Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1900-05-25
MEMORIAL DAY.


ing afternoon and threatened to
prevent the celebration, ceasing about
o'clock. A large crowd attended the
which, while not so elab-
orate 81 en- some former occasions, We. Q
impressive.
Shortly before 6 o'clock the members
of Lee Camp left their hall at the cor
ner of Prince and Fairfax streets,
and, with the Alexandria Light In
fantry and headed by the Alexandria
Drum Corps, marched up King street
10 Patrick and then down Prince to
the monument. Here two stands had
been erected, one for the speaker and
the other for the choir, led by Mr.. j.
F. Rodgers. The assemblage, including
the Ladies' Auxiliary Societies and the
Children of the Confederacy, gathered
around the speaker'C stand and was
called to order by Commander ]. G..
Milburn, OF Lee Camp. After music BY
the drum corps and the choir, Rev F.
J. Brooke offered a fervent prayer,
which was followed by music by the
choir and drum corps.
Major Otey, OF G. {. A., who now ef-
6ceptly represents the Lynchburg dis
trict in the lower branch of Congress,
the orator Of the day, was then intro
duced and delivered an attractive, elo-
quent and interesting address. His
theme was "The Confederate Soldier"
who, he said, followed the sign of the
cross and whose headquarters were III
heaven. He Landed the Confederate
soldier to the skies and depicted his
vaIor and courage, saying they were
unequaled 10 the annals OF history. DE
dwelt on the high personal character oil
the Confederate soldier who had learn
ed how to obey and knew his cause to
be just. He said that the army OF
Northern Virginia had never been
driven from the field of battle. and the
Confederate army, scarcely 100000 in
number, had maintained q successful
fight for four years against an army oil
over 1000 900 of men. He defended
the Confederates from the allegation
that they had been cruel to prisoners,
By showing that in the northern prisons
twelve out of each hundred died, while
in the southern prisons only eight out
OF each hundred died. They fought
during the war, he said, 2,26l conflicts
of which 52l were fought on the soil Of
Virginia.
He also paid glowing tribute to the
women of the South and told OF the
sacrifices they had made. 10 the
course of his speech he exhorted the
women of the South to cherish the ira
ditous of their race, and to keep alive
for all time the memory OF the COnfed'
crate soldier. Continuing he said:
Make no apologies. Say not that We
fought for what We believed to be right
but that We fought for what we knew
10 be right. Failure to accomplish
principle at a given time is no evidence
OF its wrong. Christianity would have
failed on Calvary had this been true
The sold rebel" fought for inalienable
rights, not slavery. You will be sur
prised when tell you that in the
eleven Confederate States there were
only four slave owners out of every lO(
white people. If the four fought for
slavery, what were the SO fighting for
In my own county q widow lady senl
eight sons to the army, six of whom
we're killed on the field of battle, and
there was not a slave owner in the
family. II the death rate and Losses
are any criterion of courage and stub
born fighting qualities land in modern
times it UNIQUE stionably is) then indeed
the old rebel private of 1865 has no
peer in modern warfare. The greatest
recorded losses at Gettysburg were :
10Th North Carolina regiment, 80 per
cent; 1st Missouri regiment, 81 per
cent. At Antietan or Sharpsburg :
2Otn Texas, 1928 per cent; 18th Mas
sachusetts, 81 per cent. 2nd Manassas:
2lst Georgia, rs per cent; 1Olst New
York, 70 5 per cent. Shiloh 9th Mis-
sssippi, II per cent; 9th Illinois, 1913
per cent. The greatest loss OF the
war was sustained by the 18th North
@ ,rolina. 1t went 10 the first day at
Getty sburg with 800 men, lost 58S kill
ed and wounded, 120 missing. Nearly
all OF these 120 missing were killed or
wounded, as declared afterwards by
surgeon General Guilds report; and
then OH the third day OF that conflict
it went in with Pickett's charge
against Smythe's brigade, Second
corps, and lost all but eighty men.
The greatest regimental losses without
respect to the battle in which they &C.
Cured that l have been able to collate
are as follows, in the order named:
26ih North CaroliDa, 80 per cent. ID
North Carolina battalion, "a per cent ;
lst Texas, 1928 per cent; 1st Mime.
sofa, so per cent. (his last was the
greatest on the Union side) 2lst Geor-
gia, 76 per cent; 141st Pennsylvania,
1877 per cent; 10lst New York, 1873
per cent. 9th Mississippi, II per cent.
The killed and died OF wounds: Fed
eral, 1864; Confederate, $1,000.
Killed outright: Federal, "a, 524; Con-
iederate, 53,773. Out of every 8 rebels
enlisted one was wounded or killed +,
viz. 1874 900 10 all. The federas enlist
ed 1858, 062; Confederate (aboul)
100000. difference against US, 2,053,.
062. We have paid in pensions ~, 6OO,-
OOO, 900, almost the high water mark
Of our national debt, 49,, 100000 of
which went to pension agents, doctors
and salaries. All the males between
the age of Is and 45 in the Confeder-
ate States did not equal half the federt ]
enlistment. Thus oy the ceDsus If
1860: Between the ages OF Is and As
10 the % northern States, 4 1900, 900;
southern States, 1,064 900. Thus they
had to to draw from notwithstand-
ing which the southern and bord r
States furnished the northern army,
100000 men. Now compare mortality
with some modern wars: Frsnco-Prus-
sian war, 3 in every 100 killed aid
died of wound; Auatro-Prussian wsr,
2.6 in every 100 killed and die0