The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-06-14

point to heaven high empyrean, d
monument TO the grandeur Of southern
wOmanhoOd, as we'll as to the memories
seek 20 honor
| have heard of the tender devotion.
the ineffable love, the angelic self-sacri
flee and the God given nobility OF soul
of the women Of the South during that
bloody struggle ! have heard of how
she ministered at the side Of the suffering
and the dying, of how she followed along
the very outskirts Of the camp and Of the
battle field, and IS the fierce struggle
swayed to and fro, how she hovered like
guardian angel oyer the cruel fortunes
Of war, ready to bcCkOn back TO life the
wounded and suffering or TO lessen the
the anguish of those crossing over the
bOrderland into eternity. And when !
see her today, and her fair daughters at
her side imbued with that same divine
spirit Of uUdying love and tenderness,
rearing proud shaft Of imperisbabIe
granite to our mighty dead, can but eX,
claim, God bless the women of North
Carolina and | if could weave with
magic hand Chaplets of evergreen and
wreathes and garlands Of flowers and
could by some infinite power endow
them with perennial sweetness and fra
GRANGE and beauty and bloom, ! would
! place them upon their regal heads
Queens that they are whom kingliest
men might be proud to honor.
Well may there Je monuments to the
memories and flowers for the graves of
our valiant dead, and though that shaft
( at our State Capitol will commemorate
the glory Of all alike, bearing no name out
of the thousands who fell in a common
hecatomb, yet think if | could descry
the immortal names which will be writ
ton by loying hearts in invisible letters
upon it, could discern about its tall
apex, among the nOblest, the truest and
the knightliest of them all the name Of
Wiley Gray.
A student of the University Of North
Carolina, diligently and successfully pur-
suing his studies-and with what lofty
ambitions and aspirations for the future
who knows? We find Wiley Gray at the
opening of the late war happy and in
dustrious boy the pride of a loving father
and mother. When North Carolina
stepped into line with her sister states,
we see him gallantly putting on the uni
! rf I :
in the spring of 1862 that he entered the
army. Were the time at my command
| would tell you Of bis brave and gallant
bearing in each crisis, Of his herOism
upon each field of battle, bringing him
in the short career of his soldier life to
the rank of senior captain, and had he
survived that great battle he wOnld have
been entitled by seniority Of rank to be-
come colonel Of his regiment-the Fifty
Seventh North Carolina. But | must
hasten on and come now to lead you
20 that memorable scene, incompatible
! in hstory's pages. and impeIishab.e on
+ Gettysburg.
Picture in your minds eye that never
to ne forgotten day, July 2, 1868. In the
, breaking dawn, the fields before the i'm
preguabe heights Of Cemetery H.ll are
curtained with kindly mist as if tC
veil the appalling traces Of the tragic
) :ents already there enacted. The fore
| gsrund had been sOwn with shot anC
J. \ 1b a. iaI- il lp
a'terUOOn, aud the harvest of death was
! lying uug..tnecet along the ghastly fur
I roHs, CUT by the red plow share Of war
- Picture if y"u Ca0 the young COnfeder
ale soldier, not yet arrived at hi
majority, marching with his cOmrade:
into that arena Of death, and contem
r plate the dauntless young heart which
| could no, be chilled by that bjYouac o
e horror, a carnival offered up like ban
/ Quet of death to appease the wrath O
some offended deity. Follow those mel
= Of God like valOr through the passn!
] scenes of that bloody day. Late in tn
D afternoon when the shadows are length
I ening, uoke's matches brigade of y Nortl
f CarOlinians, led by Col. Samuel mellow
1 ell Tate, drew into line and made read,
a to scale the heights Of Cemetery Hill
D At the word of command they charged
/ like the resistless sweep of the hurrican'
and met the rain Of death missiles whicl
. poured in a fiery storm upol them
a Platoon after platoon TELL under tn
y awful scOurge, bat on they charged unit
a they pierced the enemy's line, and then
b al the very mouths of the cannon OF th'
/ enemy, his brave young spirit biddin!
D defiance to the guns Of death thunderin!
0 before him, Wiley Gray fell in the fore
I most line, and angels caught up his sou
a into heaven.
| Sorrow and anguish beyond the ex
preston OF words, and woe unmeasure'
a must have been thar which wrung tn
} hearts of mother, father, brothers AM