Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/14

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Southern Historical Society Fcqjers.

regiments blazoned with battles won in every clime by English con- stancy and valor — but neither there, nor in the Invalides at Paris, nor yet in the Garnisonkirche, at Potsdam, where the Great Frede- rick sleeps, do I remember ever to have seen the colors of any single regiment or battery which bears upon its folds so many pitched fights as this battle-flag is entitled to bear.

To those who do not know its history so well as we do, this may sound the mere extravagance of rhetoric. There are but few names left upon this flag, but omitting many minor combats and countless " affairs," there belong upon it of right and with honor —

First Ma7iassas, Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill,

Frasier' s Farm, (Glendale), Malvern Hill, Cedar Mountain, Warrenton Springs, Second Ma7iassas, (both days). Ox Hill, (Chantilly), Harper' s Ferry, Sharpsburg, (Antietam), Shepherdstown, Fredericksburg,

Chancellorsville, fall three days), Gettysburg, (all three days), Bristoe Station, Mine Run, Wilderness,

Spotsylvania C. H, (May loth I2lh, and i8th, 1864),

Jericho Ford, (North Anna), Cold Harbor, First Reams' Station, The Crater, Actions on the Weldon Railroad,

(August 18th, 19th, and 21st), Second Reams' Station, Battle of Septe^nber joth, 1864,

right of Petersburg, Battle of Squirrel Level Road, Battle of the Dab?iey House, Burgess' Mill, October 27th, 1S64, Hatcher' s Run, February 6th and

7th, 1865, Action 071 Petersburg Froiit,

March 25th, 1865, Five Forks, App077iattox Statio7i, (evening

before surrender, April 8th).

In other woids, " the Purcell," having been engaged in 1861 in all the combats on the Potomac and at First Manassas, the batteries of the Battalion, from the time Lee assumed command at Seven Pines, took part (and most honorable and effective part, according to the official reports of Lee, Jackson, and A. P. Hill) in every general action delivered by the Army of Northern Virginia from, that time up to the surrender at App07nattox C. H

As I look down on these bronzed and bearded faces, and see them kindling at this long array of famous names, it seems, I repeat, but