Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1922-07-20
THE LAST BRIGADE.
Richmond Paper Comments ON
Confederate Reunion.

hNNSia atc veterans Ill tnaC city:
STOPPING shoulders were straight
this morning; dim eyes for an
hour were bright again. The
long roll was sounding through
the silence of ~ years; it was
time to fall ill.," They answered
to the old names as they took
their places-Jackson s Stonewall
brigade and Hoods immortal
Texans, Pickett's s men and Stu
art cavalry, the gunners of
Poague and Breather, of Cutshaw
and OF Mcintosh. Every corps
OF the Army of Northern Virginia
was represented; every army
OF the South - Johnton and
Bragg's, Dick Taylor's and Kin
by Smith 's-waS mustered; For
rest S cavalry was ready to spring
tC saddle at the first note of the
bugle call. Such column it was,
gathered from every command in
the South, as might have marched
in grand victorious review if in
dependence had been won III
1864 and season of rejoicing
had been decreed in the capital
OF Il triumphat nation.
1t was the whole Confederate
aimy to which the city paid hom.
age-the whole army of which
Lee had been gwen supreme com
mand too late. Yet it was i'll
numbers only a brigade. And It
was the last brigade. The con-
seriousness of that fact, striking
the multitude while the cheer was
still on its lips, made many a man
turn his face away, and many a
woman weep openly.
The last brigade of the mighty
division at whose tread a CONT
nent shook-do the youth of this
land realize that that brigade con-
tains the survivors of the greatest
army that ever foughtY Have ia
theirs been faithful to their sires
and have they taught that lesson
to the little children Of today,
the grandchildren of the Confed-
eracy? Have the young men read
Henderson's Jackson" Wyeth 8
'Forrest" and Capt. Lees Rec
objections and Letters' of his ia
ther? Do the people who hung
out those Confederate flags this
morning know with what rich
hearts blood those banners were
dyed?
The other, the inevitable, ques-
ton shapes itself, combat it as
one may. When the rear file Of
the last brigade has passed, as it
must, despite the prayers of the
South that it be spared little
lOnger-will the fourth genera
ton still venerate the Southern
cause? Will the inspiration we
men of today have received from
contact with those "gentlemen
unafraid' be transmitted onward
century by century or will it
slowly disappear9 AS some or
ganized OH Monument avenue
this morning, perhaps they look
ed up and saw Lee in bronze. lie
was reviewing more of his sol
diers than ever again will pass
before him on earth. In the calm
majesty of his attitude toward
them there was reinsurance. He
was as proud of them as they of
him. He knew, as none did, what
his soldiers were and what they
had achieved. AS early as 1868
he wrote John b. Hood, "There
were never such men in an army
before
''There were never such men
in an army before Repeat the
words. Memorize them. They
are the answer to all the vague.
dread of tomorrow that somehow
assails the heart today. AS there
never were such men in any other
army, they must live on. Neither
the men nor the army ever can
be forgotten unless there rises in
America a race whose neglect
would be hOnOr--a race. so igno.
bic that it scorns self sacrifice
and loses love.