The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-04-07

at SO historic a place, and it is emf
nently right and proper that North
| Carolina should have erected the first
monument or memorial Without dis
paraging the bravery of any other Con-
| federate soldiers (for they were all
brave) North Carolina proudly boasts
that she was the Last at Appomattox'
| because:
Il. A North Carolinian, MajorGen-
| eral Bryan Grimes, planned the last
battle fought there and commanded
the infantry engaged therein, the great
er part of which were North Carolina
| troops.
80. A North Carolina Brigade, COM
manded by General w. r. Cox, made
the last charge and fired the last
yolley of any organized body of Con-
federates Immediately preceding the
surrender.
80. A detachment of North Carolina
troops from the 4th and 14th regi-
ments did the last fighting of any in
fantry after the withdrawal of the
main body of the infantry.
~. North Carolina troops (Roberts'
brigade of cavalry captured the last
cannon that We're captured by the
Army of Northern Virginia
These four facts, which have been
fully proved, make it most appropriate
for North Carolina to be the first State
to commemorate and perpetuate with
a monument the heroism and I'M
shaken fidelity with which her sons re-
manned faithful to the end, even after
all hope of success had vanished.
'Those Confederate soldiers who
fought at Appomattox deserve more
credit than those who fought in any
other battle of the war. During the
first half of the war the South was
confident of success, and until the last
campaign there was hope of success
This confidence and hope cheered and
encouraged our soldiers, but when
Richmond and Petersburg had fallen
and the thin gray line had reached
Appomattox all hope had fed. And
yet that feeble remnant of what had
been the grandest army that ever
shook a continent with its tread, after
all hope had fled, fought as CALAMITY
at Appomattox as at Manassas.
''Think for moment of the terrible
physical condition of those men who
fought at Appomattox. Many of them
had been wounded more than once and
had endured the hardships of a Con-
federate soldiers life for nearly four
years. All of them had passed through
a winter of unparalleled suffering and
prlvations. Week after week for weary
months they had suffered more than
seemed possible for human endur-
ance in the trenches around Peters
burg. For the week Immediately pre-
ceding the surrender they had marched
almost continuously day and night,
fighting frequently, sleeping and rest
ing rarely and with almost nothing to
eat. They slowly dragged their weary
limbs and emaciated bodies over the
miry roads and arrived at AppomattoX
physical wrecks. They were exhausted
with constant marching and fighting,
almost stupeRed with the loss of sleep
and famished with hunger. And yet in
that condition and with Grants encir-
cling hosts pressing from every side,
at the word of command, formed a
line of battle as If on dress parade,
and with steady ranks and the old
rebel yell charged and drove back
vastly superior force!
Surely such heroes deserve TO be
held in grateful remembrance, and
North Carolina honors herself in erect
ing monument to perpetuate their
memory!"