USA > Virginia > Post-bellum campaigns of the blue and gray, 1881-1882 > Part 7
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and would have succeeded but for the fact that at that time Con- federate locomotives, Confederate cars and Confederate rails were very, very much worn. The locomotives and the train hands were old and feeble. The journey was lengthened considerably.
"The guard for the train was a company or two of mere boys, too young (and that was very young) to be in the field. The guard, like the prisoners, tried to eat enough before they started, to last them through the trip, but they failed utterly.
"There was great distress among the prisoners on the route, many of them being sick, all of them dejected and miserable. The guards did what they could for the comfort of the pitiful but despised fellows, feeding them at their own expense, cheering them with hopeful words, and, by every means in their power, alleviating the sufferings of the sick ones.
"The prisoners were touchingly grateful and freely offered their guards, in return for their kindness, all their little trinkets. Some, having nothing else to offer, begged us to accept photo- graphs of their children and wives !! weeping as they did so. They took the names of their guards and gave in exchange their own,-vowing, that should we ever become prisoners, and they the guard, the exhibition of these souvenirs would open to us their hearts, and secure every good that a prisoner could hope to possess.
"Three men guarded each car (freight or box cars), two on top and one standing or sitting in the door at one side. Ten or fifteen prisoners occupied each car. The cars being constantly in motion the guard on top could not sleep. The man in the doorway was supposed to be on the alert. It was my turn to stand guard in the doorway. I sat on the floor of the car, my heels hanging out, chatting with a prisoner who sat near me. He was a mean look- ing specimen of a Yankee soldier,-had on a flabby blue blouse (I hate a blue blouse to this day !) and one of those topple-over- before blue caps. He had long whiskers, moustache and nose. . He said 'Sowth' for South-' Guess so'-'I say.' Called me ' Bub.' He was, judged by the war-time standard, 'a mean, sneak- ing Yankee.' To see such a man was to cock your musket !! I had seen thousands just like him lying around on the battle fields,
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and always thought they were appropriately dead ! I did not love men who looked like this man ! I not only hated them, but I de- spised them from the bottom of my heart. Words cannot convey the contempt inspired by the uniform, the flag, the blue !! They were all alike to me.
"I-when I woke up, or began to be awake, I felt a hand gently stroking my hair-pressed upon my forehead-playing with my hair-petting me, as tenderly as a mother would her baby boy. I looked up. My eyes met those of that big Yankee. My head rested on his knee. There were tears in his eyes and a quiver in his voice when he spoke: 'Well, Bub, you've had a nap. You were about to fall out, so I laid you here on my knee. Here's your gun. I set her up here in the corner. We boys stood guard over ourselves while you were asleep.'
" Where's that Yankee ? I would give much to grasp his hand. I cannot now even recall his name. I can only hope he survived the prison and the storm of battle, and lived to press many a kiss on the curly head of a little Yankee boy.
" The Yankees drove us out of the lines at Petersburg. They had too many men and we had too few. When we struck out for Appomattox they followed us. Whenever they pushed up against us we halted awhile, killed a few, got killed a little and moved on. The fighting during the week from Petersburg to Appomattox was very interesting. It had a personal, intimate, pointed tone, which made it 'piquant.' A man was not quite satisfied that he had fired the contents of his musket square into another, but felt like getting closer and whacking him over the liead with the stock. Persons in the habit of swearing not only exchanged shots, bayo- net thrusts, and sabre cuts, but also the most bitter and exasperat- ing epithets. On the Confederate side there were only two classes of soldiers during those last days. Utterly demoralized and beaten men, was one class. The other, the larger portion of the remnant left, men who were wrought up to the highest pitch of stubborn, defiant, bitter resistance. Hunger, weariness, cold-nothing could distract them from the hot, furious joy of the rasping fight. Their faces glowed with passion. An enemy in full view, exposed to a shot, brought a smile to the haggard face, and the old rifle fell
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promptly to a level. Down went the bravest !!! Down went the leader ! !! Down went the true man who loved his country's flag ! ! !
" General Grant had, at that time, cavalry. He sent them on ahead, and they prevented our men from going on. (There were more men in front than we had everywhere.) General Grant also pushed his infantry up very close in the rear. Then he made it appear (it was a fact, also,) that he had infantry on both sides of us. He also caused his artillery to fire away in every direction and make every place uncomfortable. Just then there was no ' rear.' Where the quartermasters and commissaries went to- who can tell ?
" We surrendered. We were hungry. From Sunday, April 2nd, 10 P. M., 'till Sunday, April 9th, 11 A. M., there had been no sleeping and very little eating. The only things plentiful were marching, halting and fighting. We knew the Yankees had plenty to eat, because they had captured all our trains and had their own along. We, therefore, were not in a pleasant or soci- able humor. We were sad ! We were also mad! Fighting mad !! But General Lee said: 'No, no !! ' So we went into camp and kindled fires, smoked, chewed tobacco, and growled. Somehow things about us seemed to indicate that we were defeated -- whipped ! But we didn't believe it, don't believe it, and, never will. We were,-hallo! What's that? Yankees !! Yes, a long string of them, single file, coming over the hill. Each man has a box on his back. Crackers ! Yes, crackers !! Two oxen are coming also. Well, these Yankees walk into our camp and put down their boxes and tie the cattle. They say they have had a rough time chasing and fighting us from Petersburg to Appo- mattox, and no more than they needed to eat, but, knowing that we must be still more in need, they had come to ask us to accept their three days rations !! ! !
"Now these things go to show that soldiers may wear differ- ent colors, and still resemble each other very closely in some more important particulars."
"The old flag .- Long may it wave, o'er the home of the free and the land of the brave."
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This was responded to by Judge Robert S. Wood- ruff, Jr., of Trenton. His reply was :
"To one familiar with our people, this universal outburst of enthusiasm means something more than an ordinary holiday. We are of Quaker origin, and not easily moved from the routine of our daily duties. It means that the earnest, hearty welcome ex- tended to our visitors is honest and warm. It is a day of joy and rejoicing, and one long to be remembered in our history. Men, women and children of every station in life liave rejoiced at the scenes of this day. As the eloquent words fell from the lips of the distinguished orator who replied to the words of welconie from our Mayor, I saw an old Federal soldier, who had lost a limb in the late war, weeping tears of joy at his words, and at the hearty cheers for the old flag that went up from both the Blue and the Gray. One could not but contrast the scene of to-day with that of twenty years ago. Then all was war, hatred, mourning and un- certainty. Now, all is peace, love, joy and prosperity. To-night, around this banquet, in social converse, are seated those who then were engaged in deadly strife. The camp fires are rekindled to- night, but the picket and skirmish lines are removed.
"The war is over. If the past has its sorrowful memories, it has left us a legacy of bright names-Lee, Grant, Jackson, Han- cock, Johnson, Kearney, McGruder, Hooker, Stuart and Meade will go down in history as American generals wliom no patriotic American need blush to name, and the gallant hosts they led, for daring, bravery, heroism and devotion, were seldom equalled and never surpassed in the world's history.
" We are not here to-night to discuss who was in the right or who was in the wrong. Let that question be decided by the great Arbiter of Nations. In a village in a Southern State lived an old man who had two sons, the pride of his life and the support of his declining years. Both went to the war. The one donned the blue, the other the gray. In less than a year they were brought to him dead. He loved them in life and in death equally well; they were his sons. He buried them side by side in the village church yard, and over their graves he erected one monument, upon which
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was only this inscription, 'God knows which was right.' So let us erect a monument to the dead heroes who perished in the war, remembering only their deeds of imperishable renown. Let us honor their memories as brave and valiant men, who gave up their lives in devotion to the cause they espoused without ques- tioning the motives that actuated them. Let us forget victories and defeats to-night, and rejoice that we have 'one country, one flag and one God.'
"'Tis enough for us to know that the old flag that followed the fluctuating fortunes of the Continental Army, from Bunker Hill to Yorktown, is to-day the common flag of a common country.
"On this very spot, a little more than a century ago, that noble Virginian, the leader of our army and the father of his country, rejoiced in that grand old symbol as it waved triumphantly over the house-tops of our city. And to-night, his descendants, our welcome guests from the "Old Dominion," feel their hearts aglow with love and reverence for that same old flag. It not only tells the story of the past, but typifies a happy, prosperous, common country.
"It is dearer to us for all the past differences. We honor and love it less for its brilliant triumphs than for the eloquent story it tells of a re-united, happy and loving people.
. " And finally, my brothers, fellow countrymen, speaking the same tongue, heirs of the same heritage, comrades, enemies no more, let us join hands and hearts more firmly ; and in warmest love and purest friendship, pledge anew our devotion to the old flag and to each other. Hush quarrel and strife over the grave of the dead past ! Palsied be the tongue, and forever silenced the voice that would utter one word to provoke discord, or tend to disturb the brotherhood of the nation, or that would dare to ques- tion the truth or the universality of that sentiment, engraved upon every fold and stamped upon every star, bar, and color of the old flag, whether it floats in the north or in the south, in the east or in the west 'Liberty and Union, now, and forever, one and inseparable ?'"
" The Otey Battery,"-As the moss has grown over the cannon's tract, so have the sweet arts of
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peace woven into one web the thoughts, feelings and purposes of all our people.
The chairman then said, "Colonel George Sav- age, of the Otey Battery, has been selected to re- spond."
Mr. Savage arose and said :
" MR. CHAIRMAN, COMMANDER TITUS, AND MEMBERS OF AARON WILKES POST :
"It seems almost ungracious to ask, in the very beginning, for a correction, but I desire to be placed right upon the record. I have been addressed as 'Colonel Savage.' I was not a colonel, and it was honor enough for me to be a private in the Otey Bat- tery. The duty to which the partiality of Major Walker and my old comrades has assigned me I can but regard as responsible, though agreeable, and I might well wish that it had fallen to one abler and worthier, and that in better language than I can com- mand might be conveyed to you an expression of their sentiments. I am emboldened, however, to essay the task, since you have taught us how easy and how noble it is
' By winning words to conquer willing hearts.'
"It was singularly appropriate that the first capture by Ex -* Confederates of a post of the Grand Army of the Republic should have been made in the capital of Virginia, and when it was on its way to the celebration of the glorious anniversary of the surren- der at Yorktown of the British forces under Cornwallis. It is re- lated (and not by the author of the little hatchet story) that when Washington learned of the consummation on that historic field of the work of our revolutionary forefathers, he exclaimed exul- tantly, 'It is done, and it is well done!' It was not my good fortune to assist in the capture of your post, but from what I have heard of that happy event, and from the evidences around me of the pleasing results, I am safe in saying that it was "well done.' I would not, if I could, enter into details of the lively skirmishes, the spirited attacks, and the complete surrender ; suffice it to say that 'nobody was hurt,' and that all realized that the 'cruel war'
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was over. I have not been told upon what condition (or in what condition) you were allowed to inspect Libby prison from the outside only, but there must have been a good deal of the go-as- you-please tactics, for ere many days you returned to the place of your former captivity, bearing no arms or resentments, but punch bowls of ample dimensions, and asking (methinks on sweet-scented cards, ornamented with hand-painted olive branches in the upper left-hand corners), that we would journey across Mason and Dixon's line, pass Liberty Bell at Philadelphia, cross the Dela- ware on better time than the Father of his Country dared to make, and be captured in the capital of New Jersey .. We could not decline; it was not in us to say that we would not, or that we could not, come and be captured.
" I well remember, that when a boy, my heart thrilled as I read the brief words of dignity and nobility in which the conquered ruler of Persia made answer to his conqueror, Alexander the Great; when asked how he would be treated, he answered: 'Like a king.' And if you would know of us how we would be treated, our answer can be only this: 'Like Americans.' We cannot, and you would not have us, ask more or accept less. We have clasped hands with you, knowing and feeling that we are Ameri- cans, and, better, that we have ever been Americans, and that no political estrangements, or rending of civil war, have ever taken from you or from us the identity and character which were equally your birthright and ours. It is upon this common ground that we meet you, and it is in this spirit of pride, patriotism and nationality, that we welcome and return your fraternal greetings.
"For years we faced each other in deadly fight, and I would inquire the meaning and significance of this gathering of former foes around a festive board. I am happy in realizing in mind and heart that it means peace, fraternity and reconciliation, and that it signifies that we are members of a re-united family. It had its inspiration in mutual respect; its object is the cultivation of friendship; and its result will be, I trust, an increase of our love of country.
"I am not unmindful that this is the first occasion upon which a body of Ex-Confederate soldiers has been received as guests of
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veterans of the Army of the Potomac. I rejoice in the fact because it is to me the harbinger of real peace; I interpret it in its best and fullest sense, and I am glad that we have come together as friends. If there be any who would find fault with you or with us for thus assembling, I make bold to answer for you and for us, in the eloquent words of that large-hearted poet, Bayard Taylor : " It is the brave that first forget, And noble foes that first unite ;
Not they who strife and passion whet, Then slink when comes the need to smite.
'Tis mutual courage that forgives,
And answering honor that outlives The onset's hour, the battle's day ;
The hearts that dare are quick to feel,
The hands that wound are soft to heal,
The blood that dims a hero's steel His proud tears wash away."
"The soldiers who served bravely, faithfully and honorably on either side during the late war learned on the battle field and through all the terrible trials incident to the conflict to respect the courage, constancy and self-devotion of each other, and they have been among the first to forgive and forget. They have testi- fied by words and acts that they desire that the wounds of fratri- cidal strife shall be healed, and that its animosities shall not be cherished. You, victors at Appomattox, have shown that you love your country without intolerance, that you fought her battles without hate, and that you are conquerors without revenge. We, who bore defeat, have proved that our fortitude was equal to our adversities ; that as in war we were to be dreaded, in peace we were to be trusted, and that when we surrendered our arms, no dishonor lurked in our breasts. It would have been unreasonable to have expected that the passions inseparable from a long and desperate internecine war would speedily subside ; but I am con- vinced that a calm review of the period of our national life-less than two decades-beginning with that great calamity to our en- tire country, the assassination of President Lincoln, and ending with the universal mourning which followed President Garfield to
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his grave-will furnish abundant proofs that we are not wanting as a people in those lofty instincts and feelings which ennoble and dignify our race. A living statesman, in an address delivered a few years ago to the students of Harvard College, truly said: 'The great armed struggle between the Northern and Southern sections of the Union developed on either side proofs of courage, magnanimity, self-devotion and elevation of soul unsurpassed in history, which should justly fill us all with renewed pride, ad- miration and respect for our national character.' Let us, then, cordially recognize and claim as common property all that was true, noble and admirable in that ' great armed struggle,' no mat- ter on which side of the line it occurred. Those for whom I speak most willingly give full praise to those, who, on your side, were heroes on the field, in prison and in council-you will not, you cannot be less just to us. 'Heroic history is the living soul of a nation's renown ;'-self-abnegation must ever challenge the admir- ation of mankind, and the world will never cease to turn with pride to those illuminated pages which tell how men have suff- ered, fought and died, rather than submit to oppression or consent to dishonor. No man worthy to stand erect in conscious manhood and be a freeman can learn, without experiencing a thrill of en- thusiasm, that Leonidas and his braves offered themselves a will- ing sacrifice at Thermopyla, earning this immortal record : 'Stranger, tell the Lacademonians that we lie here in obedience to their laws'; that Curtius leaped into the yawning chasm that Rome might live; that Regulus raised his voice against dishonor- able peace and returned to Carthage, though he knew his life would be the penalty ; that Winkelreid 'made way for liberty, and died;' that the mountaineers of Switzerland met the over- whelming host of the invaders of their country, and 'fell uncon- quered, but wearied with victory, giving their bodies to their enemies and their souls to God;' that Warren laid down his life at Bunker Hill, and liberty flamed from his blood ; that Patrick Henry, when liberty was weighed against slavery, cried for liberty or death ; that the Swiss guard was faithful to the last to the ili- fated Louis, and well deserved that inspiring monument by Thor- waldsen-a colossal lion cut from the living rock, pierced by a
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fatal javelin, yet protecting in death the lily of France with his paw; that Lawrence never gave up the ship; that the Old Guard at Waterloo never surrendered ; and that at Balaklava 'the noble Six hundred' asked not ' the reason why,' but went on 'to do and die !'
"The American soldier whose honored name your Post bears gave his life to his cause. Greater proof no man can give. We salute him, and unite with you in honoring his memory. We be- lieve that if he were here he would join heartily in the pleasures and the joys of this time. Perhaps even now he sends to all a blessing from that better land,
' Where beyond these voices there is peace.'
" When He who spake as never man spake, and who is ' the Way, the Truth and the Life,' taught His disciples and the multi- tude, He declared that 'blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.' Heaven grant to you and to us that blessing ! We have come as peacemakers to you ; we have found you peacemakers. There is no longer enmity between us ; once enemies, we are now friends. Be assured that our memories of your most generous hospitalities (for all of which we return our heartfelt thanks), and of the words, acts and inspirations which have so happily characterized our visit to your Post and your city will ever be among the things which we will hereafter 'think on most pleasantly,' and they will cheer us even to the hour when we shall, as Stonewall Jackson said in his expiring breath, 'cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.'
" I speak for the men who wore the Blue and the men who wore the Gray, when, in conclusion, I say: We are Americans ; we are citizens of a common country, with common interests, hopes, rights and duties; it is the will of God that we shall be one people; the irrevocable past is behind us; the future, with all its possibilities, stretches before us; we are bound together, and together we must go forward; let us one and all be lovers of our country ; let us look not mournfully into the days that are gone, but let us cherish the blessed hope that the years to come will bring us and our children and our children's children only peace, honor and prosperity, and find us a better, a stronger and a grander nation.
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"Behold, with me, in patriotic vision, the Ship of State! Her every sail is set; she cleaves the waters with resistless might ; the banner that Key sang, with all its stars 'still there,' floats proudly from her masthead ; the skies bend over her in benison ; rainbows arch her way ; the beauty of earth and heaven enfolds her; she is freighted with more of liberty, hope and triumph than the world has ever known ere this day; over the waves come in swelling, peaceful chorus, songs of rejoicing ; she is the same good old ship that hath been given to the battle and the storm, and she is keep- ing grandly on her way. God bless her! Rejoice with me, and unite with me in saying hopefully, gladly and gratefully-
"Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ;
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee-
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears ;
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee, are all with thee!"
"The America of the Future,"-How grand her opportunities, how magnificent her possibili- ties.
Responded to by Ex-Judge James Buchanan, of Trenton. He said :
"I am glad our friends are here. I have been waiting for a long time to find a Virginian to whom I could confide some of my troubles.
" When a small boy I read what purported to be a history of Virginia. It related some marvelous incidents. It made asser- tions that have puzzled me. I have never fully understood them. I want more light. Books do not afford it. The records are silent, and I must appeal to living witnesses.
"Now, in the first place, I would like to know more about that story, about George and his little hatchet. Is that story really believed down your way? Did George really have a hatchet ? And, if so, was it a product of our protective tariff, or was it an imported article ? And did he really own up only after he found he couldn't throw the blame on Randolph of Roanoke ? And is
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with peaceful homesteads ; the sunny lands of the South teeming with life and activity. We see the footsteps of the pioneer push- ing on and on, relentless as fate, and resistless as Niagara, filling up the interior, felling the forests of Oregon, tilling the plains of Texas, conquering the everglades of Florida, making the desert to blossom as the rose, until more than realized is the dream of the poet when he said :
"' I hear the coming footsteps of millions yet to be,
The first low wash of waves
Where soon shall roll a human sea.'
" I see this restless tide of human activity wrest the silver from Nevada's mines, the gold from every mountain fastness, the iron from Georgia's hills. I see the lowlands of the Mississippi rescued from the devastating flood, and producing sugar for the world. I see beside each Southern stream a cotton mill, in which happy and well paid labor fashions the great Southern staple into cloth for all nations. I see not only the great trunk lines, but in every direction, stretching a net work of trade and mutual intercourse over the whole of our common heritage, the lines of railway- those harbingers of progress and promoters of fraternity. I see in each peaceful valley the hamlet with its public library, its common school, and its place of worship. I see the smoke of the forge, and the mill in which iron-the precious metal-the metal of the coming century, is wrought into a thousand forms of usefulness, ascending not only from Pennsylvanian valleys and Georgian dales, but from every spot where the good God hath planted the ore. I see not only the wharves of Boston, of New York, of Phil- adelphia, of Baltimore, but of Richmond, of Charleston, of Savan- nah, of Mobile, and all the harbors along our seaboard crowded with the shipping of every nation, carrying our grain, our meat, our manufactures, whether of iron, of cotton, or of cane, to every known port. I see again the American flag float proudly over American vessels on every sea.
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