Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-05-16
IN MEMORlAM.
The Memorial Services Yesterday.
A Large Eurn.Out..COlOnel Wad-
delI's Address--ssencraI7 Hampton
Present, &c, &c.

5he Memorial Services Yesterday.
A Large Eurn.Out..COlOnel Wad-
delI's Address--siencraI Hampton
Present, &c, &c.
The annual tribute of the Southern
living to the gallant Confederate dead
was paid at Oakdaie yesterday. Once
year do the remembrances which can
never die band themselves together
and consecrate by prayer and hallow
with loving hands, the graves of those
who lived not long enough to see the
, sun set on the defeat of that cause for
which they SO freely laid down their
, lives.
All bow the years few backward as
we stood yesterday in the shadow &c
that bronze imitation which was the
stern reality all over the South ten
years agol How the grave gave up it's
dead, and many gallant heart beat
proudly as, amid the huzzas of friends,
the smiles of beautiful women, and
the quivering God-speed of mother
and wife and sister and sweetheart,
they resolutely turned their faces to
the graves that awaited them in the
valleys of Virginia! How the counting
house and the workshop and the
school house were all deserved, and
men with grey hair, and boys with
beardless faces stood shoulder to
shoulder in the ranks that were
to prove wall of adamant be-
tween the invaders and those
loved ones they left behind them
How tEoce, who had been born in
atfiuence and llurtured with every care
that wealth could give, marched side
by side with those of humble, origin
all animated by one common impulse
and all glorifed in life, as they now
are III death, by that amor 0ati59
which they were afterwards to seal
with their best blood. How they
fought and suffered and bled and suf-
fered all and endured all for the sake
of the cause to which they gave their
| all How they followed their gallant
leaders through the years of trial,
! sometimes Ill rags, sometimes with
| bare feet that left Il track of blood on
! the rocks and snow behind them,
scantily clothed aud still more scantily
! fed, vet never wavering i'll their devo-
ton To the cause ALI many a
! Rachel and many a Cornelia were
! there yesterday, i'll that Confederate
| enclosure, who shared such thoughts
as these; and many a lone one, stand
| ing, through life, III the shadow OF the
| Lost Cause, widowed and bereaved
yet looking, with the eye of faith, to
/ where the loved ones rest, gloritied
/ though suffering, and sanctitied
| through death.
s1hcy fell devoted, hut ul.d,ing;
! Th@ very gale their names >Vem't sIgllng
| The waters ;rured ot IhCir IL iIne
| The woods were tc'pie'i with their fame
l heir spirits wrait ti.e dusay mountain;
T. cir mrmury si,ai hlcd o'er 'he fountain
! ~ ~ al I II II. :
Rolls Gi:n g:in- with -':eir ta'-i- ."rever,
Da~pit- "I every ~ 7f,.' ,,.,fe
or,r hand il 60. iii! ,l.,,i theirs
'ii,S-j al %, iwO:,! I" tbs 9Th
"hsa II wnu 90 Il de.'t Il worth
tie Ks l. i.er nj turns I II &'i,
Ti,'r -ar t'"""'' - the tEr:siIt> ht;+d
-. '-...'. 2. :.-.- t.-.. -jisi."s On
The procession moved yesterday at
= . i:15, passing up Market to
Fourth, up Fourth to Red Cross and
7ap led Cross to Oakdale Cemetery.
the line was very long one and we
were gratified to see that so many had
needed the appeals made to them to
march in procession. Yet, notwlth-
standing, a large number of persons
had gathered at the Cemetery in ad,
vance of the procession. On arriving
at Oakdale, ;he Cadets, who marched
in front, opened order and allowed the !;
others to pass through. Col. A. NJ. |
Waddell, the Orator, Rev. NJ. S. Gross, |
the Chaplain, and General Wade |
Hampton, were escorted to the raised |
platform, the ladies and gentlemen who |
formed the choir, assembled at the !
organ and the ladies and children and |
the cadets we're ranged around the |
monument.
The ceremo nies were opened with a
dirge L Heard q Voice from Heaven
by the choir, after which Rev. Mark S. |
Gross, of ST Thomas Church, in q |
short, but fervid and eloquent prayer,
besought the Divine countenance and |
blessings on the offerings to be made |
there in the names of love and friend
ship.
At the conclusion of the prayer, the
following Chaunt by lady of this
city, was rendered by the choir
Where sleep our faithful Southern dead?
Ther sleep on Fishers sandy shore,
With Whiting ioTght. with Rankin het,
And death a ID $ -tfrrnL Dravely bore.
VIII seep our loved iamented dead
Go ek tuTongh al. this Southern land,
n" take, no chm, no SPOT you tread.
VIII. re do not lest our 81 irtan band.
Que wide +hy bosom. Oh. Oak'1ale.
Take t, thy arms this acred trust,
Here SIet Wltnln lElS CT tSSy ale
Oar Hetoes' Do"es. our Heroes dust
Still ,roudy on thy granite stand.
AMI c.i shove thy cCm -ad-s keep,
True soinler If our Southern land,
Above our dead who meath thee sleep.
Col. A. NJ. Waddcll, the Orator of
the Day, then arose and delivered the
following beautiful address:
Ladies ofMc Ncmorim 1ssociatioa:
1t was Just one week after the temp
est of battle had ragged through Il
tangled thickets of the Wilderness, and
near this hour of this day, just ten
years ago, that in n quiet farm mhouse,
which still crowns a slope near the
Richmond & Fredericksburg Railroad,
Il wounded warrior lay dying. That
spirit which but few days before,
erode the whirl- wind and directed the
storm of war, was now plumlng its
pinions for its fight to the Land OF
Peace.
The air was balmy with the breath
of Spring, flowers bloomed, and the
hill-sides OF Virginia thrObbed beneath
their green mantle with the pulses of I
returning life The anxious thoughts of {
Il victorious army and Il grateful peO /
pie centered at the bedside of the
heroic sufferer. After q long season
of painful restiessness, he slept, and
the idle wind! as it wandered near his
couch, was h,lshed, and all was still.
At length a wesry sigh broke the deep
silence and the watchers, listening,
heard him murmur LET us cross over
the river and rest under the shade of
the trees" They were the last words
of one who possessed in rarer combi-
nation, perhaps, than any man who
ever lived, the stern virtues of reli.
gious enthusiast, and the brilliant |
qualities Of a military genius.
The day has become historic, and is
consecrated by the women of the
South, to the memory of all those
who, with the great soldier have
crossed over the river of Death, and
now rest beneath the blessed shades
of Paradise, and each anniversary of
it finds them engaged III the pieus work |