The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-07-06

Nashville, June 14.-General Ste
ephen D. Lee, who succeeds the lament
ed Gordon as commander-in chief of
the United Confederate Veterans,
spoke as follows:
"It is impossible for me to respond
co the kindly and cordial welcome so
itly spoken to my comrades who wore
the gray, without thinking of the
great soldier and orator upon whom
this duty would have fallen, if he had
not been taken away from us. 1t was
an historic Nashville, sever years ago,
that his eloquent voice gave utterance
to the gratitude o. our hearts to the
citizens Of this beautiful city for the
hospitality for which they are famous,
land which to- day has laid US under
aew obligations. 1t was here that
he placed in your hands his commits
sion as your chieftain, and sought to
cetife into private station. With an
eutburst of loyal devotion, resistless
as the whirlwind, you again called
him to be your leader, and gave him
che commission of your unmeasured
love and confidence.
He was true to your service to the
East. His noble voice is hushed for
ever. He has answered the great roll
call. He has joined his great COM
mander in the white hosts Of peace.
The armies Of the Confederacy have
marched to flames eternal camping
ground, and We who meet to-day are
only the belated stragglers Of that
rrnighty host who have entered into
.their immortality.
"'The living are brave and noble
But the dead were the bravest IF ALL"
AS listened to the eloquent and
comforting addresses Of welcome, it
was impossible for me not to remem-
der an occasion now nearly forty years
past, when some of us yearned to
enjoy the hospitality of Nashville.
Many of her citizens would at that
'time, have been glad to SEQ US, but
'nos half as much so, as we would
have been to see them. Between US
land these hospitable homes there
stretched wall Of FIRE, and instead of
your cordial greeting we heard the
thunder Of guns.
''This time, however, we have kept
our engagements better, and your
good will have made US more than
conquerors. We have entered into
this city of great men and great memo.
gies. We have beheld your educa-
tional institutions, sending light and
hope into the remotest corners of our
beloved land. We have made pilgrim
ages to the graves of your mighty
dcad-we have been refreshed by your
hospitality.
'"The Confederate soldier does not
forget that from the bosom of this old
commonwealth, came q hundred and
fifteen thousand men, to follow the
banners Of Lee and Johnston, and
that more than thirty thousand were
enlisted in the Armies of the Union
TenDesseeaIs believe with ther hearts
blood. They did not count the cost
when the great question of State or
Nation had to be settled with drawn
swords. They spent the last drop of
blood, the last mite Of treasure, for
The defense Of Tennessee, their moth
or and their sovereign.
"We, the witnesses of that great
sacrifice, can never cease to honor
Tennessee, for the blood of her sons.
for the tears and prayers of her daugh
ters, for the indomitable spirit which
rebuilt the ruined homes, which SOW
ed the blasted fields, which has
wrenched prosperity from field and
mountain, and has made this wonder
full land, once more thing of beauty
: and pride to every southern heart,
<7ynE have done we'll, men and women
Of Tennessee. With peaceful hands
you have won back more than your
tfathers lost.
II wonder sometimes whether, when
the great balances Of the universe are
posted, and the great judgments of
the ancient Of days are rendered,
whether even when the last human
histor%is written Of the war between
= she States, and the slow verdict Of
femote posterity is taken, the cause
we loved, will seem as lost as it once
seemed to US. 1t may be that in the
providence of God, and the develop
ment Of humanity, these fearful sacri
fees were necessary for tue highest
good Of this nation and of the world.