The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-06-16
TO MEMORY OF GORDON,
CONFEDERATES PAY TRIBUTE
Judge Thomas G. Jones EulOgzes the Dead Chieftain
and Presents Resolutions EmbOdying the
Sentiments of the Veterans.

Nashville, Tenn, June 15.-The Con-
federate Veterans today paid homage
to the memory of John B. Gordon,
leader in war and peace, and the elo-
quent tribute of Judge Thomas g. Jones
found hearty echo in the hearts of the
assembled thousands. Judge Jones
was associated throughout the war
with General Gordon, and because of
his intimacy with the dead chieftain.
was selected by Commander-in-Chief
Stephen ID. Lee to deliver the memorial
address and offer suitable resolutions
of sorrow and esteem. Judge Jones
said:
Commander-in-C Chief, Comrades and
Fellow Countrymen:
One of the noblest souls that ever
left or tenanted human form" has
assembled. No words spoken here can
add to the significance of the life that
has gone or the nobility of its lessons;
and yet, when we think of Gordon, all
our souls cry out for utterance.
AS we recall his life and work, we
are carried back to the days of storm
and battle, when the differences be-
uueathed to the generation OF that DAY
by the forefathers, rent our land III
civil war and the South. all unprepar-
ed. went out with naked valor against
a world in arms There come to nus
the first passionate rushing to arms
and the delirium of those days. with
their visions of glory, happiness ana
greatness Then we live again in tho
long years of alternate victory ana de-
feat, hope and despair. in which were
melted the ignoble passions of the
strife and a whole people blended In q
sterner conservation to duty, suffering
and sacrifice. Again we visit the
graves of the slain and stand with the
rnourners, the wounded. the sick and
dying, in a land harried by arms where
want stalks abroad, while the very sun
seems darkened and the air Is hlled
with walls. We see the Confederate
soldier clinging to his colors, wniie
wife and child at home clutched at his
courage with cries for bread: that
courage which sounded all the depths
and shoals of misfortune and for a
time throttled fate itself. We near
again the ringing yell of his onset, mis-
battle anthem for native land rising
-heavenward above the roar of five hun
bred stormy fields. Then the conscious
air is hushed with the solemn tidings
from AppomatoX. Then we view the
home coming of the defeated soldier,
the woe and waste that awaited him
there, the hard task of beginning life
anew amid the wreck of industries, in
situations and order. Then we live
again some days of peace worse than
the days of war, when mtsconstructioh
and passion for time misled the victor
and the bayonetmade law. Then we
see clear-cut and strong as figures
cleft in rock, the Confederate soldler
and the Confederate women rising
superior to calamity and despair ana
teaching the world how sublime
thing it is to suffer and grow strong"
Then the sunshine drives out the dark
ness and the mists of passion and mis-
construction fade, to give place TO the
rehabilitation of the States, and the
new Union, with its hopes and happl-
ness and Its reconciliation.
The scene in MONTGOMERY
In this flood of memories. Gordon,
respondent in the beauty of youth and
hope and conservation, comes 10 us
again, as he pleaded at Montgomery.ln
1861, for "a place in the picture near
the flashing of the guns. and we
watch the sheen of his sword from
Seven Pines to Appomatox. The story
of one battle is the story of another,
came the exhibition of higher power,
nobler daring and sublimer genius.
At Sharpsburg. while in command OF
the 9Th Alabama, he occupied a vital
and exposed point on Lees center; ne
it, He reused his men to almost
superhuman effort. and steadied them
against tremendous odds, as he moved
along the fiery crest of battle, the
realization of all that warriors dream
OF his blood flowing from four un-
stanched and unheeded wounds, until
sticken by a fifth and well nigh fatal
one. he was borne unconscious to the
rear. brigadier at the head of six
splendid Georgia regiments. he retook
Marys Heights, ere other troops who
were to take part, realized that the
battle was on. and like a thunderbolt
dashed Barlow's division to pieces at
Gettysburg. In the days of the
Wilderness none won more glory than
he. In the early morn, on the 18th
of May, when Hancock seized the
Horse Shoe" and cut the Army of
Northern Virginia in twain, and was
moving swiftly inside our lines to COM
plete our destruction, Gordon in tenn
porary command of Early's division,
was in reserve, with orders which left
him large discretion and charged with
momentOus responsibilities. He de-
cided quickly and acted instantaneous
ly, with the divine instinct of the
heavenborn soldier. He struck like
the lightning fash, hating Hancock s
assault in the supreme moment, with
one brigade, and then with the rest of
the division headed the resistless re-
entering wedge which shattered all on
either side of it, and saved the day. His
comrades and the country felt as did
Lee, who said to him: You saved
the army and won its admiration by