USA > North Carolina > Guilford County > Greensboro > The history of the first North Carolina reunion at Greensboro, N. C., October eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth, nineteen hundred and three > Part 8
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Representing the greatest of Southern cities on behalf of those sons who have gone abroad, I wish to pay a tribute to the great work of those who have stayed at home. The Land of Terrapin and Oysters gives the hearty hand of congratulation to the State of 'Possum and Potatoes.
This great Reunion of Carolinians from all parts of the nation thrills the heart and brings tears to the eyes. For we are home again, back in our mother's house, in the dear old fatherland. No matter how far we may wander, it is always "down home" to us. It is fitting that this Reunion is held in a city whose past is historic, whose present shows the remarkable enterprise of recent time, and whose people have their faces turned towards the future.
On the battlefield of Guilford Courthouse, almost in the edge of this city, Marylanders stood shoulder to shoulder with North Carolinians in the bloody fight against Cornwallis and his British soldiers. They have been closely allied ever since that baptism of blood; and North Carolina has no reason to feel ashamed of the sons she has given to her sister State.
Wherever he has gone, the North Carolinian is known for his frankness and his friendliness. Independent by heritage and tradition, carrying with him the sturdy virtues of his native State, he has been a great factor in many other commonwealths. This North Carolina spirit, "to be and not to seem", has been an important contribution to American character.
But the State has been too modest to claim the credit it deserved. The organization of North Carolina Societies in New York, in Philadelphia, in Atlanta, Richmond, and Baltimore, has resulted in developing a more ardent State pride, and in binding the people of those cities closer to the place of their nativity. I believe that similar results would follow the organization of such societies in every large city and in every State in the Union, and I believe that the societies shonll be unitedl in a federation that will link them together and unite their efforts for the good and glory of the old State.
I propose, Mr. Chairman, that. in order to give permanency to the enthusi- asm of this great Reunion, a committee of thirty members be appointed to form-
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ulate a plan for the federation of these societies, and to stimulate their organi- zation in cities and States where they do not now exist. I know what such societies can do, from what our Baltimore Society has accomplished in a single year. It has bound together the North Carolinians of Baltimore in friendship and brotherly feeling; it has brought them to know each other, and to appreciate each other. Last July, on the battlefield of Gettysburg, we held a celebration, and gathered there, forty years after that bloody conflict, some of the most notable survivors and descendants of those who won undying fame in this great- est battle in our history. There, on the very spot where the Tarheels carried the Stars and Bars "farthest at Gettysburg", right at the angle where the Confederacy swept to its highest tide, looking over the field where Pettigrew with his North Carolinians came charging across in the face of the Federal guns, we sang "Carolina", and raised the chorus, "The Old North State Forever".
I have never witnessed a more affecting scene than that when Colonel John R. Lane, commander of the matchless Twenty-sixth North Carolina Regiment, standing on the battlefield where he was terribly wounded in the charge, clasped hands with Mr. Charles McConnell, of the Michigan Iron Brigade, who fired the shot that came so near ending the Carolinian's life. While the band played the "Star-Spangled Banner", and hundreds of Confederates and Yankees who had met in mortal combat on that field cheered and sang the song, the tears stream- ing down their cheeks, and hands clasps in brotherhood, I felt that once more we had a re-united country.
North Carolina's part in that battle, one of the most glorious pages in our history, had never received proper recognition from the outside world. This celebration gave it the widest publicity all over the United States, and, I believe, for all time set it right in the eyes of the nation. That is only one of many things that a North Carolina Society can do.
I believe that we from other States who have come to this Reunion have received a fresh baptism of patriotism, and will carry back with us an even deeper love and more ardent devotion to the great State that gave us birtb.
Response of President R. P. Pell, of South Carolina
When some of us North Carolinians left our native State, we had the happy fortuue to fall into the hands of our twin sister. This hospitable matron, though smaller in stature than our beloved mother, claims the sole right to the family name, "Carolina". We have not resented this assumption, but have preferred to put upon it the charitable construction that it is an act of exquisite courtesy, intended to leave upon us the impression that we are not foreigners, but her own sons and daughters. If a stranger, wandering into her bounds, reveals any peculiar virtues, these good people, instead of investigating his Statehood, quietly take it for granted that by reason of these very excellencies he must have been born a South Carolinian, and readily absorb him into their State-con- sciousness. This unique task seems indigenous to this elime, and the only ade- quate explanation a North Carolinian can offer for it is to suppose that the whole population is composed of Ransoms and Aldermans. Let me say that, just as we are not ashamed of the people from whom we went, so we are not ashamed of the people amnong whom our lot has been east. Their reverential devotion to the memories of a noble ancestry, their loyalty to both persons and principles,
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President R. P. Pell, of Converse College, South Carolina
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their philosophie insight into political problems, their lofty standard of social purity, their ever-watchful conservatism -- all these command our admiration. But I am proud to declare that whatever respect and confidence we have now in our new home, are due to the moral and intellectual equipment we have received from the good Old North State. It was here, upon this blessed soil, that we learned to trust in the ultimate supremacy of true manhood, to exercise inde- pendence of thought and action, to cherish a fraternal feeling for all classes, to maintain fair-mindedness in discussion, to pay respect to constituted authority, and to keep the open mind and heart without which not even the partiality of our best friends could have rescued us from deserved obscurity. Happily, these characteristics of the two States are not mutually exclusive; but are comple- mentary; and are thoroughly appreciated by both. Let me give you an instance. Perhaps, if you could gauge the depths of Dr. McIver's heart, you would find that probably his highest ambition is to rank as one of the best expressions of the democratic spirit. Now South Carolina is the most aristocratic-democratic and democratic-aristocratic State in the Union. When Dr. McIver came to South Carolina, at my invitation, to address us on the educational question, his slogan of "the people, the people, the people" made me quake as to its effect upon that staid audience. But he actually joked and argued them into believing that everything else in the world was absurd and unreasonable except his own speech, and to my astonishment his sallies wrung from his hearers roars of applause and characteristic North Carolina yells.
Now, my brethren, when we left you our heart did not depart from you, nor did our eyes close upon you. With kindling pride we have watched your attack upon the momentous problems that have had to be confronted by all of our Southern States. Many a time have we longed to break loose for a moment from the bonds of our new citizenship, to resume our place in your ranks, and do our part in your warfare. But you have never needed our help, or that of any other man. Your campaign has been grounded, planned, and conducted upon the invincible platform (which may you never surrender), that the fullest opportunity must be given to every man to be and to do his best. When you have been temporarily defeated, you have not skulked to your homes in disgust, and repudiated the ballot; nor have you in bitterness of spirit encouraged rebel- lion against law and order; but have quietly planted your standard again and again upon your trust in the right-mindedness and right-heartedness of the people. No wonder you have been victorious, and the colony of Tarheels in South Carolina send you their congratulations, and bid you Godspeed!
And, now, I have the inexpressible gratification of announcing that the memorable incident relative to the remark of the Governor of North Carolina to the Governor of South Carolina is coming to a close; for that "long time between drinks", under the beneficent effects of recent legislation, is slowly but surely drawing itself out into an eternal drought.
Response of Honorable L. D. Tyson, of Tennessee Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen:
This is, indeed, a proud day for the sons and daughters of Old North Caro- lina, who have wandered away from the fold, and have taken up their abode in distant lands.
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There is a touch of sadness, as well as joy, as we return here today and look into the faces of those whom we have left-sadness because we feel that our lot has separated us, perhaps forever, from this land and this people whom we love; but joy when we feel that we are again amongst our kith and kin, and amidst the dear old scenes of our boyhood and girlhood.
For-
"Breathes there a man with soul so dead, "Who never to himself hath said: This is my own, my native land; Whose heart within him ne 'er hath burned, As homeward his footsteps he hath turned."
My friends, I love this old State. I love its people; I love its memories and associations; I love its honesty and its candor; I love its true, old-time, and generous hospitality; I love its stately old pines and grand old oaks that are found on every hand; I love its mountains and its rivers, its balmy air, and its warm, life-giving sunshine.
Aye! I love everything that is in this dear old State-from its towering mountains that kiss the very dome of heaven on the West, down to that grand old ocean that beats with eternal and sublime roar upon its sandy shores on the East.
This day is one that I have long looked forward to in my imagination. Many a time in my dreams, when far away, have I seen myself invited back to my native land on an occasion such as this. Until I received an invitation to be present here today, it was a dream that I never expected to see realized.
But, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to say that I have never been prouder of anything in my life than I have of the invitation to appear before you here today. I feel the full significance of this Reunion; and the only regret that I have is that I have not been able to win a rich wreath of laurels to bring back and to lay at the feet of the grand old mother State, so that she might lay her hand upon my head, and say, "Well done, my son".
The people of North Carolina have much to be proud of. I have studied the history of all the States of this Union; and I say, without fear of disparaging any other, that in patriotism, in valor, in love of freedom, in enlightenment, in hospitality, and in indomitable determination to maintain the right as God has given her to see the right, she has few peers and no superiors.
But, ladies and gentlemen; I come to you today from that fair land across the Great Smoky Mountains that was once a part of this State, and which is now called Tennessee.
I come from a land that is as patriotic, as rich, as beautiful, as fertile, as sunny, as balmy, and as healthful as old Carolina. I come from a land of peace and plenty, verily flowing with milk and honey; a land where nature vies with man in producing everything that is beautiful and good; a land of fertile val- leys, of verdant hillsides, of lowing herds. of rolling vistas of bluegrass and of snowy fields of cotton; a land that is bounded on the East by grand and lofty mountains that gradually fade away to the Westward boundary, where glides the great Father of Waters as he slowly winds his eternal burden to the sea.
The first settlers of Tennessee were almost wholly from North Carolina. They were of the same stock as the old mother State. They had been bred and born here in old Carolina, with the loftiest ideas of freedom and independence: and they have proven themselves worthy of their ancestors in every walk and circumstance of life.
Honorable L. D. Tyson, of Tennessee Speaker of the House of Representatives
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The history of Tennessee is closely interwoven with the most glorious and the most stirring events of our great Republic. The early struggles of her set- tlers against the Indians is one long story of heroism and of valor.
Though her population was a mere handful, with a courage and determina- tion that was sublime, her patriotic sous marchedl across the mountains in the darkest hour of the Revolution, and in conjunction with a few gallant men from North Carolina and Virginia they sought out the British, and fought and won the decisive and important battle of King's Mountain, on the seventh day of October, 1780. This battle was suggested. planned, and largely led by Tennes- seeans. This decisive blow, coming as it did in the darkest hour of the Revolu- tion, was of untold benefit to the patriot cause, and perhaps the brightest jewel in the crown of Tennessee.
This country can never do too much honor to the brave men who conceived and fought that memorable battle.
Tennessee became a State in 1796. When her constitution was adopted, it was admitted by all that she possessed the most thoroughly democratic form of government of any State in the Union.
Tennessee holds the old mother State iu grateful remembrance for all the favors that she has lavished upon her daughter; but I think it will be admitted that in the last seventy-five years the daughter has done great honor to the old mother, and has made a deep impress upon the history of our country.
The State of North Carolina can not fail to feel proud of this fact, because a great deal of the best blood of Tennessee was contributed by North Carolina.
She contributed to Tennessee the three young men who, as citizens of Ten- nessee, were to attain the highest position in the gift of the American people, and to become the Presidents of the United States, viz .: Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, and Andrew Johnson. Every one of them great men-men who made their impress as statesmen on the history of the Republic. And as for old Hick- ory, by many considered the greatest soldier and statesman that this country has produced, he has so left his impress upon Tennessee and Tennesseans that his glory is a part of the glory of the State.
From the year 1820 to the year 1950, the State of Tennessee produced more great men and commanded a greater influence in the nation than any other State.
At the outbreak of the Mexican War, the Governor called for three thous- and volunteers, and thirty thousand responded. So many more volunteered than were needed by the Government, and there was so much rivalry as to who should be allowed to go, that it had to be decided by lot; aud thus she won for herself the proud distinction of being called the Volunteer State. Her sons fought gallantly on every battlefield of that war, and added imperishable glory to the annals of our country.
When the great civil war broke out in 1861, a vast number of the people of the State were opposed to secession; and while she contributed more than thirty thousand men to the Union Army, she nevertheless sent as many men to the Confederate Army as any other Southern State: and it is said had more men killed in battle than any other Southern State, with the single exception of North Carolina.
The gallantry of her sons was shown on hundreds of battlefields in that great war. With the exception of Virginia. her soil was the principal battle- ground of the war; and her people suffered untoll hardships. On her soil were fought some of the greatest battles of the war at Fort Donelson. Fort Henry, Shiloh. Murfreesboro, Franklin, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga; and
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Chickamauga, the greatest battle of the West, was practically fought upon her soil, and largely by her own troops-to say nothing of hundreds of skirmishes and combats. There never was a time from the second year of the war until its close when Federal troops were not camped upon her soil. With the exception of Georgia and Virginia, she suffered more than any other Confederate State. General Joseph E. Johnston, the great Confederate Commander, said of Tennes- see that she was the "Shield of the Confederaey".
But, thank God, those trying times are forever past; the tattered flags are forever furled; the rattling drum beats are forever silenced; the bugle notes that called those intrepid hearts to battle have forever faded away; and today we stand a re-united country.
But the memories of those who fell are not dead-their deeds of heroism are a heritage to our children, and to our children's children, the memory of which we will not permit to pass away.
"On fame's eternal eamping ground Their silent tents are spread; And glory guards, with solemn round, The bivouac of the dead."
When the tocsin of war sounded in 1898, and this country was called upon to join in a war of humanity, to rescue the little island of Cuba from four hun- dred years of Spanish oppression and tyranny, the sons of Tennessee, with that patriotism which had always characterized them, again sprang to arms, and were ready again to sacrifice their lives on the altar of their re-united country.
But, while Tennessee, throughout her history, has been renowned in war; she has been no less renowned in peace.
Today only the welcome sounds of peace and the busy hum of progress are to be heard within her borders.
We of Tennessee feel that she has a glorious past and a brilliant future.
She is blessed with every natural gift that Providence in its most lavish mood could bestow.
Her material resources are greater than those of almost any State in the Union. She has vast forests of timber; her mountains are filled with minerals of every kind, lying there in inexhaustible quantities awaiting the magic touch of man to bring untold wealth to her people. If she were cut off from every other State by an impassable barrier, she has within her own boundaries every- thing that is necessary for the happiness of man and the upbuilding of a great State. It has been said by an eminent authority that there are not forty-three thousand square miles of contiguous territory anywhere else under the sun that contain as many natural resources as Tennessee.
She is striving for all that is great and good in the arts of peace.
Her soil and climate are as near perfection as nature can make them. Her people are amongst the most generous, the most enlightened, and the most pro- gressive to be found in the Republie. In every period of her history she has been found in the forefront of progress, of enlightenment, and of statesmanship.
Time does not permit me to recount the names of her renowned orators, soldiers, and statesmen; but their names are engraved on the tablets of fame, and enshrined in the hearts of our countrymen.
But, of all the treasures of Tennessee, there are none so rare as her grand and noble women, who have stood side by side with her sons in every hour of her history, and have inspired them to whatever of good and great they have accomplished.
Mr. Peter M. Wilson, of Washington, D. C. United States Senate
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Finally, there is not to be found upon the globe a country where man can enjoy life or pursue happiness or fortune with greater success than in the grand and beautiful old commonwealth of Tennessee.
Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, while I love my native State with all my heart, I will say to you, if you feel at any time that you wish to wander away from beautiful old Carolina, come to that land across the mountains, where you will receive a warm and sincere welcome from your own kith and kin, who have long since preceded you to that other garden spot of earth-fair old Tennessee.
Response of Mr. Peter M. Wilson, of Washington, D. C.
When Greensboro was still a town, there lived in it a choice spirit, the venerable Lyndon Swaim, who was not only a legislator and a very upright citizen, but an editor who wrote pure English, gentle humor, and kind words. In a letter to Hale's Weekly, he described a visit to old Salem town, on the then-new railway. Its one passenger coach was divided by a partition that made the front end a second-class and the rear end a first-class compartment. On the return trip the numbers, but not the car, were reversed; and it was a perplexing thought to him, always, whether he was riding in the first-class end of a second-class car or the second-class end of a first-class car; and the only satisfaction he could ever get out of it was, going either way, he would land in Salem or Greensboro.
So it is coming from beautiful Washington to beautiful Greensboro. Think of it! You can go to sleep in Greensboro, and wake up in Washington; and that is what every good politician dreams of, and hopes to do some night or day. But what is better, you can go to sleep in the most beautiful city of the world, the center of our great country, and wake up in Greensboro. And that is what every prodigal North Carolinian dreams about and hopes to do.
You know the legend of the man who went to Heaven, and was amazed to find there a man bound with a golden cord to a graceful pine tree. "Is this the Heaven of the pagans, and is that Prometheus of the fable?" he asked, in fear and wonder. "No", said a cherub guide; "that is a man from North Carolina; and if loosed he would go straight back home".
They are all tarred with the same stick.
Washington, you must know, is proud of North Carolina's Representatives in Washington. They speak for themselves: and for all the rest of us, for that matter. They are all young men, in the very summer of life-serious, sober, industrious, and able. Their word is as good as their bond; and their bonds are above par. There is no scandal in their lives; and they walk upright in the light. So, as to those filling humbler positions-the scores of clerks in the great stone buildings of the State, War, Treasury, and Law Departments-they are worthy workers. Thinking of the gladness of this day, it is no doubt a long day for them; but they rejoice that it is given to their fellows to go back home even for a day; and it is what, 'way down in their hearts, they are longing to do.
Does it not recur to us all that something more than social satisfaction ought to grow out of this Reunion of the Tarheels scattered abroad? Revisiting familiar scenes and grasping hospitable hands is joy enough for one day; but should not a monument be built to suggest it and recall it, and should not this
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monument be practical and powerful and progressive? Would not a fund for the education of the mothers of the State that are to be appeal more to the hearts of these absent ones than almost any other thing? It is a hard heart that is not touched to a purpose when the claims of the mother thought stand before it; and North Carolinians do not harbor such hearts.
The amount of money which working girls of foreign-born parents send back in small sums to those in the motherland is so great at festival seasons that special provision has to be made for it in the exchange. But little of this goes to bring away others; nearly all of it is for the betterment of those who are in the older homes, and for their happiness. Now, is it asking too much of every absent one to send something of his earnings yearly to build up, support, and keep young and beautiful as the grateful heart that bids him do it a "Hall of the Absent", where young women can be taught those lessons that the mothers of the givers would have them taught.
If the names of all North Carolinians not living in the blessed State can be enrolled. and this wish given form in their minds, surely this Reunion will be memorable indeed. Why can not those master minds that have brought together this congregation of happy home-comers perpetuate its beginuing, and the reason of its being, by appealing to these thoughts that must be in the minds of many, and give them a habitation and a purpose?
Response of Rev. Dr. W. W. Moore Representative of the North Carolina Society of Richmond, Va.
There are more natives of North Carolina now living in Virginia than in any other State in the Union, except North Carolina itself. According to the last census there were 53,235 of them. If that is a correct estimate, and there is every reason to believe that the number is now larger rather than smaller than it was in 1900. it means that, besides the scores of us who have the delight- ful privilege of responding in person to the call of our venerated mother to gather again under the ancestral roof-tree, there are some fifty thousand other sons and daughters of hers within the bounds of the Old Dominion, who thiuk no less tenderly and proudly than we of the good old State that gave us birth: whose hearts turn wistfully to Greensboro today; and whose memories echo the stately music of Judge Gaston's hymn:
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