Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 20.djvu/265

 Unveiling of the Howitzer Monument.

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The North, after four years of bloody battle, with an enlistment of 2,535,799 white soldiers, calling in her dire extremity for 178,795 negroes to help her subdue an army never numerically one-fourth as strong, by this act placed the capstone on the arch of Confederate valor, and with this we are satisfied.

The Union Army has the glory of success, but the gallantry and endurance of the Confederates will be the inspiration of the epic of the coming years.

UNVEILING OF THE MONUMENT TO THE RICHMOND HOWITZERS

At Richmond, Virginia, December 13, 1892.

WITH THE ORATION OF LEIGH ROBINSON, OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

A Noble Defence of the South The Services of the Howitzers Glowingly

Rehearsed.

[From the Richmond Dispatch, December 14, 1892.]

The weather of Tuesday, December 13, 1892, was not propitious for the Howitzer Monument unveiling. It lacked every suggestion of a gala occasion, and could but carry many Howitzers and other veterans back to the days when, half-starved and half-clad, they shivered over a handful of fire.

But the driving, penetrating rain and piercing blast could not daunt the spirit of the men whose guns had been heard upon every battle- field from Bethel to Appomattox, nor those who had stood shoulder to shoulder with the heroic Howitzers.

The step of the veterans was not as jaunty as it was in the period from 1 86 1 to 1865, but their hearts glowed with the recollections of that period, and there was no lack of enthusiasm from the beginning to the end of the ceremonies.

The unveiling was a success in all of its details, and the memorial now stands forth an object-lesson to future generations. It is an imperishable illustration in the history of a people whose valor, forti-