The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-04-27

q
cate the South, and make clear the
principles for which she fought for
four years against such hopeless odds
OF this period I wish to discuss, not
the history, but those who made it;
not the causes for which the South
bore arms, but the unsurpassed valor
with which her soldiers waged their
warfare 1 would weave a wreath, not
of laurels for victory, but of lilies for
stainless honor, and place it upon the
brow of the Confederate soldier.
Someone has said that the Confed-
crate soldier is a distinct type in his
| tory. For what is he distinguished?
For the unique cause for which he
| bore arms, and the splendid heroism
| with which he waged his warfare
The love of conquest, the hope of re-
ward. and devotion to the person of
leader have moved men to deeds of
!, daring, but only the defense of home
and native soil. and the preservation
of inaIienable, rights can make such
soldiers as were the Confederate vol
unteers. The Roman legions of Gaze
sar the Old Guard of Napoleon, the
/ British Regulars of Wellington never
carried in their rank and file more
4
battered legions of Lee, nor did the
| Crusaders around the walls of Jerusa.
/ lem fight with a more devoted pur-
pose.
| Every great cause has a champion,
every great battle has it's hero. The
siege of Troy had its Hector, Carthage
| it's Hannibal, Bannockburn it's Bruce,
Blenheim its Marlborough. Waterloo
| its wellington; the struggle of the
/ United Netherlands for religious liber-
! ty had its William of Orange; English
resistance against the tyranny of the
| Stuarts had it's Oliver Cromwell; the
struggle of the American colonies for
| independence had its George Washing
ton, and the pre- eminent figure of the
war of secession was Robert Lee. He
was the ablest exponent of the South's
cause as well as the strongest defen-
der of her rights. His attitude toward
the war reflects the sentiment and
conviction of the conservative and
dominant element of the South's peo-
pie.
Lee was opposed to the war, and was
willing to make any reasonable sacri-
flee to avert it. He said: IF 1 owned
the four million slaves of the South I
would gladly sacrifice them every one
to preserve the union and peace" He
fought against what he believed was
armed aggression upon the rights of
the states, guaranteed to them by the
Constitution. In his address at the
dedication of Lees monument in Rich
monde Colonel Archer Anderson said:
Lee, if any man of the time, was
capable of weighing with calmness
the duty of the hour, and to him at
that moment, as at every other mo
ment of his spotless life, the only ques-
ton was to find out which way duty
pointed He took his stand by his
native state in her day of trouble and
with barred arm and drawn sword he
defied the world in arms. Mankind
never witnessed a sublimer spectacle
than Lees defense of Virginia and the.
South against the invasion of hostile
armies.
The great soul of Lee, and his atti-
tude toward the South's cause, are re-
vealed in single incident. After he
had retired from the union army,
where he might have had any position
had he consented to remain, and had
cast his lot with his native state, ne
was chosen to command the forces of
Virginia, and later those of the South. |
When a committee from the governor
of Virginia sought him to notify him
of his call to the head of the army, |
they found him resting in the quiet
of his home at Arlington. 1t was the
home of his ancestors, where every
object was endeared by long associa-
lions, and the very breezes whisper
ed the names of his i1lustrious sires. |
81
sacred by the dust of kindred When |
the committee informed him of its
mission Lee replied "Geptleman, /
am opposed to war, though bred TO |
the profession of a soldier. Especially |
do I deplore civil war-strife between
brother and brother. But / hear the |
voice of Virginia, like the voice of n
tender mother, calling me to defense |
of a soil that is as dear to me as the |
ashes of my ancestors who lie buried /
here I cannot resist the call of the |
state to whom / owe my first ale |
glance But / draw my sword only in |
her defense, and with the prayer that |
in asserting her sovereign rights / may |
not be compelled to shed the blood of /
my brethren"
But Lee has gone, conquered only by /
the great enemy, death. And his grey
battalions that stood like granite walls i
around the city of Richmond, and
across the path of Sherman's hosts in
the West and South, have been reduc
ed to a thin skirmish line. They have |
Joined the phantom hosts beyond the !
river, and their white tents are pitched |
on the green fields of Eden. One by
one they have answered the roll -call
of God, and with a few more years
they all will have passed to flames
eternal camping ground" But their
names are set like gems in the unfair
nishable gold of loving memory, and
the coming generations shall hear the /
story of their gallant deeds.
The New South.
Henry Grady said: THE South /
found her jewel in the toads head of /
defeat and the shackles which held
her in narrow limitations fell forever /
when the shackles of the negro slave
were broken" No longer hampered /
I1x- ct and nm