The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-05-11

! Cromwell writing after one of the
reverses which befell the arms of the
Parliament early in the struggle with the
King, said:
eve need men of Religion to fight
with men of honor
Receiving at the hands Of the proper
+ fficials their company and regimental as
signments. these men selected by their
free votes their captains, leutenants and
enSi gns; these were their neighbOrs and
equals at home. Capable men, worthy of
/ the trust and confidence of the cOmpa
MES. and these company officers in turn
chose by their votes the colonies, lieuten-
mt colonies and majors of the regiments
THE field officers of the ten regiments
known as State troops. were appointed
and We're commissioned by the Governor
at the beginning of their service.
"And now these companies and regi
ments began the exercises and duties in
camp ON guard and on the march, which
at length hardened them into veterans
and rendered them among the toughest
soldiers who ever did battle in any cause.
i The men proved obedient to discipline
and orders. Company and regimental
government was more due to the per
sonal influence and example Of the Of
fcers and commissioned officers. to
, the reciprocal esteem of private soldiers
and their immediate superors in rank
for each other than to The Article of
War and to the Army Regulations.
"'The greater the fool the better the
soldier has been. ascribed to the Duke
Iof Wellington. 1t is a perverse saying
contradicted by the experience of our
war.
Il heard venerable men caution
youth, who was given to indiscretons,
against the first wrong steps in life. The
after weight of such false start.
''Never were soldiers more helped by
fortune in their first hostile meeting with
the enemy than was the First Regiment
, of North Carolina in its baptism of blood
at Bethel. You have commemorated ia
deep letters cut away down into the stone
body of the monument, which stands SEN
tinel by day and by night, at the west
gate of your beautiful Capitol Square. the
courage and daring of this command on
that day. In a public building overlook
ing the same square is a presentment of
the youth who persisted there. His name
L am forbidden TO utter to-day in these
exercises as thousands of others equally
brave, equally deserving to be named
here, might challenge the record as incom-
plete since it spoke less than the whole
truth. Bethel was the private soldiers
| fight and victory. In the years of war
which followed this splendid exhibition of
bravery the soldiers of North Carolina
acquitted themselves in noble fashion and
achieved imperishable renown.
Good tempered and calm they were
Observation-Disclosures to those in au-
thority, not given to complaining not ex-
acting of those who were set over them.
They fought WELL meanwhile they were
perfected in all the requirements of the
service
They attained precision of movement.
rapidity in covering ground. capacity to
endure fatigue and an excellence in sus-
tanning long marches which was the adj
miratim of the army
| The greatest accomplishment in sol.
diers next to courage is a high power of
locomotion.
"'When Alexander the Great complain
ed of his illustrious master for having eX-
posed philosophy to the knowledge of the
vulgar, he uttered a sentiment common
to antiquity and in complete unision with
the spirit of his age
1.-The murmuring multitude have during
a hundred years invaded the domain of
exclusive rights Exclusion is doomed.
The people have conquered. Education
which in its complete analysis is the
knowledge of the worlds past, its storied
past, the achievements and resources of
its civilization, it's advances and recess
sions, its toisOme climb is now as COM
| 3,ln fnlxv fhr h;,xth lob . ~ "a
personal security, personal liberty and
private property.
ITO the full and equal participation of
the people of our State in all the rights
and privileges which constitutions and
statues assure to the citizen is due in q
measure the unanimous decision in 1861
to make common cause with the South,
and the heroic determine ton with which
that decision was upheld
when the true and faithful account
of the War is written there will be ac-
corded to the Private Soldier of North
Carolina a full share of every enduring
virtue, great quality, persistent courage
which has distinguished soldiers since
history emerged from fable.
The limitations imposed upon us by
the proprieties of this occasion
will not be overstepped if we
say these soldiers rose to their
highest and most honorable estate per-
haps in the campaign which began in the
tangled forest near the Rapidan in the
early days of May, 1864 The sweet
breath of the wind came up from the de-
serted chambers of the South. The sol
diers by their experience and sound sense
penetrated Through all Disguise all
strategy-they knew the supreme moment
had come-that supreme moment with
all its agony and strain, and blood was
drawn out full three months.-Never was
the peril of an army more constant, never
marched nor fought nor slept nor hunger
ed nor prayed men in arms to whom dis
aster might prove more irreparable. The
private soldiers were conscious of all this
while it was passing.
"Never did the rank and file of an
army hold heavier share i'm the anxieties,
the fearful looking for of their COM
p,an5arr