Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1913-06-24
ELOQUENT Memorial Address.

Excerpts from the address of General
Bennett n. Young. of Louisville, KY, Grand
Commander of the United Confederate Vet
Grams of the South, delivered Tuesday, June
3, 1913, in the Lee Memorial Chapel at Wash
ingtop and Lee University. on the occasion
of Confederate Memorial Day:]
No city of equal population in the world
can boast of such treasures rs Lexington,
Va. No cathedrals. no monuments can
give such distinction as has come to this
place, where reposes amidst the beauty and
grandeur of the surrounding mountains the
sacred dust of Robert e. Lee and Stonewall
Jackson. Men have come and will continue
to come from all parts of the world to pay
homage to these great names.
One hundred and five years ago, in small
village, Fairview, Todd county, KY, Jeffer-
son Davis was born. He became the Fl st
and only President of the Confederate
States, and majority of the people of the
Southland have chosen his natal day as the
anniversary for spreading flowers on the
graves of our precious and glorious dead.
We are assembled at this hour to cemmeno-
rate the deeds and achievements of those
who died for South in its heroic struggle
for national life.
| About 650,O0O men died to settle the issue
OF the war. The Crimean War cost $50 600
lives. the japanese Russian War took AGO..
600 lives While more than ,ne-third of all
the enlistened men of the South went down
in battle, over 43o, 900 of their en- emies died
before the Confederates were Conquered.
There are some things which may be truly
said OF the Confederate States that can be
spoken of no other nation of equal numbers
and of equal length OF national life. and it is
the pre-eminence which makes Southern
history ever radiant with glory and illustri-
Gus in deed A partial enumeration Of these
will suffice to impress upon you the thought
which it is important to fix in the minds of
all these people of the South.
| First No nation of equal numbers, with
the limitations oflarge population ofslaves,
enlisted PROFESSIONALLY SO vast number of
men under its standards.
Second. No nation of equal numbers ever
undertook to defend so vast territory.
| Third. No greater army ever fought SO
many battles In SO brief period, or suffered
such tremendous losses. One man in every
three who wore the Confederate uniform
died on the battlefield or from woundsrs-
ceived in con flict or in the hospital.
| Fourth. No nation or country has ever
shown such universal regard for the mem
DRY of its soldiers, nor builded proportion
ately, so manv monuments to voice their
heroism and their valor
| Another remarkable feat ure of this great
war from 1861 to 1865 is the large percentage
Immortality among the officers on the Con-
| fedsrate side. There were in all 464 Confed-
crate generals. There were ,99i Federal genel
ais The number of Federal generals killed
or who died of wounds received in battle
was 49, The number of Confederate gener
ais killed or who died OF wounds received in
battle was 49, These figures demonstrate
the great courage of the COME crate gener
ais. who so recklessly exposed themselves
and led their troops where they babe then
go. The Con rederates furnished the only
commander Of large army on either sid,
who was killed in battle. and that was thu
: brilliant. great and distinguished Alb r
Sidney johnson, who fell at Shiloh.
; England. with her thousand years Of ns
tional life and ceaseless conflict aud string
: gle, with her resting place in westminste
. for her most renowned dead. has no sucl
riches as TIE memory of Robert e. Lee. A
one stands by the tomb of Napoleon. wber
there has been displayed all that art and ge
Nous can devise to create a soft and senti
mental halo. there is nothing there as grea
as the tomb of stonewali Jackson a. Lexing
: ton, Va