Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1893-10-04
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY,
An Ex-COnfederate's Address 10 the
q. A. X.

q. A. X.
In view of the meeting of the G. A.
X. at indianapolis, of which ex.Presi-
dent Harrison has been the leading
figure, the following from the Welcome
reporters scrapbook is especially time
ly. 1t is an address delivered by Col.
p. Donan, the Southern chevalier, at
the reunion of the Northwestern Grand
Army of the Republic at Moorhead,
Mimi, in June, 1891. The Colonel had
sauntered across the big bridge that
spans the Red River of the North-the
bridge connecting Fargo with Moor
head-and no sooner was his familiar
face seen among the battle SCARED
veterans than he was called upon for
speech. And he responded in his usual
happy vein, adding the new and sensi-
BILE idea to G. A. R. oratory that with
out secession there could have been no
Grants, no Shermans, no Sheridans, no
Logans, Hancocks or other honored
heroes and-but let the Colonel tell it.
He said
Fellow Soldiers and Countrymen:
came over to your encampment this
morning with no thought of taking any
part in your proceedings except that of
quiet lookeron. have no extempor-
aneous speech in manuscript up my
sleeve. l had no idea of being called
upon to say word. But, prepared or
unprepared, when called upon in such
a cause and on such an occasion,
do violence to my own feelings, vio-
lence to my own American manhood,
If did not rise and at least assure you
that my heart and soul are with you in
every meeting, move and measure that
tends to perpetuate the glorious memo
ries OF your soldier days. 1t may seem
strange to some of you that South
erner, a former Confederate, should
participate in your exercises. 1t is not
strange; it should not seem so. No
man can so fully appreciate the valor
and the knightliness of the soldiers of
the Union as Confederate who fought
against them. l salute in you the rep
resentatives of the warrior legions tha
conquered the grandest army o modern
ages-except your own.
VI am the only Confeder ate who ever
spoke, or was invited to speak, at a
banquet of the Society of the Army of
the Tennessee, of which your grand old
hero, Tecumseh Sherman, was Presi-
dent. At the banquet in Chicago in
1885 responded to the toast, Our Re-
united County, 1t was, with single
exception-the one on Grants return
from his tour around the world-the
grandest emblage of famous soldiers
in the history of the society. Sheridan,
Hancock, Logan and many others of
your illustrious chieftains, who have
since spread their silent tents on Fame's
eternal camping ground, were then
living. OF the 45O present every name
was historic-and Sherman presided.
u began my speech by saying that,
as one who in the Confederacy had
fought four years trying to get out of
the Union at the Southern end, and
who, as a citizen of Dakota, had fought
five years trying to get into it at the
Northern end, l certainly know as much
about the Union as any of the men who
fought for it, and felt myself qualified
and entitled to speak for it everywhere
and at all times and under all circum-
stances.
There are special and potent reasons
why Confederate should feel that he
has right to share in all your celebra-
tions and commemorations, your con-
vival, triumphal and mourning cere-
monials. Think moment. But for us
where would you have been? If there
had been no Confederates, where would
have been. your battles and who would
have been your heroes? If there had
had been no Confederates, Grant would
probably have been, to the end of his
days tanner at Galena; Sherman a
school teacher in Louisiana and Phil |
Sheridan at most a Major or Lieutenant
Colonel of cavalry at some rude frontier
outpost.
But for us-the Confederates-y
and the world would never have known
what heroes you had, and the imper-
ishable records of American patriotism
and courage and devotion would never
have been written in the fire and blood |
of our four years war. But for us
the Confederates-Lincoln s emancipa-
ton proclamation would never have |
been written and all the millions of |
negroes would still be in slavery. But
for us-the Confederates-th would |
have been no battle of Manassas or
Shiloh, Vicksburg, Gettsburg, Chicka-
mauga or the Wilderness; you could
have won no victories, gathered no
laurels, added no splendors to New
World history.
Half the glory of every glorious
field from Bull Run to Appomattox is
ours, for it could not have been without