Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 26.djvu/230

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seen many things that formed material for an interesting recital yes- terday. He said:

Ladies and Gentlemen :

It was an inspiration on the part of the good women of the Ladies' Memorial Association in selecting granite for the statues rep- resenting the different arms of the Confederate service, nothing else could so truly represent the courage, the firmness of purpose, the stability, and their determination to dare all things in defence of a cause which they believed to be just, and in behalf of which they risked all they had or hoped for in this life. While this granite shall last, the history of their unflinching courage will not die.

I can only speak of the men who came under my own observa- tion, and of the things that I saw myself, and therefore, will have to content myself in what little I have to say, chiefly with a recital of the operations of Wheeler's Cavalry, having been with it from its organization until the end of the war.

It may be interesting to some of you to know that the very first cavalry attached to what was afterwards known as the Army of the Tennessee, were from Alabama. These consisted of two companies, one commanded by Captain Bo vie, of Talladega, and one com- manded by my father, then Captain Jefferson Falkner. These com- panies were really ordered out to be sent to Ben McCullough in Missouri, but at the request of General Polk the orders were coun- termanded by the War Department, and we were stopped in transit at Corinth, Miss., and a few days afterwards we went to Union City, Tenn., where we were soon joined by a cavalry company com- manded by Captain Cole, of Louisiana. We remained at Union City, at which point several regiments of infantry and several batte- ries of artillery were camped until the Federal Government sent a gunboat as far South as Hickman, on the Mississippi river, thus dis- regarding the neutrality of Kentucky; we then moved to Columbus, Ky. , the cavalry moving ahead of the trains, protecting bridges, etc. So far as I now remember, these three companies were the only cavalry I saw until about the time of the occupation of Columbus, Ky., at which point other companies and battalions were added from time to time.

Since the days of the Krag-Jorgensen rifle and the Mauser rifle, it has been said that the whole plan of fighting must be changed; that the distance between combatants must be greater than heretofore,