A worthy work well done.
But I do not hesitate to declare that none of these monuments have been, or will be, more worthily erected than the one we are to unveil here to-day to
A. P. Hill—a worthy comrade of that bright galaxy of leaders which made the name and fame of the Southern Confederacy immortal forever.
And now it only remains for me not to introduce, for I shall not presume to do
that to an audience of
Virginians and of Confederate soldiers, but simply to announce the orator of the occasion.
The
lieutenant-colonel and intimate friend of
A. P. Hill, his successor in command of the old Thirteenth Virginia regiment; the man whose heroic courage and high soldierly qualities attracted the attention of
Lee and
Jackson, and caused them to select him to command the old ‘
Stonewall’ brigade, which he ably led until shot down in the ‘bloody angle’ at Spotsylvania Courthouse; the man who succeeded the gallant and lamented
John Pegram, and led
Ewell's (
Early's) old division around
Petersburg and to Appomattox Courthouse; the man who was always at the post of duty, was one of the bravest and best soldiers and most indomitable patriots that the war produced—that man has been fitly chosen to speak of
A. P. Hill on this occasion, and it gives me peculiar pleasure to announce the name,
General James A. Walker, of
Wytheville, Virginia, or if my loved and honored old friend and commander will pardon the liberty, I will announce him by a name more familiar still to his old followers and comrades, ‘
Stonewall Jim Walker,’ the worthy successor of
A. P. Hill and of
Stonewall Jackson, the man worthy to voice the feelings and sentiments of his old command concerning their loved leader,
A. P. Hill.
[Applause.]
Dr. Jones spoke with his usual force and vigor, and throughout the crowd punctuated his sentences with cheers.
