Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/198

 198 Southern Historical Society Papers.

duty, endowed with indomitable will, full of devotion to his State, and thoroughly indoctrinated with a love of self-government and home rule, the historian might well look for a prominent place for such a man in the annals of our country's past. Exalted courage, cautious energy, skilful attention to details, a careful preparation for the work in hand, and masterly conception characterized our dis- tinguished leader both in the war with Mexico and as a Confederate leader. Those vices which here and there have marred the charac- ters and stained the lives of many gifted ones in private life, war and politics, left no mark on his illustrious career. It was not to be ex- pected that a man thus reared and trained and educated, and with such convictions of right, should have drawn his sword against his native State. How he performed his duties in the great struggle history will tell.

The South has reason to honor her illustrious dead. Go ask a soldier who marched under his leadership if you wish to hear the story of simple loyalty. He remembers how sweet his sleep on the tented field, where this master-spirit was at the head of the army conscious that no surprise awaited him, and that whether in advance or retreat his watchful eye surveyed the lines, and that no hostile force held him in his grasp. Simple in his characteristics, watchful in his manner, careful in every detail, courageous in every act, wide- awake in every field, loving with a big heart the soldiery that toiled and marched and fought and stood ready to give up life itself at his command, no wonder to-day that the South, whatever may have been its successes or reverses, with her abiding confidence in his in- tegrity and his loyalty to truth, mourns his loss. We are not alarmed at the place history shall assign him. Safely we can com- mit to the future the estimate of his modest worth, fidelity to trust, integrity of character, intellectual power, military skill, unrivalled mastery in caring for, preserving and moving a command and the many virtues that adorned his glorious manhood. And though he may have no splendid mausoleum to mark his last resting place, the memory of his deeds, his virtues and his fidelity to trust will live in the affections of his people, in the traditions of the country, and in the history of her people as long as men shall honor virtue and re- vere the lives and deeds of the eminent dead. Masterly tactician, matchless strategist, heroic soldier, exalted citizen, loved by his own soldiery, to whom he was a "shield," honored by his brave and manly adversaries, he has joined Stonewall Jackson, who served un- der him, and Lee, whom he esteemed the foremost man of the age,