The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1895-05-23
MEMORIAL ADDRESS.

the Occasion of Decorating the
Graves of Confederate
Soldiers Buried at
That Place.
THE LIFE, CHARACTER AND MILITARY
CAREER OF COL. CHARLES CHRIS
TOPPER BLACKNALL.
Ladies and Gentleman and FeIIoaO
Veterans
We are assembled at this sacred,
though hitherto neglected, spot, not SO
much to salute the living Of the hero
ones, as to bow in loving respect with
uncovered heads over, and to decorate
the graves holding the ashes of those,
who with us went forth from interests
great or small, from peaceful vocations,
from the quiet of home and sweet CON-
munion with best beloved and dearest
ones, to enter in one common strug-
gle, in that (most sacred to the pa
triot)-the defence Of home and
country.
Had the demand made upon our
Governors by President Lincoln been
less mandatory, rather had not SO war
like and imperious course been pre-
cipitously determined upon by that
Executive and his council, and gladly
and haughtily acted upon by the
North, conscious of their far greater
strength, and crazed with the idea of
resenting the merited castigations in
flicted in personal combats, which
should have been settled by the indi-
viduals themselves; rather had there
been no Sumner and Brooks alterca-
ton, no "Uncle Toms Cabin" and
no John Browns, l doubt at this day
that any conflicting pages of war
would blacken our country's history.
But alas! reason forgot herself, and
the deadliest strife known in modern
times, with all the furiousness and cru
elites known or conceived of was
waged for four long years.
But the causes which led to this in
| ternecine and unhappy struggle, it
| were profitless here, and to-day, for US
to dwell upon. Rather let US turn
from them and to our holier aims
that of honoring, not only those OF
our dead, who lie buried here, but
those also in our sister Southern States,
and those, alas, who most unhappily,
have unknown resting places in alien
lands. Let us make fresher and green
er the sod, under which lie the sweet
remains of our fallen comrades. Let
it be bedecked with sweetest flowers by
loving sisters hands, and believed
with tears that none of us are too
manly to zOeeb.
My friends, while undertaking the
duty which yon have so partially and
kindly assigned me, l do so with the
regretful conviction that while my
heart is fully aglow with that feeling
that animates your own, had another
been selected it would be more &C
ceptably and gracefully performed.
But l can not close these remarks
without recalling to your memorie:
the life and deeds of one, not only
revered and honored as among the
most valiant of our soldier braves, bu,
dear to most here present, by the
strong ties of friendship; and still deare1
and more than doubly so to some, by
the strongest ties of love and consan
guinity.
| Col. Charles Christopher Blacknall
second son of the late Thomas anc
Caroline Boswell Blackwell, and his two
brothers DR.. George w. and Maj
Thomas Henry, were left orphans il
early childhood. Their now agee
mother, then scarcely out of her teens
being left a widow, devoted her lif
and wonderful energies to the rearing
and educating of these sons.
The subject of these remarks sprung
from long line of ancestry, dating
back to the crusades; but the earlies
member of the family mentioned BY
name was Roger Blacknall, of Wing
Buckinghamshire, Eng, who in 14oe
married a daughter of the noble Nor
man, house of Harcourt.
In the old church at Wing ant
also at Abingdon and Middle Clay
ton are monuments and memoria
tablets of his descendants, covering tn
following two and half centuries
According to the shire histories, a lin
cal descendant of Roger was Rev
John Blacknall, who came to Virginia
about 1870. In 1925 he was recto
of St. Paul's church and parish, a
Edenton, N. c., and was one of tn
earliest Episcopal clergyman in thi
State. He died rector of Kingston
parish in Matthews Co., Va. Hi
grandson Thomas was revolutionar
soldier, serving with distinction in tn
Northern campaign and at York
town, and Thomas grandson, Charlie
Christopher Blacknall, was born il
Granville county, N. c., Dec. 4tt
E 1891.
At the hands of his untiring and de
voted mother he received a liberia
education, studied law in the State Q
Ca, which he gave up preferring tn
business Of a merchant, connecte
with that of agriculture and in 1S5
, married Virginia Spencer. Earnes
in all things he undertook, and so in
| deiatigable in his devotion to dut,
. he had laid the foundation of life O
usefulness and success. Inheriting t
the Hottest degree the characteri:
tics of his long line of noble ancestry
which he displayed when the war fc
$ the separation Of the States was begun
4 and fired by that love of country an
l resistance to the oppression the