The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-05-26
GREAT OVATION
Given President Taft on His
Visit TO Virginia
MAKES GOOD SPEECH
In Which He Pays a High Tribute
to the Confederate Soldier-De-
clares the Ceremonies Are Proof
Conclusive of the Uniting for All
Time of the Sections.
Time Of the Sections.

!
Conclusive Of the Uniting for AL
Time Of the Sections.
President Taft Wednesday was the
guest of both Pennsylvania and Vir-
ginia when ne delivered an address
at Fort Malone. following the un-
yelling of monument and statue Of
General John F. Hartranft, erected
in memory Of Pennsylvania soldiers
who fell in the fighting about Peters
| burg during the war between the
States and later became the guest
Of Petersburg at a luncheon and re-
ception.
The presidents visit to Petersburg,
once the citadel of the Confederacy,'
has had the city aflutter for more
than month, and the plans for his
entertainment surpassed anything of
the sort ever undertaken here. The
occasion of Mr. Taft's first visit into
the South as president was taken
advantage Of by the Virginians for a
display of hospitality for which the
section long has been noted.
Upon his arrival shortly after 6
o'clock the president was driven to
the old battlefield so rich in historic
interest. He first witnessed at Fort
Stedman the unveiling of a tablet
which stands on the spot where the
third division of the ninth army
corps, commanded by General Hart
ranft, later governor of Pennsylva-
MIA, recaptured the works on March
25, 1865, after they had been taken
by General John B. Gordon and 100
picked men before daybreak of the
same day.
From Fort Stedman the president
and his party were driven the mile
and a half to Fort Malone, where the
Hartranft statute has been construct
ed at cost of s50,O00. Every inch
of the way trayersed by the chief
executive witnessed bloody battles
during the siege of Petersburg. Old
soldiers in blue and in gray rode
side by side from Stedman to Ma
hone
At the unveiling of the Hartranft
statue President Taft said:
I'VE are met on the soil of Vir-
ginia to dedicate memorial to the
bravery of the sons of Pennsylvania,
exhibited in a contest to death with
the sons of Virginia and the South.
We stand here in the center of the
bloodest and most critical operations
of the last year of the Civil War,
only few miles distant form that
dramatic scene at Appomattox be-
tween Grant and Lee, which marked
the great qualities Of the heart and
soul of each and which was the real
end of the terrific struggle between
the two sections.
Here, in and about Petersburg,
the outwork of Richmond, the home
of the Confederacy, were carried on
those besieging operations, begun
late in the spring of 1854 and con-
tinued with the courage and tenacity
Of purpose characteristic of the fed
eral commander, for nearly year,
and resisted with the bravery and
strategy and the wealth of expedient
of the Confederate leader, until the
forces of the South, worn out by
constant assaults and incessant ham
mering, were compelled to yield to
greater numbers and resources of the
North
President Taft added: cit is A
years since the battle of Fort Stead
man. In that time the bitterness of
the internecine struggle has passed
away and we now treasure as COM
mon heritage Of the country the bra
very and valor of both sides in that
controversy" The president paid
tribute to the Southern forces by
saying that contest was given by
the Confederate soldiers which by
any other than the tried and sea-
soned veterans Of Virginia would
have long before been abandoned.
He continued: 1--WE could not
dedicate. this beautiful and enduring
memorial to the volunteer soldiers
of Pennsylvania with such sense OF
it's justice and appropriateness had
they not been confronted by an en-
emy capable of resisting their as
saults with equal valor and forti-
tude.'
He said that the ceremonies of to-
day were conclusive proof of the
uniting Of the sections and that all
that was done was well done. He
said the Army of Northern Virginia
fought for a principle they believed
to be rigth.
KILLED BY TRAIN.