Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1872-05-28
THE Last Scene at Appoamattox. g
2 Speech Of a gFsasra1 &, oaeey.aa

~ Ra9staF Ez9: sttaHiefE yye3si5
There was q e-union of the Society Of the.
Army Of the Potomac held at Cincinnati, on on
the the 7th inst, AT this celebration the Grafton.
was delivered by General Stewart Il. Woods
ford of New York-and from this Grafton we
make the following extracts: 5ess RFos'
The morning crept slowly on-frst into,
gray dawn, then into rosy flush. Still on !
still OF on The mists crept upward and into
line you wheeled, and on your muskets lay
down, each man in place, to get scant rest,
which, even in the exhaustion of those 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. go
The enemy reaching your cavalry advance,
saw the serried line Of Union troopers. Cor,
don gathered and massed his men for their
last charge Tattered and hungry, worn by
.ceaseless marching and fighting, with no hope
of victory, with little possibility of escape,
they closed their lines with fidelity of dis,
!cipline and a soldierly resolution, to which
words can do little justice-but which each
soldiers heart must recognize and honor
As the old guard closed around their EN-
,peror at Waterloo, SO these men closed around
the flags of their lost cause. My heart alb
hors their treason. But it warns beyond re-
straint to their manhood SO grandly brave,
even in disloyalty. Slowly they advanced to
their last attack. No battle yell, no crack of
the skirmisher's rifle broke the strange still.
ness of that Sabbath morn. Steadily, silently
they came, when Sheridan drew back his
thorsemen, as parts some mighty curtain, and
there stood the close>formed battalions of your,
infantry, the cannon cleaning 10 the open
ings, quietly awaiting the coming of Gordon's
men. .+-
lnstinctively your enemy halted. Means.
while Lee has turned back to meet Grant aud
surrender his command. Sheridan swung his
cavalry around upon Gordon's left, and was
about to charge, when Custar reached Longs
and the end had come =
That Sabbath day, with tears and in ,sor>
row, Southern men folded the banners of the
Lost Cause" and their bravest and best
sought honorably to bury them from sight for
ever. .ttT
How sad it is that poor ambitions, jeal-
ousies of race, the wretched greed of pelf and
place, and the miserable hates of social rival
ries, should so often disturb the hearty recon-
ciliation of that surrender aud for time re-
viverthe bitterness which you then sought to
bury in common grave. '
This hour is no time for politics Mine
not the lips, trust, to introduce them here
But when think of that heroic past, which
your faces and presence SO wildly recall, and
then how trading, trickster politicians, forget,
4ul of what baptism of blood sealed the new
birth of the.nation seek to array races in need
less hostility, to excite the Ignorance :ot the
one and the brutal prejudices of the other,
would like to summon guard, half frem the
rebel army of Northern Virginia aud half from
the loyal army of the Potomac, take such mall
contents out, give them drum head court
martial, immediate execution. and soldierly
burial under the apple tree at Appomattox.