The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-02-10

IN IL was lAS " uCSPCl "a
airy engagement of the war, and wnen
Stuart and Pickett were repulsed, the
issue Of battle that had been trenIh-
hnS in the balance for three days was
AS decisive of the fate of the Confed-
eracy as the battle between Caesar
n Pompey on the Plains Of Pharsa-
liza was decisive Of the destiny of Rome
Appomattox was simply the echo of
Gettysburg.
LOYALTY OF EX-CONFEDERATES
The Confederate soldiers have filled
cabinet positions under presidents. Of
Doth parties, haVe served as hon rred
n respected senator's and congress-
men as part of the laWmaking power
OF the government. and AVE filled
every judicial position of federal au-
thorIty from the highest to the loW st.
General Fitz Hugh Lee, the nephew
OF the Confederate commander at Get
tysburg, and second in OF the
cavalry, was long the honored repre-
sentative Of the government in Cuba.
and When war came was among the
hrst to offer his services in the army.
With him came Wheeler, The Marshal
Ney Of the Confederate army in the
southwest. Thousands of their south
ern brethren came to the front to fight
for the old flag, and both are o1ay
brigadier-generals. retired, in the army
OF the United States.
AT Santiago. otter the bln0dv battle
OF July 1st, when the American rom
manQar was about to order a retreat.
it was General Wheeler from the front
o. the firing line who wrote a mid
night appeal to his chief to order ad-
n instead of retreat, and fOl+u-
nately. that appeal was obeyed. The
son Of Pickett. whose Virginia DivIe-
ion made tho l1nNTv obnr~a at GAttvc-
burg, was 4 commissioned officer in
the army during the Spanish war.
THUS we have an unbrOken record in
support of the appeal l now make t.
Pennsylvania for the proper dec1ra-
ton of the BATTLEFIELD of Gettysburg
since the advent of Grant to the ores
idency more than a generation ago.
NORFOLK COUNTY VETERANS.
1t IS only a few weeks since the few
survivors of a Confederate cavalry reg
iment met at Western Branch in Nor
folk county, Va, to commemorate he
heroic struggles of that command in
our Civil war. There were no union
soldiers there to inspire them to any
special expression of fraternity, but
they put to shame the lingering cham
pions of hate, north and south, by pro
posing to inaugurate a movement to
erect a statue to General Grant.
THE CHARACTER OF LEE.
Lees character may be summed UP
in this brief sentence: "A model sol
der; a Christian gentleman" He was
one of the gentlest and most chival-
rous of men from the beginning of our
Civil war until his death. He eve
taught as Lincoln taught, With NAL
ice toward none. with charity for ALL
and with the fierce assaults made uron
ls~@ - h..
never uttered a single sentence of re-
sentiment, and no act or oder of Lee
violated the accepted principle of hui
name warfare. Every eye i'll the south
~brightens at the mention of his name;
no southern name is so generally and
sincerely respected throughout the en-
tire north. and the time has come
when he can be justly honOred by a
statue on the field of Gettysburg as
one of our grandest Illustrations Of
American heroism.
HISTORICAL PARALLELS.
If England were to begin the task
of embellishing the battlefield Of Wa
terloo as we are identifying the pat
tlefield of Gettysburg, TWO statues
would be accepted as with one voice
as most essential in telling the story
of the final overthrow of the greatest
warrior of the nineteenth century n
monuments of Wellington and Napole-
an would be most prominent because
the visitor from every cline would eN-
pect first to pay homage 20 them. 1t
was under the Bourbon klngly power
that the remains of NaDolean were
brought from st. Helena and entomb-
ed in the most gorgeous resting place
of the dead to be found in France.
1t is less than a century n q hall
since the decisive battle was fought in
the far north for the mastery of the
new world. There had long been
bloody strife between the Saxon md
the Latin, but the final arbitranlent
came when Wolfe and Montcalm met
at Quebec and on the Plains of Abra-
ham the shock Of battle came, leaving
Montcalm and Wolfe among the dead.
BY that battle the name of New
France persisted. and the hap
tiZed the wilderness far off toward the
setting sun as New England. In the
beautiful Governors Garden of Que
bee stand a grand that
tells the story of the SaXon's mastery
of the Western Hemisphere. Two
names are engraved upon it. On one
side is Moncalm, and on the other side
is Wolfe with this inscription: 'Valo1
gave a united death; history a united
fame; posterity a united monument
FOR INDIVISIBLE UNION.
When the Civil war came to appal
the north and spread the wings OF the
angel of sorrow over the homes OF
both sections. I had the honor to rep
resent Gettysburg in the senate OF
Pennsylvania, and during the first halt
of the period of the war was chairman
of the Military Committee Of that
body. ! feel a natural and sincere
pride in this great battlefield, and IT
the duty and opportunity which il
gives to our great Commonwealth. ]
want it not only to tell the story Of tn
battle. but I want it to impress upon al
who should eve visit it that the CIVl
war made US a better, a lnightier and
more prosperous people, north anc
shall be accomplished throughout ouI
with perpetual sectional disccrd arts
ing from the conflict Of slave and Tree
labor. l want it to be the grandeSl
monument the world has ever given t.
the heroism Of the greatest people the
world has ever known; and when tia