Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 09.djvu/45

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At the reunion of the Richmond Howitzers, on the 13th of December last, Dr. Hawthorne was called on to respond to the following toast:

"The Confederate dead. Their courage was inspired by the convictions of right and their love of country."

He said: Courage is not peculiar to man. The lion has it; the eagle has it; the serpent has it. In a very limited degree even the worm and the insect have it. Of mere brute courage the savage has more than the civilized man; the drunken man more than the sober man; and the villain more than the virtuous man. Of this courage the army of Grant had more than the army of Lee.

A man who has much of it fights well anywhere. It is a matter of small consequence to him under which flag he fights. In his feelings he knows no country—no East, no West, no North, no South. His voice is simply for war—war anywhere—war for any cause. What did the average immigrant soldier know about "States Rights?" What did he know of the history of the controversy which culminated in war? About all he know, or cared to know was, that he should "fight mit Siegel," and receive rations and twelve dollars per month for his services. I have heard it said that in the battle of Shiloh there was a company of New Orleans "roughs" who fought the first day with great desperation on the Federal side. It is a real satisfaction to know that this body of our Southern army was so small that it is hardly worthy of mention.

There is a courage inspired by hatred. There are men who go to war with the spleen of dragons in their breasts. They neither fear God nor regard man; they are for blood, ruin, desolation, and at the very jaws of death they will stand and wreak their vengeance. I thank God that of this spirit our dead heroes had none.

There is a bravery inspired by ambition for a leader. One of Napoleon's "Old Guard" had fallen in battle, and while the surgeon was probing near his heart in search of the ball, which had inflicted the mortal wound, the dying hero looked up and said: "Cut a little further, doctor, and you will find the Emperor." He meant that the name of his royal master was graven on his heart. I am proud to say that the people of the South were never hero-worshipers, and that the men who