The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1912-09-06
SONS OF VETERANS
NOW FULLY ORGANIZED
Eloquent Address of Welcome
By Colonel J. T.
Dorsey.

meeting of the newly organized
camp of Sons of Confederate Veterans
of Marietta was held at the audi
forum armory on Aug. Goth, and full
staff of officers chosen. No opposi-
tioin was raised to the appointments
OF state commander Mullin of Rome
who organized the local camp and
appointed Capt. Fred Morris, com
mander and Col. Jno. T. Dorsey.
adjutant.
In addition to these officers the fol-
lowing were chosen to complete the
staff: Geo. F. Montgomery, LIST, 1t.
Commander; John r. Fowler, End.
LIT. Commander; DR.. w. H. Parkinson,
Surgeon; o. c. Mayes, Quartermaster;
w. P. Stephens, Treasurer; and Len
G. Baldwin, Historian.
w. P. Stephens, D. H. McCleskey
and H. L. Mayes were appointed by
the commander to constitute an ap-
plication committee to pass on new
members.
In connection with this meeting
we are taking the liberty of publish
ing the address of Col Dorsey well
coming the Sons of Veterans to Ma
riettta. The speech in part was as
follows:
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen:
At this hour, in 6rother part of the
city, our mayor is turning over to the
Veterans great wooden key to show
in some slight way the citys welcome
"a pass key to every loyal home,
whether the door be of polished glass
or implanted pine, for they and you are
welcome alike to the home of the mer-
chant prince, the professional man,
OF to that of the humblest laborer with
in our borders.
In all this beautiful language of ours,
few words indeed are as sweet sound
ing as welcome; few of as much
feeling; few around which linger
sweeter memories. May our utter
ance Of it be a glorious symphony;
may you realize that it comes from
the deepest recesses in its sincerity;
and may no memory of another re-
union in the coming Y ears be recalled
more pleasantly by you than this one
AS l look out over the faces of you,
my comrades, in fancy | live back in
the sixties. | see your fathers, and
mine, bidding goodbye to mother, sis
ter, wife, or weetheart-broad Shout
dered youths they were, clean of
limb, clear of eye, full of hope and
determination. l see them enter that
bloody conflict unappalled and una
fraid. l see them in all the din and
crash of earth's greatest holocaust
in the flush of victory-in all the
gloom of despair and death-and |
know soldiery so glorious ne'er trod
this old earth of ours. 1t is not mat
ter of wonderment, then, that the lead
EN- storm of the enemy's guns had no
terrors for him; it is not strange,
when bleeding and torn, he raised not
the white flag, but instead pointed a
streaming hand to the Southern Cross
with prayer on his lips.
Some one has said blot from
American history what the Confeder-
ate and the Federal soldiers did and
American history would lose more than
half its charm, and the splendor of
American manhood and courage would
be sadly diminished.
And again: Loyalty to those splen-
did memories does not now, and never
will, affect loyalty to the reunited
country which We love. The glory
of the Stars and Bars does not dimin-
ish that of the Stars and Stripes The
same stars that glittered on the Amer
lean flag before 1861 still glitter there
in all their brightness, and that bright
ness is enhanced. 1t is not dimmed
because of the fact that few of them
faded for a little while from the flag
of the republic. They reappear with
untarnished grandeur and reflect I'M
faded glory"
Your cherished purposes are to ever
keep green the memory of this match
less soldiery; to aid and urge the cree
tiCn of enduring monuments to them;
I to instill into your descendants a prop
er generation for the spirit and glory
of your fathers and to cultivate the ties
of friendship that should exist among
those whose ancestors have shared
common dangers, sufferings ard pri-
vations. Long may you wave!
1t is to you then, worthy sons Of
distinguished and glorious fathers, that
| extend the heartiest of welcomes in
behalf Of Camp Kennesaw, S. c. ",
the City of Marietta, and this grand old
county of historic battlefields.