Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 20.djvu/207

 Presentation of Statue of A. P. Hill.

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shocks. I believe that history will bear me out in the assertion that but for that bold and dashing raid of Stuart and his troopers around the army of McClellan that army would not have been so easily crowded under the gunboats by the invincible cohorts of Jackson and of Hill.

But the record of the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia is not bare of great battles. It has its Kelly's Ford, its Hanover Junction, its Brandy Station, its Trevillian's, its Yellow Tavern and its High Bridge. And it has the pride of knowing that in each of these great conflicts the laurels of victory encircled its brow.

It numbered among its officers, some, not only of the most daring and gallant men, but of the most renowned soldiers of the war. It had its Lees, its Wickham, its Hampton, its Ashby, its Mosby, its gallant Dearing, and its great Stuart. Such leaders were never sur- passed, and there is no instance on record when the brave troopers under these gallant officers failed to spur on their steeds to the fray in answer to the bugle sound of " charge."

V. THE STAFF OF THE ARMY.

Their courage, intelligence and devotion to duty were conspicuous on very field.

Response by Dr. J. Herbert Claiborne, of Petersburg.

VI. THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH.

O woman, in our hours of ease, Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, And variable as the shade By the light, quivering aspen made When pain and anguish wring the brow, A ministering angel thou !

Response by Hon. J. Taylor Ellyson, of Richmond.

VII. OUR SISTER CITIES, RICHMOND AND PETERSBURG.

Welded together by fire of battle in the heroic Past, they are no less bound together by common aspirations and common interest in days of Peace.

Response by Hon. Charles F. Collier, of Petersburg.