The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-05-31


Troops Furnished to the CGnfeder-
acy by North CarOlinaA Spartan
Father" Scattered NatiOn'---
A Brilliant PerOratiOn.
correspondence Charlotte Observer
The amented death ex-senator Vance
has served to bring forward many IN
cidents in his life and to cause a re-
publication ofmany speeches, letters and
tacetie emanatIng from that trn y
wonderful man. We are happy to
note this, and trust that his literary
executor, if he left one, will also note
it, and garner the crop thus thrustupon
him from all parts Of the State and
from pens that are partial to the great
Commoner.
Time will dull the edge Of praise, but
even in the clearest retrospect that
well rounded life will stand out on the
canvas of history distinct, attractive,
unique.
We feel like adding our mite to the
general store, and hence select certain
extracts from the Governors address
before the Southern Historical Society
at White Sulphur Springs, Va, on the
18th of August, 1875.
1t was veritably boarding OF the
lion in his den to talk as he did on that
occasion to the Virginia company IN
which he found himself
Not that he said anything offensive
to the Old Dominion. Far from it
but he made comparisons most t1attcr-
ing to North Carolina, rouudly de-
nounced the historians who said con-
trariwise, and these we know to have
been for the most part Virglnians.
Hear him on this theme. Is it not a
brave note he strikes at the outset:
lowing to the reluctance with which
| North Carolina went into the secession
movement. and because there was a
considerable Union feeling still left
| there which made some manifestations
| of itself during the war, an impression
has been sought to be made that she
did not do altogether as much for the
cause Of the Contederacy as she might
have done. And those who have as
sumed to write histories on the con-
flict so far, have either designedly fed
this unjust impression by studied
silence on the subject or else they have
been too much trammeled by the neces-
sity of local panegyric to give ample
motive to the whole South | desire to
remove this impression, and to lay
open the way for the truth of history.
Confessing frankly that the great lead
ers Of the war were furnished by other
States. whose glories are the common
property of the whole South, | desire
TO show what is true, that in the
number Of soldiers furnished, in the
discipline, courage and loyalty anC
difficult service OF those soldiers, il
amount of material and supplies con.
tributed, in the good faith and mora
support of her people at large, and in
all the qualities which mark self-sacri-
North Carolina is entitled to stant
where her troops stood in battle, be
hind no State, but in the front raak o
the Confederation, aligned and abreas
with the best, the foremost. and thu
brayest.
And continuing the theme are W.
not all proud Of him when he says:
1T is a proud assertion which
make to-day when say that, so ia
as | have been able to learn, Nortl
Carolina furnished more soldiers il
proportion to white population, ant
more supplies and material i'll proper
ton to her means, for the support o
that war, than any State of the Con
tederaCy. | beg you to believe tina
this is not said with any spirit Of of
fence to other Southern States. or O
defiance toward the government of tn
United States, but simply as jus
eulogy upon the devotion Of a peopl
to what they considered a duty, il
sustaining a cause, right or wrong. tI
, which their faith was pledged.
: According to the report of Adiu
tant General Cooper, the whole numbe
of troops in the Confederate servc
was 600, 900, of which North Caroline
furnished largely more than one-sixth
!, one tenth would have been about he
share. Her total white population
was in 1860, G29 $40; of this she sen
to the army more than one man t
1 every six souls. How they demeane
themselves in the field the bloody re
cords of killed and wounded in all tn
great battles ofthe war bear melanchol
testimony. In many Of the sever
conflicts on the soil of Virsinia-nota
bly, in that of Fredericks burg-a larg
majority of the casualties of the Who'll
4 army were in the North Carotid
l troops, rs appeared by the reports i
: the Richmond papers at that time.
S - At the dedication Of the Confeder
= ate Cemetery in Winchester, Va
6 some years ago, | was invited to de
! liver the Grafton, and the reason as
;, signed by the committee for solctin
= me for this task was that the Mort
y Carolina dead there exceeded the dea
Ofany other State; showing that i
i all the glorious campaigns of Jackson
= Ewell and Early, in that blood drenche
e valley, North Carolina soldiers wer
g either very numerous or else had a
I unusual share of the hard fighting
= neither of which facts would be 5
, much as suspected by reading tn
popular histories of those campaign,
Dead men do tell tales, and tales While
+ can not be disputed.''
: Referring to the efforts made {
S home to sustain the cause. can an,
e thing be more touching than this tril
is ute to an old citizen of the grand count
T.. from which this is written, count
!, that Vance loved with all his GRE:
heart, from which his ancestors wei
to Kings Mountain with McDowe
and from which he married his fir
Il wife?
II " Each county has its list of neisI
st borhood heroes; gray-headed. qui
y men, whose victories were won ov
t the greedy passions of gain and Il
e temptations OF avarice. They a
,e pointed out yet as the men who wou
70 sell no corn except to soldiers wivc
=. widows or mothers who would Sc
=, no leather from their tanyards exec
- to put shoes on their feet. and who d
: not raise in price or discount the
l. money! All honor To Such mon A,