The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-05-19
THE HERITAGE
OF THE E WAR
memorial Address at Greenyiue, n. G., by J. W. Bailey)

and immeasurably benefcent self-con-
fdence. What the new Republic
needed was solidarity; we could never
have been a mighty nation without II.
The great war brought US that. ana
l do not know how else It could nave
been obtained. 1t is we'll that 1T was
so terrible and SO great; for other
wise so great a fruition could not
have been wrought out. The nations
Of the earth know us, and we know
ourselves, as could not have been pos
sible but for a struggle so tremen-
dOus and so magnificently recovered
from.
War Gave Us Traditions.
The great war gave us our traditions
and a people cannot be a mighty
nation without traditions. God be
praised for the richnes Of ours. The
Revolution was not Sufficient-it did
not reach the American people; they
had not arrived. We will always hon
| or Washington and jefferson; but LINZ
coin and Lee will ever lead the nation
on at heart. We gain political Ideals
| from the more remote fathers; but the
Northern youth cherishes the Charac-
ter Of Lincoln, and the son OF the
| South holds a shrine in his heart for
Lee. Our songs and our poems are
not Of the struggle with Great Brl-
tam, CnCV are OF IEe due LII III
Gray. Our hero stories Of the Revo-
luton are few; but countless and very
near to our hearts are our hero stories
of Manassas, OF SpOttSylvania,. OF
Chickamauga. Of the Valley Campaign
and of Gettysburg. These traditions
are the life Of the Republic-the
spirit of our civilizations: IN them are
our children educated, in them we live
and move and a our being as a
people. They are the warp and woOf
Of the fabric Of our national life. And
/ cannot imagine by what other means
we could have gained traditions so
rich and full of strength and beauty
ave in q war SO fierce and SO great.
Nor can I imagine how poor a people
we should be without their glory.
Behold then this mighty Republic
united, strong, sure Of her destiny
the home of the happiest and most
prosperous people that the sun in his
courses ever shone upon; leading the
vanguard Of ciyilization; and the ligh'
of liberty and progress TO all peoples
This mighty Republic the fruition O
that great war; the harvest Of tn
tears and the suffering and the blOol
Of those, equally one the one sid
IS on the other, who wholly CAV
themselves to that titanic struggle.
Such is the heritage Of the war tina
ended in the surrender at Appomatto.
now fifty years ago.
: Richer Than The North.
7 And I must say that in this price
/, less heritage Of the war, with respec
e to the war itself at any rate, the SOut
= is richer than the North, and Mort
Carolina richest Of all the South Fo
the world knows how splendidly tn
e South fought against fearful odd
+; duced at once a soldiery and captain
e second to none in all the annals {
n the race. The stamina Of the me
that followed Lee and Jackson, the
0 sheer fighting ability, their capacity
It overwheim, at first, and at the last
resist. dying by thousands, has new
n been surpassed, n can never be; II
1t they did all that mortal men could d
is TennysOn has given Immortality
1t n British regiment: but the Sout
le a tell its story of a score Of reg
n mentS that made charges more de
Is perate and that lost ninety per ce
re Of their number in a charge. Pi
ul county's son led a charge in viii,
as every man of his regiment was kill
o. or
is And as for North Carolina-wh
1 other people has sent one into bait
in six Of it's entire population-me
s. Wome and children-and left the
Sc one in five Of those so sent? I am
DIS those who think the records ma
BOOu our Cram TO nave Deen HrSI
We Bethel and last at A~ppoInattox: b
beside this other record Of givi
st within four years her entire male pc
es u.atiOn to battle and leaving on t
s. field of honor one-ffJh of them
ry dead and wounded, what matters me
an first and last? What tremendC
1T fighting force the fact convinces us
n what fierce stamina; what cOuras
lot what moral earnestness; what de,
II ton to duty; what love Of home a
native land; what manhood? Seei
hat the Southern armies consisted
to the entire fighting population Of
ed South, we have here a
ed testimony to the character Of our p
tie pie. a testimony TO the blood that n
Of man and Roman and Spartan mis-
or we'll cOvet.
of G OF States.
18th OF such as these is our Comm
wealth.. And because OF these
have right TO esteem her reatest
ave all States. as III trt.th she is. Tn
Axe were our fathers. Who are We. {