Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1922-07-19
j. IL .g' IL Il Il IL j. j. :. !. !. !. i.
IL THE LAST BRIGADE. !.
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Editorial In Richmond News-Leader
during Confederate Reunion.)

uuIlHS CoHleuerut9 RounlOn.J
STOPPING shoulders were straight
cncd this morning; dim eyes for an
hour were bright again. The long
rolf was sounding through the 81
lcnce Of sixty years; it was time to
fall in They answered to the old
names as they took their places
Jackson's Stoncwall Brigade and
Hoods immortal Texans, Pickett's
men and Stuar.'s Cavalry, the gun
ncrs Of Poague and Breathed, Of Cut
shaw and Of Mcintosh. Every corps
was represented; every army Of the
South-Johnson's and Bragg's, Dick
Taylor's and Kirby Smith's-was
mustered; FORESTS Cavalry was
ready to spring to saddle at the first
note Of the bugle-call. Such col
umn 1t was, gathered from every
command in the South, as might
have marched in grand victorious re-
view If independence had been won
in 1864, and season Of rejoicing
had been decreed in the capital Of
triumphant nation.
1t was the whole Confederate army
TO which the city paid homage-the
whole army Of which Lee had been
given supreme command too late.
Yet 1t was in numbers only bri-
gade. And it was the last brigade.
The consciousness Of that fact, strik-
ing the multitude while the cheer
still was on its lips, made many
man turn his face away, and many
woman 10 weep openly.
The last brigade Of the mighty di-
visions at whose tread continent
shook--do the youth of this land
realize that brigade contains the sur
vivors Of the greatest army that ever
fought? Have fathers been faithful
to their sres and have they taught
that lesson to the little children Of
to-Gay-the grandchildren of the
Confederacy? Have tho young men
read IIenderson's Jackson" Wy
eth's Forrest" and Capt. Lees "Rec-
elections and Letters" Of his father?
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 question,
shapes itself, combat ii as one may:
When the rear file Of the last bri-
gade has passed, as it must despite
the prayers of the South that it be
spared a little longer-wll The
fCulth generation still veneratc the
Southern cause? Will the inspiration
we men OF to-day have received from
contact with thd;e "gentlcmen un-
afraid" be transmitted onward cen
tnry by century, or will it slowly
disappear? AS some agOnized thus
or Monument avenue this morning,
perhaps they looked up and saw Lee
IL bronze. He was reviewing more
of his soldiers than ever again will
pass before him on earth. In the
calm majesty of his attitude toward
lNclll tncIc WIS tcdSSuIoHCe. lie
was as proud Of, them as they Of
him. lie knew, a. none did, what
lis 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 never were 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 Of
to-day. 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
ignoble that IL scorns self-sacrifice
and loses love.
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