Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/122

 114 Southern Historical Society Papers.

another republic created, upon the plan of that which the South had helped to build, another nation born and baptized " The Confederate States of America."

Differences of opinion have existed, and probably ever will, as to whether the States had the right to secede. A right first asserted by a New England statesman, the merits of which I will not under- take to discuss at this time. But leaving out the question of right: The States, in fact, did secede. The Confederate Government, in fact, existed complete in all its departments. And when war was waged, it was neither a civil war nor a rebellion, but a war between separate de facto nations. This removed from the citizens of these States all question of divided allegiance as between State and National Government. And it is from this standpoint the Southern people must be viewed. No intelligent and well-informed person of the present day, whose mind is not imbued with fanatical teachings, be- lieves that the Confederates were traitors. No people ever espoused a cause, or went forth to battle in defense of home and country, with a clearer consciousness of right in the discharge of duty.

Tell me not that any but patriots, inspired with the highest prin- ciples of right and justice, could have fought with the courage and valor of the Confederate soldier, or evinced, as he did, that heroic fortitude in the endurance of every hardship, privation and suffering, with insufficient food and scanty clothing, contending against fearful odds. True to country; steadfast to duty, and faithful to the last! Surrendering only to overwhelming numbers, when all hope of fur- ther resistance was at an end. No traitor's heart found place in the breast of the Confederate soldier!

Comrades, we welcome you to the dedication of Florida's monu- ment to her Confederate dead, presented by a noble son of her soil, who, in the tender years of early youth, represented his State in the Confederate armies; and whether on the march, in the forefront ot battle, or in prison, illustrated that valor and patriotism, the memory of which we are here to perpetuate on bronze and granite, as it will ever be preserved on the pages of history and in the breasts of our people.

Florida, the smallest of the Confederate States in population, has a rich heritage in the record of those times. Of general officers, she contributed Kirby Smith, the Blucher of Manassas, afterward a full general in command of the Trans-Mississippi department; Loring and Patton Anderson, major-generals; and Finegan, Perry, Davis, Miller and Finley, brigadiers, all gallant and distinguished soldiers.