The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1922-07-14
THE LAST
all summer.

STOPPING shoulders were straight
ened this morning; dim eyes for an
hour were bright again. The "long
roll" was sounding through the sill
ence of sixty years; it was time to
"fall in" They answered to the old
names as they took their places
Jackson's' Stonewall brigade and
Hoods immortal Texans, Pickett's
men and Stuart's cavalry, the gun
ners of Poague and Breather, OF Gut
shaw and of Mcintosh. Every corps
of the Army of Northern Virginia
was represented; every army OF the
South|ohnston's and Bragg's, Dick
iTaylor's and Kirby Smith's-was mus
tered; Forests cavalry was ready to
spring to saddle at the first note OF
the bugle-call. Such a column it was,
gathered from every command in the
South, as might have marched in
grand victorious review if independ-
ence had been won in 1864 and a sea-
son of rejoicing had been decreed in
the capital of a 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 it was in numbers only a brigade.
And it was the last brigade. The con
seriousness of that fact, striking the
multitude while the cheer still was on
its lips, made many a man turn his
face away, and many a woman weep
openly.
The last brigade of the mighty di-
vision at whose tread a continent
shook-do the youth of this land real
ize that brigade contains the survi-
vors of the greatest army that ever
fought? Have fathers been faithful to
their sires and have they taught
that lesson to the little children of
today, the grandchildren of the Con-
;federacy? Have the young men read
Henderson's Jackson" Wyeth's
Forrest" and Captain Lees "Recol-
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 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 spar
ed a little longer-will the fourth
generation still venerate the South
ern cause? Will the inspiration we
men Of today have received from con-
tact with those gentlemen unafraid"
be transmitted onward century by
century or it will slowly disappear. AS
some agonized on Monument avenue
this morning, perhaps they looked up
and saw Lee in bronze. He was re-
viewing more of his soldiers than
ever again will pass before him on
earth. In the calm majesty of his at
titude toward them there was reas
surance. 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 1853 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 today.
AS there never we're such men in any
other army, they must live on. Meth
err the men nor the army ever can be
forgotten unless there rises in Amer
ica-a race whose neglect would be
honor-a race so ignoble that it
sconrs selfsacriice and loses love-
Editorial in Richmond News-Leader
during recent Confederate reunion.