Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1900-06-06
Memorial Services at Old Chapel

The annual memorial exercises In
honor the Confederate dead sleeping
their last sleep in the Old Chapel
graveyard were held last Saturday
evening. The crowd, although
not as large as on the previous occa-
sions owing to the threatening wealth
er, did not lack the enthusiasm and
spirit of old, and the beautiful floral
tributes indicated that the living still
cherished with marked aud tender
affections the costly sacrifice made
for the Southland by those who sleep
In glory's graves.
The }. h. b. Stuart Camp of Con-
federate Veterans attended the exer-
clses In full uniform. The Opening
prayer was made by Rev. Courtney
Jones, of Wildwood, which was fol
lowed by the singing of hymns and
Southern songs. The roll of Clarke's
dead heroes was read by X. Powell
Page. The orator of the evening.
Rev. Everett Meade, of SpTingman,
Va, was then introduced by Rev.
Mr.. Jones. Rev. Mr. Meade is
graceful, deliberate speaker, and his
remarks received the close attention
of his hearers. aud now aud then
evoked the "Rebel yell' from the
threats Of his fellow comrades. His
speech in full follows:
Comrades. Ladies and Gentlemen. When
first asked to come and talk 70 YOU today
felt must decline But when the thought
/ ID d I a. rIu vel
stand. of the circumstances which would
bring You together. of the faces into which
should look, determined To come and do
my best. feel sure yvu will not expect any
thing new from me for the story of the war
has been told time and again by ADLER pens
than mine. ltls not a great mary years since
i heard IN Berryvillc an address by that
inatcnlesS speaker. senator Daniel 10 the
veterans delivered I'm his own grand style.
In view OF all this ! can only hope 10 cmpha-
SIZE some things You have heard before.
In Eastern story il is related that an army
went TO the frontier of their country To meet
an invading foe and they were beaten back.
In the second battle defeat was theirs The
commander called his chieitains together %
hold a council of war. In answer To- the
question. Where shall we make q last
stand' one said. Let us fall back and take
our stand at the graves at our fathers. for the
men VIII stand tlcTe ana fight there n any
where. We stand to-day at the grave of
our fathers, bu, a. d. not &. Go aouDrtO them
that we come together. We are here tO lnn-
+ or the men VIII. Wei ui-l forty wears ago
Went forth 90 DO battle inr the right. Ne
come 20 strcw hrwers the cm nlcm Of that
which IS beautiful. true and good. % think
over AMI Keep green tuc memory of soldiers
who did battle for home ana hr,sidc Ne
T are near the Old Chapel with it, hallowcf
memories. Harlhy runs q ruac over which
/ passed men horses and guns I'm The dark
days Of N6l-65. W are IN the Valley ~
7 Virginia. land. which. during the war.
/ gave to the world sucn soldiers a. the Ash
4 byS, Ntonewal Jackson. "a land which has
given 20 thc world "a story If quick march
/ ing and victorious battles. the wonder and
/ admiration of the historian and the teacher
/ of military tactics. Iu that grand address Df
/ DR. ii unter MCtiuires on Stoncvan Jackson
/ hc tolls IL that he found I'm Engla. a teach
! or OF military tactics using the VALLEY Tam
/ pmgn of 1852 as text book 10 train English
/ soldiers.
/ might also tell you that one OF the text
/ books for the public schools OF the state
/ dee History of the L. =. page 4ol gives a
/ graphic picture Of thar event in few lines.
! I'm one month with ~. 900 men Jackson had
/ out generated and out-fought three COM
\ mauCers. each 90 whom had an army larger
/ than ms own, he had marched his men 300
/ miles anu had captured not only thousands
/ OF prisoners, but cannon, horses. arms. cloth
/ ing, provisions and wagons worth millions
| of dollars
If a personal allusion Is allowable I will
I tell You that had the honor To belong Ia
/ the >tonewall Brigade. may also tell YOU
| that we thought much of ourselves and we're
proud OF our name. Y story familiar 20 some
/ OF You will bring ont this idea \ few men
! OF the Brigade were standing around "A smoky
lire IN the drilling rain, during on of the
panlcs of the memorable campaign Of the
| spring of 1862 near "A place with a name hard
| 10 pronounce and harder TO spell-we called
| II MCGaNleglSNlllc. The men We're wei au Il
| cold. They were not hungry. for this old
/ Valley always fed them literally. They were
| discouraged, however. one of the crowd NJ
/ tered wish which sounded like a sentence.
| from the lmpreC9tOrV Psalms of David He
! wished that the Yankees were in the bot
| tOmleSS pit Immediately youth spoke up
IA youth whom we called Pat: / don't
! know his other name. He said. Well /
don't, ana when asked why, he replied
Because Old JACK would be within "A mile
ana a-half of the place before tomorrow
morning, and the Stonewal Brigade would
have 10 Oein 'front.' This, 1 say. illustrates
the fact that we thought much Of ourselves.
| Here am reminded Of what the command
er of camp IN Mathews county. Va. said
! 10 me. You he said, are one ofthe mon
| uments, and when asked Monuments ot
| whatg replied: Monuments Of the good
providence Of God and bad Workmanship
| OF the enemy
This same man was very fond of saving
| Which came from one OF the "bOvS who
wore the blue" He was one of those who.
after the war, was always Dragging and
bOaStlng of the hair breadth escapes he had
passed through, of how many Of the enemy
he had killed, and when pressed To know
| exactly h w many scalpS he really had he
said. We'll, l killed just AS many of them
As they did of me- We have all seen some
| who wore the gray whoare like this This
| Is the sort of man whom we suspect never
| smelt powder at all. We think of him As
! having very little patriotism or bravery We
are reminded of the woman in revolutionary
days who, when her husband came home
and told that he had enlisted for the war an d
| that the banner he was 10 serve under bore
| the proud inscription, Liberty or Death So
! said, Liberty or get wounded would suit
| better Such Dragging soldiers we ALWAYS
! suspect would not fight for liberty even AT
! the cost of getting wound.
1t is the proud boast of many of the prom
inent men of this age that they are elfmade
| men; that Is, they had 10 work hard AT the
| beginning of life to get a living or 10 get a
start III the world. This Is true of many of
the men of the South. There is scarcely a
! Confederate veterans who did not have to
take ctf his coat in 1865 and dig and delve
4 for bread
10 show how poor these men were: knew
| a Confederate soldier who, in 1863. on his
| back from ApnNmarfnN 10 LOO