Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1896-05-25
Ia river, and it was many day before you

the river, and 1t was many u uay peioie w"
got back. .. -,
diers.r "rebcls," and who were they
Outside the rebel was a gray uniform with
plenty of brass buttons, and, if-he was high
enough in rank, plenty of gold braid. ii S
hat OF cap was of the best, and worn 10 ttc
best effect. His can.een was rs brighs as nus
gun. and not always filled with water, and
needed his good.size1 havelsack not only I"
hold his regular rations but also to stow awi y
what was cotton on private raids
| Inside he carried heart as H. hit as ever
succe s;ul lover bore: heart full of love for
4 the cause he was going to fish. aud bleed 10
| and full of certain other feelings forthe poop
| who were not on hi, side.
After awhile the gray turned TO color nj
set down in the list of colors and shade; ms
| canteen turn dim. the hat turned to sugar
| loaf, but the heart of oak was still there
| Mover men carried Ii. her, Drawer hearts
| through hunger and thirst and the 'torm OF
battle than did the rebel of 1S61-'65. He
was always ready for a fight or frollc
| Neither fierce battles hard marches, cold,
! hunger nor defeat discouraged him. DC
| tested in the camp, on the march, IN line OF
| battle, and even when for moment he got q
| little homesick. The rebel was not a hirellng.
| neither was he fighting for glory. The best OF
| the South went to the field, and lay cold and
| hungry in the trenches animated by a patriot
ism as pure as ever filled the hearts OF men.
| They fought for the right as they saw it, for
| principles dearer than life. Not for mere
theory of government, but for a great vital
principle that could never DO surrendered ex-
cent at the price of such dishonor as no youth
ern man could accept. If they were rebels
| it was rebellion against tyranny and .
grievous wrong as they understood it; pro-
| test against the threatening of one section
against another. And so their rebellion was,
| in their eyes, a resistance to what threatened
| their liberty and tho wellbcing OF the land
they loved so well. We're they in earnest?
| TIL, long four years can answer.
We're they brave and loyal and devoted?
Tho battleiields of the South can give reply
and not the battle fields alone These men
had left their homes and all that was dear to
them to fight the battles Of their country. So
did the soldier from the North but no left
| his wife and children in land of plenty ;
where every soldiers family was fed and
housed. and in every way cared for, while the
| mon Of the South had, added to all their hard
ships, the knowledge that their wives and
| children were often without sufficient food
and clothes often robbed Of their substance
1 and even Of their poor means of making their
bread, and in addition subjected to tho insults
| of a foo who had no pity for tho women and
| children of rebels If there was now ard
| hen dcSortion, some poor, ragged fellow
going homo to help his wife in her struggle
| against starvation, tho wonder is not that
| there was one but that there were not no e.
and that when the last black days came brave
and loyal men did not 60 home to die with
their loved ones if they must die, or live to
care for them if they wore allowed to live
| The world has seen the picture Of homes de-
stroyed by fire. fields trampl.d down and
whole land torn and hsrrowsd and has APP
| plauded the men who, with all this to bear,
stood to their culors and not only bore it, bat
did go without murnur and fought fight
that has never been excclled.
How did they fight2 The long struggle
against fearful odds the long list of federal
dead: the last days If the war in which
starved aud frozen, fighting ten to one, they
again and again beat bacs the best equipped
| army the world ever saw until rednced to
mere handful, ut the command OF their gen
| cral, they laid down their arms. Let this,
and all this, answer. If that question IS
asked again we point to the first and second
| Manassas. the battles around Richmond, the
great fight and victory at Fredericksburg, tie
| Maryland and Pennsylvania campaigns, sud
those last desperate conflicts as Appoiasttox
was approached.
Did Grant in those la t days, have $780,
| 600 infantry and $4,000 cavalry, and Lee
10000 infantry and 1000 brokendown cav
airy? And did that remnant drive back again
| and again tho fearful odds against them moro
than once almost wrestling from them the vic
| tory? So the records say, and if those records
are true, then the Army of Nortberu Virginia
were heroes of the sternest stuff and most
| heroic mould. Such men are worthy OF
honor, of remembrance in song and story, in
books and monuments, and of the flowers We
this day strew over their graves.
There would be no justice, but rather an
objectionable lack of appreciation if no men.
ton were made of those who made it possible
for the men to be heroes and to rival the old
warriors of Marathon and Thermopylae The
women of the South were tie equals of the
men in all that goes to make loyalty and de-
votion. They fed snd clothed the soldiers
until their resources were all exhausted they
cheered them on the weary marrh, and
prayed for them as they fought and died on
the battlefield, and then their tender hands
bound UP the wounds, and many vigil did
they keep as tho brave spirits wrestled with
disease or wounds or passed away to their
long rest God bless our Southern danes
and lassies, snd grant that they may mover be
aught but what they have been and are the
inspira ion of our hearts and the light of
our homes.
We arc not here to revive the passions Of
the past. We salute the flag of our reunited
country, and join hands with the mon of the
blue, but at the same time we hold 10 the memo
res of those days in which we have often
lived again in our dreams, and never regret
that we fought that fight which could not end
az we wished
While l with you rejoice over the brave
deeds of our Southern heroes, and feel the
thrill that comes as we recall the past, l would
be unworthy of the place I occupy as your
chaplain if failed to point you today to the
glorious future, where we hope to Look again
into the faces of those who fell W tn their
breasts to the foe aud salute the noble spirits
who arc waiting us in the great camp beyond.
Comrades, the shadows are longthening and
every year we are getting nearer the last
battlefield of csrth. Each year some drop
from tbs ranks; some fail TO answer the roll
call, and tho band of veterans grows less and
less.
Let us be ready when the marching orders
come from above, not only to cie as brave men
die, but to fall asleep as Christians do st the |
eyentide to waken in the brighter morning of
the land where no shadows fall and no mid.
night alarms ever come The army will be
summoned after awhile for the last grand |
roll call and review and want you to stand
in that day with the soldiers of the cross who
have passed over to answer present" when
the Captain of our salvation calls the roll
And there, at home forever we will fight
the battles over again-nobler battles than
were ever fought with shot and shetland
tell how, under our great Leader, VIC gained
tho victory.