The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-12

Lili tue scene was one OF the widest
nat has ever marked a reunion.
Proceeding, Gen. Gordon described
(, Mheeier as one of the widest wizards
J 81 the Confederacy," ana then repeated
ene apochryphal story of the famous little
cavairvman when at Santiago he ex-
canned as the Spanish lines broke, For
ward toys. the Yankees are running"
9"u again the applause broke out
Gen. WheeIer's Speech.
The audience rose as Gen. Wheeler
stepped forward, apparently much affect
ca He wore a black Prince Albert suit
win badges on each lapel of his coat.
one was yellow by chance, and the other
was red He spoke deliberately, calmly
ana clearly, the audience giving him close
attention His reference TO the general
sorrow caused by the death of Winnie
1 WIS ahected many to tears. Gen
| Inc history of our country. when COM
| pared with that of all the eras that have
preceded US, shows that our civilization
mas produced the highest class of men
ana the noblest type of soldiers The
very ldea of liberty nerved the soul and
nlcs the heart. Defeat but exasperates
| audlhg desperation to vigor and energy
10 determined resolve
1t was the teaching of fathers and moth
| ers VINO fled from the oppression of caste
and class, braved the unfathomed ocean
ana landed upon these shores. confronted
by wild beasts and savage Indians that
the highest honor and greatest privileges
was to fight for country, its safety and
its honor
If the people of the North excel in
some qualities, it is also true that those
OF the South excel in others. 1t has been
said that tenacity of purpose, thrift and
| perseverance predominated in the North
ern character. This may probably be so,
| but 1t is also true that other character
dstcs are more noticeable among the
people of the South"
sOuth's Military Prominence.
Gen. Wheeler declared that the mill
tary history of the Southern people has
been a prominent feature in history from
| the first settlement of this country He
| cited Washington and the other South
ern commanders of the revolution Win
field Scott and Andrew jackson and the
other heroes of the war with Mexico,
and then passing to the war between the
states, he said:
1.-THE battle-scarred veterans, who dur
ing four years of bloody warfare, dazzled
the world with the splendor of their he
| roism are fast passing away. The few
| who remain gather annually to renew the
friendship which formed among such
! scenes is the warmest and most endur-
ing. No greater heroes were in the legions
led by Alexander, Hannibal Charlie
magne or Napoleon. for your achieve
ments excelled all theirs.
TN the greatest battles of the civil
war you contended with men of endur-
ance, fortitude and courage, men with
the same blrthrigf1t of freedom, imbued
With the same spirit of liberty men who
were as conscientiously contending for
what they deemed the right of the federal
government, as you for what you just
as firmly held to be your rights.
No Personal bitterness.
while our civil war, I may truthfully
assert, was the most sanguinary recorded
in history, it was also the most remark
able, as in it there was no element Of
personal hostility, and the soldiers as In
dividuals, could not, in the nature of
things, have entertained feelings of hatred
for each other. They fought not from
revenge nor from malice. not from de-
sire to shed blood, not from ambition,
but simply because they felt that there
lay path of duty.
1T was war fought to settle questions
that for more than half a century had been
| matters of the most earnest and l might
! say, bitter contentious increasing in inten-
| sity until an appeal TO the God of battles
was rendered inevitable so that no arbi-
| trament save that of the sword was posi-
bic. When the South yielded, it was to
numbers, baltalions. artillery, to the I'M
limited resources of the federal govern
ment
THE armies of the South laid down their
arms. but not one iota of their belief in the
truth and justice OF their cause did they
| surrender With energy and determination
i they met the new problems confronting
them.
"Above the carnage above the wall of
WIDOWS and the cry of orphans, above the
desolated homes, above the fields of over
grown with new forests, there arose a new
civilization and a new union, one niche in
whose temple holds figure whose name
shall be honored throughout the ages
Lee. whose matchless skill, whose SOL
| derry spirit, whose wonderful endurance
was only equalled by the grandeur of soul
which accepting the fiat of war, lived out
| 10 its full close, the noblest life recorded
in all history for the admiration Of pos
terity.
LAS between the soldiers on either side
there was no real enmity. Mutual admira-
ton for each others prowess is the senti-
ment of all brave men, and with admira-
ton respect naturally increases.
They stand Together Now.
1.-THE lifetime of a generation has soft
ened the memories of that conflict, and
! side by side, both North and South have
stood together in battle against foreign
| foa.
1--WE meet here to cherish and intensity
the memory Of the great struggle in which
YOU were actors Your devotion to duty
| your courage in battle and your unmur-
nuring endurance, was your heritage from
| your ancestors"
| Gen. Wheeler touched upon the question
of expansion by declaring that Southern
soldiers ard Southern statesmen had even
taken a prominent part in all movements
| looking to the enlargement of our terri
| tar-.
History for all time" he said, will
| record that 1t was under Southern Presl-
dents that we have wrested from the wild
Indians the greater part of the 800, 3SS
square miles which lay between our thin
| lines of settlement on the ocean and the
| mississippi river; and under Southern
Presidents that we have added to this do