The Ocala evening star., 1915-01-19

smileS-sometlmes
Of the leaders of this army, of the
brilliant band whose fair fame grows
brighter with each passing year, this
is not the time or place to speak;
the peerless Commander, the Swift
winged Angel of the Flaming Sword,
the young knights who fell at Shi-
loh The list is long. We are not
here to speak of the leaders who had
their glory, they rest "On fame's
eternal camping ground" Of the men
in the ranks whose names have only
been known in the company's roster,
who without hope of fame or reward
fought and endured cruel hardships,
the story has never been adequately
told and can never be told in words,
but it was carved deep in the hearts
that ached and suffered through
them There were in those ranks,
men who had never known hardship,
whose experience of life had been in
their colleges and the drawing rooms
of their friends, who had never walk
ed except from choice or for recre-
alton, who had been served all their
lives by a personal attendant-body
servants they were called in the
South. There were young men with
every prospect before them of bril-
liant career. They had much to give
and they gave it freely, fortune, ca
reer, life itself There were those
who had only their lives to give, but
what gift could have been greater.
/ The army marched, marched and
/ fought through cold, through heat,
they lay on the ground in rain and
snow; sometimes there was sufficient
food; often at the last they were
hungry for the South was a desola-
ton. Clothes became rags and there
were no new ones to replace them;
shoes gave way and the soldiers
marched barefooted. Their route
could be traced by bloody tracks.
The battles took their grim toll and
the ranks grew pitifully thin. The
call came for more men, and older
men and younger boys responded, will
ling, eager, glad to meet the Lexing-
ton, beardless boys, volunteered twice
and were twice refused; the third
4 time so great was the need for troops
to meet the new army of Northern
hirelings that was marching on the
/ South, they were allowed to leave the
school. In their first battle at New
Market, they charged like veterans
and were moved down like grass
{. the little lads. Never was there such
an offering made on the altar of a
country as this. They were the very
flower of Southern chivalry, hel
young hope and fair renown. Oh
them it might well be said eve dc
!. not weep for them, rather rejoice that
! they fell while their hope was high
: and their courage strong. They hac
) lost no illusions, never felt the bur.
} den of years nor suffered the agony
of loss; their glory blazed round
pythem as the sun. OF them it was
J true that the trumpets were hardly
J done blowing when their happy stir
red souls leaped into the spirit
, land"
) Our tears and our love are for those
} who survived, who fought and endur
ed the long years to be outnumbereC
} at last. Thomas Nelson Page said o.
; the Southern army at Appomattos
: "That it was like finely tempered
sword which was worn to the hilt
: but the temper was as keen and true
; as when it first leaped from tn,
: scabbard." The men who left Apo
i mattox had to face a. future bull
: upon the wreck of everything the!
: held dearest. They turned their face
t to the South and found it ruin. t,
: the honor of every Southern soldie
t who survived the war; who received
]. his honorable discharge and returne,
? to his home to take up the burden o
4 life again, let it be said that it tool
a more courage and strength of will t.
e do that than it did to face the North
S ern guns. They went into a strug
s gle as grim and desperate as an,
e they had known. That they met.
e well is proven today in our Ne1
t South. How many of the soldier
f walked home, ragged, hungry, sicl
L heartbroken with disappointment an
: defeat to find the land wasted, n