The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-06-30

ttHVIlf SChtTcu SharLt"bis "N"
in His Fare well Address to HIS CcmrSdes
o. the Upitsd Confederate Veterans.
The following is the farewell ad.
dress of Gen. John B Gordon, dellv-
cred Wednesday morning, on the oc-
casion of his voluntary retirement ss
Commander in Chief of the United
Confederate Veterans, at the grand
reunion ia Nashville. Tenn:
Mr.. President and Comrades: Per
nit me with few words to return the
commission with which you have
honored me for eight years and by
unanimous vote. Within the next
few hours you will elect my successor.
When this duty is performed by you
l shall gladly take my place by those
uatitlel heroes who so grandly bore
the battles brunt in the stern work OF
war. Such a step voluntarily taken
ought not to be considered a strange
condescension by any man. To me 1t
is a privilege 1t was as a private
that 1 enlisted as a soldier on the first
indication of approaching wars. 1t is
true that the partially of my com,
rades, which has folio wed me from that
hour to this, did not permit me to
serve in that honorable and sell. sacrl-
fcing position. But, Mr.. President,
through all the vicissltudes of war,
amidst its lights and its shadows, its
glories and its gloom, l never lost
sight for one hour OF my ooligatlons to
the private soldiers. From first to
last, in all those years Of alternate
victory and defeat, of hope and de-
spair, my heart was ever paying Its
spontaneous tributes to the matchless
fortitude of that intrepid band, who,
shoeless, half clad and hungry, march
ed on foot, suffered on picket and
bravely defed the battles carnage
and from the beginning to the end Of
that struggle without one murmur OF
discomfort. Sir, If I had the powers
I would erect to the private soldier the
most splendid memorial that graft
tude could suggest, genious could
plan or money build. but l am too
poor for that. Or if l possessed the
needed gift of speech, 1 would leave
upon record a tribute worthy of them,
and such as my own convictions and
emotions prompt; out my words are
too feeble for that. There is n
thing, however, which l can do. |
can Jay at their feet the commissions
which'they won for me in war and the
honors with which they have crown
ed my life in peace. l can promptly,
as I shall proudly, take my place III
their now thinned and rapidly dissolv.
ing ranks.
"'Mr. President, in these closing
hours of my long service as com
manding general I must ask the con
vention's indulgence fora brief review
of that official relation and possibly
for some suggestions as to the future.
"On the 10th day of June, 1889, eight
years ago, while serving as Governor
of my native State, 1 received from
New Orleans the wholly unexpected
announcement of my election as
commandments of the newly or
gained United Confederate Veterans.
This new communion OF eX soldiers
began it's somewhat unpromising
career with the modest number of but
ten organiz atoms, united for peaceful
and noble ends. To day it presents
the proud array of more than a thou
sand camps answering the roll call
and rejecting merited honors upon
the different commanders and espec
tally upon our able adiutant general.
In the next few hours l shall turn
over to my successor this army Of
more than a thousand organizations
rapidly advancing toward the second
thousand.
II said, Mr.. President, that I would
turn over an army. 1t is an army Of
ex soldiers, of ex Confederate soldiers
of ex-fghting Confederate soldiers,
at whose proves and endurance en-
lightened Christendom stood in breath
less amusement. 1t is an army still,
Mr.. President, but an army for the
bloody work of war no longer. Its
banners no longer bear the flaming in.
sigma of battle. lis weapons no longer
flash defiance to the foe nor deal death
to opposing ranks. Its weapons are
now the pen without malice, the
tongue without %aspersion and history
without misre prese lta!ion. It's aims
are peaceful, philanthropic and
broadly patriotic. Its sentiment is
lofty, generous and Just. Its mission
is to relieve the suffering of the liv
ing, cherish the memory of the dead
and to shield from reproach the fair
name of all. This now mighty or,
ganization, while insisting upon com
plete historical justice to the South,
will scorn to do less than complete
Justice to the North. Proud of the
South's chivalry in defending the
rights of the States, they honor the
heroism of the North in defending the
perpetuity of the Union. Having
committed the South's cause to the al
bitrameut of battle, they Loyalty and
manfully stand by that tribunals yer
dict. Fighting and suffering for
their homes and rights as men have
rarely fought and suffered in the
worlds history; exhibiting on a
hundred fields and in a thousand
emergencies a heroism excelled;
yielding from utter exhaustion and
only when their PROSTATE section VAS
bleeding at.every pore failing after the
most desperate defensive struggle Ia
human annals to establish their cher,
ished Corfederscy, these high souled
sons of the South offer this record of
devotion as the noblest pledge OF their
fealty to freedom and of their reaGi-
ness to defend the republic of the
fathers.