The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-05-15

Revolution. uot by themselves at Cold
Harbor, in the Wilderness or at
Sharpsburg, not in front of Richmond,
where hungry, cold and worn out with
sleepIess nights and foodless days; not
in the fields OF victory when they
marched in triumph ale glory, were
displayed a more firm and .resoiute
courage than now in defeat al Get
tysburg. Valor unsurpassed, fidelity
unequaled, mercy even, unlocked for
companion, marched with them a guard
of honor. in defeat, and in the face of
all the after horrors, all the suffer
ing, death and ruin, let us say 1t was
done well.
Had | the pen of Tacitus and the
years OF Methuselah I could not tell
OF the many acts of heroism displayed
by Jul soldiers, neither could I recall
the battles and the sieges in which
they were engaged, suffice it if I give a
few figures that ~eloquently show the
part played by our own North Caro-
lima troops which easu the glory of
our soldiery by the treasure Of his
blood.
There were fifty three thousand con-
federates killed in btatle, and of this
number fourteen thousand were from
North Carolina. Twenty-one Thousand
dieu of wounds. FIVE thousand from
North Carolina; fifty-nine thousand
died Of disease, twenty thousand from
the old North State. Forty-two thou
sand North CalClinians CAV their lives
to the c~Onfederacy, O than one
third Of nef military population. Out
IF a military population of One nun
dred and fifteen thousand, she sent to
the field Il hundred and twenty-five
thousand men.
Read the record of the Twenty-sixtn
North CalOIina at Gettysburg. 1t car
ries 500 men Into action and came out
with So men, the. severest regimental
loss during tie a
Listen to the story of Capt. Tuttles
company; n this same field of death It
lost all it's officers and 83 men out Of
81 carried TITO battle.
Capt. Birds company that lost two
officers H. thirty-four men out OF
thirty-eight, and these four survivors
took their places in the historic charge
on the third day, and when the flag
bearer was shot down, Capt. Bird
brought out the flag himself.
This is but a short history Of the
actions of the men of this state and
the spirit of daring and %invincible
courage was everywhere present in tie
Army Of Northern Virginia.
I will not weary you with a recital
of the battles that were fought at Look
Out, Snilch. Atlanta and at Vicksburg;
of Sheridan 8 raid through the aVl!ey
of Sheridan's raid through the Valley
sea; and the ~desolation and ruin that
followed in his wake. The naart
wearies Of tales of disaster and de-
structiOn and the mind is staggered at
the havoc wrought by uncivilized VAL
fare.
After a campaign that reflected I'M
dying glory on our arms, after a strug-
gle that cost billions Of treasure and
oceans of blood; after killing more
men in battle than his own army num-
bered; fighting by day and %retreating
by night, fortifying new positions and
holding them against tremendous odds,
with nakedness and hunger and wounds
and pains augmenting his troubles from
within, while without the tenacious
enemy pushed and battered and charg-
ed and tore his ranks, surrounded. at
last, by the entire federal army, and
his own army reduced to only a few
thousand, General Lee passed MS
swords to General Grant, and the flag
of the c~onfederacy was folded forever.
It's flag, like its currency, represented
now nothing on Gods green earth or
naught to the waters beneath it. Hear
what a northern historian say Of that
battle SCARED army of Lees: "Nor can
there fail to arise the image of thai
other army that was the adversary CT
the Army Of the Potomac, n
which, who can ever forget that
once looked upon it? That army of in
comparable infantry, that army Of tat
tered uniforms and bright muskets, the
Army of Northern Virginia, which for
four long years carried revolt upon its
bayOnetS, opposing a constant front TO
the mighty concentration Of power
against it, which, receiving terrible
blows, did not fail to give the like,
and which, vital in all its parts, died
only with annihilation.'
With the surrender Of this army
peace at last returned to a Frustrated
country, but at what cost?
Go, count upon the battle fields ten
thousand nameless graves,
Gall on the winds. with signs and
means; go tell the oceans caves
To bring their dead, the prison walls
to Shrek their sickening tales,
Concentrate, if you have the power,
widows and orphans walls,
Pile broken heart on broken heart,
till Pity bids you cease,
And then you'll not have the price that
We nave paid for peace"
The land was filled with lamenta-
lions of Rachels mourning for their
children, and would not be comforted.
The long and bitter struggle was ended
but hearts had been withered to ashes.
No human power could give Us back
the dead. No Jesus stood at the gates
of Main to give back to the arms Of
the mothers the sons of those who
were widows; there was no omnipo-
tent power to lift from the grave those
who had gone down in eternal sleep
and restore to the Marthas and Marys
of this stricken land the Lazarus wrap