The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-06-24
ELECTED HIM AGAIN
Cohfede- te Veterans Would Not Permit
General Gordon to Retire.
ADDRESS OF THE COMMANDER in CHIEF
Reports on History nnd Memorial
din.-Governor Taylor Sings
for tho VcternIs-<1rcntP Pnrn4lc To.
day Resolutions Commenting
Queen Victoria Voted Down.
Nashville, Tenn, Jun 90, 1897.

Nashville, Tenn, Jun 90, 1897.
The morning trains to-day brought
several thousand people to the citysto at
tend the ANNUAL reunion Of the United
ing was held, ut which reports were
presented, and General John b. Gordon
delivered an address.
General Gordon prefaced his remarks
with an announcement OF his intention
TO resign as general commanding. There
he hall. and when quiet had been re-
stored, General Gordon proceeded with
his address. 1t was as follows:
Mr., President and Comrades: Permit
me with few words TO return the com
mission with which you have honorcd me
Within the next few hours you will elect
my successor. When this duty is per-
ee BY those uned In faay eross t%e Who mS
grandly bore, tho battles brunt in tho
stern work Of war Such step volunta-
strange condescension by any man. To
me 1t is a privilege. II was as u private
that | enlisted as a soldier the first In
that the partialty OF my comrades, which
i;G has followed me from that. hour TO this.
able and selr-sacriiicing position. But
Mr. President, through all the vcssitudes
or war amidst its Lights and It's shadows,
It's glories and It's gloom, never lost sight
OF for one hour Of my obligations to the
private soldiers. From first to last. in all
those years of alternate victory and de-
feat of hope and despair my heart was
ever paying its spontaneous tributes to
the !la matShiess % fortitudo Of that intrepid
and bravely defied the battles carnage
from the beginning to the end Of that
struggle without ono murmur Of diScOn-
tent. Sir, If / had the power I would
erect to the private soldier the most splen-
gest. genius could plan or money could
possessed the needed gift of speech / I
OF them. and such as my own convictions
ana ana i't emotions prompt; but my, words arc
howeye hoo feeble vbr, 5Gr that There Is nothing
won Tor me in war and the honors with with
which they have crowned my life in
ly, take ; my place in their thnned and
rapidly dissolving ranks.
MIR President. in these closing hours of
my long service as commanding general l
must ask the conventions indulgence for
q brief review of that official relation and
future
'On the 10th, day Of June, 1889, eight
years ago. while serving as Governor OF
my native State. I received from New
Orleans the wholly unexpected announce
a,ltns ahns or IN, my eiection as commander-tn-
federate Veterans This new communion
Of eX,soldiers began It's somewhat un-
Of but ten organizations. united for peace
ful and noble ends. To-day 1t presents tho
proud array Of more than, u thousand
Ing merted honors upon the different
commanders. and especially upon our able
;Adjutant General. In the next few hours
l snail turn over to my successor this
army Of more than n thousand organi2a-
tons rapidly advancing toward the second
81 said. Mr.. President, that would turn
over an army. 1t is an army of eX-sold-
iers. OF ex-Confederates, at whose Prov
rress and endurance enlightened christcn-
dom stood In breathless amazemcnt. 1t is
an army stiil, Mr.. President. but an army
m FOR tne the bloody work Of war no longer. It's
MIA Of battle. Its weapons no longer fla sh
defiance to the foo nor deal death to OPP
pen without malice, the tongue without
asperstion. and history without misrepre-
sentation. It's aims are peaceful. phian-
throp!c and broadly patriotic. Its senu-
mcnt is lofty. generous and just. Its mis-
sion Is to relieve the suffering Of tho liv-
ms binfd GnHT'Sn SIo the memory or the dead and
all. This now mighty organization. while
Insisting upon complete historical justice
complete justice to tho North. Proud OF
II the y, south,s rs, eIhivairy In defending the
Tghts s Is Of TT the s,n,es they honor the hero
tuity OF the union: Having committed the
South's cause to the arbitrament OF battle,
they loyalty and ,manfully stand by that
tribunals verdict. Fighting and suffer-
Ing for their homes and rights as men
have. rarely fought and suffered in the
worlds history; exhibiting on a hundred
fields and In q thousand emergencies n
heroism never eXceiled; yielding from ut
ter exhaustion and only when their pros
trate section was bleeding at every pore;
falling after the most desperate defensive
struggle in human annals to establish
their cherished Confederacy, these high
SDne1 Of 1o y
Of devotion as the noblcst pledge of their
fealty to freedom and OF their readiness
to defend the republic of tho fathers.
My comrades of the United Confed-
crate Veterans. II this brief summary
fairly represents your sentiments and
deed. cannot doubt. do not doubt.
that have caught and correctly voiced
the Impulses and hopes Of this most repre-
sentative body Of Southern manhood In
tho first address issued by me as your
commander sought to embody your SEN
t.menis as did my own. Let me read
few sentences from that address. After
recitng tho objects of the United Confed-
crate Veterans as declared by your con
stitutton. I said:
"'No m!siudgment can defeat your
peaceful purposes for the future Your
aspirations have been lifted by tho mere
force and urgency of surrounding cond-
conaiderat ons Of partisan triumphs The
honor of the American republic; the lust
powers OF the Federal government. the
equal rights Of the States; tho integrity
Of the constitutional union; the sanctions
or law and enforcement OF order, have no
class Of defenders more truc and devoted
than the eH-solders Of tho South and their
worthy deSdenHantS ho