Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 35.djvu/135

Rh All that the survivors of the "Lost Cause" have left are our memories and our monuments. Our memories perish with us. Soon our campfires will die out, the last reveille be sounded, as one by one we answer the final roll-call. Our monuments we bequeath to posterity as a perpetual legacy to commemorate the sacrifices made to principles that are imperishable–constitutional government!

As one of the survivors I read with interest the reminiscences of the veterans of the late Civil War. The perusal of the recent articles in your Confederate Column has brought to mind my experience at the battle of Malvern Hill, the culmination of the Seven Days' Battles around Richmond. General Stephen D. Lee, then Colonel of Artillery, in his report to General Magruder, says: "The enemy's artillery was admirably handled in this action, and is admitted to have been the most terrible artillery fire during the war."

Some conception of this terrible fire may be formed when it is stated that the captain of one of the Federal batteries engaged reports that his battery alone exploded four hundred rounds of shell, five hundred and fifteen rounds of spherical case and sixty-six rounds of canister, add to this the fire of other batteries and the thousands of muskets engaged and the fire from the gunboats, some idea of the din may be formed. This famous battle occurred over forty-five years ago, and yet the impressions made on that fateful day were so impressible that the lapse of time has failed to erase them.

This battle occurred July 1, 1862. Our regiment, the 15th Virginia, was encamped within about two miles of Richmond. The night before my old comrade, C. A. Richardson, who has contributed so much interesting matter to your columns, and the