Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1896-01-09

represent a respect and admlx4tiol
no less sincere than those whicl
may be more skiIlfully selected AM
Systematically arranged.
/ do not, however. forge Mr
President, as / stand here IL th
awful stiffness of this heur, that
am before a brave, patriot ant
stricken people whose bal cIoses
wounds break out afresli an blees
on occasions ike HI / -x-no
forget that many of has KS6l'
band never re crossed the river, bul
'-sleep the sleep that knsws not breakiss.''
some beneath the sod of the en-
sanguined fields Of Gettysburg
some in the far-off South and 9th
ers furling the banner under which
they had fought and bled, return
ing lived under the starry banner
of our country obeying its laws
and submitting calmly to the de-
crees of fate as only patriots can,
and dying have been laid to rest
under the soil of their own loved
State.
Wherever you find their graves,
/
whether in the soil that gave them
birth, or in the land upon which
they sacrificed their lives, posterity
will ever say:
such graves as theirs are pilgrim shrines,
Shrines TO no code or creed confined
The Delphian wales, the Palessines,
The Meccas of the mind"
do not forget that the subject
of this memoir whose death we all
mourn to-day, was before you, a
brave, faithful soldier during the
stormy days of the war, and after
its close, his voice Of counsel so
often heard within these venerated
walls was for you a clarion of hope
and duty.
He was born on the 18th of Sep
tenn Der, 1888, in the second district
Eof this county, on the west side of
,Carthagene Greek looking out upon
the waters Of the classic Sc. Mary's.
His parents were the late Joshua
and Priscilla Hebb Wilson, both
lifelong residents of this county,
the recollection of whose hospitable
home will ever remain green in the
memory of those who had the good
fortune Of feeling and knowing
their kind offices and whole-souled
generosity.
After the rudiments of his edu-
cation had been completed, which
he acquired at the old "Manor
School," near his home, he was
sent for sometime to that time
honored institution of learning,
the pride and glory of Southern
Maryland-Charlotte Hall Acade-
my. Here, he was regarded as a
reflective, studious youth, taking
great interest always in the military
instruction and drills Of the Acad
emy.
Completing his course at Char.
lotte Hall, he entered st. Johns
College, Annapolis, from which he
graduated in June, 1853.
After returning from college,
having had strong prediction fol
the profession of law from his early
boyhood, and not willing to tres
pass longer upon the liberality Of
his father, who had other children
to educate. he applied for and OBJ
tanned the public school in Leon
ardtown which he taught as {
means of support, while he pursued
his legal studies under the lat,
Judge Robert Ford.
He studied with great fervor anC
perseverance and was admitted Il
the bar of the Circuit Court for thii
county during the year 1860, JUS
before the breaking out of the war
/ Ardently sympathizing with tn.
South and believing from his per
sonal observation that the darkest
pages of history did not unfold 6
more inhuman, humiliating specta
Gle of wrongs done, and of insults
offered the citizens of his native
State, whose sorr0ws seemed ever
greater than those of Switzerland
before the days of Tell, he cast hi:
fortunes with the Confederacy, and
first entered its service with many
others from this county,) for one
year in the 30th Virginia Regiment
in a company commanded by Capt
j. Lyle Clarke, of Baltimore coun
ty. During this year he was en-
gagged in Jackson's celebrated Val
lev Campaign, and his term of ser