts thew
believed to be right, and to which
their very souls were welded, as
with hooks Of steel-a cause which
for its sudden magnitude, its long
duration, its sanguinary conflicts
and the signal victories it vouch-
saied to the weak over the strong,
has scarcely its parallel in history.
We, who are here, have all felt
the self-same motives that inspired
those martyred heroes, and we
know hal they were the noblest
and Purest that ever animated the
human heart. We are the eye wit. 4
nesses who bear testimony to their I
patriotism; their cheerful :
lelf.abnegation; their unbending !
iortitude; their faith; their pSs !
Hence their long suffering and :
above all, to their unequalled prov. !
'ss upon the field OF battle. we'll
Ak.A a. " ~