Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1914-09-09
: !" 'S' "S' j. i. !. ]. !. j. !. j.
!. THE CONFEDERATE !.
> SOLDIER. u.
: i i il "S' i i j i i ES' :
September 5, 1914

speech before the survivors of
Orr's immortal regiment last Satur-
day at Walhalla, but as | did not
ask you to publish same that they
may read it:
The Reunion.
We have met to-day, my friends,
not to perpetuate triumph, hate or
civic discord, or to stir afresh the
fierce passions that once filled the
breast of every true Southern man,
but simply to pay tribute to the
chivalry and courage of the Confede-
rate soldier. / am glad to be here
to-day and look into the faces Of
these bullet-scarred veterans, upon
whose heads the snow that never
melts has fallen.
see men here to-day who charged
up the rocky sides of Gettysburg and
| imprinted on the cold, pittiless stones
there, in letters of blood, their chiv-
airy and their courage-men who
Quailed not at the destruction Of An
tietam. There is nothing Of an earth
ly nature that gets so close to my
heart and soul as the tender associa-
tions that cluster about the Confede-
rate Cause and her flag. Her SOL
diers were the most wonderful men
that ever lived, upon whom the Lord
God Almighty laid the sword of His
eternal knighthood. They made
fight that echoed around the world,
and this continent was shaken to it's
foundation. The very throne of Eng
land was made to quake and trem-
BILE.
The Confederate soldier Is unique,
having filled a place in history no
! other body Of men ever filed. The
armies under which Alexander con-
quered the world, the army which
followed Caesar across the Rubicon,
and that which Napoleon led across
the Alps, filled no such place in his
| tory as did the soldiers of the six
ties" They marched, watched and
| fought as no other men, with their
old slouched hats, their jackets torn,
| trousers rent, their blankets in
shreds and their haversacks empty,
often pressing the ice and snow with
| to the last ditch and to the death;
and thousands were wrapped in, the
winding-sheet of nations love and
laid to rest in their Cory beds. No
monument TO maGksStheir resting
! place but the htll$2God's Sentinels
! Of the plains; no flowers TO deck their
/ graves but the stars, the touch-me-
nots Of the angels; no tears were
shed but the showers from the sky;
no prayers in their last moments but
the signing of the winds through the
pines. But with angels and arch
angels and all the company of heaven
their spirits went to the great be-
yond.
The Confederate soldiers were as
grand in defeat as they were in VIC
tory; they obeyed to the letter the
last and noblest command Of their
mighty chieftain, to go home and
rebuild your devastated land, and
take care Of the women and chill
dren"; and at Appomattox, on the
9th of April, 1865, those men who
had fought with patriotic fury. suf-
tered priyations unequaled, met the
issue, and with sad hearts and wet
eyes they laid down the musket for
the hoe, the saber for the plow, the
sword for the pen and revived. They
have opened up the mines that the
South may pour forth her hidden
treasures Of coal and iron, copper and
lead, gold and silver, zinc, phosphate
and oil; they have built cities, fac
tories, churches and school houses.
The South went to the war pure
and returned pure and exalted; she
was not ashamed to own her cause,
her deeds and her sacrifices. She
was proud in her defeat, and humble
only before her God. No country
ever rose SO fair or fell so pure OF
crime! Who can say these veterans
before us to-day were soldiers of for
tune or soldiers of adventure? Not
cne! The Confederate soldiers were
glorious, they were grand in their eff
forts for noble principle, that was
nurtured in the pure soil OF a South
ern heart and blossomed under the
bullet showers Of battlefield. These
were men--the full measure and
stature of perfect men, born to meet