Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 06.djvu/138

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We had the privilege of attending the thirty-fourth anniversary of the Washington artillery of Charleston, South Carolina, on the 22d of February last, and of hearing General McGowan's splendid oration and the other speeches of the occasion. We had intended publishing at the time the following report of the speeches of Major Hart and Governor Hampton, but were prevented from doing so by circumstances over which we had no control. We give the report now, and are quite sure that it will give pleasure to friends of the Confederacy everywhere and especially to those who "wore the gray."

At the close of General McGowan's oration, and as soon as the thunders of applause which followed its completion had subsided, Captain Ellison A. Smyth announced that the dearly-cherished and historic guidon of Hart's battery, tattered and torn and stained with the shot and shell and smoke of an hundred battles, would be transferred to the keeping of the Washington artillery, and that it would be received in behalf of the Washington artillery by Governor Hampton.

He then introduced Major Hart, the commander of the old battery which bore his name, who, in coming forward, was received with a welcome that must have stirred his heart to the very core. Major Hart said: