American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-05-03
MEMORIAL ADDRESS.
BY MAJOR b. J. SEMMES.
Deferred on the Occasion Of the Dec
GRAFTON of the Graves Of the
Confederate Dead at
Canton, april Goth
1878.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:-Again
we have assembled for the laudable
purpose of paying respect to the
memory of the Confederate dead.
To honor the dead of our Lost Cause
had its origin in the best feelings OF
our nature, not only because we are
connected with them by ties of con-
sangulnity and affection, but be-
cause they gave their lives for the
cause of good government and IL
Illustrated by their death their de-
votion to the theory of a pure con-
federated republic. We therefore
henor them, not as rebels, but as
patriots, not as outlaws, but as SOL
dIers of a great revOlution-men,
who even had they been wrong,
gave evidence, by their courage and
dauntless fidelity, of such attributes
of character as cnnoble human ma
ture and force from unwilling
lips the highest eulogium of their
manly bearing and tortitude under
the most unparalleled privations.
They are to US indeed the martyrs
of our Cause, for Dixie has lost its
refrain, and the "Bonnie Blue Flag"
no longer calls to the front the
brave and willing hearts that are
now stilled by the cold hand of
death.
We honor their memory as broth
ers in arms, the soldiers of cause
in which, one to the other, we pledg-
ed our solemn troth, and around
our camp fires it was the proud
boast, that though nature and ma
lures God had made Jefferson Davis
a greater man, he had made him no
greater rebel than the humblest SOL
dier in the ranks. They, believ-
ing religiously they were right,
gave their lives as pledge of their
conscientious convictions; and we,
still believing they and we were
right, now assemble on Memorial
Day to redeem our oft-repeated
pledge to honor their memory and
to scatter on their graves the floral
Offerings of love, affection and re-
spect. Though the fortune of war
was against us, the Confederacy
overthrown and the old government
reinstated in its possessions, yet
a soldier of the Confederacy who
would suggest that our cause was
wrong, stamps the dead as traitors,
the living as rebels. I speak thus
strongly to arouse no former AMI
mostly, to revive no past hatred, to
rekindle no dead hope, but l thus
speak in justice to the living
and the dead. Recognizing the
situation as it is, we are now
citizens of a common national
ity, and 1 hope that the affairs of
our government may be SO conduc-
ted, that we may realize its bles-
sings; that the national adminIstra-
ton, relieved of its impurities. may
by justice and generous action, win
back the respect and affection of ev-
cry Southern man, woman and
child. / hope the march of this
great Republic may be onward, not
only in material prosperity but in
the recognition of the principle of
a constitutional government; that
its future may be SO benign in its
influence, so just in its administra-
ton of the laws, so impartial in its
favors, SO strong in its might, that
like the old Roman who declared
that his proudest boast was, Il am
a Roman CITIZEN" so we, to-, with
the same pride may exclaim, l am
an American citizen; and as Rome,
through her purer civilization, con-
quered the world by her arts and
refinements, SO our Republic may
vanquish all monarchical advocates
by exhibiting to the world how
great, how good and how prosper
GUS a people can become under the
just and impartial administration of
a pure Republic.
Thus in her greatness, the old
government, as conqueror, can af-
ford to forget; but we, as the con-
quercd, can not hush the feelings of
nature; and in response to those
feelings we come together to shed
a tear over the dead and to linger
over the past and it's sad recollec-
items. In this grateful duty, we
will not record the achievements of
Robert Lee, StonewaIl Jackson,
Beauregard, the two Johnstons, NJ.
l.. Smith and many other great
warriors who gave renown to our
Cause and partial success to our
arms. Their great names are the
common heritage of the world,
and the splendor of their