Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1895-03-21
AT BENTONSvILLE.

AT BENTONSvILLE.
The Beautiful Monument Erected by the
Goldsboro Rifles Is Unveiled on
That Field To-Day: Tt is Said to be one
of the Handsomest Monuments in the
South: General Wade Hampton Will
he the Orator.
Thirty years ago yesterday there
lay dead and dying on the field
al Bentonsville, which was
fought the day before between
the left wing of Sherman's army
and the remnant of Gen'l Joe
Johnson's gallant troops, sew
eral hundred of the immortal he
roes of the Gray. Among the
dead was the young son of Gen'l
Hardee, who saw his first service
in that fight, having reached
the command of General Hamp-
ton, to which he had been as
signed on enlisting, only two
hours before the battle. -This
information we received from
General Hampton yesterday, who
was present at that memorable
battle, in which Johnston came
out gloriously victorious, driv-
ing Sherman's routed forces
flying for refuge into this
city, as our older citizens will
remember, while Johnston made
only a feint at following them,
drawing off his troops in the op-
posite direction toward Green's
boro, hoping to join and re-en-
force Gen'l Lee in Virginia, but
was cut off by superior numbers
of the enemy and surrendered
near Durham.
Yesterday-thirty years after
the chivalric spirit of the South,
that never dies nor forgets, made
itself manifest on the same field by
unwilling there beautiful shaft
of imperishable marble, deeply
imbedded in the earth that holds
the sacred dust of the death
less heroes whose fame it
commentaries, and pointing
heavenward whence their immor-
tai spirits have flown, and telling
to the passing generations--'till
the last syllable of recorded
time"-that the Southern people
honor the heroes of the Gray and
the cause for which they went to
battle and to death.
The monument was unveiled
about 10 o'clock in the morning,
under the auspices of the Colds
boro Rifles, and Gen'l Wade
Hampton was the orator of
the hallowed occasion. He ar
rived in this city Tuesday
morning and after, taking break
fast at the Hotel Kennon and
being the recipient of many cor
dial handshakes, was escorted by
the committee, the military corps
of young ladies, many married
ladies and scores of citizens on to
Bentonsville. General Hampton
spoke as follows:
Mr.. Chairman, ny comrades and friends
You meet mere to-day to perform one
of the most plous and sacred duties
WulCA uuIud1 HCdIUS Cdu 1SSl, LIZ 1u-
man hands can discharge. that of doing
honor to our noble dead who fell in de.
tense of a lost, but, to us, a patriotic
and just cause. In Illus honoring the
memory of these brave martyrs, yor
do honor to yourselves, but the dedica,
tion of this noble monument will be q
mere idle ceremony if it has not a deep
er significance than the mere consecra
tion of it by prayer implies. With its
spire pointing to heaven, and its foun-
dation laid deep in the earth that holds
the ashes of our dead comrades, it may
defy the tempest and the corrodine
touch of time, to tell to future genera
tions that the brave sons and noble
daughters of North Carolina erected il
to mark the spot where Confederate
soldiers
"For faith and for freedom,
Lay slaughtered in vain"
It may accomplish all these worth,
objects, telling at the same time of thu
love and veneration in which you holt
the memory of our heroic dead, but i
seems to me that the solemn ceremonie'
of this occasion should typify far NOR.
than all these things. They should I'M
press on our minds, and we shoul(
teach our children, that the men rest
ing here, and the thousands of theil