The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-01-26

and thirty-four men out of thirty-eight
The next day Captain Bird went into the
fight with the four remaining men; of
these the color bearer was shot, but
Captain Bird brought out his flag with
his own hand"
1t may be added with justice, that
company of the Twenty-Sixth North
Carolina regiment, from Chatham, lost
all but one of eighty-Seven men. This
is but to show what percentage means,
when applied to Confederate valor, for
how can any man discriminate in the
presence of representatives, of a roll of
commands, of every branch of the SER
vice that have no parallel except that
of Thermopylae?
Lafferty, of Virginia, says: Edward
Beecher, of Elmira, was wise and true
in t. Hing the listening throng at Gettys-
burg that the victory proved only that
the Federal position on the ridge was SUI
peror for rif1emen and artillerists to the
meadows below-Only that and nothing
more. And he was prophet in predict
ing that the Emancipation Proclamation
was curse to the country, for it de-
stroycd a system of discipline in indus
an inferior race without parallel.
America was the victim of a social
fanatic;sm. 4 million of choice citizens
were disabled in a civil war in order
to dcmolsh the best schoyol for blacks
ever organized and conducted.
There is a winged insect, the African
tsetse fly. whose bite sets animals
crazy. This African dreaded pest had
its hatchery in these 'glittering generali-
ties of the Declaration Of Independence
that all men are created free and
equal 1t inhamed the forum, the press.
the pulpit, the people. A million of
victims. the best and bravest butchered.
Billions wrung from labor to pay
the crippleS. The accumulatiOns of two
centur' es in the Southern States destroy
cd What for? To kill the headmasters
of the training schools for blacks.
Men go mad in herds, but come back
to their senses one by one At the
North there is a single file as long as,
and longer than the eye can reach, re-
turning home, "clothed in their right
minds"
There is a nobleness in man. It may
be so deadened that a hot charge from
a Leyden-jar barely Quickens it. Yet it
responds, when the dynamo of a deed
that welcomes death rather than treason
to duty sends its thrilling appeal to
the GOd-like spirit. Turk takes off his
Turban, Christian uncOyers, careless
tourist throbs with emotion, when the
foot touches the stony glen and the
eye beholds the gorge glorious forever,
where Leonidas and the three hundred,
in sight of the swarming Persians, calm
ly combed their long hair, as for 4
festival of a god, and then sanctiied
Thermopylae as the high altar of pa
triotism by warriors death, each Spar
tan ringed around by sheaves of the
slain.
| have read of the Paladins of Rich
lanxes of Macedon, the Legions of Gaul,
the Grenadiers of Frederick the Great,
the Squares Of Wellington, the sold
Guard" of Napoleon-but / will tell you
my brothers, the Confederate soldier,
with his old SLOUGH hat, his bright bayo-
net, his half-starved form, it may be
in tattered, faded coat of gray, and shoe
less feet, stands the supreme military
figure of the ages. 20 a-t-..... --.-
The supreme hour had come. The
army Of Northern Virginia, of twenty
six thousand men, with only seven
thousand eight hundred men with mus
Eets in their hands, surrounded by
the massive lines of Grant 100000
strong is about to surrender. The
brightest orb that ever traversed fame's
burning elliptic is about to disappear
from the sight of men forever, but like
the orb of day, as it sinks beneath the
western wave, it is to leave a light
behind that is to irradiate the earth.
There stood the starving, shattered
remnant of the army of Northern Vir-
ginia, whose conquering banners had
waved in triumph over eight and twenty
sanguinary fields of battle; that had
wrestled with death and won victory,
and suffered defeat through four gigantic
campaigns, and strewed its heroic dead
from the crest of Cemetery Heights to
the gates of Virginia's capital city.
That army, my brothers, had
eternized the name of Beauregard with
First Manassas, and adorned the brow
of Joe Johnson with the splendid wreath
of Seven Pines, carved the name Of
Jackson upon the granite foundations IF
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