The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-08-02
Bob Taylor's Tribute
TO THE
South and It's Soldiers.

4 ne lOlioWinS auuresS was uellV-
cred by former Governor Robert
L. Taylor at the ANIMAL reunion OF
Hiram Bradford Bivouac, held near
Brownsville, Wednesday, July "a,
, 1901:
Ladies and Gentlemen Time
in his tireless fight has brought as
again to the full leaf and flower of
another summer. The grass grows
green above the dust of heroes, the
roses Irvine once more about their
tombs, and the morning glories point
their purple bugles towards the SIX Y
as if TO sound reveille to our ina
mortal dead. Another year with
it's sunshine and its shadows, It's
laughter and it's tears, is sowing and
reaping its cradle songs and funeral
hymns, now lies between us and
that dark day at Appomattox, when
the star of Southern hope went
down and the flag of Southern chiv-
airy was furled forever. Another
! wear has added whittier locks To the
temple of those old veterans who
wore the gray and deeper burrows
to their brow, and now they stand
among us like solitary oaks in the
midst of a fallen forest, hoary with
age, covered with scars and glorious
az the living monument Of Southern
manhood and Southern courage
but we are-not yet far enough
away from that awful struggle to
forget the bloody hills Of Shiloh,
where Albert Sydney johnson died,
and the fatal field of Chancellors-
Vile, where Stonewall Jackson fell.
We are not yet far enough away to
forget the frowning heights Of Get
tysburg, where Pickett's charging
lines rushed to glory and the grave.
We are not yet to far away 10 for
get Murfreesboro, and Missionary
Ridge and Chickamauga and hun
dred other fields of death and car,
| page, where the flower of the South,
the bravest of the brave and the
truest of the true, fought for the
cause they thought was right and
died for the land they loved. We
are not yet far enough away to for
get the agony and the tears of a ma
ton that was crushed when the
shattered armies of Lee and Johnson
worn and weary, half-starved and
barefooted and in rags, stacked their
arms in the gloom of defeat and left
the field of valOr, overwhelmed and
overpow cred and yet undaunted and
unconquered. When time has meas
ured off a thousand years the world
will not forget the suffering and the
sacrinces of the brave men who so
freely gave their fortunes and shed
their blood to preserve the most
brilliant civilization that ever flour
ished in any lan' or in any age, for
literature loves a lost cause
"His,orians will some day sit
down on our battlefields and write
true history; history which will
read like the widest dreams of fan
cy that were ever woven into fic tion,
and poets will linger among our
graves and sing sweeter songs than
were ever sung before, for each
monument is a volume within itself
of wild and thrilling adventure, and
every tombstone touching as the
soldiers last tear on the white bos-
ON of his manhood's bride, tender
as his last farewell.
81 would not utter word of bit
terness against the men who wore
the blue. They fought and died
under the old flag to perpetuate the
Union and they were foremen wor'
thy of Southern prowess and South
ern valor, l would not, if l could,
rob Grant, the great and noble
chieftain, of his fame and glory.
Every Southern soldier ought to
stand with uncovered head hen his
name is spoken, for when all was
lost in the darkest and saddest mo-
ment of Southern history, he was
magnanimous. to Lee and kind to
his tattered and famished army.
"Along the blue lines of trium
plant foe, when the unhappy con
federates marched between them
and LAID down their guns, there was
no shout of victory, no flourish OF
trumpets, but only silence and tears.
"When that conflict had ended
the Confederate soldier proudly
stood among the blackened walls Of
his ruined country-magnificent IL
the gloom OF defeat and still hero
His sword was broken, his home
was in ashes, the earth was red be
meath him, the sky was black above
him. He had placed all in the scale
of war and lost all save honor, bu
, he did not sit down in despair t.
weep away the passing years. Hi
slaves were gone, but he was still
master. loo proud to pine, tot
strong to yield to adversely, h
threw down his musket and laid hi
/ willing but unskilled hand upon tn
waiting pillow. He put away tn
knapsack of war and turned his fac
toward the morning of peace. IL
abandoned the rebel yell to ente
the forum and the court room AM
the hustings. He gave up the swor'
to enter the battle of industry ant
commerce. And now, in littl
more than third of century, tn
: land of desolation and death, tn
/ land of monuments and memories
Y has reached the springtime OF