.v -n^^o^ .\ ■^ f./b: -^^ '^,^ .v^^ ■^^^:^ u v ...s^ "^^^ ^^ '?'-. "^f^^. .^^^ ^/ £i \y •r ^. ^ * o « o ' ^^ V .0^ ■ ■■ ■ ' 'o G • o q\ C " " " ■» O ; .N^^ oV % > :^^ .V V .V "-■ '.c'^" ■ 0' co^ ,^;^,%^ ^. *• -^.-^ > o -:^t^\^ w7m^ ^^-;^, <0' ., ^Z' ;pfe ■^^^ •^ V ^ ' * "' C^ .% c^< ,* ;^: ^: vi^^- ,0 4-^ "-^ '"" v^^ .'•". ^C^ ,o' o ^ , .- -f ,Ho^ S^^^" iflfM -^ -P y-^ 0- Hq, WV^ n. .^- •^ b V 'V The Confederate Soldier. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE WRITTEN REQUEST OF 5,000 EX-UNION SOLDIERS, AT STEmWAY HALL, NEW YORK CITY, Friday Evening, May 3d, 1878, FOR THE Benefit of the 47th N. Y. Veteran Volunteers, (Miles O'Reilly's Regiment,) BY HON. ALFRED M. WADDELL, M. C, OF NORTH CAROLINA. WASHINGTON : JOSEPH L. PEARSON, PRINTER, Cor. 9th and D streets. 1878. ■vh ^ ^'-P.C CORRESPONDENCE " Hon. a. M. Waddell, &c., &v., &c. " The undersigned ex-Union Soldiers, a vast majority of wlioni belong to the Grand Army ol" the Kei)ul)lic, resiiectlnlly request you to deliver your leeture, '' The Confederate Soldier," for the benefit of the Veteran Corps of the 47th NeAv York Veteran Volunteers, (Private Miles O'Reilly's regiment,) in New York (Jity, at an early day. Many of us, knowing that you served with distinction in the army of the late Confederate States, have watched your course in Congress, as the representative of the 3d North Carolina district, during the past seA'en years, and are aware of the liberal spirit you have exhibited iu voting at all times for pensions to Union soldiers ; many of us know the pac-ific, conservative tone of your speeches on public measures likely to re-awaken sectional bitterness — arguments delivered in the interest of a common, united country ; and all of us would bi' happy to meet you face to face. We promise that a generous, soldierly welcome awaits you ; for we need scarcely say, that, no matter on which side of the line during the late strife a man served, having served and linowjng what it means, he is readiest to listen to one who has shown himself by his public acts, as you have repeatedly done, to have been an honorable, generous foe." 6^ Extract from Col. "Waddell's Kepey. " I accept with unfeigned satisfaction, though with manj^ misgivings as to my ability to discliarge the duty imposed u])on me worthily. If anything I may say shall tend to strengthen the bonds of union between the people of the North and South, and to renew the spirit which ani- mated our forefathers, my highest hope will ))e realized." THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER. Soldiers of the Union— my Friends and (countrymen : The man who could without misgivings occupy the posi- tion assigned me this evening would he indeed uneuviahle. I frankly confess that this is to me one of the most trying, as it is one of the most gratifying, occasions in my experience. In attempting to respond to the invitation with which you have so higlily honored me, my aim will be to reflect in some degree the spirit which prompted it — -the soldier-spirit of courage, magnaminit}^ and patriotism. I shall speak to you truthfully and (as far as human infirmity will admit) impartially of that portion of your countrymen wdio were your fearless enemies in war and are your sincere friends in peace. You asked me to select as my theme this even- ing " The Confederate Soldier," and the deed was as manly and generous in you as it was acceptai)le to me and to all those who once bore that name. Be assured that it has for them, as it should have for others, a significance which could never attach to any ordinary invitation. It is welcomed as a good omen of better days to come, as the dawning of a new era which can no longer be postponed. It is accepted as the crowning evidence of a real, sincere determination on the part of those who fought for national unity to oblit- erate ever}^ vestige of sectional feeling, and henceforward to co-operate in a spirit of generous patriotism with their Southern fellow-citizens in the advancement of their com- mon country to that position among the nations of the earth to wliich natural causes aud free institutions alike assign her. Now and then, but less and less frequently, demagogues, for sinister purposes, make spasmodic ettorts to rekindle the dviuo- embers of our late (*onfla2:ration, but public sentiment condemns all sucli ctibrts, and they will soon cease altogether. Your invitation, and my presence here this evening in answer to it, furnish the strongest proof that the capital for that trade is exhausted. It has been carried on, on both sides, principally by men who, whatever else they may have shed, did not spill an alarming quan- tity of blood during the war, and are not recognized by their countrymen as heroes of the civil strife ; but who il- lustrate the prophetic witticism of Gen. Scott, that after the fighting was all over, the great difhculty would be in rec- onciling the non-combatants. Let them continue to afford us amusement now, as they excited our contempt then. The Union will probably survive it if the political career of the word}' warriors does not. In extending the invitation with which you have hon- ored me you were so kind as to allude to my course in Con- gress with commendation, especially in regard to questions affecting the interests of the pensioners of the governiDcnt. It is a source of gratification to me to know that not only myself but every other. ex-Confederate member of Con- gress has always and invariably voted for any and every kind of pension to the gallant men who fought against us. and to their widows and children. If there has ever been an exception to this rule I am not aware of it, and this has been done from no spirit of obsequiousness but from a sense of duty. If the same could be said of all your Senators and Kepresentatives, the disabled soldiers and sailors of the Union and their widows and orphans would be in better condition than they are. The people who lost are willing to pay their part of the tax for this purpose, and those who won ought to be. if they are not. The Confederate Soldier and the male citizen of the Confederate States were nearly absolutely synonymous terms. In no other country, with such a population and territory, was there ever such an ap- proximation to universal soldierhood as was exhibited there. y*o other government was ever charged with " rol)bing the cradle and the grave " to recruit its meUing armies. In the good old conservative state in which I live — and which was so averse to the conflict before it was begun — the number of soldiers exceeded the number of voters by six thousand, a fact which, I believe, is without a parallel. From the first fight at Bethel to the last one at Benton- ville she was in the front line all the time, and her list of killed exceeds that of any other state on either side, and this was a state that voted down secession by a decided ma- jority. All this was, and with some of the Northern people, perhaps, is, still a mystery. The question has been asked a thousand times iiow it could have happened that a people who were so much attached to the Union and so over- whelmingly opposed to secession in March, 1861, should in May following have been enthusiastic in their determina- tion to resist to the last extremity the power of the Federal Government ? The answer to this question is very simple, and contains the whole philosophy of the Confederate strug- gle. It is this : while the people differed as to the abstract right of a state to withdraw from the Union — a lai'ge ma- jority doubting if not denying such right— and while they loved the Union to which their fixthers had contributed so much, they were almost unanimous in the conviction that if a state did secede the other states had no right to use armed force to hold her, and that the first duty of a citizen in such a case was to his own state. This had been the political education of men of all parties. Holding these convictions as to the people of other states, they of course applied them to their own, and as in addition to their con- victions, their interests were all on one side, they did not hesitate, when the issue was made, to take their position. And hence the Confederate soldier. There have been, and still are, very erroneous ideas as to the motives which influenced these men to take up arms. Among them was the notion that they were at heart opposed to the form of government under wliich they liv^od and loiigcd for u more aristocratic form. The best answer to this is to bo found in tbe fact tbat tbey adopted the Constitntioii of tbe United States almost ver- hatim, only incorporating into it a clearer statement of tbe relative rigbts of tbe states and tbe general government, and fixing tbe term of tbe Executive at six years and declai- ino- bis ineli«:ibilitv to a second term. A more common, but equally erroneous, idea was tbat tbey were inspired l)v a fanatical love of tbe institution of slavery, and were determined to risk evci-ytbing, their lives and fortunes, to perpetuate it, and great stress was laid upon tbe utterance atti'ibutod to a distinguished Georgian, l)ut wbicb was a gross misrepresentation, tbat tbe new government was to be founded upon slavery as its corner-stone. Yet only a small portion of tbe people of tbe Soutb owned slaves, and I assert bere now, as a fact wbicb no Soutbern man will deny, tbat not one man in one hundred living there at that time, and perhaps not one in a thousand, would have sbed one drop of bis blood simply to save tbat institution. I bonestly bebeve (and I base my judgment upon bis- torical facts as well as personal observation) tbat but for tlie contimious agitation of tbat question for years previous to tbe war, gradual emancipation under tbe pressure of [>ublic opinion in tbe South alone would bave been inevi- tal)le. A pi'ivate soldier, wbo was a gentleman of c(hica- tion, assured me during the Avar tbat bis association with his comrades satisfied bim that, if tbe conflict terminated successfully for tbe Confederacy, the rank and file of the army would demand tbe al)olition of slavery in some way. because tbey believed it would be an everlasting source of trouble, as it bad been tbrougbout tbe bistory of the country, and be fully sympathized witb tbe sentiment. He may bave been in eri'or, but believed what be said. Many of you will be lotb to believe tbis, perhaps, because tbe aversion wbicb you, in common (it nnist be confessed) with the civilized w^orld, entertained toward tbe institution, w:ittle-ci\y so often, were hiid down. Strong men wept, bade each other farewell, and turned their sad faces toward then' Southern homes — not to be greeted joyfully, and to rest happily after their long trial and suifering, but to grapple with adv^ersit}^ in new forms, and to begin the slow- and painful task of restoring a wasted land to prosperity again. The process is going on, and with each returning spring the hills and valleys of the beauti- ful South throb more lustily beneath their green mantle with the pulses of returning life, and the glad earth sings more triumphantly her resurrection anthem. Chastened and purified by the fires through which he has passed, the- Confederate soldier will redeem the land he loved so well, and inspired by the wisdom born of hard experience, will so shape lier destiny that you and all his countrymen will ere long gladly acknowledge that " her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Citizen-soldiers of the Hepublic ! will you not aid him in his honest efforts to accomplish his high purpose ? Which is most worthy of your respect and confidence, the man wlio looked you squai'ely in the face and fought you until he was utterly exhausted in behalf of a cause which he sin- cerely believed to be just, or the hero who in those trying tiines flung no other l)anner to the lu'eeze save his coat-tails, and to-day marches beneath the standard of the "bloody shirt?" If there is anything which the American people of all sections and every shade of political opinion respect and admire more than any other thing in human character, it is pluck. Imagine the condition of the Confederate soldier to-day as a candidate for office, if his only enter- prise had been the accumulation of commissary stores for you during the war ! My friends, the vernal season is at hand, and the South, harmonizing Nature with political sentiment, anticipates you in putting forth the buds and blossoms of hope and con- fidence in the success of our free institutions. As the sun 21 in his glory reaches your more iioi'thern chnie, and warms your colder. Imt equally generous, soil into exuherant life, so may the quickening rays of kindly and fraternal feehng fall upon your hearts and evoke a larger growth of liberal senti- ment towards your Southern countrymen. Encourage it, and soon we will have a "glorious sunmier " of peace, concord, and national unity, for which are daily breathed the aspira- tions of all true [)atriots everywhere throughout our land. S(ildiers of the Union ! I would not only be guilty of a churlish neglect of duty and coui'tcsy, but would do violence to mv own feelings, if I permitte;! this opportunity to pass without attempting to \yA\ to the brave men who battled for the supremacy of the national authority, the tril)ute of i-espect and admiration which the Confederate soldier en- tertains toward theni. He knows what motives influenced them. He fully appreciates the [»atriotic spirit which inspired them. He, better than all others, can sympathize with them in all tlie memoi-ies which the war recalls. He knows more fully than all others how splendidly they fought, how patiently they suffered, and how completely they triumphed. Conscious of his own prowess, he willingly acknowledges theirs, and will never consent to see them deprived of a single laurel or denied a full recognition of their services. He will vote, as he has done, to pay the living and the widows and orphans of the dead the last farthing which may be justly claimed in their behalf. He will seek no ex- emption from this charge, and will ask no participation in its benefits. Here and there, perhaps, may be found an in- dividual (although I have never seen or known of one) who indulges, though feebly, the hope that at some time, in some way, he may receive compensation for liis losses during the war; but such a person is only a living illustra- tion of the ti'uth that no limit can be set to the bounds of tlie human imagination, and that to the eye of faith noth- ing is impossible. It would be a liberal estimate to fix the number of such persons at one in a hundred thousand of the Southern people. No shifting of policy, and no change 22 of admiinstratioii, can over produce a formidable increase ill their number — the prophetic utterances of over-sensitive natures to the contrary notwithstandins;. To suppose otli- erwise is to in(hilge a morbid fancy. Xo; the maimed Confederate soldier will cheerfully con- tribute to the pension fund which gives food and raiment to the maimed Union soldier or his family, and will never ask to participate witli tlicm thei'oin. ITo knows that com- mon sense forbids tlie consideration of such a proposition, and, therefore, it has never occupied his attention for a mo- ment. The restoration of his rights as an American citizen ^and chief among them the right of local self-government which he now enjoys — tills the measure of his expectations, if not of his desires; and his only ambition now is to con- tinue in their enjoyment, and to bring back from its long exile the banished spirit of material progress and enthrone it permanently in his country. His destiny, under God, is in his own hands, and it is safe. Henceforward he will stand by your side in every etfbrt to advance the honor and welfare, to erect again the prostrate industries and restore the commercial [>ower. of the Great Republic. What other aspiration can he have? What possible inducement could be otlered to him to act otherwise? He is your fellow-citi- zen, living in the enjoyment of the same I'ights and privi- leges accorded to every inhal)itant of this free land, and resting secure beneath the protecting folds of that glorious standard whose crimson stripes were painted with the life- blood of his fathers and yours ; and whenever in the future it shall be unfurled in war the Confederate soldier will be found beneath it, ready to give his life in its defence. If such occasion should ever occur T think the boys in blue would hardly object to touch elbows with him, and would rather enjoy the " old rebel yell " he would raise. N'o one desires to see war who has ever had the experience of it. but if it should come the spectacle of a solid column com- posed ofalternate regiments of ex-Union and ex-Confederate poldiers would be a goodly sight to see. The thought of 23 snch a spectacle is inspiring and quickens the pulse. The realization of it would "provoke the silent dust " of our dead comrades, and would hring upon the winds of heaven the soft music of their common benediction. And now to their honored shades let our parting thoughts be addressed. Another year has passed. Once more Spring- mantles field and forest with her emerald robe, and again the sweet May " wakes her harp of pines." Soon the women of the land will gathei" in a hundred of the silent cities of the dead to deck with garlands tlie gateways through which their heroes marched to glory. When these ceremonies are performed and tender memories of tlie l)y-gono time have softened their hearts and moistened their eyes, let them remember, too, that our brothers whose graves they decorate are at peace forever. A grateful nation has gath- ered the bones of the Union dead in various parts of the country and beautified their last resting place. There are but 'few Confederate cemeteries, and these few are gener- ally unadorned. Scattered throughout the land, from the heights of Get- tysl)urg to the valleys of Texas, lie the remains of thousands of our countrymen of each army whose bones no loving hands have gathered, whose requiem remains unsung save by the night winds, and above whose silent sepulchres no other flowers bloom than those with which generous nature decks neglected graves. " By the flow of the iiihind river, Whence the fleets of iron have fled, Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver Asleep on the ranks of the dead : — Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the j udgnient day ; Under the one tlie Blue Under the other the Gray." May we, their surviving countrymen, ennobled by their example, inspired by the memory of their heroism, and chastened by a common affliction, pursue " The plans of fair delightful peace, Unwar]ied l>y jjarty rage, to live like brothers." ^ The Confederate Soldier. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE WRITTEN REQUEST OF 5,000 EX-UNION SOLDIERS, AT STEINWAY HALL, NEW YORK CITY, Friday Evening, May 3d, 1878, FOR THE Benefit of the 47th N. Y. Veteran Volunteers, (Mii.ES O'Reilly's Regiment,) BY HON. ALFRED M. WADDELL, M. C, OF NORTH CAROLINA. WASHINGTON : . JOSEPH L. PEARSON, PRINTER, Comer of 9tb and D streets. @ I ' 1878. i^ RB 9.3.1 3 & -0' , -ov^^ ' v <^> '^-■^-^f":^^ ' ■^^: vO' ^^-^^^ 1^ ^ • o > '^ V V !^; fO-^ ' ^ :^- ^a^>^ ^^^m". ^> o V :^^ #A^ ■'>\^; ^ • ^ %*. ^; ,.*^^- .-y ' O « ^ ,0 ^; ^" /\ v^Jlf^ i-^ -Jy- ^'//^ "^ iV ^^^/^'^ .^"•' "'-^^^o^ OOBBS BROS. LIBRARY BINOINO ST. AUGUSTINE <\ /^^ FLA.