The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-23
THE WILMINGTON MESSENGER TUEsDAl

nearly TGSulISu IN the ullcE lSEuptio
and humiliation of army
Then followed the advance into Mary
LAND and Pennsylvania, the disaster at
Gettysburg and the retreat into Vir-
ginia-
GRAND IN DEFEAT.
The year 81 saw Grant in command
of the Army of the Potomac and wit
messed the bloody battles OF the Will
derness, Spottsylvania and Cold Har-
Dor, in which Grants losses reached
the enormous total of $4,000 men-nore
than the whole army under Lee at the
beginning of the campaign. Then came
the passage Of Grants army across the
James, the investment OF Petersburg
and the obstinate and beroic defense
of its lines by that thin line of grey
But the inevitable was now near. Day
by day that hin line grew thinner and
thinner as Grant move farther and
farther in his thanking movements to
his left. The supply of the men OF the
south a .esn exhausted; that body
of incompa.aS infantry in grey, men
thin and lean from hunger n exhauS-
ton, had been worn away by death and
disease until towards the end the men
stood eight feet apart in the trenches.
But even in its last moments that worn
ARM was yet to give the enemy an
other exhibition of its dauntless dash
and courage in that memorable move
ment of March %, 1866, when Gordon
swept owe the line in front of him.,
piercing Grants center and capturing
Fort Steadman- But, alas, his skill
full movement, so we'll planned and cal
culated, and so brilliantly ~inaugurated
by Gordon, like many others, failed be-
cause the supports wt-.ch r. - or
dered up failed to come at the ap-
pointed TIME. Soon after came Five
Forks, where Pickett was overwhelmed
by Sheridan, and then the retreat from
Petersburg and the end at AppomatoX.
"Of the closing scenes at Appomatox
a distinguished Englishman wrote
these burning words:
There stood the mournful rem
nants of that one glorious army tina
had dipped it's c%onquering banners in
the tide of eight n twenty s%anguinary
battles n strewn it's heroic slain from
the feet of the Pennsylvania noun
tainS to the gates of its own capital
city; that had given Manassas to Beau
regard and twined the fame of the
Seven Pines battle in the laurel wreath
of Johnston; that had caused the wat
erS of the Shenandoah eternally to
murmur the fame of Stonewall Jack
son, and stretching out it's right arm
to the distant west had planted vic
tory on the dropping banners of Bragg;
that had witnessed -four gigantic CAM
pblSLo ClIo lilouSh LII lIltlI IlllllS
and tragic scenes and under all diff
cultieS and trials and dangers had re-
manned stedfast and faithful to the
last, and after having witnessed the
rising of the southern constellation as
it doomed VI brightly on the horizon
of war, pursuing to it's splendid zenith
the fiery path of Mars, now beheld, not
unmoved, its declining splendor going
down in the gloom of eternal night.
And, he, it's illustrious chief, whose lof-
ty plume was ever its rallying point in
battle and aroun whom it's affections
warmly clustered, now commended it
for it's past devotion and babe it adieu
forever. Slowly and sadly he rode
from that memorable field, for his
strong sword hung shattered from his
side and the cause that he fought for
was beneath the foot of power. Few
Were the eyes that grew not moist on
witnessing hat departure. 1t was the
agony of a great cause finding express
sion in the sublime soul of it's great
defender. And though that cause be
dead, yet will it's memoir continue to
live INC eve honored will be those il
lustrious names hat sacrificed at It's
affairs. And by the scroll Of fame no
name among the list of eminent wor-
thieS will shine with a purer, serener
or more respondent light than that Of
Robert Edward Lee. His fame is mon
'umental. His name will be placed
alongside those of the great captains
of Observation-Disclosures and Sake, Til
ley and Eugene-and as long as the
fame of the southern struggle shall
linger in tradition and o will his
memOry be cherished by the descend
ants of the southern race, while his
character will stand up in the twilight
history like some grand old cathedral
lifting itself in imperialiStic beauty
I~-~ A.. $50 6 -nI -
its vast proportions, awful in its sol
emn statliness, sublime in its severe
simplicity
1.-The Army of Northern Virginia was
never broken in defeat. 1t met with no
Leipsic or Waterloo or Sedan. Eve
after the bloody repulse of Pickett on
July 8, 1868, at Cemetery Ridge, it only
drew back grim, sullen and defiant,
like a wounded lion ready to spring
with blazing wrath upon it's pursuer,
and Meade dared not attack it. 1t, with
it's beloved captain, has passed into
history. Some lessons of warfare it
taught to the nations of the earth.
Armed mob as it was called-;t may
have been. but still it enforced respect
at the point of it's bayonets n sent
the name of the American volunteer
ringing down the pages of history as
a synonym of all that is patient under
adversely, enduring of hunger and
hardship. swift in e~fense, stubborn in
defense and in every j%uncture a Won
derful soldier.
"And yet there are some who read
n profit not.
STAR OF LEE STILL SHINING.
Thirty years and more of quiet and
peace had passed, and the emo Of
the men of 1876 had grown dim in
the mind of Continental Europe. "A
nation of Shopkeepers' we were called,
u only aim the pursuit of the al
mighty dollar, with no national pride,
no sense of national honor. And so
came the war with Spain. And Spain
| spat at us and sneered at our soldiers
and sailors as rif-raff, the o~ffscourings
of nations, weaklings, towards, even
pigs, and the Continent smiled in SYM
pathy. But then came in quick success
sion Manila, the destruction of Ger
vera's feet, the capture of Santiago,
the rapid o~ver-running of Porto Rico,
and the sheer was stilled and the smile
faded away, as the nation, glorious and
| Respondent in her strength, strobe for
ward unchallenged to claim her right
to a place among the greatest powers