Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 13.djvu/358

 The Battle of Honey Hill. 357

lery, and place muskets and sabres in the hands of expectant soldiery. That in this difficult business of arming for the war General Walker evinced a patriotism, an energy, and a capacity worthy of special commendation, will be freely admitted.

But it is not only of these Confederates who held high commission in that service which belongs now to history and to our hearts that we would speak on this memorial occasion. Alas! the " fell sergeant death" has advanced his pale flag within our lines, and has served his summons upon some who were knit to us alike by the ties of Confederate brotherhood, by the bonds of a common citizenship, by the attractions of personal friendship, and by the endearments of this our special fraternity. On the 4th of November last our comrade, Captain Joshua K. Evans, in the prime of manhood and while actively engaged in the discharge of the duties appertaining to his calling, was suddenly snatched from our companionship. He was an early and a devoted member of this Association, loyal to the memories which it is designed to perpetuate, and proud of the privileges which it extends. In his demise we mourn the departure of a friend, a use- ful citizen, and a gallant Confederate soldier, who, at first as a Lieu- tenant in the Georgia Light Guards, and subsequently as a Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of General A. R. Wright, knew no fear, and neglected no duty either in camp or on the field of battle.

After a lingering illness, during which he manifested the utmost, composure, our fellow-member, Lieutenant Charles Spaeth, on the 2oth of December, bade farewell to these earthly scenes. As an officer of the Washington Artillery he served the Confederacy well, and, at the memorable battle of Shiloh, encountered a painful hurt. He was a prominent representative of the German element in our population, and, by his integrity, benevolence, probity, and public spirited interest in the welfare of the home of his adoption, com- manded the respect, the confidence, and the good-will of us all.

In the death of our companion, Professor Robert C. Eve, M. D., ex surgeon of the Confederate army, which occurred on the night of the 3oth of January of the present year, the Medical Department of the University of Georgia has lost an able teacher, this community a practitioner of skill, experience, and of humane impulses, Augusta a citizen of influence and sterling worth, and our Association a promi- nent member and a valued friend.

On this day, consecrate to the memory of our Confederate dead, we, who survive, drawing still closer the one to the other, and re-