The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1894-05-05
GEN. s. ID. LEES


Apie' Eloquent and Historic Speech
FILLED With Facts Of Much Interest to al
| .-. S"utherners.
At the reunion of Confederate Vet
erans held at Birmingham, Ala.. lasr
week, Gen. Stephen D. Lee, of Nissis
s'ppi, delivered the following beautiful
touching and interesting address on the
occasion OF the laying of the corner.
stone OF the Confederate monument. 1t
should be carefully read by all true
Southerners, and then laid away for
future references:
My Friends-We have assembled
here to-day to discharge a glorious and
solemn duty-to lay the cornerstone OF
a monument which shall commemorate
the valor of the living and the dead,
we have met to keep alive the memo.
rles OF our comrades who fell in battle.
that vast army OF heroes and patriots.
and to renew the ties of friendship be-
tween the gray.haired survivors,, who
We're their comrades in the four years
OF struggle from 1861 to 1865. When
we praise them We glorify ourselves.
When we speak Of their invincible
courage, OF their heroic sacrifices. we
feel thrill of pride that we shared
the same privations and the same
perils. We moved in the same lines of
battle and braved the same showers of
shrapnel and mimic balls. We charged
the same breastworks. We heard The
echoes OF the same artillery, and rattle
OF the same musketry, and from our
throats went the same Rebel yell that
bade defiance to our foes. We shared
or went without the same scanty rations
endured the same fatiguing march. the
same chilling rain. We did all that
they did, except that it was theirs to
die for their country.
Loyalty to the past is IL duty. Feel
Ing that we were right, we staked all
on the uncertain chances of battle, and
we lost. We were overpowered. and
we had to submit to the result, but we
cannot be otherwise than proud of the
history we made while u nation. We
are here to-day not to praise the yicto-
rlous, but to claim imperishable reuown
for the vanquished.
When we look backward from The
zenith OF life we see things with Il
clearer vision. We see many causes
that brought on the struggle. Slavery,
the indirect cause of the war, the North
Is as much responsible for us the South.
AS for the doctrine of 'State rights. >
the right of q sovereign State to with
Draw from the Union. the question is
decided forever against us. If we are
not convinced with such we are quiet
ed. We accept the inevitable with
such grace as We can But we cannot
blot it from our recollections. We cam
not yield the belief of the principles
we inherited from our revolutionary
forefathers. We fought for what
they did, but they had better luck.
War was forced upon us. Constitutions
al and sacred guarantees. agreed on in
our Union of sovereign States. were
trampled under foot, under the theory
promulgated by Mr.. Seward and ac-
cepted by the North, of u ''h.gher law
than the constitution. " We were forced
to defend our hearthstones and our
property, and the inherited rights of
[oca! selt-government bequeathed us by
our forefathers. We need no justifica-
ton for our conduct. 1t is Il universal
law that a man should defend his own.
We did that and that only. We would
have deserved to be trampled on, if we
had not resisted. See how gloriously
We did it. Look at our record. Never
lid a nation contend against such odds.
defy contradiction. Read for YOUR
selves those war records now being
honestly published by our government.
MY young fellOw-countrymen, young
gentlemen, young ladies, listen to me.
You who have lived since the war, ard
have only heard it from others, learn
low what this monument, the corner.
stone OF which is now to be laid, is in.
ended to commemorate. Look at these
yray.haired veterans. Who are thew?
Will tell you. They are some Of the
survivors, Of an army of 100000 men,
Who fought and kept back from our
Southern soil an invading army Of 2, 1884,
~ men, not including three and six
months volunteers, or, with the odds
II 2, 284 ,272 men more than they had
o confront them. To this great odds
must be added 800 vessels of war block
ding our coasts and occupying our
ivers, manned by $4,000 sailors, pre-
'enting our getting supplies of arms.
clothing, medicines and
lecessaries of all kinds. In this un-
qual contest the Confederate army
I'D not lay down its arms until it was
overpowered, and it had
My lOO, 900 effective fighting men for
uty in the field left of that
rmy of 900, 900 mon, while the FEEDER.
Is had over 1000, 900 men for duty. or
On men for every Confederate soldier.
nd all our arsenals, munitions of war
nd supplies were exhausted or captur-
d.
Before the end of the conflict the
confederate army had lost over one.
alf of the 900, 900 men, or 325, 900 men
n the death roll. 1t had fought over
ar beloved Southland almost foot by
'ot on nearly 1900 battle fields, Il
ad inflicted death roll on the enemy
S50, ,628 men, 275,OOO Of whom lie
eneath our Southern soil. Comrades
the gray, we made record unsur-
assed in the annals of war or history,
Let us 90 little mora into da,,;i,