Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1872-05-25
Speech OF A Federal Onicer.


Of the Army of the Potomac held at
Cincinnati, on the 9TH inst. At this
celebration the Grafton was delivered
by Gen. Stewart L. Woolford Of New
Gork-and from this Grafton we make
the following extracts:
The mclning crept slowly on-first
into gray dawn, then into rosy flush.
Still on still on The mists crept up
ward and into line YOU wheeled, and on
your muskets lay down. each man in
place. TO get Scant rest, which, even in
the exhaustation otthoSe thirty-six hours
of terrible marching. YOU neither sought
nor needed. You were squarely across
Lees front. and had closed forever his
last line Of retreat.
The enemy reaching your calvary sd-
vance, saw the serried line Of Union
troopers. Gordon gathered and mass
ed his men for their last charge. Tat
tered and hungry. worn by ceaseless
marching and fighting with no hopes
of victory, with little possibility of es-
cape. they closed their lines with afdel-
itv of discipline and soldierly rcsolu-
ton. TO which words can do little jus
tice-but which each soldiers heart
must recognize and honor.
As the old guard closed around their
Emperor at Waterloo, so these men
closed around the flags Of their lost
cause. My heart abhors their treason.
Bu, warns beyond restraint to their
manhood so grandly brave, even in dis
LOYALTY. Slowly they advanced TO their
last attack. No battle yell, no crack Of
the skirmi.hcr's rifle broke the strange
stiffness of that sabbath morn. Stcadi-
". silently they came, when Sheridan
drew back his horsemen, as parts some
mighty curtain. and there stood tho
close formed battalions of Your infantry,
the cannon cleaning in the openings,
quietly awaiting the coming Of Cor.
dOnS men.
Instiuc,ivcly your enemy halted
Meanwhile Lee has turned back TO meet
Grant and surrender his command.
Sheridan swung his calvary aroundupon
Gordous left, and was about TO charge,
when CuStar reached longstrcet As
surancc Of surrender Was given. the end
had come.
That Sabbath day. with tears and in
sorrow. Southern men folded the ban.
ncrs of the Lost Cause, and their
braycst and best sought honorably 10
bury them from sight tor ever.
How sad it is that poor ambitious,
icalousics OF race the wrctched greed of
rclf ard place. and the miserable hates
of social HyahicS, should so often dis
turb the hearty reconciliation OF that
surrender and for time revive the bit
tcrucss which you then sought TO bury
in a common grave.
This hour is no time for politics.
Mine not the lips, | trust, to introduce
fn. here But when think of that
heroic past, which your faces and pres.
cnce so wildly recall, and then how
trading trickstcr politicians, forgctiul Of
blood sealed the new birth of the ma
ton, seek to array races in needless
hostility. to excite the ignoracc of the
one and the brutal prcjudces of the
other, / would like to summon q guard,
half from the rebel army Of Northern
Virginia and half from the loyal army
Of the Potomac, take such malcontents
out. give them drum head court martial,
immediate execution, and soldcry bu-
rial under the apple tree at Appomattor.
Let us have peace No stcalings by
carpet baggers. No midnight murders
by cowardly Ku-KIux. But camp-iol-
lowers and suffers to the rear and true
men TO the front