The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1906-08-04
ADDRESS TO STATE SOLDIERS
PROPER AND LEGITIMATE FUNCTION OF THE SOL
DIER-AN ADDRESS THAT APPEALS
TRIOTIc CITIZEN

honorable foe and merciful in vic
tory even to cruel and disgrac eful
enemy.
Robert E. Lee may not have been
the greatest military chieftan OF the
age 1t IS more probable that Jack
son, Sidney, Johnston and Bedford
Forrest were all his superiors in ma
tive capacity and beligerent force,
! metrical and exalted type OF soldier
in the chronicles Of history His
character. his utterances, his achiev-
ments, his bearing III victory and his
department III defeat all blend into a
beautiful and magnificent harmony
! that may we'll be accepted and adopt
/ ed by every man WHO assumes the
| duties, dangers and responsibilities OF
military life as the highest standard
| of excellence ever reached by an Off
Ger or soldier.
''Uee was not an accident, nor a
prodigy He was the logical and Ie-
gitimate product of generations. He
was the fruitage and elimination or
long line of splendid knighthood.
J His environments were such as to de-
| velop and invigorate all the stronger
elements of a native nobility of tenn
+. permanent. Hence he may be safely
selected as a model for the guidance
| of the American soldier.
! "The efficiency of the American
army, the honor of the American flag
| and the reflection of credit or shame
| upon the American people from
| whom our soldiers are drawn will
be i'll proportion as we approximate
or recede from the standard erected
| by this wonderful man, this Hottest
representative of American citizen
ship. When the campaign into Penn
sylvania was Inaugurated Lees line
of march led across that portion of
his native State that had recently
been the home of hereditary wealth,
| culture and refinement. The Federal
army, in sweeping back and forth
over it, had reduced it to absolute
ruin, desolation and want, at every
step along the gloomy and melan-
choly route. The great commander
and his battle-seasoned veterans were
painfully reminded of the devasta-
ton wrought by the repeated inva-
, sion OF the enemy.
General Order Number ~
The people, the press and the pull
pit united in earnest appeals for re-
venge when he should reach the rich
and abundant country of the adver-
sary. Beautiful and delicate ladies,
driven from magnificent and once
luxurious homes, holding orphaned
children by the hands, begged to
have their wrongs avenged While
this course was urged in a spirit of
retaliation by some, by others it was
claimed as protective policy, hoping
1t would secure greater regard fer
private rights at the hands of the
enemy
with all these appeals and influer-
ces converging upon him, when he
stood upon the soil of his foeman
whose fields stretched out in all their
flllness before him, he issued his ia
nous order No. 7, the most remark
able document ever promulgated by
a commander III chief in the face OF
active hostilities.
That order IS a condensed code
Of the ethics OF war. 1t is a military
brief of the eourtesies that should
govern the hostilities of civilized ma
tons. 1t should be read by every
soldier III the regular army and the
National Guard. It should enter int,
every public school, college and uni
versity in the land It should be a
part of the curriculum in every mill |
tary institution OF the States and in |
the military and naval academies OF |
the Government. 1t should be heard |
IN the Sunday school and from the |
palplt because it IS the embodiment
of Christian civilization
From this order let the National |
Guard OF all the States draw its .es-
prit de corps that it may be to the |
army and navy Of this Republic what |
the immortal soul IS to the individual |
man. and the living principle Of a per-
islaable substance.
~ ours truly,
"B F. WARD