Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 25.djvu/363

 /

\\.is invading our territory. From every State came the sons of the South. From tin- plains of Texas, from the States washed by the (iulf, from across the Father of Waters, from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Maryland, from the Carolinas and Florida, from every State of the Southland they came. They came from the farm, from the storV. from the office, and workshop; from every trade and profes- sion, till Virginia bristled with bayonets, from the driftwood of the Ohio to the sands of the seashore. There were those who were not of our race, but were adopted from other climes, who stood with us. I would not forget them.

Some months ago, while in this city, I visited the Jewish Ceme- terv, and saw the plat dedicated to the graves of those of that race who fell in the Southern army. Had I ever felt disposed to deride those people, and give them the cold shoulder, I could do so no more. They touched elbow with us, and died for us. We know what part they played in the history of the past, and if I read the lines of prophecy correctly, they will have an important part yet to act in the great drama of life, and I do believe that the descendants of Judah will yet herd their flocks amid the hills of Assyrian kings, and sing songs to the Messiah beneath the white stars of the Chaldean sky. All, all were our comrades

" Who, living, were true and tried for us, And, dying, sleep side by side for us."

THE SOUTH'S GALLANT SONS.

Without an army, without munitions of war, with our ports block- aded, and cut off from the rest of the world, with only our own resources to rely upon, the South in a few months sent into the field an army of volunteers that in gallantry, undaunted courage and powers of endurance was seldom equalled, and never excelled in ancient or modern times. For four years the Southern army, with no place to recruit from except our own homes, met in the open field an army of vastly superior numbers, with money and army stores in abundance, and with the world to draw from to swell its ranks. Those who were our enemies have furnished indisputable proof of the dash and terrible fighting qualities of the Southern army. While the pension system of the Federal Government is the most stupen- dous fraud ever perpetrated upon a long-suffering people, it furnishes a monument to the chivalry of the Southern soldier, that speaks with