The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-05-28

brothers before the war; we have been
brothers since the war; we were broth
ers during the war, though for that
short time we had family difference.
Was there ever a Drawer deed recorded
than when Commodore Franklin Buch-
anan steered the Confederate Merrimac
into Hampton Roads to give battle to
the whole Federal fleet? You must re-
member that this kind Of vessel had
never yet been tested, and her arma-
ment had already been condemned by
the naval experts as dangerous and of
little use. Then, after the Merrimac
i in one day had sunk the Cumberland
and disabled the Congress and run the
Minnesota aground, was there ever a
drawer sight than when the little band
box Monitor, seemingly mere toy,
went forth as a shepherd boy to meet
this mighty naval Goliath? Then aft
err the Merrimac and the Monitor had
been supposed to render useless all the
woodea ships as men-of-war, was there
ever a grander sight than when old
Admiral David Farragut, sixy-fve
years Of age, dashed in the riggings OF
the old Hartford. led his wooden ships
past forts supposed to be impossible,
over waters invested with torpedoes,
into Mobile bay. where lay the ironclad
Tennessee, black grtmed and merciless.
ready to demolish what might escape
the deadly fire of the forts? Yes; such
mighty deeds have always crowded the
pages of our naval history. In no case
can it be said that the American navy
was ever unwilling to fight its coun-
try's battles with the material it had
on hand.
Are you and ready to do the duties
that arise before US, day by day, as
promptly and unquestioningly as the
American navy, as whole, did it's
duty? Are we ready to go forth
bravely and cheerfully, 10 matter how
weak may seem to be our mental,
physical and spiritual equipment? Do
you not know that your very conf
dence in yourselves and your willing
ness. to go ahead mean already the
battle half won? When Lieutenant
Dupont was commanded to do GER
tain thing, at first he failed to carry
out his orders. Returning to Admiral
Farragut, he began to make many ex-
cuses for his failure. But the great
admiral turned and said: ''Ah, Dupont,
you have not given me the chief eX-
cuse for your failure. You did not
accomplish what told you to do
in
heart, you did not think you could do
it, '"Then, If that be true" said the
young sailor, II will go ahead and
carry out your orders" And go he
did. Are not our failures, my hearers,
due to a like cause? II we had the
faith in God that we ought to have
should we not accomplish more?
Sailors In the Civil War.
But the American navy has also been
| willing at all times to do its routine
work as well as to unlimber its bat
teries and clear its decks in time OF
| conflict. There is something inspiring,
something terrific and Overwhelming,
in the thought Of two great naval
monsters coming closer and closer to-
gether to grapple In mortal combat.
| What man is there whose cheek does
| not flush when he hears about the duel
of the Constitution and the Guerrero?
What Americans eye does not fash
| when he sees Commodore Hull COM
! handing his flag officer, Lieutenant
| Morris, to withhold the fire of his gun
| ners until the two vessels were within
| speaking distance, then, with cannon
double shotted, to send forth their
messengers of death? But the great
| est work of navy is not always in
fighting, but may be in patrolling a
/ blockade. The victories of U. S. Grant
would never have been won had he
not had the assistance of the American
sailor as well as of the soldier IN
blue The value of the services the
sailors rendered in that awful conflict
cannot be exaggerated. It was they
who intercepted the supplies that the
southern armies so sorely needed. Il
was their vigilance that produced the
destituion which not even the sublime
/ self sacrifice Of the southern people
could relieve. Day in and day out
year in and year out, the northern
/ ships blockaded the southern ports
The southern armies were more
| starved to death than they were sho
to pieces by Federal guns.
In all the pages Of history you can
/ not find any nobler record of self de
NAL and suffering than that Of the
southern lady and the soldier In gray
In 1S62-64, caused for the most part by
the poverty resulting from that mex
orable naval blockade. AS | said be
fore. the Southern Confedefacy wa
simply starved to death by the routine
/ work OF the American navy. Gran
| and Lee. Sherman and Johnson AMI
Thomas and Hood, Sheridan and Long
street. won immortal fame upon thu
land. yet very few people have stoppet
i to give due credit to the faithful nava
officers and sailors who uncomplain
ingly sailed backward and forward Ii
front of Charleston and Savannah ant
the other southern harbors.