The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-02-02


placing. hiasstf at the head Of the combined
FORCES, he stormed the works, and drov,
the enemy in complete rOut to seek shelter
oehsnd an interior line Of fortificatiOn. Lee
Immediately prepared to carry these works
anu 1nue destroy at one great blow, the
already defeated Federal army. Bat this
blow was arrested, just as 1t was about I'd
fall, by the information that a force almost
"a strong as his own, was advancing to at
tack him IN the rear. In his front was an
| army still double his own, while another
was threatening to strike him in the rear.
Ihis was condition Of thinps to call for
the exercise of the highest military quail
t .,es; ana the genius Of Lee proved adequate
10 the demand made on it. Taking o few
origades, he moved to meet the advancing
enemy aud drove him across the Rappah-
ounock on Monday night. The next day
he hastened back to crush Hooker, but the
bird had flown
'THE FINEST ARMY ON THE PLAxRrn
had vanished for "reasons wclt ksown, to
that army" as their Commander delicately
expressed it, leaving az the only mementoes
81 their proud advance seventeen thousand
C7,ooo) Of their number on the battlefield,
ty thousand l2O,OO0} small arms. This
battle, or rather series of batties, has been
dweft on at greater length than the preced-
ing ones, because the ability displayed by
Lee on this memorable occasion was Of
the very highest order, and because of the
mournfut interest that will always link the
genius and the fate of Jackson with this
glorious field
Gen. Wade Hampton then reviewed the
incidents succeeding this great action and
the mastery strategy which resulted in the
transfer of the army to Pennsylvania,
The first act of General Lee, upon enter.
ing the country Of the enemy, was the pub
LEGATION of the noble address to his troope,
dated Chambersburg, June 9th, 1863, in
which be comp.imented the troops, and
urged them to obey all orders and refrain
from any excuses that would sully their
fair reputation.
This order, pervaded as it was by the
spirit of Christianity and the dictates of
humanity, confers greater glory on its au-
thor than the most brilliant of his victories,
for it shows how solieitous he was to miti-
whose own "beloved home" had been de-
spoiled and decorated who had seen his
country subjected to fate which f3nds No
parallel in the histories of civilized warfare,
save in the cruel devastation of the Palati-
nate; who had witnessed the perpetration
Of atrocities at which humanity shudders,
aud who was at tho head of a victorious
army, every man Of which had in his own
person, or the persons of his kindred felt
these unutterable atrecities-it constitutes
the
BRfGHrEsrJEwELI IN THAT cRowNoF GLORY
which Lee has won for himself. Well may
the South be proud of the leader who, when
time and opportunity held out the uiiuriug
temptation of inflicting merited retalia-
ton, could restrain the angry passions OF
his men by appealing to their unsuilied
reputation, and by reminding them that
vengeance is mine, saith the Lord: will
repay" Nor can anything prove more
fully the influence Gen. Lee had over his
men, than the fact, creditabfe alike to the
Commander and to the army, that his Or
der was most scrupulously obeyed. But the
sublime lesson OF generosity aud magaani
nifty he gave on this occasion was, unfor-
tunately, lost upon the enemy as his ubse-
queut condact showed, for South Carolina
and Virginia were converted into deserts
wherever his army penetrated. This con-
duct on the part of the enemy, however,
only brings out in stronger and brighter
coiOrs, che character Of Lee, for
Nor horied prose. nor honied lies of rhyme,
Can bazon evil Deeds or cOnsecrste a crime :"
and defeated as we are, we would rather
that fate should he ours, than to have been
successful by the preparation of evil deeds
or the commission of crimes which wonld
forever have stained our cause and dis
graced our triumph!
GETTYSBURG.
General Hampton here gave review OF
the events leading to the battle of Gettys-
burg, and the inability of the Confed-
crate troops to hold tue position they had
won.
Grand as Lee had always appeared when
victory sat upon his banners, lie was grand
er still, when his bleeding columns slowly
and sullenly fell back from that fatal hill
which they had won, but could not hold.
No rebuke, not even an impatient gesture,
nor an angry word, met his tried and de-
voted veterans, as they moved defiantly
back. Riding to meet them amid the storm
of shot and shell, he cheered and encour-
aged them by words of almost fatherly at
lection, and rising far above all personal
considerations, he had the magnanimity to
exclaim: "This 10 my fault
1T is WHO HAVE LOST THIS FIGHT !"
Noble words; which should win for his
character greater admiration than any vic
tory could have bestowed
The opening of the next campaign found
Lee, on tue stof May, 1864, on the Southern
bank of the Rapidan, his encampments ex-
tending from that river to Gordonsville.
The desperate fighting of the last two
years, the insufficient supply of food, and
the barbarous policy of tho Federal Gov
ernment in refusing to exchange prisoners,
had reduced the Army of Northern Virginia