The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1907-05-30
MEMORIAL DAY ADDRESS
TOCONFEDERATE VETERANS
WILLIAMSBURG COUNTY DELIVERED
BY REV. ]. E. MAHAFFEY On
MAY 10, 1907.


and Fathers of the Confederacy:
] deem it very great honor you
have conferred upon me, one OF the
sons of the Confederacy, IN calling
upon ME to address you on this oc'
casion. Ours is a great nation
great in history, great in achieve
ments, because great in manhood and
character. am proud of it. But
I am especially proud of this, our
Southland, which in so many res
pects is the Fatherland in those
things that have made our nation
great.
l am not a native of the United
: States Twas born in the Confeder-
ate States of America, upper South
Carolina, in 1854. I~ proud OF
that Southern spirit wnlch has IN
carnated itself into type of man
hood and womanhood that it is dis
tinguIshed above all other types un-
der the,shiuing sun. lam especial
ly proud of the achievements that
have been attained and the positions
occupied by Southern men, as from
time to time the light of their supe-
rior genius and patriotic daring has
flashed from the great mountain
peaks of the worlds progress. Be-
ginning with the very foundations
Of our government it is the Southern
man who has taken the conspicuous
initiative in nearly all of the great
movements that have resulted in the
betterment of society and humanity.
The first president of the United
States, and the most illustrious
American that has ever lived-"the
man first in war, first in peace, and
first in the hearts of his country
men"-the CHIEF. .command der of the
army which won the lndepen dence
of the colonies and whom by common
acclaim we still delight to call "the
Father of His Country"-was a
Southern man. The commander
in.chief of the continental navy IN
the war of the Revolution was q
Southern man, James Nicholson,
and 30 also was the first president
of the continental congress,-Pey-
ton Randolph-and 1t was Richard
Henry Lee, Southern member of
that congress, who was the author
and mover of the adoption
of the resolution declaring the
colonies to be free and independ-
ent States. The greatest American
orator-the man whose words most
inspired the American heart and
moved the American arm in the
struggle for independence, was a
Southern man. 1t was the worlds
greatest Democrat, Southern man,
who was the author of the Declara-
ton Of Independence, which h is the
most famous production of any Am
esican pen, and when the Ameri'
can people met to celebrate the Gen.
tennial of that Declaration, it was
Sidney Lanier, u Southern man, who
was selected to write the poem for
the opening of that occasion. James
Madison, the "Father of the Con-
stitutlon,'' was a Southern man;
John Marshall, its greatest expound-
er and the greatest American Jurlst,
was a Southern man. And when,
in the fullness of time, the Union
came to celebrate the centennial OF
that immortal instrument, it was
Samuel F Miller, a Southern man,
who was chosen as the orator of that
memorable and imposing occasion.
For more than half the period OF
its existence, the government foiped
by that constitution was administer
ed by presidents, who were Southean
men, and the years of their admin
istration mark by far the happiest,
most illustrious and bene6cent eras
of the Union.
1t was the craftsmanship of Pres