Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 08.djvu/51

Rh men to give General Lee, who was following him, "a hearty cheer, for he was feeling greatly depressed." By this time the men had so pressed into the road that the speed of the General and staff had slackened to a walk, and as the men gave, in good old battle style, "three cheers for General Lee," he lifted his hat (Traveller stopped) and bestowed upon them only such a look as a father could upon his suffering and disappointed children! In a single tear was the expression of volumes of sorrow, pity and sympathy. The old hero wore his best coat, sword and sash, and never appeared grander to his army during the trying struggle than on that occasion. Again strong men wept.

As soon as the confusion incident to the first day after the surrender had subsided, General Gordon assembled his corps to give them a parting talk. I was near enough to hear him, and shall never forget his calm, philosophical, not to say prophetic manner, as he addressed his troops. Clouds had gathered, a light rain had fallen, and a storm threatened to break upon us. His opening words were: "Fellow soldiers, our hearts are as heavy as the murky clouds above us; yet we must not despair. Our duties in the field and camp are ended." He then admonished them to observe the conditions of their paroles; that grave responsibilities as citizens would now devolve upon them, and if faithfully met, would only make their heroism as soldiers shine the brighter. As for himself, "hope hath not departed forever." He believed in the righteousness of our cause, and could not doubt but that the blood which had been so freely shed in defence of the right would in time spring up and bear its fruits, and that "many now within hearing of my voice will live to see my hopes verified. It may be ten, it may be twenty years, perhaps longer; but the day will surely come when history will vindicate the sincerity of our actions and the justice of our cause." This was, perhaps, Gordon's last review in soldier's uniform. I have never seen him since; but the utterances of his well-grounded faith seemed to carry in them a personal prophecy—since strikingly fulfilled in his own election to the United States Senate, where the same energy that buoyed the hope of the warrior, from Manassas to Appomattox, is none the less conspicuous in the career of the statesman.

If such reminiscences—minus, of course, of both exordium and peroration—find favor with and a place in the Historical Papers, there may be others from one who served four years in the Third Alabama regiment as— 1em