The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-07-29
The BraYest Of the Brave.

day there was published an apprecia-
tive notice of Col. James Armstrong.
Col. Armstrong is too we'll known in
Charleston to need an introduction,
but the piece in the Chronicle is re-
produced because it is a tribute of
which any man might be proud. 1t
was written by B. F. Brown, Sergt.
Co. L., 1st regt., S. c. ", and is as
follows:
"Of the living heroes Of the Lost
| Cause there is not one more worthy
the name than Capt. James Arm
strong, of Charleston, S. G., the last
commander of the Irish Volunteers,
known as Company K, in the lst
Carolina regiment Of McGowan's bri-
gade.
The Confederate States had in their
service no braver, more loyal or de-
voted son. Though battered and
bruised-the result of his valor, he is
still magnificent specimen of that
manhood of which the once great army
Of Northern Virginia was composed
a manhood so splendid as to draw from
the historian of the army of the Poto-
mac the tribute, who can ever for
get that once looked upon it? That
array Of tattered uniforms and bright
muskets, that body of incompatible
infantry, the army of Northern Vir-
ginia, which, receiving terrible blows,
did not fail to give the like, and
which, vital in all its parts, died only
with it's annihilation.
"Under all circumstances Capt.
Armstrong was a model man. The
discipline of the camp, which bore
heavily upon the untutored soldiersin
the early days of the war, was always
softened by the consideration he
showed for those under him. A grace
full writer, fluent speaker, an inter-
esting conversationalist, a charming
personality, he was afavorite through
out the regiment with both officers and
men. In contrasting his heroism on
the battlefield with the gentleness of
his bearing towards his fellowmen,
how appropriate seem the lines of
Bayard Taylor
"'The bravest are the tenderest,
The loving are the daring
"In critical moments, as at the bat
tie of Hatcher's Run, the heroic quail
tiles of the man showed at the best.
The terrific collision with the Union
troops had thrown the Confederate
line into disorder. The gallant and
lamented Col. w. G. McCreary had
fallen with death wound. Capt.
Armstrong, with the instinct of the
true soldier, raised his sword, and
pointed it in the direction of the enc
my. The purpose was to attract the
attention of the men, and it had the
effect, for he at once became the raj
lying point. The quick eye of Capt.
D. P. Goggans, of Company B, reg
ular old war horse, who, for his daring
now carries wooden leg, detected the
movement, and placing himself by the
side Of, the Captain, the noble rem:
nant Of the old 1st regiment gathered
around them and stayed for awhile the
advance of the enemy. The check
was but for few hours for the Union
line of battle presented an unbroken
front from the Appomattox River to
Dinwiddie, and was only awaiting the
outcome of Sheridan's movement
against Five Forks. Upon the cap.
ture of that important point, a general
assault was made, extending from the
river to Hatcher's Run, and the army
of Northern Virginia, shattered into
fragments, commenced its memorable
retreat from Petersburg. In just one
week to the day-a lively Sabbath
morning-in the peaceful village of
Appomattox, its marchings and its
fghtings came to an end, and it passed
into history.
"It was near Sutherland's Station,
on the South Side Railroad, that the
writer remembers as the last time he
saw Capt. Armstrong in the army, and
just after he received the wound
which he has borne with patient forti-
tude for over thirty years, and which
will cease it's achings only when 'life's
ftful fever shall be over. The in
tense suffering this wound at times
causes him, the added thirty-fve
years to his age since the days of the
first camp at near Suffolk, Virginia,
the care incident to the responsible
ties of an exacting office, and the
blight of domestic af1iction-all these
have not been sufficient to dim the
lustre of his eye, mar the gentleness
of his manners or dull the eloquence
Of his tnnpne "