The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-10-12
UNDAUNTED BY DEFEAT.
Confederate Veterans Win Victories in
Peace.
News and Courier.
Peace.

| We laid on the hard ground side by
side. When we buried our lost and
loved comrade we stood by his bier
together. Is it not gratifying to each
Of us to meet the comrade with whom
we shared these dangers and these
trials?
At the recent Atlanta reunion / met
comrade who had saved my life at
Nashville. In the most critical period
Of the battle, when the Confederates
were being driven from the field, Capt.
Dent, commander Of the famous Ala
bapla battery, saved me from certain
capture and most probably death by
taking me up behind him on his horse
and carrying me until I could get my
own horse. Was I not glad to hug
him, as I did? Was it not worth
going to Atlanta only to meet him?
I had not seen him since that day at
| Nashville. At the Nashville reunion
I met several comrades with whom I
had fought for four long years, aud
whom I had not seen since the war.
Thousands Of such meetings hallow
these reunions. I can only give in
part my personal experiences to show
what these reunions are to all the
thousands of comrades who gather at
them.
Does it not go deep into our hearts
to clasp the hand Of such comrades?
Is not the lesson to the young who
witnesses such meetings Of incalcula-
BILE benefit? Does it not show to
them the highest and the noblest
feelings of true mems hearts? Only
when our last day comes will our
strong desire for such meetings be
quieted. Even then we will have
the hope Of reunion with the thou
sands Of Confederate comrades who
have gone before US, and who we are
sure will meet us with outstretched
arms on the further shore.
Have we not great achievements
and glorious deeds to be proud Of?
We do not, in speaking Of them, mean
to be, nor are we, vainglorious. We
do not mean to refer to our humble
share Of these glories. Remember
that each Confederate had but the one
six hundredth part Of all the glory
won by the armies of the Confederacy;
therefore, the part We each contribu-
ted is so small that We cannot be ac-
cused Of any self-congratulation when
we glorify Confederate deeds. We
speak, moreover, not for ourselves,
but for our comrades, the great ma
jority Of whom are now gone. We ex-
tol their glory and their heroism.
The pages Of history are brilliant
with the achievements Of the Confed-
crate armies. Often these battles
were fought against overwhelming
odds. But usually Confederate STRAIT
egy was the same as that Of the i'm
mortal Forest: "To git there first
with the morest men,"
When we went into the war the
average Southerner was convinced
that he could lick at least three or
four or even more Yankees. Facts
show that it required more than four
times our strength to eventually crush
us. They would not have done it
then but for the einhuman policy which
held prisoners, and the United States
Government would not exchange them.
This policy Of our enemy. and all the
suffering it caused to both Confeder-
ate and Union prisoners, was the
deliberate plotting of an enemy, who
knew that it was necessary for their
success. They held at che close Of
the war about 175,OOO Confederate
prisoners, and if they had been re-
turned and our armies recruited with
these men, do you think we ever could
have had an Appomattox?
The odds in numbers, as we'll as
everything else, was against us. You
remember the story of gallant Con-
federate, who, with the rest of Bragg s
army, was posted on the heights of
Missionary Ridge. He saw the army
under Grant debouch from the works
around Chattanooga, and spread out
over the open plain. The whole face
Of the earth seemed to be covered
with blue coats. He exclaimed he
was willing to fight Yankees man for
man, or one to two, or even one to
three. But when he heard, he said,
old Grant call out: Attention, world
by nations right and left wheel' he
felt that the Confederates were per-
fectly excusable in leaving Missionary
RIDGE. Often we had to meet such