[32] I am only for a few days longer at these headquarters, and will deliver the “guidon” to your order. I have the honor, General, to be, with high respect, Your obedient servant,
headquarters Valley district, Near Martinsburg, September 25, 1862.Colonel — Under orders from General Hampton, I conducted to this point the escort detailed to receive and guard the guidon presented by the ladies of Fredericksburg to Hampton's Cavalry Brigade. In your absence, the package containing the gift has been handed me by Major Paxton, with whom I have left General Hampton's note of thanks in reply to your letter. I have the honor to be, Colonel, Very respectfully, Your obedient servant,Theodore G. Barker, Capt. and A. A. General Hampton's Cavalry Brigade. Colonel S. Bassett French, A. D. C.
Colonel — Your letter informing me that you were charged by the ladies of Fredericksburg with a guidon to be presented to my brigade, has just reached me, and I beg you to transmit to the patriotic and noble donors our warmest and most grateful thanks for the high honor they have done us. Their beautiful gift shall indeed “be cherished by me and by my brigade with a devotion akin to the feelings which prompt the gift.” It shall be cherished most sacredly; it shall be borne proudly; it shall be defended whilst there is an arm to strike in its defence or a heart to remember the noble women who gave it to us. And if it should not be our fortune to entitle ourselves to the proud motto emblazoned on its folds, and to win for ourselves “Honor and Immortality,” we can at least promise that no breath of dishonor shall taint our sacred standard. Thanking you, sir, for the manner in which you have discharged the duty entrusted to you by my fair country-women of Fredericksburg, and again offering to them my most sincere thanks, together with my best wishes, I am, very respectfully, Your obedient servant,Wade Hampton, Brigadier-General.
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Richmond, VA. 1876.
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