The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1907-05-31
UNIONS CONFEDERATE
MONUMENT UNVEILED
Continued from page ~

there will 1T stand forever-an earnest.
that your history will be written in
truth and, your deeds be remember
ed so long as, red corpuscles are
found in Southern blood!!
1t is not necessary for me to tell
you that you are welcome in your
home-your own city-your own
county-and in your own country!
Oh! Welcome Heroes. in our
city in our hearts and in our
homes
White Woman! What shall |
say to thee?
Welcome too! Yea, Welcome
tool! Grandmothers! Mothers!
Sisters, Wives and Daughters! that
shaft of granite also commentaries
your virtues! the vacant chair-the
empty home-the desolate heart the
Orphan and the Widow! Oh! how
you have 'suffered-and in silence!
But be of good cheer! Your tears
and prayers hath saved the civiliza-
ton of your beautiful Southland!
Oh! Welcome thrice Welcomed!
Sweet-faccd, sad-eyed, Southern
Woman!!
The band played "rhe Bonnie
Blue Flag" also "The Sunny
South" and 'Tenting."
Now the Old Veterans were
marched from the monument to
seats reserved for them Immediately
lin front of the speakers stand.
Rev. A. A. James was called upon
by the Mayor to introduce Col.
Coward. This he did in short
speech, spoken so that it could be
distinctly heard. He is q young
man, vigorous of mind and body
and keen in intellect, although he
has for more than half a century
preached the gospel.
Col. Coward spoke extemporan-
eously. That made it all the more
enjoyable. 1t was a practical speech,
full of spirit and with message
that went home to the hearts of the
hearers. In part, he spoke as fol-
lows: Ladies and gentlemen, fcl-
low citizens, my old Confederate
Comrades, all hail! Rev. Mr..
James spoke of a man standing be-
fore brigades. I'd rather stand be-
fore 40 brigades than attempt to full
fill the expectations of this vast host
of hearers, and that without speech
in my pocket! must thus face
the most magnificent audience it
was ever my duty to address. II
thus contradict the oft-repeated pun
made upon my name, for | thus
show myself brave man.
AS | look down your Main street
from this vantage a scene 50 years
ago rises to view. Spring was here,
as it is today; then, as now the sky
was blue, tender shoots were spring
ing from the earth and nature was
everywhere putting on new life.
These streets were thronged. But
what contrast between the cause
that moved your people then and
now!
Then, sturdy pioneers who had
subdued these hills and valleys and
had wrung from the subdued earth
the treasures locked in its bosom,
gathered here with the stern resolve
to defend the sacred rights granted
them by the constitution. They
came to vii dicate those rights grant
ed them in the constitution. The
foundation principles of justice and
freedom, imbedded in the sacred
document, they swore to vindicate,
and how they did it you see today.
Pm not expected to fight over our
battles. But the Confederate sol
dier today knows that he fought to
maintain the constitution given him
by the fathers and fought bravely
till ruin fell on this thinning ranks.
The Confederate soldiers came back
and determined, by Gods help, to
fight the additional battles. Apo
mattox is but a single phase of the
awful battles that now fell swiftly
and heavily upon him.
Wars din was over; it had passed
away; but there were difficulties
that tested all the manhood. There
was in our soldier, worn, crushed, q
high resolve, we came to the soil from
which he sprung to begin anew lifc's
battles. To reclaim what was left of
the broken constitution; to protect
those that relied upon justice, you
began your new struggles. This you
did in response to the command,
onward! Onward was the COM
mand. Did we respond? Let the
days of '76 speak. Modification
the vilest known in history, you had
to face. More awful it was than
any battle during the war. Sorrows