Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1895-05-16

foe with no purpose but to give them
life to their country. And all that
many thousands of these brave men
received for weeks and months of
full fighting and years of separation
from home and loved ones, was just
two spaces of mother earth, There
they lie, canopied by the blue Heavens,
those unnamed demi-gods, their rest
ing places marked by a single slab.
Unknown. unknown, the only cpl
taph of thousands. Yes, here they lie,
scattered in their last sleep, awaiting
the order to appear in review before
the great Commander-in-C Chief of us
all. Man has not seen a grander, no
bier and purer hero, than the private
Confederate soldier.
NORTH CAROLINA, THE HERO.
Nowhere in the pages of history do
we find the counterpart of North Caro-
linas record. The battles of Waterloo,
and M Marrengo pale into insigniticance
before those of Gettysburg and Chan
cellorsville in which North Carolin-
ians were the heroes.
The war history of no other State
parellels with that of North Carolina.
In 1861 at Bethel as in Ill at Ala
nance she fought the first battles and
SnSO The nfSG DlOOu, LII w llDluSUOu
she resisted the British tyranny eight
years before the overthrow of the tea
in Boston Harbor. And the same
principle which prompted us to resist
the unjust action of the British.
prompted US to resist the unconstitu-
tional interference of the North with
our domestic institutions.
The fifth in white population, she
furnished more troops to the COnfede-
racy than any other Southern State.
with her 115, 900 voting population she
had enlisted in the war 125, 900 soldiers
of the 600, 900 which composed the Con
federate Army. Of the 81 regiments
engaged in the battles around Rich
mond ~ of them were sons of North
Carolina. And her killed at the battle
of Charlottesville constituted one1
half the entire Confederate loss. Her
troops advanced further than any
other into the lines of the enemy at
Gettysburg. and she lost more men
there than the three States of South
Carolina, Virginia and Mississippi
combined, and on the third day in what
was known as ''Pickets charge" but
was in truth that of our own illustrious
Pettigrew, and which was full of heroic
deeds and daring, North Carolina had
more troops tnan any other State.
There the Goth North Carolina Regi-
ment went into the charge of the bat
teries, with $40 men and cane out with
80, having sustained the greatest regi
mental loss during the war.
In that charge of high carnival of
death and honor" hero after hero
grasped the banner and was shot down
until the 10Th man, Chatham county
soldier. amid the storms of leaden hail
planted its shattered staff upon the
''Cemetery Heights" and the charge
of the 5th North Carolina, and 24th
Va, at Williamsburg was such an he
roic effort, that the New York Herald,
declared that the word Immortal
ought to be carved upon their banner
in letters of gold. The North Carolina
troops were the only ones who actually
locked bayonets with the enemy, and
when the smoke of battlo cleared away
there lay school mates and brothers in
the blue and the gray in the last sleep
of death side by side.
OF the SO, 900 Confederates killed N
battle, 10, 900 were sons of North Caro-
lima. OF the 21,000 Confederates who
died of wounds, 5000 were from North
Carolina. OF the SO, 900 Confederates
who died of disease, 2.0C0 were North
Carolinians. Over 10000 of her brave
sons died for their country. She lost
over II per cent. of her military popu-
|
| from their wounds, while the cores
ponding loss by the other Confederate
States was only 10 per cent: of the 81
regiments who sustained the heaviest
loss during the war, North Carolina
heads the list with seven. Longstreet
said that the killed was always great
est before the North Carolina soldiers,
| and in tn at last battle ere the noble and
| illustriOus- Lee was forced to surrender
by overwhelming forces and as he was
completely surrounded by masses of in
fantry, calvary and artillery, his at
| tention being attracted to a line of
infantry moving rapidly towards him
to attack the enemy, he asked
.'What troops are these" and when he
was told that they were n orth Caro-
linians he burst into tears and said,
''God bless old North Carollnaa. Thus
we see her first at Bethel and last at
| Appomattox.
| The North Carolina soldier was not
a traitor. He loved the Union, he
feared its destruction and was willing
to grant almost any concession to pre-
| serve it
In the prior years of peace, while he
reared his children, cultivated his
fields and tended his focks. he cher
ished the government and the individ-
ual sovereignty of his State, obtained
by his sires In the revolution and com
mitted to his keeping as an inheritance
forever, with that supreme devotion
/, that the children of Israel guarded the
walls of Jerusalem.
In all those years he cherished an6
{ loved the strength and glory of tn,
, Union as its ''Star of Empire movet
westward'', but though he loved peac'
and repose, it was never SO profoun,
| h of a ha nf "a 6rl1Y,o fa Ia.
: to rouse him and he was ready to g
3 forth to battle for his rights and hi
: honor.
q He put up his pruning knife and lef
Y the plowshares to rust in the sod; he lei
the home of his childhood, and wit
knap-sack and musket upon his bac]
= and tears upon his cheeks he receive
the parting kiss and blessing of hi
mother and with the muttered goo6
e, bye he plodded his weary way to gai
: the nearest command, with but littl
= expectation of ever looking upon ths
- home again or feeling the gentle touc
= of mothers hand.
II We have heard, loved and Eonore
y the beautiful stories of Jonathan an
" David, Damon and Pythias, and the
: lsplendid fidelity and friendship hs
= been pointed out as examples for us t
- - follow, but in my opinion they wei
/. OIIen surpassed III Ine Gays Oh ol an
ga by the grand and noble deeds of th
= private soldier of North Carolina. q
~ laid aside friends, the love of wife an
children, the dearest ties that bind ma
= to earth, and went into foreign tiel
% of battle and laid down his life for
Il Il stranger, and ''greater love hath I
= man than this but, thank God, /
reaps his reward, "Where the wicke
i cease from troubling and the weary al
~ at rest''
III Now close with a few words to tt