Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/268

 '2(jO Southern Historical Society Papers.

who was the central figure around which all chivalrous sentiment first rallied but our own General Fitz Lee ? Who was it emerged from the fierce conflict of battle as the real hero of Santiago but " Fighting Joe Wheeler of the South " ? But, above all, it is most appropriate that we should to-day recall the fact that the gallant officer of Mosby's command who led the charge against the Federal forces, when these men fell in the streets of Front Royal thirty-five years ago, was himself, during the war, a commissioned officer in the army of the United States; and there was not one who bore his commission with more honor, with more patriotism, with more devo- tion to his country's flag, than did our own comrade, Captain Sam Chapman.

A UNITED COUNTRY.

Therefore, we want it known that in recalling the scenes which occasioned the erection of this monument, we do not in the least abate our patriotism, nor do we surrender in the least our claim to our country and our country's flag. It is our country, reunited. Its people are reunited by ties more lasting than ever bound them here- tofore; they are reunited by the ties of commerce; they are reunited by the marriage and intermarriage of our sons and daughters; they are reunited in our legislative halls, where the statesmen of the North, together with the statesmen of the South, make the nation's laws. And wherever our flag floats, whether upon the land or upon the sea, "it bears the stars of the South as well as the stars of the North."

When we reflect upon the present, we cannot but exclaim how changed is all this since the deeds we commemorate to-day were en- acted. It is true the same skies are above our heads; the same mountains lift their blue peaks around us; the same beautiful river flows at our feet day by day, and reflects the stars of heaven by night. But all else have altered. You hear no more the roar ol the cannon from Fisher's Hill and the heights of Strasburg. The bugle call and clashing sabres of contending horsemen no longer disturb your morning devotions. The smoke and conflagration of battle have been wafted away on the wings of time. And this beau- tiful valley, every foot of whose soil has been made sacred by the stirring deeds of her sons, is smiling to day in peaceful prosperity,

" While Love like a bird is singing From out of the cannon's mouth."