Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1886-12-02

Iantiy had the men of his eoAmand
responded to Lees appeal. bot the
work demanded was beyond human
performances. And when. on the
morning Of the Fourth. the day dawn
come to look urbn the dead that along
thess slopss il thousands lay cold and
stark together. upon the wounded aad
the dying crowded close in ranks un-
nnmheredia the hospitals in the rear.
upon the thin and wasted remnan. OF
the host that for tf-se long days had
stEsven in the very jaws OF death for
sssfeEy. upon eyerx fsstnxs- of the
scene, ready as that remnant was for
renewal of the contest, there was i'm.
pressed the evidence, plain now
though unacknowledged then, that
the beginning of the end had come
What matters it that Lee, as he fell
back sorely wounded. presented a
front SO bold and an array so compact
that even the stout hearts of Meade
and his lieutenants hesitated to strike
at the foe in retreat, What matter
the days of the Wilderness, the gal
liant charge at Lookout Heights, or
the dreary hours in the trenches at
Petersburg Ii was here that the
chief act Of the great drama WAS
played-all that went before the pre-
lude all else the sequel.
The military mind and the popular
heart have united in selecting this as
the one battlefield whose distinctive
features are to be preserved by endur-
ing monuments that will tell to future
ages and to coming generations the
story that was writ in their fathers
blood. Memorial stones, recording
brilliant deeds and bold achievement,
with tributes TO the dead upon the
field Of honor are 10 be seen on everv
side. Here Reynolds fell. there Vim
cent brsve!y died here Kane upheld
his Pennsylvania $ pride, there Han
cock IN his splendor fought with nerve
Of steel; here Farnswo-th, there Weed
and Haz'ett fell here Slocum held
his vantage ground. there Gibbon met
the fierce assault of Triu bic and Of
Armis:ead Splerdid memories, well
deserving a nations pride. But in
all this the story is but half told, and
now the managing control has, with
liberal and broad appreciation of its
duties and obligations thrown open
wide the door to the survivors of the
Confederate commands to complete
the record worthy in its entirety to
be engraved with an iron pen, in
lead, upon the rock forever"
The first to avail themselves of the
privilege thus accorded is the regi-
ment 10 which | had the honor Of
belonging, known then as the First
and afterwards as the Second Mary
land Iuf,ntry, aud we, the survivors,
are Lere TO mark the point gained
within the opposing lines, at the close
OF the second days engagement, and
further to indicate the movement IN ade
Oh the following morning, of the ma
ture OF forlorn hope, when the
handful left were well nigh destroyed
The history and character Of that
command are in some points pecuIiar
and it is not altogether inappropriate
that 10 il should have been reserved
the honor and the privilege OF being the
ti.st Confederate organization to mark
its place and indicate its deeds upon
this field Strictly volunteer organ
iz ttiou AT the outstart, it retained that
feature, soon in great degree peculiar
10 itself. Til the close Of TO existence.
Again. the men who, with the cour-
age of their convictions, left their
homes in Maryland to cast their for
tunes with the South were no mere
agitators or disorgsnizers. The his.
toIic names of the Goldsboroughs and
the Johnsons, the Halls and SteuaIts.
the Tllghmans and the Howards,
tue Pacas, the CAROLS and the Bar
neys, the Stones and LIoyds who filed
our ranks. give token of no churlish or
ignohle blood, the descendants OF he
msn who formed their State and who
made the history o: their colony
whether by sword or pen, to shine with
peculiar lustre, even in the brilliant
period ofthe revolutionary epoch, these
men bnt put in practice the lessons
they had learned from childhood when
they staked their honor and their all
and offered up their lives upon the al
ter of devotion in the effort TO main
tain the principles of their political
faith.
The representatives in the Confed-
crate service of thls phase Of Mary
land sentiment were scattered far and