The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-11

| control their own government.
"Of the regiments mentioned, the
Twenty Thirtyninth, Fifty.
eighth, Sixtieth, Sixty-second, Sixty
fourth, Sixty-fifth and Sixty-ninth
served in the armies of the Southwest
lin Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia
Alabama. Mississippi, louisiana South
Carolina and Florida, and several OF
them participated in the last charge
of Bentonville.
North Carolina had no drawer sons
in the struggle than those in the
eight regiments in the armies of the
West. AS glorious as is her record on
the fields of Virginia and Maryland
and Pennsylvania, it is equaled by
that made by her soldiers at Perry
Vile. Murfreesboro, Chickamauga
Shiloh Dalton, Resaca, New Hope
Church, Atlanta and Bentonville.
1T is well known that the equip
ment of the Southern troops in the
West, except, in the matter of food
was greatly inferior to that in the
East This was not because of favor
itism, but an unavoidable result OF
conditions which were well understood
at the time.
1T is a fact, also, that for the first
three years of the war, the Federal
armies in the West were far superior
to those in the East not only in the
ability of their generals, but in the
personnel of the soldiers. The men
who composed them were drawn from
the farms and smaller towns of what
was then called the Northwest but
now known as the Middle West
Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana
Illinois They were of pure American
stock, many of them with Southern
blood bold, hardy and as plucky as
the fiery Southerner.
Lieutenant Cathey who served in
the East until about the end of 1862,
when he was transferred with his
company to the Thirty ninth regi-
close of the war, in his admirable his
tory Of the Sixteenth regiment, points
out this facD.
1.-THE story is told that. on the eve
of the battle of Chickamauga, when
Longstreet's Corps arrived on the field,
flushed with the glorieS of its we'll
earned laurelS won in the Virginia
campaigns, one of its men nailed a
member of Hardee's Corps with the
welcome announcement that he Had
come down to teach the Western man
how to fight'-to which the latter re
piled that he was exceedingly glad to
see him and have his help, as there
was to be some bloody work to 90
soon And it was bloody work Long
streets veterans had. with their Yves
tern comrades, for the next two iaJS;
time and time again they were re-
pulsed on the slopes of Dyer's Held
and Snodgrass Hill. and it was not un-
til night had fallen on that SUNDAY
they were able to drive the encmY
from the field. When the battle was
over it so happened these men ret
again, when Longstreet's man SAID {;
Look here, DO you folks have TO
fight that sort of people all the tine
Why, | never saw such a "Jol lot OF
Yankees; they don't know when t"
run
zone of the fast diminishing mem
bers of the survivors of that moment
Gus conflict which ragged between the
States of the Union a third of CEN
tury ago, l cannot let this opportunity
pass without an expression OIL ny
sense of profound gratitude.--anu l
am sure / reflect the sentiment of all
nv surviving contradiction the nc
tives which prompted the Organization
Of your society, and rhe devotion y?I
are exhibiting in promoting the CD
jects of that organizations.
I'm story and song-in the pulpit
and on the platform-around the l;e-
union Camp fires, beside the heart1-
stones of thousands of homes--the
sublime devotion and self-sacrfice of
that great ordeal-have been recount
ed and repeated again and again, bat
the topic never becomes stale. nc
generations which have come since
those events may listen with Dlln-
ming ewes and glowing hearts TO he
narratives of the heroism Of their
mothers, but they will never lie ale
to comprehend in its fullest extent me
magnitude of the trials and the SUI
No
those of us who were the witnesses OF
those sufferings, and the recipients CT
their sacrifices, could not at all times,
fully appreciate all they meant. IN
the dark hours Of defeat and disas-
term the exultation of VicCorT on
the weary march-on the lonely NlS'-
of the picket line-When pinchei ny
hunger-when shivering from the blt-
fer frosts of winter-when waste | ly
wounds-'moaning out all alone his
eath-rattle'-when looking into the
deadly muzzles of hostile 2uns-the
Confederate soldier never Forgot, ana
his arm and his soul were ever
strengthened and animated by the
knowledge that in innumerable homes
and affairs in his loved country, me- G
tender and brave mothers, wives, SIS
ters and daughters laboring, suffer-
e.
and that his cause would be croWned
by success. The men who wore " G
gray and bore the mus eIs-W he
stormed the hill and defended the
trenches were not al of the soldiers
of the Confederacy. In many n man
sion and in many a cabin throughout
the South there were hearts under
meath the homemade dress, AMI Sln-
bonnet as resolute and intrepid as
those who swept UP the helghts OF
Cemetery Ridge or through the for
ests of Chickamauga.
Confcderacy. no nobler or more ten
der duty could descend to any, than
that which you have inherited Ito
preserve and perpetuate not only the
deeds Of YOUR ancestors, out the
causes and convictions which ANNA
ted them to such heroic efforts. Gcd
speed you in this work.