Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1905-03-17
Or. 6erkelev's Last Contribution to Con-
federate History.

uT. ooTkoief Last COutTIuuiI0H 10 C0n.
federate History.
In the Confederate column of the
Times Dispatch, March 5th. occurs
over the signature Garter Berkeley
very interesting article which .vindi-|
Gates Mr.. Davis position at the Hamp.
ton Roads conference. The part tax.
en- by Augusta county men and troops
in urging mo surrender" by the presi-
dent of the Confederacy Y, will doubtless
be recalled by many still living who
voted for the resolutions referred to,
the article OF DR.. Berkeley follows:
HAMPTON ROADS CONFERENCE.
In conversation with General w.
h. Payne, s0me time in 1895, | found
him much incensed by certain recent
ly published newspaper artfcHsssWhich
condemned Mr.. Davis for not comfDg1
to terms with the Federal authorities
at the Hampton Roads conference.
He said he thought 1t strange that the
Southern people seemed to have for
gotten that whatever those at homo
may have thought of tho matter, the
army never desired peace except upon
condition Of the acknowledgement of
the independence Of the COnfederacy.
l told him had some cuttings from a
wartime issue of the Staunton Vim
dicator, which showed this to be the
truth of history. and promised to send
them to him. The following is an ex-
tract from letter in which he &C
knowledged their receipt:
The copy of the indicator reminds
me that the soldiers who really con-
stituted the Confederate people would
not have tolerated any surrender, COM
promise or adjustment which did not
include independence, until forced to
do 40 at AppomattOx by starvation,
death and the want of ammunition. 1t
Is very much the custom of people who
have forgotten that the army was the
nation. to represent Mr.. Davis as hav-
ing unnecessarily prot racted the war,
and by stupid obstinacy having driven
US through sea of unnecessary blood
to final ruin at AppomattOx. The resO-
buttons of regiments will show that it
was not in Mr.. Davis's power to fix a
day for the termination of our strug-
gle, and that no terms which did not
include independence would have been
accepted until the power of resistance
had ceased"
The resolutions referred to were as
follows:
By the Thirty-first Virginia Regi ment.
Pegram's Brigade, Feb 1, 1865:
Resolved, That we took up arms to
achieve our independence, and that
four years of hardship and privation,
as we'll as the blood of our slaughter
ed comrades, demand that " e shall lay
them down only when this purpose is
accomplished.
On February 2, 1865. the Fifty-second
Virginia Regiment, then under COM
mand of Captain Benton Koiner,
adopted a reso luton of pr cisely the
same tenor as the above, the wording
of which, however, the indicator does
not give.
About the same time Mr.. G. J. Arm
istead, a gallant member of the Rock
bridge Battery, was requested by its
officers to draw up q resolution express
ing the views of the battery on the
question of the terms of peace which
had been discussed in the press before
and after the Hampton Roads confer
ence. He tells me that he had entire
ly forgotten the language of the reso-
luton he drew up, but it's tenor was
to pledge the battery to fight to the
last ditch, unless the first term of peace
was the full acknowledgment of the
complete independence OF the South
ern COnfederacy. 1t was voted for by
every man IN the company, and was
sent for publication to the Richmond
press.
1t should be remembered that all
these resolutions were by men who had
already carried endurance almost to
it's last human limit. They show that
the army surrendered not because its
spent was broken. because it was starv-
ed, and out of ammunition, and borne
down by the weight of overwhelming
numbers This is the true historic fact
which General Payne feared that the
Southern people might be in danger
Of forgetting.
CARTER BERKELEY.