The Opelousas courier., 1903-03-28
The Confederate Reunion

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May 19, 20, 21 and %, by the Uni
ted Confederate Veterans, will be
the most worthily memorable
event in the history of the organ
ization.
It is now more than two-score
years since the people Of the
South, animated with spirit
than which there is nothing finel
in human history, united as one
man in the effort to resist the in
vasion made by the Northern
States, to defend the traditional
principle of local self-government
and to maintain, in unimpaired
vigor, the idea Of States sover-
eighty. Without in any sense
seeking to stir the treacherous
ashes of that period of the ma
tional life, it is sufficient to state
that the Southern people were
then, as they have always been,
actuated by motives of disinter-
ested patriotism. Responding
promptly to the call to arms, the
old, the middle-aged and the
young, ''flocked gaily to the
fight" and for four years Of
fercest war demonstrated that
they were willing to die for an
idea. Discriminating critics of
history now recognize that the
Confederate soldier fought only
for what all freedom should be
willing to fight. 1t is now clear
to all that the spirit of she that
losseth his life shall save it,
the spirit of "greater love hath
no man than this, that he lay
down his life for his friend y
gave impulse and character to the
Confederacy from the moment
when Mr.. Davis was inaugurated
at Montgomery to the hour when
Gen. Lee surrender at Appomat-
tox.
1t is right that the people of the
South, of the Union and of the
world. know this. There was a
time when Americans of the
Northern States failed to COM
prehend the real significance of
the -Confederacy; a time when
they failed to appreciate the con-
trolling motive Of the Confeder-
ate soldier; q time when the lin
gering animositles Of war blurred
the historical perspective and
made it difficult, if not impossi-
BILE, for Federal and Confederate
to appraise accurately one anoth-
er's character. That time is now
happily passing, if, indeed, it is
not already past. When Lee sur
rendered at Appomattox a great
issue was decided. For four years
Federal and Confederate had
struggled in civil war. Each side
had spoken its mind from the
lannon's mouth. The declama-
ton was vociferous, the rhetoric
magnificent, the argument con-
elusive. And when the footsore
Confederate soldier surrendered
his gun, wrung the hands of his
comrade in silence, and, button
ing his parole in his faded gray
pocket, as Grady has pictured
him, began the slow and painful
homeward journey, he realized
that the war was over, that sla-
very was abolished, and that,
henceforth, the right to secede
from the Union could have no
place in the American polity.
This, however, was not the
complete significance of Apo
mattox. The surrender of Lees
army, the parole of the Confed-
crate soldier, meant more than
the emancipation Of a race, more
than the political welding togeth
CT of separate and individual
States. It meant that with the
echo of the last gun should die
every ignoble prejudice and mem
ory; that beneath the repelIing
features of war should be dis
cerned the redeeming nobleness
of both Federal aud Confederate;
that a reciprocal confidence should
solidify and purify our political
life; and, finally, that, as one ma
ton, we should become one peo-
pie.
It is not too much to say that
this larger significance of the til
tanic struggle of forty years ago
is now understood and apprecia-
ted throughout the Union. Re-
Gently, and especially within the
last few years, the feeling has be-
come strong among thinking men
everywhere that in ssthe irrepres-
sible conflict both Northerners
and Southerners ssdefended the
right as God gave them TO see the
right, and that it was in the in
scrutable wisdom of Providence
that the pure purposes Of the
South were crossed and her brave
armies were overwhelmed.
1t is with these feelings, and
feelings kindred to these, that
Americans of the-South are look
ing forward to the next annual
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