The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1903-02-24
THE CONFEDERATE REUNION
TO BE Held In New Orleans In May-The
Deeds and Principles Of Those
TO Gather There.

Confederate Reunion to he held in
New Orleans May 1922, ia from the
pen # Mr.. Page M. Barker, the
gifted editor of the New Orleans
Times Democrat:
"ludications are plentiful that the
reunion to be held in New Orleans,
May 10, 20, 81 aud %, by the Uni
ted Confederate Veterans will be
the most worthily memorable event
in the history of the organization.
ut is now more than two score
years since the people of the South,
animated with spirit than which
there ia nothing finer in human his.
tory, united us one man in the effort
to resist the invasion made by the
Northern States, to defend the ira.
ditional principle Of local self.gov-
ernment and to maintain, in unim-
paired vi yor, tha idea Of States SOY.
ereignty. Without in any sense
seeking to stir the treaoherous ashes
OF that period Of the national life, it
is sufficient to state that the South
ern people were then, as they have
always been, actuated by motives of
dlsinterested patriotism. Respoud-
ing to the call to arms, the old, the
middle-aged and the young, "hocked
gaily to the fight" and for four
years of tierc"st war demonstrated
that they were willing to die for an
idea. Discriminating critics of his
tory now recognize that the Coufed-
crate soldier fought only for what all
freedom should be willing to fight.
1t is now clear to all that the spirit
of "he that ioselh his life shall save
it-,he spirit Of "greater love hath
no man than this, that he lay down
his lite for his friend'-gave impulse
and character to tho Confederacy
from the moment when MIR. Davis
was Inaugnrated at Montgomery to
the hour when G.n Lee surrendered
at Appomattox.
"It is right that the people Of the
South, OF the Union and of the world,
know this There WAS time when
Americans Of the Northern States
failed to comprehend the real signiti.
cance OF the Confedpracy; time
when they failed t" appreciate the
controlling motive Of the Con federal @
soldier; q time when the lingering
animosities Of war blurred the his
iorical perspective and made it diff
cult, if not impossible, for Federal
a. d Cohfederate I" apprn $40 accu-
rately QUE another's character. That
time is now happily passing, if, in
deed, it is not already past. When
Lee surrendered at Appomattox a
great issue was decided. For four
years Federal and Confederate bad
struggled in civil war. Each side
had spoken its mind from the can.
mons mouth. The defamation WIS
vocifeGnns, th" rhetoric magnificent,
the argument conclusive. And when
the footsore Confederate soldier sur
rendered his gun, wrung the bands
OF his comrade in silence, and, but
toning MS parole in his faded gray
packet, as Grady has pictured him,
began the slow and painful home.
ward journey, he realized that the
war WAS over, that slavery WAS abol-
ished, and that, henceforth, the
right to secede from the Union could
hava no place in tho American p0lity.
"This, however, was not the com.
plete Significance Of Appomattox.
The surrender Of Lees army, the
parole of the Confederate soldier,
meant more than the emancipation
OF race, more than the political
Welding together Of separate and in
dividual States. 1t meant that with
the echo Of the last gun should die
every ignoble prejudice and memory;
that beneath the repelling FEATURES
of war should be dscerned the re
deeming nobleness Of both Federal
and Confederate; that reciprocal
confidence should solidify and purify
our political life; and, finally, that,
as one nation, we should become one
people.
'lt is not too much to say that this
larger Significance Of the titanic
struggle of forty years ago liz now
understood and appreciated through
out the Union Rpccntly and ea