The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-08-09

For twenty years or more with few IL
termissions this county has yearly held in
Wadesboro a Confederate reunion, in the
month of August Distinguished orators
. and soldiers have at each recurring ami
versary delivered an address on the Occa-
sion. Among them have been General
Ransom, General Carr and Judge Clark,
and today, worthy to rank with these
great men who have preceded him, Col.
W. NJ. Hammond, of Thomasville, Ca, was
the orator. He was introduced by Col
R. T. Bennett, who, among North Caro-
lima statesmen, is in a class all by himself
for originality, impressiveness and the use
of English that is at once perfect and out
side the beaten track. His manner is i'm
pressive beyond description. 1t is said
that during the war when he was charging
the Yankees Colonel Benefits commands
could be heard a mile and half. He has
a voice that carries his message far, and
there is in it an element of impressiveness
and power that makes one feel that he is
| PA$oNiANN
In introducing the orator today, Colonel
Bennett said:
COL. BENEFITS INTRODUCTION.
North Carolinians: / congratulate the
men and women of Arson county upon
: the auspices which greet this day, cOnse-
Grated in our hearts by the blood OF hosts,
by Vicarious sufferngs and rendered more
precious to patriots with each recurrence.
Orators, statesmen, high officials and
the editor of a great newspaper lend their
presence to this occasion. and translate
their homage to the men who had the
build and stature to strive with and
conquer time.
But yesterday sixty-two cardinals met
in conclave to name the successor of Leo
} 10, and thus preserve the continuity OF
, the Apostolic Roman Catholic Church,
which John Dryden described as milk
white hind that through eighteen centu-
ries had been the best solace of her chill
I dren.
n Our government rose and fell-fought
! itself out of eXistence-eXhausted the re
; sources of our civilization, laid age and
infancy under hostage.
"Our leaders in that government are
immortal for all time without successors.
: They have craven themselves upon the
eternal ages.
, Tell me, thou Chroniclcr of the worlds
great deeds, if ever vanquished cause pre-
scented a parallel!
I'VE deem ourselves happy in the pres
3. ence today of a son of Arson who was
born in easy call of this spot sixty and
r odd yeas ago. His good limbs were
> shapen and grown here. Fortune drew
him to sister State.
1.-The son of a leading citizen who pos
2 sessed great vigor of mind and extraordi-
8. nary intelligence, he succeeded to the pol
, tiles of his father Ga disciple of Calhoun
and the religion of his mother.
mo man in my knowledge could have
accomplished more than he in the early
stages of our war. He rendered the first
I military company to our Governor in 81,
and went to the front as lieutenant of
that company.
He shared its fortunes and contributed
by his zeal, accomplishments. and energy
to its efficiency. Throughout the strug
gle his manlness and courage were attest
ed by comrades and mentioned in dis
patches by his superiors
: I'm 1864 he was sent on a confidential
o mission by our government
He IS an artist in the use of words,
. and has a genius for their choice
g "Tennyson said of the Poet Virgil that
ot he was Wielder of the stateliest measure
le yer moulded by the lips of man.
b. "Simonldes was the most famous man of
lie antique age in composing elesies
u He conceived and fashioned the in
II Tlption upon the monument to Leonidas
s. ad his 300 Spartans slain at Thermopylae
a aer the treachery of a Greek had piloted
tt Persian to their rear and reverse
u 1T is the most gravid and perfect of
: rorded time:
s. stranger tell the Lacedaemonans we
j. lie here in obedience with their laws
> . rom out their pavihoned and unmarked
graves, our dead point our living to
e. the lesson of the day.
~ | hope your orator may be transported
ID b.the fervor of this occasion beyond his
70 pIpose and his words prove a wall of
fac
a. 1 present the citizen soldier of North
or Collna and Georgia, Captain William
N Ny Hammond, and bid him God speed"
r, COL. HAMMOND'S SPEECH.
Id he speech of Colonel Hammond was
;, u!A d IHeHc JIldL Is DIS Ola DIS JUe tOn-
sutton, and it has formed the basis
u Il every wise defense of the South that
r, b been made since 1865. But because
of t. theme was old it does not follow that
ID twas treated by the speaker along any
% d line. neither did he follow in beaten
: ticks. He discussed the causes that
l. bught on the war with a directness and
ne arness and ability that indicated that
o. was master of the principles enunciated
of a long series of debates and State pa
RS that have presented the Southern side
the contention. Without a dull SEN
Us nee, without any commonplace express
Id ons, Col. Hammond made clear to the
ne oungest mind that the Confederate sol
Ter who donned the grey in 1861 did not
SO without having just cause He pre-
~ eded his speech with brief and appro-
T. riate allusion to the fact that the county
a,f Arson was the place of his birth, and
in he recalled incidents in his early career in
~, he old school house in which the boys