The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1899-05-19
ONE LONG OVATION.
Gen. Gordon's Address at the
Reunion of Confederate
Veterans at Charles
ton, SC, the 10th

Governor. Gentlemen Of the Com.
mlttee, My Fellow Countrymen OF
South Carolina-The food of emo.
lions which stlrs the sensibilities Of
these veterans to day Is their loving
answer to your gracious greeting.
These emotions will speak to you in
language far more impressive and
eloquent than any words that could
utter. The ringing shouts from these
thousands of Confederate threats are
veritable echoes of the inspiring reso.
lutions of welcome unanimously
adopted by your General Assembly.
While those resolutions have cheered
and thrilled every Southern soldiers
heart, they were DOT needed to tell us
OF the reception that awaited us In
South Carolina. Her whole history
and that of her commercial capital
were the promise and guarantee of
this magnificent reality. For more
than 400 years made memorable by
heroic struggles In war and brilliant
achievements In peace, the name Of
South Carolina and of Charleston
have been synonyms Of hospitality, Of
chivalry and OF valor.
What else could be expected Of a
people In whose veins are com
mingled the blood Of the proud English
Cavaliersl The blood of those devot.
ed and resolute men who protested
against the immoralities and grinding
exactions Of the Stuarts; the blood Of
the stalwart Dissenters and OF the
heroic Highlanders of Scotland and Of
the sturdy democratic Presbyterians
OF Ireland; the blood Of those defend
ers of freedom who came to your
shores from the mountain battlements
OF Switzerland, and lastly, but not
less pure and sacred, the blood Of the
high.souled Huguenots of France,
whose martyrs, by a glorious fidelity,
even unto death, have made sweeter
aud richer the record OF human devos
ton to conscience and liberty.
mo resolutions, repeat, by which
this great Commonwealth extends Its
loving welcome were needed to assure
the remnants ofthe South's immortal
armies that the freedom of the State
was theirs, and that every heart within
her borders was a soldiers shrine
We had but to remember that South
Carolina was the nursery Of heroes, as
we'll as OF statesmen and Of patriots
that no one State, except that she be
endowed with an almost boundless
affiuence of greatness. could In one
century have given to the cause Of
liberty and the republic such a splen-
did galaxy as South Carolina presents
in her Rutledge, her Sumter, her
Moultrie, her Middleton. aud her Ma
rion; in her Butler, her Pinckney and
her Pickens; In her McDufie and her
Calhoun; In her Hamilton, her Hayne
and her beloved Hampton.
eff we turn from this incomplete
array OF her noble sons to the contem-
plation of the scars upon her bosom,
received in her battles for American
freedom at cowpens, at Camden and
Charleston; at Eutaw Springs, Fort
Moultrie and Kings Mountain, while
her Swamp Fox with his ragged
brigade, roasted their rations OF sweet
potatoes In her forests at night and
by their sudden sallies, now from the
mountains and now from the marshes,
amazed and bewildered the British
invaders; II we add 10 this survey OF
her past the record OF her princely
liberality In the donation of her soil
to the general government, we shall
gain a still better conception Of the
lofty characteristics and unchallenged
patriotism OF her people.
ITO me, personally, whose associa
lions with South CaTolinians through
the civil war and the still more gall,
ing period of reconstruction and re-
habitation, gave clearer insight Into
their motives and future aims, 1t Is a
proud privilege vouchSsafed to me
today to stand in your presence as the
representative OF these battle-bruised
veterans and tell this people how
fully we recognize their worth and
how fully we acknowledge our In
debtedness tc them.
at should esteem It a still higher
honor to stand here today as the herald
Of both the host and guests In pro-
claiming a message Of good will to all
our countrymen and to send the fra
ternal greeting Of this people Of all
Confederates, and of their children
to OF all patriots or ell sections;
to unite with our American broth
rem OF every State In ascribing to
the guiding hand of God the un~
paralleled victories Of American arms
in the late war. on land and sea; and
lastly, by the memory of the feathers,
whose spirits live In their sons, to
pledge the South unfailing support
to every worthy cause for strengthen
ing the bonds Of American unity and
thus aceelerating the onward march