The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1899-04-19

and preserve it among your most
valued mtmtntos.
In the natural order Of events your
ranks will grow thinner as the years
roll by, one by one you will pass e
the river and rest under the shade Of
the trees
"The leaves of the oak and the willow shall
tade,
Re scattelei around and together be laid.
Aud the you lg aud the old and the low and
the high
Shall moulder to dust and together shalllie;
lis tie wlrk Of eye, It's the draught OF a
breath
From the blossom of health to the p.leness
Lf death.
The time will come when Camp
Steadman will have it's last survivor,
when u only shall be left-"a single
rose left on the stalk to show where
the garden had BEEN" While your
roll contains the name Ct one surviv-
ing veteran; while one comrade lives
with silvered head and tottering
steps and trembling hands to hold
aloft this lovely gift Of gentle
woman's hands this fig shall be
yours.
And now, honored sir, in behalf Of
the generous and kind hearted donors,
with their earnest and heartfelt
prayer that each survivor of your
camp may have added blessings with
added years, that they may all live to
gather together beneath its folds at
many happy reunions, I place this
beautiful banner in you hands as
sured that you will convey it in
proper terms to your gallant COM
rades.
The following is but an imperfect
synopsis of the beautifully conceived
deeply pathetic and elcquently de-
livered address of
MAI. H. A MEETZE:
He briefly referred to the gallant
deeds and brilliant services of Col.
J. NJ. Steadman, the person in whose
honor the Camp was named. He
glowingly recounted the stirring
scenes through which. he led his
regiment, and then told how, after
escaping the dangers and ~privations
of bloody war, he returned to his
desolate and ruined home with broken
fortunes and with the hopelessness Of
encouragement to retrieve his for
tunes only to be shot down on the
threshold of his home by negro des-
peradoes.
Col. Steaiman was a graduate of
the Citadel Academy, and was among
the first to raise a company in this
county, which was known as sharp
! shooters. He first enlisted for twelve
months and was assigned to duty in
Col. Bratton's regiment. In 1861 he
vas made Major and at the re organ
ization he was elected Colonel,-Col.
Bratton having been promoted to
the rank of General.
He then referred to the love, de-
votion and patriotism of the women
of our lovely Southland to the cause
in which their fathers, brothers and
sweethearts were engaged in battle
to uphold and perpetuate. Had it
not been for the sympathy and en-
couragement of women the war
would have ended long before it did;
but like the Spartan mothers, the
Southern matrons placed the sword
and musket in the hands of their
sons and consecrating their young
lives to their Country, babe them to
dare and do for their homes and free
| dom with a heroism born in heaven,
and the young Southern girls ordered
their lovers to the front with an epthu-
siasm that brooked no delay. But the
marvellous patriotism of the South
ern women did not stop here. With
self sacrificing devotion to the cause
they espoused and which was sancti-
fed and made holy bya baptism OF
the blood of their loved ones, they
cheered, encourageda and inspired their
men to deeds of valor and bravery
that astounded and amazed the civil
lized world. She was found in the
hospitals mi~nistering to the wants of
the sick, applying lotions and band
ages to the wounded, and receiving
the last tender messages to loved
ones and closing the eyes in that
long sleep after the soul had winged
its everlasting fight to the eternal
city. She was at railroads serving
hot coffee and daily refreshments to
tired and weary, the hungry and half
starved, and tattered and ragged
Confederate soldiers as they passed
hither and thither in response to or
ders. In the quiet home sitting in
sorrow ~unspeakable as her thoughts
turned to her loved ones in the valleys