Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-03-07

| lwhat an ex-Confedsrste said after read
Ing an account OF the debste In Congress OF
Mr.. Rixey's proposition TO admit ex-Confed
crates TO tho Federal soldiers homes.l
My record is such that should some
what hesitate to go
And seek admission to the home fcl
Federals, for you know
l chanced to he with Johnston when Nc
Dowell made play
To rid the earth of Beauregard, and &C
We marched that way.
Twas At Manassas Junction, which ths
Federalscsll Bull Run.
And In the stirring summer time OF
Eighteen Sixty One.
The Government officials and society
turned out
From Washington to see as run In ig.
nominious rout.
They found us without searching, and
before the day was done
That gay assemblage burnt the wiad In
flight to Washington.
Oil there was wild confusion, and that
thoroughfare of old
Was strewr for miles with fans, silk
hats and epauiets Of gold.
Three thousand killed and wounded were
the only ones who stayed,
And so I'm embarrassed by the record
that we made.
And then was at Seven Pines and Of
Mechanicsville;
At Gaines Mil and Frazier's Farm and
bloody Malvern Hill.
For seven days the battle ragged, and
when it's wrath was DER
Abe Lincoln said he needed just three
hundred thousand more.
But scarcely had we rested, when, again
at old Bull Run,
We hurled Pope's shattered columns In
defeat to Washington.
He tried to drive wedge of steel 'twIxt
Lee and Jankson's corps,
Then Lincoln found he needed lust six
hundred thousand more
To quell the rebel rising in the fierce
secession States;
And then he had no surplus men, as his-
tory relates.
And later on at Fredericksburg. with
Burnside In command,
They rashly stormed the flaming heights
where we had made a stand.
Twelve thousand dead and wounded was
the penalty they paid
And I'm somewhat embarrassed By the
record that we made.
And then, as luck would have II, I was
~, with the daring tbronx
That bayed Joe Hooker's army, trench
ed, hundred thousand strong.
We had one-third his number, but that
maitered not, for we
Were led by grim old Stonewali, and the
great commander, he
Who, in soft slouched hat of brown and
faded cape Of gray,
Was worth full fifty thousand men on
any battle dsyI
When Jackson gave the order, his i'm.
mortal veteran corps
Shot by and fanked the enemy BY
fifteen miles or more,
And burst upon his right and rear, in
their historic way,
While Lee with fourteen thousand kept
the battle front that day.
We scattered them like chat. althourh
outnumbered three to one
They faded from our vision like mist be-
fore the sun.
We didn't leave enough to make de-
cent dress parade;
And, therefore, I'm embarrassed by the
record that we made.
And then j had some trouble In the
spring of sixty-Four,
When Grant appeared upon tho scene
and pushed his forces Ger
The Rapidan toward Richmond. And
the Journey, would state,
Consumed eleven months. although the
distance Is not great.
He might have made Ii In week, but
found along the way
Some serious impedimenfs In the ragged
coats Of gray.
We met him at Cold Hsrbor In the
blithosome month OF June.
Our uniforms were faded, but our mus
kets were In tunei
The hand Of the dread angel that smots
Egypt In the night
Was not more deadly than the hands we
lifted In that fight.
he charged. recoIled; then siormed
again and failed with all power
And lpat ten thousand on the field In
less than half an houri
Such deeds seem snperhuman and their
memory will not fade,
And that's why I'm embarrassed by the
record that we made.
w L. Sanford, tn Dallas fTszA Ns,ssi