The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1883-04-14
SPEECH OF Ex-PREslpENr DAVIS

At the recent reunion Of the Army
of the Tennessee at New Orleans, ex-
President Davis was present by invi-
tation, and was called upon at the con-
. clusion of Col. Hooker's Grafton, for
a speech. The effort-imprompt no
doubts worthy of "Old jeff" and
grand tribute. to a great General and
Holy Cause:
You have heard the eloquent orator
Just speak of Albert Sidney Johnston,
an orator whose elOquence is intensified
by his sleeveless. arm, and can add
but little to what has already been
said. It was from Louisiana, that Al
bert Sidney Johnston received his first
commission in the army and there is
no State so appropriate as Louisiana,
and no city SO appropriate rs New
Orleans for monument to his me-
mory here, among the people who
followed the fortunes the Confederacy
with such devotion. ! knew him
we'll. He Immediately preceded me to
the United States Military Academy,
and when / came there he received me
as an elder brother might do. To-
gether we served on the Ind ian frontier,
together we served in Mexico. l have
seen him in the most trying situations,
and l never saw man whose mind
worked sosquickly, whose voice was so
calm, whose purpose was so fixed, and
whose bearing was SO great. Physical
~ grand, intellectually great, morally
sublime, his life was devoted to duty.
Indeed in the conscientious discharge
of that duty he died upon the field of
Shiloh in a moment of victory, when
/ firmly believe had nc lived but hal f
an hour longer Grant would have been
II prisoner. l loved him so that dare
not trust myself to speak of him as my
heart would prompt me. As l have
said on another occasion, when he
came to us it appeared to me that Il
great pillar had been put under the
Confederaey =; and when he fell on the
field Of Shiloh, that ruin stared before
us.
You have heard how he was left
without command in Mexico and
yet Gen. Zachary Taylor, the best judge
of human nature ever saw, said that
Albert Sidney Johnston had more
sterling qualities than any officer he
knew. 1 know not why it was; but /
suppose that in those days, MS in these,
men were taken not so much for their
capacity as for their position in some
political organization. l do not know
how we shall ever correct that; the
q. civil service reform, l am afraid,
will not do it. Laughter ! will no,
detain you, my friends. l am sure
there is nothing could say to you that
you do not feel or know Of the great
man whom you have assembled here
to-day to honor. Thanks be to your
generous natures, that bring you an
nually to decorate the graves Of the
Confederate dead, that has caused you
to erect two monuments to two great
Confederate leaders. And now you are
about to erect third. Very few cras of
history have been marked by great
soldiers. 1t is seldom that a generation
produces one; but ! think i may defy
critiscfsm when l say that the Con-
federacy had three great soldicrs-three
who would compare with tho greatest
soldiers of ancient or modern times.
Struggling as they were without the
proper means of carrying on tho war
fighting, L may say, the whole
world without arms-whcn the history
of it all shall be truly written it will
show the greatest record of human re-
sistance, of the power of intellect to
combat matter, that the world has
ever seen.