The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1913-06-08
MEMORIAL DAY.
It's Observance i'm Shreveport by the
Veterans of Camp No. 3. U. C. ",
and Their FriendS-Address BY
Comrade Thomas B. Chase.

| 3. [. c. v, and their friends held APP
propriate exercises at the Confederate
Bivouac in Oakland Cemetery. where
Comrade Thos B. Chase delivered an
address with fervid eloquence which
enlisted the closest attention and won
for him the unstinted encomiums of his
hearers. His address Is as follows:
Comrades. Ladies and Gentlemen
We have assembled at this Biyouac of
the Dead to celebrate the natal day of
the first and only President of the Con
federate States of America. The sub
iect of this celebration. whose life ex-
tended through more than eight decades
the greatest characters of that mem
orable period, so fresh in our memories,
so crowded with events of stupendous
import,-has been more misunderstood,
and whether from ignorance of his mo-
tives, or from deliberate injustice, more
widely misrepresented than usually
falls to the lot even of the leaders of
an unsuccessful cause.
Born in 1908 in the State of Ken
lucky, Jefferson Davis, at the age Of 16,
matriculated at West Point Academy
as an appointee from his adopted State
of Mississippi. Graduating at the age
of 20, he served seven years in the
United States Army resigning to ac-
cept call from his fellow citizens to
public life; but again rendering his SER
vices to the Government at the out
break Of the Mexican war, in which he
won enviable( distinction as brave and
,, efficient officer.
His subsequent service In the United
States Senate and as Secretary of War
in the Cabinet of Franklin Pierce, with
his natural perspicacity and splendid
military education, eminently fitted
him for the position of Chief Magistrate
of the Southern Confederacy, to which
office he was elected by the Southern
people without any effort on his part
to secure that honor.
By the people Of the North, and by
some in the South, he has been regarded
as the very Apostle of Secession, and
responsible, more than any other per-
son, for the Civil War and the dire ca
lamities that followed in it's train.
A careful, dlspassionate study of his
career and speeches in the United
States Senate ought to convince any
fair minded person of his steadfast de-
votion to the Union, so undeniab bly, man
ifested in his vigorous opposition .tos the
Clay Compromise in 1850, Wherein he
urged the Northern representatives to
moderation and fairness, beseeching
them to desist from their efforts to over
ride the constitutional rights Of theft
Southern brethren, and warning them
of the ultimate dissolution Of the I'm
ion, If they persisted in their selfish
and inconsiderate course He VISA al
ways consistent advocate Of the doc
trine of State sovereignty, declaring
his unalterable loyalty to his own State
and his fixed determination to stand
by her, right or wrong.
At an advisory conference Of her
leading men, held prlor to the adoption
of the ordinance of secession by the
State of Mississippi, though upholding
her inalienable right under the Consti-
tuition to withdraw from the Union
whenever her safety demanded it, hesyet
counseled further forbearance and de-
lay, in the hope that the Northern
party might be made to see the justice
of the Southern demands and thus avert
a final separation which he prophetic
ally foresaw would result in bloody
war.
We cannot dwell upon the events Of
that memorable four years struggle
nor descant upon the valor and endur-
ance of the brave soldiers of the Con-
federacy. These have been told again
and again in song and story, by poet,
historian and orator, and we shall
never tire of listening to the eloquent
recital of the gallant deeds of Southern
heroes. Our purpose here is to pay
brief, inadequate triubte to the memory
Of the great leader, who held the helm
Of the Ship Of State, guiding the frail
but gallant bark upon the stormy wa
tiers Of an unequal struggle, remaining
1T his perilous post until the battered
vessel was engulfed by the mountain
ous pillows of o'erwhelming numbers,
shall not attempt to recite the oe-
'urrences of the gloomy days following
the termination Of the Civil War, nor
shall animadvert upon the bitter in
tolerance of those apostles of sectional
hate who clamored for the incarcera-
ton and even execution of Jefferson
Davis, as a vicarious atonement for
he sins Of the whole Southern people. |
Let 1T Suffice that wisnr oonn,al 49,