American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1880-05-01
Memorial Grafton by Prof w. H.
Magruder.
Delivered at the Courthouse, Monday
Ecening, April 26, 1880.

Eoening, April 26, 1880.
Fellow-citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen:
| In all ages the viitue of patriotism
has been he'd in the highest estim
alton by mankind. In its wide
reaching sweep it embraces all tliOs
minor virtues whose sum constitute
our ideal of IA pure and perfect char
acter. To hand down to posterit
The forms and features of those VIII
have loved their country with a s,l
preme devotion, has been the prov
ince of. the highest efforts of tn
scuiptOr's chisel and the painter
brush; to tell in fitting words rh
story Of their glorious sacrifices am
their grand achievements, the Offic
of the poets and historians pen
and to hold them up to the worl'
as bright exemplars, the holy dut,
of those gifted orators whose burn
ing words have reused mankind t,
their most exalted efforts i'll actor
or endurance. To pay our tribut,
to this sublimest of all purely hui
man virtues, We have assembled OF
the anniversary of the surrender, a
Greensborough, N. c., of the army
Commanded by General Joseph L
JOhnstOn-a date most fitting fOI
cOmmemorating the fidelity of thos,
who laid down their lives in cause
that fifteen care ago became lOsi
to MS and our children through the
surrender 10 Gen. Sherman Of the
last considerable body Of men will
arms in their hands who were at al
able to Withstand the tide of Fed
eral invasion after the tragedy at
Appomattox.
With the political questions that
led to secession and the inevitable
conflict that followed, we will have
naught to do, on this occasion. Pos
terity, with the calm judgment Of
advanced ideas in political science,
will pass sentence upon the states
manshIp of the Southern leaders in
the great civil disturbance of 1860,
which eliminated in war for the
of I he seeding States.
But there is no fear with us that
that judgment can ever inipugn the
motives OF those gallant men, who
amid the fonl air of the army hos
pital breathed ont their lives Tor the
South, or on hundred battlefields
baptized her soil with their precious
blood, rather than see it desecratep
by the foot of an invader. What
ever the future historian may think
Of the policy of our leadrrs-how
over culpable or shOrtsighted he
may regard a craftsmanship that
a gallant and passionate
people into contest for which they
were unprepared, and sacrificed bill
ions in property and millions in
men in the attempt to accomplish
hat which now seems to us an inn
honest recorder of
be events of the great civil war
AN never impugn the honor, nor
Ind q stain upOn the unsullied
ourage of those who stood around
he flag of a newborn nation tu de-
end it with their fortunes aud their |
YES ;-and for that flag, aud the
utnnomy of which it was the sym>
ol, thousands of the South's brav-
at defenders persisted.
It il of these illustrious men we
Iould speak to-day. Entombed
'ithin our hearts, in sepulchres
lost holy, is the memory of their
allant deeds aud their glorious
cath. From the rocky sleeps of
to the Rio Grande's sil~
er sands, there is scarcely a wills
lge grave yard or city cemetery
lat is not marked by mounds be-
rath which rest those who follows
! the conquered banner. Under
,e little hiIlOcks yOnder, OH the
lnny slopes just outside your city
mits, lie those who died for us
no died for the hottest cause to
hicll man was ever martyr-thc
Icresl right Of f-g0vernment-a
ght guaranteed posterity by on,
sires, and sealed with
'eir patriotic blood at Lexington
III Concord, at Bunker Hill and
,ratoga. at Monmouth aud at
orktown. Fair hands will place !
day over y0ndcr graves sweet s
d beautiful fiowers-a' fitting trib- G
o from the holy affection that en-
rinee the memory of their deeds @
the hearts most sacred crypt. -
nong the first to fall In that \
intage time of death" Oslo Drane n
'eps yonder; and the loving hand
u fond sister and devoted rela> +
'es aad friends will deck with
incest flowers his grave to-day 7
{ where sleeps Adam Melville, ~ -
10, on the same day, "went down
with death-wound OH
breast'f Virginia, mother of 10
tesmen and of soldiers, holds to -. go
: loving bosom the sacred ashes
him who was once among the A,
ravest of the brave )" and could
It gallant heart have selected, no "
re glorious field of honor would
re been chosen to embalm the
) casket of his noble spirit, than ~
tlood-soaked soil of Manassas. 10
d where sleep Ward and HeDryf III
lson, Love. Barlow, Nichols, Nc. ia
Tough. Grves, Pace. Pierce. Reid, III
tries, Wales, Casseil. Hill, Slim gr
|, Sliackleford, McKie, Semmes, q
olIoe, Kearney, Field, Gibson, ea
Harvey, and hundred
era of the noble sous of Madison,
} left home and its fond endear> r..
hts, TO buckle OH the CROUCH and n,
ling harness of the battlefield" &c
m Pennsylvania on the north to an
rida on the south. scattered over he
vida half Aren't hv the Lurri ID