Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1891-05-27
eceive the wounds of war upon her own fair

$1,000
But submit to you. there was nothing to b'
ashamed Of in the action of our State. or o
this brave old county,-the first to send troops
to the field. Twenty-Five companies followed
believe, and their record they have written
claim that the truest conservatism calls fol
no surrender of the convictions that inspired
that struggle; and have no use for the mar
who apologies for having held them. nole
these dead to be better than he.
The God OF battles granted many victory
We might almost say the record of the fighti
was the record Of our victories.
How often does memory bring back thost
days.
But He overrnled us at the last, and for the
best, we doubt not. in His wise purposes.
The sword wrote for us new Interpretation
of our Constitution rude enough hand
writing 1t was. In the days OF reconstruction
but SO let 1t rest. We would not reopen the
issue, or reverse the result.
Yet remember success is not always the
criterion Of the right.
Remember that defeat can not dishonor men
who fought like these.
Death does not end the influence Of theii
lives.
Hear the judgment of their adversaries
was proud to call my friend, in later years. q
man who fought against US. In April 1851, he
was q college boy at Harvard, and author Of
a thesis, in which he Intended that the south
was simply demanding her rights under the
Constitution; but in that same month he en-.
listed in o regiment Of Massachusetts volun-
teers; (perhaps we would have done the same:)
He went In as a private soldier. At Port Hud-
son he led his regiment, the only mounted
man in that bloody field, with his crutch over
his shoulder, one.legged Colonel then. AT
the Crater fight he had his wooden leg shot off.
and the orderly killed who helped him lead
his charging brigade, at the springtng OF the
mine but he got to our trenches and Kept up
that hours light along the line of the Crater.
As suffering prisoner I did him some kind
ness that day, and 1t happened that business
threw US together, and we were friends after
the war. He was President OF the Powhatan
IRON Company, operating in this county.
When give you his name. name as true a
hero, az gallant soul as ever drew sword in
any cause.
He was Msjor-General William F. Bartlett.
Of Pittsfeld, Mass.
Let me read you what he said Of his Con-
fsderate foes in a speech delivered before
Massachusetts soldiers in the spring Of 1874:
"As an American am as proud of the men
who charged with Picketts division on our
lines at Getty sburg. as am Of the men who SO
brayely met and repulsed them there.
Men cannot always choose the right cause;
but when, having chosen that which con-
science dictates they are ready to die for IT. If
they Justify not their cause, they at least en-
noble themselves. And the men who for con-
science sake fought against their Government
at Gettysburg, ought easily to be forgiven by
the sons of men who for conscience sake fought
against their Government at Lexington and
Bunker HILL"
He spoke those words at Lexington, almost
under the shadow OF the Bunker Hill Monu-
ment.
So do these monuments. and these reunions,
have their purpose; not to glorify politlca
faith, dead and buried. and we may say for
gotten, but for this: To teach our children to
feel pride. and not reprodch, that we, with
these dead comrades. bore arms in fallen
cause in q cause that failed, but nerer k''e,D
clishonor.
We would keep them mindful OF the inspira-
ton of duty. Ignoring all politics. by re-
mem brance OF what these men have braved
and suffered for duty's sake. their constancy
and resolution, in the face Of hopeless destiny;
their brave belief in the Righteousness OF their
causs: their patient endurance Of all priva'
lions and all suffering that could come from
march and watch and battles hurt, and
PRISONS wretchedness: we would nerve you,
young people. for the contests OF your lives;
they may be only homely; they may be more
dramatic than we think.
We are not only taking care OF our dead we
would do something for the living:
At the conclusion of his address, Captain
Ransom announced that no special orator had
been engaged for this occasion. but he had
gotten the consent of one or two gentlemen
present to make some remarks. and thereupon
introduced.
Captain Robert l.. Parrish, OF Covington.
Allegheny county, who then took the stand
and delivered, in excellent style, a beautiful
and patriotic address substantially as fohows:-
ADDRESS OF CAPT. ROBERT L. PARRISH.
We have come again, my countrymen. to
crown with flowers the graves Of our Old COM
rades. our heroes: and 1t is meet that on these
nAmeless sspulchres we ningle to-day the
beauty of the rose, the fragrance of the Violet,
the chastity of the lily, the grace OF the vine,
the sympathy of the cypress, and the houor OF
the laurel, We are here because We love our
dead, They are ours. for they were of us, and
we owe them honor and memory and tender
ness and tears.
The ashes of our Lee and our Jackson are
not here, nor does either one Of our Johnstons
sieep beneath this sod, but II In the spirit-land
there is thought or care of the concerns Of
mortal life, we may be sure that their eyes
look tenderly upon US to-day; their ears are
bending down TO catch the strains Of our music
sweeter to them than that Of the harp OF Apol-
10 or the Tyre Of Orpheus; and their very
hearts are in these graves with the sacred dust
to which we are here assembled to pay our
tribute of honor and affection.
These great leaders are ours; not ours alone,
for we haye given them to mankind. OF whom
we are ourselves part, and we ask nothing In
return for our gift save only that the world
shall receive them as types of our Southern
manhood. But as highly as we honor our
leaders and as jealously as we shall guard
them in name and in fame. wish to say that
1 have never deemed them the real heroes OF
our greatest revolution.
Turning back in memory to the scenes OF
eight and twenty years ago, and looking upon
the men who. with soleless shoes-if not sole-
less feet-with thread-bare and even with tat
tered garments, marched upon the hot sands
of summer and the freezing SHOWS of winter;
men, who, amid the cravings OF hunger, greet
ed always with joke and smile the commits
sary and the quartermasters who were power
less to supply either food or raiment, because
food and raiment were not In our land, must
say for truths sake, viewing these men
through the vista of years. recalling them as
have seen them face to face. that the real hero
of the Confederate cause was the private SOL
der.
We understand what risks men will take
when as great leaders they are striving for
fame's sake to write their names upon histo-
RVS page as with diamonds point upon tab
let's of adamant, but we must remember that
our Confederate soldier was not in sight OF
Fame's temple, and that he hungered and he
thirsted, and he marched, and he suffered, and
he bIed, and he died for duty only.
He acknowledged no superior. He was as
good as his general or his captain, and there
fore he associated with them, and feeling him.
self general, he criticised the errors OF those
whom fortune had made his superiors in
rank. And when the bugle called him to the
front, he responded to the call because he felt
that 1t was his own cause and not the cause OF
bts 20 ptafn his colonel, or his general He