Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1891-05-27
CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY.

| OdAb o. hO1LHR AND HON. 81 dEOs uCA III
-APPoINTMENT FOR MEETING OF THE BUR
| vivoRs OF THE SToNRwALL BRIGADE-RE
FREsHNEN1s PROVIDED BY THE LADIES FOL
THE CADKTs-ANNUAL MEETING OF TIL
AUGUSTA MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION"
The celebration Of Confederate Memorial
Day at staunton, under the auspices OF thu
| Augusta Memorial Association" Of which
Capt. Thos. D. Ransom is President. took plac
this year on Friday last. May 22nd. instead o.
June 9th. as heretofore. AS the time wal
changed, Of which but short notice had beer
given. there were not as many present as OF
previous occasions. though the number wal
quite large. The weather was favorable
though 1t was almost two warm for comfort
with the mercury registering about So degrees
The procession was long one. headed by the
Stonewall Brigade Band, and consisted of the
Cadets Of Fishburne's Military Academy
at Waynesboro', Rollers Augusta Military
Academy at Fort Defiance. Kable's staunton
Military Academy at Staunton. the Knights
of Pythias of staunton, the pupils OF the Pub.
lilo schools. veteran soldiers and citizens. and
a long line OF carriages with the officers Of the
Association, ministers. speakers, and citizens
The several companies of the Cadets with theil
| fine drill, guns, and neat uniforms, and the
Knights ofPythias with their new and hand
| some uniform with scarlet ostrich plumes. and
| the pupils of the schools in neat attire. made
| the procession quite handsome one. The
procession. under the charge OF Captain E. A.
Fulcher as Chief Marshal, and his Assistant.
| Marshals. e. G. Fishburne. Lewis Hartman,
and John w. Gllkeson. formed on Main street
and marched to Market, then TO Frederick
Washington. Main and along Main to the
| cemetery following the road East OF and around
the soldiers section to the speakers sta nd.
| By the time the rear of the procession reach.
| ed the stand. the ladies had decorated the
graves OF the soldiers with garlands Of flowers
and WI eaths OF evergreen. and the mound
| around the base of the monument bearing the
marble statue of a soldier was profusely and
| tastefully and beautifully decorated with
flowers. At the stand. after q suitable piece
| by the Stonewall Brigade Band. Captain Ran
son, President Of the Augusta Memorial Asso.
citation. announced that the exercises would
be opened with prayer by Rev. James Nelson.
D. D., Pastor of the Baptist church Of Staun-
ton. who had been chaplain in tho Confederate
army, whereupon DR.. Nelson delivered fer
vent and appropriate prayer. breathing q
christian. brotherly, and patriotic spirit.
Captain Ransom then, as President of the
Augusta Memorial Association" delivered
| a chsste and appropriate address substantial.
| ly as follows
ADDRESS OF CAPT. THos. D. RANSOM.
1t is expected of the President OF the Augusta
Memorial Association. on these occasions, to
say something about its work.
The objects for which 1t was formed. q few
years after the war ended. are familiar-the
collection and re-intermept here Of the bodies
Of our dead comrades then scattered through
the upper Valley, and the Improvement and
preservation Of their last resting.plsce.
How faithfully that duty has been performed
you can see for yourselves. These beautiful
grounds, these neat and Unprotected graves.
and this noble and appropriate monument
browning all attest our fidelity to the memory
Of our dead comrades.
We bring fewer flowers than we wished to
strew upon their graves. but no blight of frost
has fallen on their memory; no immortelles
shall be more enduring than the loving regard
in which we hold the old comrades who sleep
in this Soldiers Section.
"For these have dared
For that sweet mother-land which gave them
birth;
Nobly to do; nobly TO dis-their names,
Craven on memorial columns. are q song
Heard in the future. Their examples reach
hand
Far through all years."
We may not pay the debt we owe them; but
we will keep heir memory IGNORED from one
generation to another, and we scatter sweet
flowers over them In token Of a resurrcction-
morning.
Nor shall We be less loyal to the government
under which We live, that we are loyal to our
dead comrades and loyal to ourselves.
Right-thinking men at the North are Begin
ming to believe this. Some, North and South.
say of this annual custom. that 1t would be
more honored In ths breach than the obser-
vance; the subject is hackneyed. and the whole
business had better be dropped.
But friends, there are some things that never
grow old, stale, fiat or Improbable. And
among them is the reverence natural to the
human heart for deeds of noble sacrifice.
And one lesson we can not impress too often
on the young, in this material. money -getting
age.
1t is that Of constancy and fidelity. under all
circumstances and to the last extremity. to
what we conceive to be the right.
1t Is that of forgetfulness of self, under the
higher impulses that move souls to ac-
ton.
1t is the example of that heroic action.
These men died for principle. We love and
honor them for 1t.
Young men; young women; you, bright-eyed
children, bearing flowers, make these re-
unions around their graves an object-lesson.
Learn, with all the education OF your book 9
and schools, that higher education of the heart
and soul that teaches true manhood, true wo-
manhood, to be devotion, to the point Of sur
rendering life itself. for Honor and for Duty,
as God gives you to see 1t.
We grizzied old boys who volunteered in
Sixty>one are passing from the stage pretty
fast; Joining that larger procession that moves
across the river.
We would have the generations that come
after US to understand why 1t was we msde
that fight. Your Northern school books tell
you more about the campaigns OF Cesar and
the wars ofthe Roses than OF history closer
home and closer to our hearts.
It was good fight we put up. by the way,
though we are not here to talk about that. We
held at bay the World and Fate for four event.
full years. and when we surrendered at last, 1t
was not so much to the enemy In front, as to
want and grim starvation. that! ghost Of an
army at Appomattox.
Let no man say. without denial from you,
that we went through that mighty struggle for
casion. 1t was certainly not the cause of the
conflict.
We were born with that burden on our
shoulders, and we simply had to do the best
we could with it.
We never wanted it. We thank God we are
rid Oft.
On the contrary, We were contending for the
principles OF constitutional Liberty, for the
rights of our State, and in defence of home and
Preside.
Say what you please of the politicians. North
| and South, who brought on that war. If man
| may he allowed to judge his own heart, I as
sert this simple fact: No soldiers In the his
tory Of this world ever entered any service an.
| imated by higher or purer instincts of patriot
ism than inspired our volunteers. of April. 1891
We have no right to doubt; we do not doubt
| 1t was as true patriotic imp u.se that brough,
| many Northern volunteer to the front when
Lincoln called for troops to defend the nag and
| save the Union of these States. To them 1t wal
the Nation-to us 1t was our State. In both II
was that brave old Anglo.Saxon spirit of a