Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1903-02-06
GEN. LEE ExToLLED

/ IN
By Yankee Soldier" at the Banquet OF
| the New York Confederate Camp.
At the annual banquet of the Con-
Ifederate Veteran Camp of New York,
held IN that city on Jan. Goth, Charles
Francis Adams, a notable Massachu-
setts orator, and an old soldier OF the
Union, responded to the toast Of "Rob
ert E. Lee-Nature made him and then
broke the mould" Upwards OF 500
members of the camp were present
with great many ladies, making up
an audience of thousand persons,
who cheered loudly the following sen
timents, which, coming from North :
ern man and former yankee" sol
dier, will be read with interest in the
South. He spoke as follows:
Mr.. Commander, officers, and mem
bers of the Confederate Veteran Camp
of New York: A New Highlander by
birth, descent. tradition, name. and
environment, closely associated with
Massachusetts. was Union soldier
from 1861 to 1865, and the one boast l
make in life was, and is, and Will ever
be that I also bore arms and confront
ed the Confederacy and helped to de-
stroy it. Formerly of the Army OF the
Potomac, through long years l was
intent on the overthrow Of the Army
of Northern Virginia. SO far. more
over, as that great past is concerned,
having nothing to regret. to excuse. or
to extenuate. I am yet here on this
day to respond to a sentiment in hon.
or of the military leader once opposed
to us-a Virginian and Confederate.
Nor all this being thus and so, if asked
why am here, would the answer be
far to seek. Primarily, as a Massa-
chusetts man confess to a feeling Of
special kindliness toward two other
States of the UniOn-twO of the orl-
ginal thirteen, above all the other for
ty-five-South Carolina and Virginia.
Those, with Massachusetts, l hold to
have been essentially pivotal States.
Communities peculiarly prolific Of men
the exponents of ideas-from them
have gone forth those migrating col
umns which met in fierce grapple for
the maintenance and the ascendancy
of that in which they believed.
So l am here this evening, as have
said, Massachusetts man, as well as
member of the Loyal Legion, to do
honor to the memory of him who was
chief among?those once set in array
against US. Of him, what shall say
Essentially asoldier, as soldier Rob-
ert E. Lee was a many-sided man. l
might speak of him as a strategist !;
but of this aspect Of the man enough
has perhaps been said. I might refer
to the respect, the confidence and love
with which he inspired those under his
command. I might dilate on his re-
straint in victory; his resource and
patient endurance in the face Of ad
verse fortune; the serene dignity with
which be, in the end. triumphed over
defeat. But, passing over all these
we'll. worn themes, shall cOnfine my
self to that one attribute of his which
recognized in soldier by an opponent,
cannot but regard as his surest anc
lOftiest title to enduring fame refel
to his humanity IN arms, and his scru
pulous regard for the most advanced
rules of civilized warfare.
LEE STILL AN AMERICAN.
II AS an American-as an ex.soldier o
the Union, as one who did his best II
honest, even fight, to destroy tina
fragment of the army of the Confed
eracy to which he found himself op
: posed-I rejoice that no hatred attache
to the name of Lee. Reckless of lif
to attain the legitimate ends of wal
he sought to mitigate its horrors. Or
posed to him at Gettysburg, l here
forty years lately, do him justice. N
more creditabIe order ever Issued fror
commanding general than that fo
mulated and signed by Robert E. LIE
x as, at the close of June, 1868, he az
= vanced on a war OF invasion. IN
greater disgrace" he then declared
can '.befall the army and through
onr whole people than the perpetratio
: of barbarous outrages upon the inn'
cent and defenseless. Such procee'
ings not only disgrace the perpetrato
and all connected with them, bnt 81
subversive Of the discipline and effic
ency Of the army. and destructive
the ends Of our movement. 1t mu
be remembered that we make war on
on armed men," Lee did not. lii
lTilly and Melac, exhort his folloWe
to kill and burn, and burn and XII
and again kill and burn, to make W
hell. He did not proclaim that
wanted no prisoners. He did not
ioin it upon his soldiers as a duty
cause the people of Pennsylvania
remember they had been there.
thank heaven he did not. He at lea
though a Confederate in arms, "
still an American, and not Tilly 2
a Melac.
And here, as a soldier of the Arr
of the Potomac, let me bear my tes
mony to such CT the Army of Mort
ern Virginia as may now be presel
While war at best is bad; yet it's n
essary and unavoidable badness v
not in that campaign enhanced.
scope and spirit Lees order was
lserved, and l doubt if hostile TO
lever advanced in an enemy's coun
Eli h frono IL in rerreat lea Y