‘
[158]
chaps are saying, than I could say mean things about George Washington and my dear old grandmother.’
That was the echo of the patriotism of peace from the Pacific shore, then from great New York a dying soldier called his son to his bedside, to place a Confederate flag in his hands to be returned to the Virginia regiment from which it had been captured, ‘With my heartiest good wishes and fraternal feelings.’
So from heart to heart reason spreads, and then the dove of peace flew from the North, bringing home the emblems of war, which had waved in our comrades' hands on many bloody fields of honor, and some had fallen from the dead hands of our color bearers, to go into the forum for the victor's trophies.
What Southern soldier will not respond to these beautiful tokens of peace out of the fullness of heart?
All hail.
Peace in the hearts of Northmen!
All honor!
for the true Southern souls which follow the white plumes of Fitz Lee, Gordon and Wheeler into the realms of charity and forgiveness!
All, glory!
to the men of the South and the North who strive onward with one mind for the honor and safety of the republic!
M. W. Allen, Wilson B. Lynch, John H. Thompson and other soldiers of the Portsmouth Light Artillery, living and dead, whose names are inscribed on this shaft, are the types of manhood who welcome peace.
Although this Union was made indissoluble by blood and iron, against their will, Robert E. Lee told them that it must be their country—its flag their flag—and that they should live and labor for its honor and welfare.
They have obeyed the injunction of their beloved chieftain since the close of hostilities with the same faithfulness as they were wont to obey his battle orders.
They are now heroes in peace as they were heroes in war. They stood up when the sun appeared to stand still over the field of blood and the day to have no ending.
These venerable artillerymen, before you, stood up where Mars flashed and thundered; stood up at the muzzles of their cannon as flashes quickened and grew together into one terrible glare of blinding light; stood up with rammers ready as the blaze from brazen mouths shone down upon the upturned faces of dead comrades; stood up as valiant men for honor and country; stood up for homes and firesides; stood up for priceless virtue and the glory of our city of Portsmouth.
This text is part of:
Richmond, VA. 1906.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.