Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-06-26
Memorial Address by Rev J. w. ROsebrO.

Memorial services in honor of the Con-
federate dead were observed at Lewisburg,
Greenbrier county, W. Va, on Tuesday,
the 18th of June, on which occasion the
memorial address was delivered by Rev.
J. W. Rosebro, Pastor of the Presbyterian
church of. that town. This address we
publish not only because, from personal
considerations, it will be read with much
interest by the many friends of it's author
in this county, but because of it's intrinsic
merits as composition, and the patriotic
spirit and Christian charity with which it
is imbued, and the tender emotions its sem
timents excite in all generous bosoms. The
following is the address-read and Judge it
for yourselves
ADDRESS BY REV. j. w. ROsEBRO.
Ladies and Gentlemen: We come TODAY
to offer our affectionate tribute of remem-
brance to those who lost their lives in the
war for Southern independence. This duty
is not unmixed with sadness, for we re-
member not only that these men died, but.
also that the cause for which they died
day is designated in the North and in the
South seem to remind us of this fact
They call it Decoration Day" there, as
though they met to decorate with laurel
crowns the victors. We call it Memorial
Day." as we come to put the cypress
wreaths of mourning on the graves of our
dead
We observe this day and perform this
duty not to keep alive the bitter animosi-
ties of the strife, nor to stir up sectional
hatred, but to perpetuate the memory of
their heroism. And the daughters of our
fair Southern land will not forget to strew
with flowers and to moisten with their
tears the graves of the Confederate dead.
They were men worthy of such grateful
and loving remembrance. The glory of
their gallant struggle is beginning to be
appreciated in the world. No loftier pa
triotism or more heroic courage has ever
been displayed than by these Southern
troops-whether following their grand lead
er, Lee, in the army of Northern Virginia,
or sweeping with victorious power through
the valley of the Shenandoah under Stone
wall jackson, or dashing with impetuous
daring under Ashby and Stuart and Hamp-
ton, or shouting victory mid the smoke of
Shiloh under Albert Sidney Johnston.
Though victors on many glorious battle
fields, though led by leaders whose names
are immortal, though encouraged and ami
mated by noble women throughout the
South, the cause for which they struggled
was doomed to fail. They were borne
down by overwhelming numbers and mex
haustible means. The overwhelming odds
and means of that Government to which
the supplies of the world were open, were
for four long years resisted by them. At
last-poorly armed, blockaded by land and
sea, their ranks thinned by hunger and
death-they wereEcompelled to yield. We
mention this not to boast, but to do justice
to the dead. When the records are given
by the hand of an impartial historian, the
unselfish devotion to duty, the exalted he
roism, the patient endurance of that army,
will give the Southern soldier one of the
most glorious passages in the history of the
world. They were worthy to have died at
ThermopylB with Leonidas, to have charged
with the Light Brigade at Balaklava, to
have stormed the bridge at Lodi under the
sLittle Corporal" to have shared in the
glory of Dunbar under Oliver, to have died
in the defence of Holland under the Prince
of Orange
Immortal dead Many of you sleep in
unknown graves. No marble shaft is erect
ed to your memory, no tender hand of low
ing kindred closed your eyelids. You died
in the glory of battle, ''your country's flag
your funeral pail, your valor for your
shield
Ger you no plying tears were shed
But those with which, in tender love,
Kind Heaven bedews the unburied dead.
But your glory is immortal, and your men,
ory is fresh and green in the hearts of your
countrymen.
| 1t is now eighteen years since the flag of
the Southern cause was furled and laid
away, and the broken remnant of the army
stacked their arms, accepted the issue OF
battle, and turned sadly to their homes.
All, that was bitter day? One gal
liant soldier of the old Stonewall Brigade,
who had followed with answering devo-
ton the fortunes of war to that day, at
Appomattox sat down and wept like a child
when they told him ''Lee had surrendered u
The bitterness of defeat unnamed the sol
dier whose heart never quailed before the
foe. Well might they weep. Wheresoevel
they turned their eyes, they beheld the
smoking ruins of beautiful cities, disman
tied homes, and land trampled by the
iron heel of war. With broken fortunes
what was before them but a. hopeless fu
,ol