Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 22.djvu/99

 The Co a h <!-," t. \>ny. 87

[From the Richmond, Va., Times, April 15 and 22, 1894.]

THE CONFEDERATE NAVY.

What It Accomplished During the Civil War.

A Very Interesting and Valuable Paper Read Before R E. Lee Camp by Mr. Virginias Newton.

This valuable resumS is from a corrected copy kindly furnished by Mr. Newton, a "live" citizen of Richmond, whose agency is felt, if not pro- claimed.

His modesty would fain keep in the shade his merit.

His heart holds all of the memorable past, as the readers of the Papers, as well as the local press, warmly know. ED. SOUTHERN HISTORICAL SOCIETY PAPERS.

Several weeks ago Mr. Virginius Newton, of this city, was re- quested by the members of Lee Camp to read before that body a paper relating to some of the numerous episodes during the late war. Mr. Newton responded with the promptness of a gallant sol- dier, and selected as his subject the Confederate Navy and its noble deeds

He succeeded in giving in the most condensed form a statement of the many noble deeds executed by men who offered their lives to the cause of the Confederacy, and selected the navy as their field of operation.

The following is a copy of the paper read by Mr. Newton:

In greeting you to-night, the mind, by that law which induces contrast, leaps the gap of thirty years, and bodies forth in memory that gallant host which lived in days that tried .lien's souls, and linked heart to heart " with hoops of steel.''

Men of a boundless devotion, uncalculating sacrifice, magnificent heroism, unequaled endurance, whose names, whose deeds, deeply etched upon the scroll of fame, shall live upon the lips of men, shall be lisped by the tongues of the babes of your land, so long as the English speech shall be voiced upon this planet. As comrades, as survivors of this host that laid down life itself in defence of your sacred soil, in defence of the cause of civil liberty, you I salute with

" Honor and reverence, and the good repute, That follows faithful service as its fruit."