Gettysburg - Pickett's charge and other war addresses

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Other War Addresses

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JAMES FRANCIS CROCKER

GETTVCCUHG COLLEGE

GeUy b'j'--, Pa.
* LIBRARY A

GETTYSBURG-PICKETTS CHARGE

AND

Other War Addresses

BY

JUDGE JAMES F. CROCKER

PORTSMOUTH, VA.:

W. A. PiSKE, Printer and Bookbinder:

1915.

Gettys^^^ College

Civil War institute

Gettysburg, Pennsylpanim

CONTENTS

JAMES FRANCIS CROCKER

A short Biography taken from
"Men of Mark in Virginia," Vol IV, page /p

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN TAKING

UP ARMS AND IN THE BATTLE

OF MALVERN HILL

GETTYSBURG— PICKETT'S CHARGE

PRISON REMINISCENCES

LIFE AND CHARACTER OF
COLONEL JAMES GREGORY HODGES

OUR CONFEDERATE DEAD

APPENDIX
CITIZENSHIP — ITS RIGHTS AND DUTIES

2^97 T

JAMES FRANCIS CROCKER

THE FOLLOWING SHORT
BIOGRAPHY IS TAKEN
FROM "MEN OF MARK IN
VIRGINIA," Volume IV, p. 79

JAMES FRANCIS CROCKER

''Crocker, James Francis, was born January 5,
1828, at the Crocker home in Isle of Wight county,
Virginia. His parental ancestors early settled in
said county; and the home at which he was born
had then been in the possession of his lineal ances-
tors for upwards of a century. His father was
James Crocker, the son of William Crocker and
Elizabeth Wilson. William Crocker was a wealthy
farmer and was major of militia. Elizabeth Wilson
was the daughter of Willis Wilson, of Surry, and
Sarah Blunt, of Blunt's Castle, Isle of Wight
county. Willis Wilson was a prominent citizen of
his county, a member of the committee of safety
of 1776, and first lieutenant in the company of
which William Davies was captain in the 1st state
regiment of Virginia, commanded by Patrick
Henry. He was a grandson of Nicholas Wilson
and Margaret Sampson, and a member of the
county court, sheriff, coroner, major of militia and
vestryman. Margaret Sampson Wilson received
donations from Lieutenant-Colonel James Powell
and William Archer as expressions of high esteem.

''Frances Hill Woodley, the mother of James F.
Crocker, was the daughter of Major Andrew
Woodley and Elizabeth Hill Harrison. Her
paternal immigrant ancestor was Andrew Wood-
ley, who settled in Isle of Wight in 1690, and, in
1693, bought the tract of land, which became the

8

ancestral home, known as "Four Square," and
which since 1693 has remained in the family.
Through her mother she is descended from
Humphrey Marshall, Thomas Hill, and the Harri-
sons of Isle of Wight.

''James F. Crocker was only six months old
when his father died. He received his early educa-
tion in the classical schools of Smithfield, Virginia.
He then entered Pennsylvania college, at Gettys-
burg, Pennsylvania, and was graduated in 1850,
being the valedictorian of his class. He taught
school — was professor of mathematics in Madison
college — studied law, and was admitted to the bar
of Isle of Wight in 1854. In 1855 he was elected
to the house of delegates from Isle of Wight
county. In 1856, after his service in the legisla-
ture, at the instance of mutual friends, he moved
to Portsmouth, to enter upon a co-partnership in
the practice of law, previously arranged with
Colonel David J. Godwin. The firm of Godwin
and Crocker was eminently successful, but the
lawyer turned soldier in 1861, when Virginia
seceded from the union. He was enthusiastically
with his state in the resumption of her delegated
rights, and gave the Confederacy patriotic service
as a private and as adjutant of the 9th Virginia
infantry. He was desperately wounded at Malvern
Hill, and was wounded and taken prisoner in
Pickett's charge at Gettysburg.

"After the war was over he continued his prac-
tice as a lawyer, but on February 1, 1880, his part-
nership with Colonel Godwin was dissolved by the

latter becoming judge of the corporation court of
the city of Norfolk. He then practiced alone until
1896, when he formed partnership with his
nephew, Frank L. Crocker, under the firm name
and style of Crocker and Crocker. This partner-
ship was dissolved January 1, 1901, when he
entered upon the duties of the office of judge of
the court of hustings for the city of Portsmouth.
He accepted this office at the urgent instance of
the bar and citizens of his city, and at the close
of his term declined re-election. On his retirement
from the bench he was honored by the bar of his
court with the presentation of a silver loving cup
with the inscription :

"To

"James Francis Crocker

"Judge Court of Hustings 1901-1907.

"Esteem and affection of the Bar of

"Portsmouth, Va.

**In politics he has always been an ardent Dem-
ocrat of the Jeffersonian states rights school, and
maintains that in making her defence, in 1861,
Virginia was within her right and duty. He has
written and published three addresses touching his
experience and observation in the war: "Gettys-
burg— Pickett's Charge," "My Experience in
Taking up Arms and in the Battle of Malvern
Hill," and "Prison Reminiscences." These may
be found in the 33rd and v34th volumes of "South-
ern Historical Society Papers." He also published

10

a companion address to them : ''The Rights and
Duties of Citizenship growing- out of the dual
nature of our Government, Federal and State."

''Among the positions he has held are the fol-
lowing: Member of the city council; president
of Portsmouth and Norfolk County Monument
Association, which early erected the beautiful
Confederate monument in the city of Portsmouth;
commander of Stonewall Camp, C. V., brigadier-
general of the first brigade of the Virginia division
of the United Confederate Veterans, state visitor
to Mount Vernon Association, member of the
board of visitors of William and Mary College.
Among the honors that have come to him, he
values most highly his recent election to member-
ship of the Phi Beta Kappa society of the mother
college of the society — William and Mary.

"He is a member of Trinity Episcopal Church,
is one of its wardens, and has, for several years,
represented it in the diocesan council of Southern
Virginia.

*'On June 28, 1866, he married Margaret Jane
Hodges, daughter of General John Hodges and
Jane Adelaide Gregory. She died July 25, 1896.
Their only child, James Gregory Crocker, died
August 12, 1868, at the age of six months.'"

My Personal Experiences in Taking Up

Arms and in the Battle of

Malvern Hill

AN ADDRESS BEFORE
STONEWALL CAMP
CONFEDERATE VETERANS
PORTSMOUTH : VIRGINIA
FEBRUARY 6TH, 1889

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN TAKING

UP ARMS AND IN THE BATTLE

OF MALVERN HILL

Commander and Comrades:

It IS my turn, by appointment, to give tonight
reminiscences of the war. It is expected, as I
understand it, that these reminiscences may be
largely personal and that it is not to be considered
in bad taste to speak of one's self. In fact our
soldiers lives were so much the same, our expe-
riences and performances, our aspirations and de-
votion to our cause were so common to each and
all, that to speak of one's self is to tell the story
of the rest.

Let it be understood at once that no true soldier
can speak of himself and of his services in the Con-
federate Army, however humble the sphere of his
service, without a tone of self commendation. And
if I seem to speak in self praise, remember I but
speak of each of you. Comrades! I would esteem
it the highest honor to stand an equal by your
side. For here before me are men — heroes — in
courage and in patriotism equal to those who fell
at Thermopylae — who with those to whose sacred
memory yon monument is erected, aided in achiev-
ing a lustre of arms such as is not recorded in all
the annals of the past.

The one thing in my personal history touching
the war which I recall with most delight and hold

14

in my siipremest pride and satisfaction before all
else, is the ardor with which I took up arms. This
ardor was not the mere ebullient force of a pas-
sionate excitement, but the inspiration of unques-
tioning conviction that our duty to ourselves, to
posterity, to our State, imperiously demanded that
we should at all hazards and whatever might be
the outcome, take up arms in defence of our rights
as a free, independent and liberty-loving people
and to repel any invasion of our soil by hostile
forces. You recall the glow of this ardor — you
felt it — it l)urned in every true heart of the South.
May those who come after us ever bear it in hon-
orable memory, for it was a most sacred feeling,
akin to what we feel for our religion and our God
in our most devout moments.

It was a bitter alternative that was presented to
Virginia, either to submit unresistingly and uncon-
ditionally to the determined and persistent en-
croachments on her equality under the Constitu-
tion, or to withdraw herself from the Union of the
States which she had been chiefly instrumental in
forming and which for that reason, she, more than
all the other States, loved pre-eminently. She did
all she could to avert this alternative. She sent
her most illustrious citizens to Washington to im-
plore for adjustment, for peace and for the per-
petuity of the Union. Their petition was most
haughtily disregarded. Notwithstanding this, she,
through her people in solemn convention as-
sembled, repressing all resentment, still stood
majestically calm, though deeply moved, with her

15

hand on the bond of the Union, refusing to untie
it. And thus she stood until she was summoned
to take up arms against her kindred people of the
South and to receive on her soil an advancing hos-
tile force. Put to this alternative, she resumed
her delegated rights and sovereignty. In that
solemn act, I was passionately with her with my
whole soul and mind. And standing here tonight
after the lapse of upwards of a quarter of a cen-
tury, summing up all she suffered and lost in war
— in the waste of property, in the desolation of
homes and in the blood of her sons, and also fully
realizing the blessings of the restored Union, I
still declare from the deepest depth of my convic-
tions, that she was right. Yes, I rejoice that my
whole being responded in approval and applause
of that act of my State. I rejoice in recalling with
what willingness I was ready to give my life in its
support, and it is the summation of the pride of
my life that I served humbly in her cause.

Well do I remember that memorable day, the
20th of April, 1861. Animated by the feeling I
have described, fully realizing the immediate im-
minence of strife, and determined to be ready for
it how soon soever it might come, at my own ex-
pense I armed myself with musket and accoutre-
ments, took my stand at the Ocean House corner,
and there with eagerness awaited the first beat of
the first drum that sounded in Virginia the first
call to arms.

You remember the profound interest and emo-
tion of that hour. It stifled all light feelings, and

16

gave to each brow a thoughtful aspect, and to each
eye a depth of light which comes only when the
heart is weighed with great moving concern. Men
pressed in silence each others hands, and spoke in
tones subdued by the solemnity and intensity of
their inexpressible feelings. All knew that when
that long roll once sounded, it would thrill the
land, and that it would not cease to be heard, day
or night, until silenced in victory or defeat. The
long roll beat ; and the vulcan sounds of destruc-
tion in the navy yard, and the flames of burning
buildings and blazing ships told that an unpro-
claimed war had commenced.

Comrades, is it all a dream? Sometimes to me
and doubtless sometimes to you, absorbed and en-
vironed as we are by the present, the war seems
a mystical and mysterious thing, and we feel that
its reality is in some way slipping from us. If in
us who were its active participants there may be
such tendency, what must it be in those w^ho are
taking our places. It is on account of this ten-
dency to lose the reality and meaning of the great
war that I have dwelt on this part of my theme.
And I cannot allow this occasion to pass without
availing myself of it — the occasion of the organ-
ization of ''Sons of Veterans," who are now before
me — to say to them: Believe and know that your
State and your fathers in taking up arms, were
right. Fail never to know and learn to know that
the posterity of no race or people have inherited
from their fathers such a legacy of true patriot-
ism, such sublime devotion to duty, such imperish-

17

able wealth of arms as you have received from
yours, and let the precious memory of this enoble
you, enrich your spirit, and make you the v^orthy
inheritors of their fame and glory.

The personal reminiscence of the v^ar v^hich I
next most value and cherish is the feeling with
which we made that memorable charge at Malvern
Hill. It was our first battle, for the occurences in
which we shared at Seven Pines, did not amount
to an engagement. It can never be indifferent to
note the feelings with which a soldier enters his
first battle. Of all things battle is the most ter-
rible. And to us life is the dearest thing, and the
love of life is by nature made the first law of our
being. We instinctively shrink from imperilling
our lives, and yet with what glad shout we have
seen soldiers rush into the fiercest battles. What
a glorious thing is manhood ! How God-like is the
devotion of man to duty — to a cause — in cheer-
fully giving up life to its service. What a noble
and master passion is patriotism. How it exalts
and glorifies man. To have once felt it propitiates
one's self esteem and makes us ever a hero to our-
selves. Shall I say it? Yes, for it can be equally
said of each of you who were there. I have ever
seemed to myself to have been a hero at Malvern
Hill — if to be hero is to feel the loftiest enthu-
siasm of patriotism — to disdain danger — to stand
in the raging storm of shot and shell with a glad
sense of duty and privilege to be there, and to be
unreservedly willing to meet death for the good

18

of one's country. All this you felt with me on
that memorable charge.

It was in this spirit of devotion, the good, the
brave and the loved Vermillion gave there to his
country his life. This hero's name bids us pause.
How tenderly we all remember him as the warm,
generous, frank hearted friend. Brave and chival-
rous in spirit, ardent and devoted to duty, graceful
in deportment, manly in character, true and proud
in self-respect, he commanded the admiration and
love of all wdio knew him. In peace and in war —
at home and in camp, he was the same true, manly
man. He w^as ardently patriotic and was passion-
ately devoted to his State and to its cause. He fell
wdiile gallantly leading his company on this charge.
He fell in the flush of young manhood when life
to him was full of high hopes and full of all the
sweet endearments of home. He cheerfully gave
his life to his country, and his blood was a willing
libation to its cause. As among the departed
braves Heaven tenderly keeps his happy spirit, so
may his memory be ever lovingly cherished among
the living. In this same spirit of devotion there
fell Prentis, Dozier, Lewer, Parker, Bennett,
Fiske, White and others dear in the memory of
us all.

Let us recall the part which our own regiment,
the Ninth Virginia, took in this memorable charge.
Armistead's Brigade, to which our regiment be-
longed, were the first troops to reach the imme-
diate vicinity of Malvern Hill, arriving there at
10 A. M. Tuesday, July 1st, 1862. On arrival our

19

regiment was detached from the brigade to guard
a strategic point and did not rejoin it until after
the battle. From 10 A. M. to 5 P. M. we lay ex-
posed to the shells of the enemy. At this hour we
were sent for and conducted to a deep wooded
ravine which ran along the very edge of the open
field on which the enemy had made a stand, and
where they had planted many batteries and massed
a great body of infantry. When we took our posi-
tion in the ravine we found that General Magruder
was there in command with a considerable force,
all lying down in successive lines on the steep
sloping side of the ravine. Nearest its brow was
Cobb's Legion ; next to them and almost in touch-
ing distance was Wright's brigade; next below
them was our own gallant regiment forming a line
by itself; below us w^as Mahone's brigade and other
forces — near us were Generals Magruder, Cobb,
Wright and Armistead. The day was fast declin-
ing. The deep shade of the majestic trees with
which the valley was filled and the smoke of the
enemy's guns brought on twilight dimness before
the close of day. As we lay in close rank, we
marked the flash of exploding shells that kissed
the brow of the ravine and lit it up with a weird
light, while the incessant firing of the massed bat-
teries filled the air with constant roar and deafen-
ing crash. At one time, as the sun approached the
horizon, the air seemed to change; it gained a new
elasticity — a clear ring, so that from the sound of
the enemy's artillery you would have thought that
they were approaching nearer to us. General

20

Magruder must have also thought so, for he gave
direction that some men should ascend the brow
of the hill and see if the enemy were advancing.
The enemy had not and were not advancing, but
from an elevation in the open field they poured
from their batteries a living fire and a constant
flow of shells.

The scene was solemn and grandly inspiring.
We felt that the very genius of battle was astir,
and the martial spirit was thoroughly aroused. All
waited with impatience for the order to charge —
that order which whenever given either fires the
heart or pales the face of the soldier. At last
Magruder gives the order. It is first repeated by
General Cobb, and his brave Legion with a shout
that for the moment drowned the roar of the artil-
lery, arose and rushed forward. Then Wright re-
peats the order to his brigade, and as quick as
thought his men spring forward. Then came from
General Armistead: ''Ninth Virginia, charge!"
The men arose with a shout — a joyous shout that
rose above the din of battle and with a passionate
enthusiasm w^e rushed forward. Danger seemed
to be banished from every bosom. Victory and
glory absorbed every other feeling. We rushed on
and forward to within a short distance of the
crown of the hill on which the enemy was massed.
On us was concentrated the shell and cannister of
many cannon and the fire of compact masses of
infantry. It was murderous and a useless waste of
life to go further. Our regiment was halted and
it took position in line with other troops which

21

had preceded us in the charge along and under the
slope of the field, and here held its ground until
the morning disclosed that the enemy had left.
This gallant charge immortalized the Ninth Vir-
ginia and gave it a fame which it was its pride ever
after to maintain in all the great battles in which
it was engaged.

On this charge there came to me a new expe-
rience — a common experience on the battlefield
— that of being wounded. When our regiment
had taken its position just described by moving to
the right, I found myself on its extreme left stand-
ing up on an open field in the face of the enemy
a short distance off with a storm of shot and shell
literally filling the air. I remember as I stood
there I looked upon the enemy with great admJra-
tion. They were enveloped in the smoke of their
guns and had a shadowy appearance, yet I could
easily discern their cross belts, and I watched them
go through the regular process of loading and fir-
ing. They seemed to be firing with as much
steadiness and regularity as if on dress parade. It
was a grand sight and I was impressed with their
courage and discipline. I had not then learned the
wisdom and duty of a soldier to seek all allowable
protection from danger. I had a foolish pride to
be and to appear fearless — as if it were a shame
to seem to do anything to avoid danger. I remem-
ber that immediately on my right a soldier had
sheltered himself behind a low stump. While
silently approving his conduct in this respect yet
apprehending he might only shelter himself, I said

22

to him, "Do not fail to fire on the enemy." I had
scarcely uttered these words when I heard and felt
that sounding thud of the minie ball which became
so familiar to our soldiers. My left arm fell to my
side and the blood streamed from my throat. I
staggered and would have fallen had not two mem-
bers of the Old Dominion Guard stepped quickly
up and caught me and bore me ofT the field. I was
shot through the throat, through the shoulder and
through the arm. And I today wear six scars from
wounds then received, scars more prized by me
than all the ribbons and jewelled decorations of the
kingly grant. When Moses P. Young and James
H. Robinson came to my relief I delivered to them
what was my first and what I then regarded my
last and dying request, for I then thought the
wound through my throat must soon prove mortal.
It was in these words which I have ever since
borne freshly in memory: ''Tell my friends at
home that I did my duty." These words expressed
all that was in me at that moment — friends they
express all that is in my life. Well do I remember
that supreme moment, how I was without fear,
and was perfectly willing to die — to die the death
of the patriot, — and how then came upon me the
tender thought of home and of home friends, and
all my earthly aspirations concentrated into the
one wish that my memory might be kindly linked
to the recognition that I gave my life honorably
and bravely in duty to myself, to my country and
to my God.

Gettysburg— Pickett's Charge

AN ADDRESS BEFORE
STONEWALL CAMP
CONFEDERATE VETERANS
PORTSMOUTH : VIRGINIA
NOVEMBER 7TH, 1894

GETTYSBURG — PICKETT^S CHARGE

You command me to renew an inexpressible sorrow,
and to speak of those things of which zve were a part

It is now nearly thirty years since there died
away on the plains of Appomattox the sound of
musketry and the roar of artillery. Then and there
closed a struggle as heroic as ever was made by a
brave and patriotic people for home government
and home nationality. The tragic story of that
great struggle has ever since been to me as a
sealed, sacred book. I have never had the heart
to open it. I knew that within its lids there were
annals that surpassed the annals of all past times,
in the intelligent, profound, and all-absorbing
patriotism of our people — in the unselfish and un-
tiring devotion of an entire population to a sacred
cause — and in the brilliancy and prowess of arms
which have shed an imperishable glory and honor
on the people of this Southland. Yet there was
such an ending to such great deeds ! The heart of
this great people, broken with sorrow, has watered
with its tears those brilliant annals until every
page shows the signs of a nation's grief. And with
it all there are buried memories as dear and as
sacred as the ashes of loved ones. No, I have had
no heart to open the pages of that sacred yet tragic
history. Not until you assigned me the duty of

26

saying something of Pickett's charge at the battle
of Gettysburg have I ever read the official or other
accounts of that great battle ; and when I lately
read them my heart bled afresh, and my inward
being was shaken to the deepest depths of sad,
tearful emotions, and I wished that you had given
to another the task you gave to me.

On the 13th day of December, 1862, Burnside
lead his great and splendidly equipped army down
from the heights of Fredericksburg, crossed the
Rappahannock, and gave battle to Lee. His army
was repulsed with great slaughter and was driven
back bleeding and mangled to its place of safety.
The star of Burnside went down and out. General
Hooker was called to the command of the Army of
the Potomac. After five months of recuperation
and convalescence, with greatly augmented num-
bers and with every appliance that military art and
national wealth could furnish in the perfect equip-
ment of a great army, it was proclaimed with much
flourish amidst elated hopes and expectancy, that
his army was ready to move. To meet this great
host Lee could rely for success only on the great
art of war and the unfailing courage of his soldiers.
Hooker crossed the Rappahannock and com-
menced to entrench himself. Lee did not wait to
be attacked, but at once delivered battle. The bat-
tle of Chancellorsville was fought — the most in-
teresting battle of the war — in which the blended
genius of Lee and Jackson illustrated to the world
the highest achievement of generalship in the
management of the lesser against the greatly su-

27

perior force. Again was the Army of the Potomac
crushed and driven across the Rappahannockr

And now there arose a great question in the
camp and in the council of State. It was a ques-
tion of statesmanship as well as of arms. The
question was answered by Lee withdrawing his
army from before Hooker and proceeding through
the lower Shenandoah Valley to Pennsylvania,^
leaving the road to Richmond open to be taken by
the enemy if he should still prefer the policy of
''on to Richmond." - The motive of this movement
was tw^o-fold — to relieve Virginia of the enemy by
forcing him to defend his own country, and by a
possible great victory to afTect public opinion of
the North, and thus to conquer peace. The first
object was accomplished; for as soon as Hooker
discerned the movement of Lee, he hastened to fol-
low and to put his army between Lee and Wash-
ington. Had Lee gained a crushing victory Balti-
more and Washington would have been in his
power, and then in all probability peace would
have ensued. Public opinion in the North was
greatly depressed, and sentiments of peace were
ready to assert themselves. An incident illustrated
this. As we were marching from Chambersburg
to Gettysburg, I observed some ladies near the
roadway wave their handkerchiefs to our passing
troops. It excited my attention and curiosity. I
rode up to them and said, "Ladies, I observed you
waving your handkerchiefs as if in cheer to our
army. Why so? We are your enemies and the
enemies of your country." They replied: "We

28

are tired of the war and want you to conquer
peace." I was greatly impressed with their an-
swer, and saw that there might be true patriotism
in their act and hopes.

The invasion of Pennsylvania was wise and pru-
dent from the standpoint of both arms and states-
manship. Everything promised success. Never
was the Army of Northern Virginia in better con-
dition. The troops had unbounded confidence in
themselves and in their leaders. They were full of
the fervor of patriotism — had abiding faith in
their cause and in the favoring will of Heaven
There was an elation from the fact of invading the
country of an enemy that had so cruelly invaded
theirs. The spirit and elan of our soldiers was be-
yond description. They only could know it who
felt it. They had the courage and dash to accom-
plish anything — everything but the impossible.
On the contrary, the Federal army was never so
dispirited, as I afterwards learned from some of its
officers. And this was most natural. They
marched from the bloody fields of Fredericksburg
and Chancellorsville, the scenes of their humiliat-
ing and bloody defeat, to meet a foe from whom
they had never won a victory.

But alas, how different the result ! Gettysburg
was such a sad ending to such high and well
assured hopes! Things went untoward with our
generals. And Providence itself, on which we had
so much relied, seems to have led us by our mis-
haps to our own destruction.
I The disastrous result of the campaign, in my

29

opinion, was not due to the generalship of Lee, but
wholly to the disregard of his directions by some
of his generals. The chief among these, I regret
to say, was the failure of General Stuart to follow
the order* of Lee, which directed him to move into
Maryland, crossing the Potomac east or west of
the Blue Ridge, as, in his judgment, should be best,
and take position on the right of our column as it
advanced. Instead of taking position on the right
of our column as it advanced, Stuart followed the
right of the Federal column, thus placing it be-
tween himself and Lee. The consequence was that
Lee from the time he crossed the Potomac had no
communication with Stuart until after the battle
on the 1st of July, when he heard that Stuart was
at Carlisle, and Stuart did not reach Gettysburg
until the afternoon of July 2d. Lee, referring to
Stuart, says: "By the route he pursued the Fed-
eral army was interposed between his command
and our main body, preventing any communication
with him until he arrived at Carlisle. The march
toward Gettysburg was conducted more slowly
than it would have been had the movements of the
Federal army been known. "t These are solemn,
mild words, but they cover the defeat at Gettys-
burg. Had Lee known the movements of the
Federal army he could easily have had his whole
army concentrated in Gettysburg on the 1st of
July, and could easily have enveloped and crushed

*Lee's Report July 31, 1863, War Records, Series I, Vol.
27, Part 2, p. 306.
tid. p. 307.

30

the enemy's advanced corps, and then defeated
Meade in detail. But as it was, the encounter of
the advance of the Federal army was a surprise
to Lee.

Hill had on the 30th of June encamped with two
of his divisions, Heth's and Pender's at Cashtown.
about eight miles from Gettysburg. Next morning
he moved with Heth's division, followed by Pen-
der's toward Gettysburg. They encountered the
enemy about three miles of the town. The enemy
offered very determined resistance, but Heth's
division, with great gallantry, drove him before it
until it reached Seminary Heights, which over-
looked Gettysburg. At this time, 2 p. m., Rodes'
and Early's divisions of Ewell's corps — the first
from Carlisle and the other from York, made their
opportune appearance on the left of Heth and at
right angles to it: then Pender's division was
thrown forward, and all advancing together drove
the enemy from position to position, and through
the town, capturing 5,000 prisoners, and putting
the enemy to flight in great disorder. Referring
to this juncture of affairs. Col. Walter H. Taylor,
in his 'Tour Years A\'ith Genl. Lee," says: ''Genl.
Lee witnessed the flight of the Federals through
Gettysburg and up the hills beyond. He then di-
rected me to go to Genl. Ewell and to say to him
that from the position he occupied he could see
the enemy retiring over the hills, without organ-
ization and in great confusion : that it was only
necessary to press 'those people' in order to secure
possession of the heights, and that, if possible, he

31

wanted him to do this. In obedience to these in-
structions I proceeded immediately to Genl. Ewell
and delivered the order of Genl. Lee." Genl.
Ewell did not obey this order. Those heights
were what is known as Cemetery Hill, which was
the key to the Federal position. The enemy after-
ward, that night, with great diligence fortified
those heights ; and subsequently the lives of thous-
ands of our soldiers were sacrificed in the vain
efifort to capture them. It was a fatal disobedience
of orders. What if Jackson had been there? Col.
Taylor would not have had any order to bear to
him. Lee would have Vv^itnessed not only the flee-
ing enemy, but at the same time the hot pursuit of
Stonewall Jackson. Ah ! if Stuart had been there,
to give one bugle blast and to set his squadrons on
the charge ! Alas ! he was then twenty-five miles
away at Carlisle, ignorant that a battle was on.

That afternoon after the fight was over, Ander-
son's division of Hill's corps arrived on the battle
field and took position where Pender formerly
was. At sunset Johnson's division of Ewell's
corps came up and took line of battle on Early's
left, and about midnight McLaws' division and
Hood's division (except Laws' brigade) of Long-
street's corps encamped within four miles of Get-
tysburg. The troops which had been engaged in
the fight bivouacked on the positions won. I am
thus particular to locate our troops in order to
show who may be responsible for any errors of
the next day.

Inasmuch as Meade's army was not fully up, it

32

required no great generalship to determine that it
would be to our advantage to make an attack as
early in the next morning as possible. And it was
no more than reasonable that every general having
control of troops should feel and fully appreciate
the imperious necessity of getting ready to do so
and to be ready for prompt action.

General Lee determined to make the main attack
on the enemy's left early in the morning. This at-
tack was to be made by Longstreet, who was di-
rected to take position on the right of Hill and on
the Emmittsburg road. After a conference with
the corps and division commanders the previous
evening, it was understood that this attack was to
be made as early as practicable by Longstreet, and
he was to be supported by Anderson and to receive
the co-operation of Ewell. General Fitzhugh Lee
in his ''Life of Lee," says: "W^hen Lee went to
sleep that night he was convinced that his disposi-
tions for the battle next day were understood by
the corps commanders, for he had imparted them
to each in person. On the morning of July 2, Lee
was up before light, breakfasted and was ready for
the fray."

Can you believe it? Can you even at this dis-
tant day altogether suppress a rising indignation
— that Longstreet did not get into line of battle
until after 4 P. M., although he had the previous
night encamped within four miles of Gettysburg?
In the meanwhile Sickles had taken position in
what is known as the Peach Orchard and on the
Emmittsburg road, which were the positions as-

33

signed to Longstreet, and which he could have
taken earlier in the day without firing a gun. The
forces of the enemy had come up from long dis-
tances — Sedgwick had marched thirty-four miles
since 9 P. M., of the day before and had gotten
into line of battle before Longstreet did.

The attack was made. Sickles was driven from
the Peach Orchard and the Emmittsburg road.
Little Round Top and the Federal lines were pene-
trated, but they were so largely reinforced that the
attack failed after the most courageous effort and
great expenditure of lives. It has been stated that
if this attack had been made in the morning as di-
rected, Lee would have won a great victory, and
the fighting of the 3d would have been saved. The
attack on the left also failed. There, too, the lines
and entrenchments of the enemy were penetrated,
but they could not be held for want of simulta-
neous and conjoint action on the part of the com-
manders. Col. Taylor, speaking of this, says :
"The whole aflPair was disjointed."

Thus ended the second day. General Lee de-
termined to renew the attack on the morrow. He
ordered Longstreet to make the attack next morn-
ing with his whole corps, and sent to aid him in
the attack of Heth's division under Pettigrew,
Lane's and Scales' brigades of Pender's division
under General Trimble, and also Wilcox's brigade,
and directed General Ewell to assail the enemy's
right at the same time. ''A careful examination,"
says Lee, "was made of the ground secured by
Longstreet, and his batteries placed in position,

34

which it was believed would enable them to silence
those of the enemy. Hill's artillery and part of
Ewell's was ordered to open simultaneously, and
the assaulting column to advance under cover of
the combined fire of the three. The batteries were
directed to be pushed forward as the infantry pro-
gressed, protect their flanks and support their at-
tacks closely." Every word of this order was
potentially significant. You will thus observe Lee's
plan of attack. It was to be made in the morning
— presumably in the early morning — with the
whole of Longstreet's corps, composed of the
divisions of Pickett, McLaws and Hood, together
with Heth's division, two brigades of Pender and
Wilcox's brigade, and that the assaulting column
was to advance under the cover of the combined
fire of the artillery of the three corps, and that the
assault was to be the combined assault of infantry
and artillery — the batteries to be pushed forward
as the infantry progressed, to protect their flanks
and support their attack closely. The attack was
not made as here ordered. The attacking column
did not move until 3 P. M., and when it did move
it was without McLaws' and Hood's divisions and
practically without Wilcox's brigade, and without
accompanying artillery. The whole attacking force
did not exceed 14,000, of which Pickett's division
did not exceed 4,700. General Lee afterwards
claimed that if the attack had been made as he
ordered, it would have been successful.

In order to appreciate the charge made by the
attacking force, it is necessary to have some idea

35

of the relative strength and positions of the two
armies, and of the topography of the country.
Before the battle of Gettysburg opened on the
1st of July, Meade's army consisted of seven army
corps which, with artillery and cavalry, numbered
105,000. Lee's army consisted of three army
corps which, with artillery and cavalry, numbered
62,000. On the 3rd of July the enemy had six
army corps in line of battle, with the Sixth corps
held in reserve. Their right rested on Gulp Hill
and curved around westerly to Gemetery Hill, and
thence extended southerly in a straight line along
what is known as Gemetery Ridge to Round Top.
This line was well protected along its whole length
with either fortifications, stone walls or entrench-
ments. It was crowned with batteries, while the
infantry was, in places, several ranks deep, with a
line in the rear with skirmish lines in front. The
form of the line was like a shepherd's crook. Our
line extended from the enemy's right to Seminary
Ridge, which runs parallel to Gemetery Ridge, to
a point opposite to Round Top. Between these
two ridges lay an open, cultivated valley of about
one mile wide, and through this valley ran the
Emmittsburg road in a somewhat diagonal line,
with a heavy fence on either side. The charge was
to be made across this valley so as to strike the
left centre of the enemy's line. The hope was that
if we broke their line, we would swing around to
the left, rout and cut of¥ their right wing, where
Stuart waited with his cavalry to charge upon
them; and thus destroy or capture them, and put

36

ourselves in possession of the Baltimore road and
of a commanding position.

Such were the plans of the assault and such was
the position of the hostile forces. Lee's plan to
make an assault was dangerous and hazardous, but
he was pressed by the force of circumstances which
we cannot now consider. The success of his plan
depended largely on the promptness and co-opera-
tion of his generals. • Without this there could be
little hope of success. He gave his orders and re-
tired for tomorrow.

All wait on the tomorrow. And now the 3d of
July has come. The summer sun early heralded
by roseate dawn, rises serenely and brightly from
beyond the wooded hills. No darkening clouds
obscure his bright and onward way. His aspect is
as joyous as when Eden first bloomed under his
rays. Earth and heaven are in happy accord. The
song of birds, the chirp and motion of winged in-
sects greet the early morn. The wild flowers and
the cultivated grain of the fields are glad in their
beauty and fruitage. The streams joyously ripple
on their accustomed way, and the trees lift and
wave their leafy branches in the warm, life-giving
air. Never was sky or earth more serene — more
harmonious — more aglow with light and life.

In blurring discord with it all was man alone.
Thousands and tens of thousands of men — once
happy fellow countrymen, now in arms, had gath-
ered in hostile hosts and in hostile confronting
lines. It was not the roseate dawn nor rising sun
that awoke them from the sleep of wearied limbs.

37

Before the watching stars had withdrawn from
their sentinel posts, the long roll, the prelude of
battle, had sounded their reveille, and rudely
awoke them from fond dreams of home and loved
ones far away. For two days had battle raged.
On the first, when the field was open and equal,
the soldiers of the South, after most determined
resistance, had driven their foe before them from
position to position — from valley to hill top,
through field and through the town, to the heights
beyond. On the second day, on our right and on
our left, with heroic valor and costly blood, they
had penetrated the lines and fortifications of the
enemy, but were too weak to hold the prize of
positions gained against overpowering numbers of
concentrated reinforcements. The dead and
wounded marked the lines of the fierce combat.
The exploded caissons, the dismounted cannon,
the dead artillery horses, the scattered rifles, the
earth soaked with human gore — the contorted
forms of wounded men, and the white, cold faces
of the dead, made a mockery and sad contrast to
the serene and smiling face of the skies.

From the teamsters to the general in chief it was
known that the battle was yet undecided — that
the fierce combat was to be renewed. All knew
that victory won or defeat suffered, was to be at
a fearful cost — that the best blood of the land was
to flow copiously as a priceless oblation to the god
of battle. The intelligent soldiers of the South
knew and profoundly felt that the hours were
potential — that on them possibly hung the success

38

of their cause — the peace and independence of the
Confederacy. They knew that victory meant so
much more to them than to the enemy. It meant
to us uninvaded and peaceful homes under our own
rule and under our own nationality. With us it
was only to be let alone. With this end in view,
all felt that victory was to be won at any cost. All
were willing to die, if only their country could
thereby triumph. And fatal defeat meant much to
the enemy. It meant divided empire — lost terri-
tory and severed population. Both sides felt that
the hours were big with the fate of empire. The
sense of the importance of the issue, and the re-
sponsibility of fully doing duty equal to the grand
occasion, impressed on us all a deep solemnity and
a seriousness of thought that left no play for gay
moods or for sympathy with nature's smiling
aspect, however gracious. ) Nor did we lightly con-
sider the perils of our duty. From our position in
line of battle, which we had taken early in the
morning, we could see the frowning and cannon-
crowned heights far off held by the enemy. In a
group of officers, a number of whom did not sur-
vive that fatal day, I could not help expressing that
it was to be another Malvern Hill, another costly
day to Virginia and to Virginians. While all fully
saw and appreciated the cost and the fearful mag-
nitude of the assault, yet all were firmly resolved,
if possible, to pluck victory from the very jaws of
death itself. Never were men more conscious of
the difficulty imposed on them by duty, or more
determinedly resolved to perform it with alacrity

39

and cheerfulness, even to annihilation, than were
the men of Pickett's division on that day. With
undisturbed fortitude and even v^ith ardent impa-
tience did they av^ait the command for the assault.
The quiet of the day had been unbroken save on
our extreme left, w^here in the early morning* there
had been some severe fighting; but this v^as soon
over, and now all on both sides were at rest, wait-
ing in full expectancy of the great assault, which
the enemy, as well as we, knew was to be delivered.
The hours commenced to go wearily by. The ten-
sion on our troops had become great. The mid-
day sun had reached the zenith, and poured its
equal and impartial rays between the opposite
ridges that bounded the intervening valley running
North and South. Yet no sound or stir broke the
ominous silence. Both armies were waiting spectar
tors for the great event. Upwards of one hundred
thousand unengaged soldiers were waiting as from
a grand amphitheatre to witness the most magnifi-
cent heroic endeavor in arms that ever immortal-
ized man. Still the hours lingered on. Why the
delay? There is a serious difference of opinion be-
tween the general in chief and his most trusted
lieutenant general as to the wisdom of making the
assault. Lee felt, from various considerations, the
forced necessity of fighting out the battle here, and
having the utmost confidence in his troops he fully
expected victory if the attack be made as he had
ordered. Longstreet, foreseeing the great loss of
assaulting the entrenched position of the enemy
and making such assault over such a distance

40

under the concentrated fire, urges that the army
should be moved beyond the enemy's left flank,
with the hope of forcing him thus to abandon his
stronghold or to fight us to our advantage. Long-
street pressed this view and delayed giving the
necessary- orders until Lee more pre-emptorily re-
peated his own order to make the assault. Even
then Longstreet was so reluctant to carry out the
orders of Lee that he placed upon Lt.-Col. Alex-
ander, who was in charge of the artiller>' on this
day, the responsibility of virtually giving the order
for its execution.

At last, in our immediate front, at 1 P. M., there
suddenly Leaped from one of our cannons a single
sharp, far-reaching sound, breaking the long-con-
tinued silence and echoing along the extended
lines of battle and far beyond the far-off heights.
All were now at a strained attention. Then quick-
ly followed another gun. Friend and foe at once
recognized that these were signal guns. Then
hundreds of cannon opened upon each other from
the confronting heights. What a roar — how in-
cessant! The earth trembled under the mighty re-
sound of cannon. The air is darkened with sul-
phurous clouds. The whole valley is enveloped.
The sun, lately so glaring, is itself obscured. Noth-
ing can be seen but the flashing light leaping from
the cannon's mouth amidst the surrounding smoke.
The air which was so silent and serene is now full
of exploding and screaming shells and shot, as if
the earth had opened and let out the very furies of
Avernus. The hurtling and death-dealing missiles

41

are plowing amidst batteries, artillery and lines of
infantry, crushing, mangling and killing until the
groans of the men mingle with the tempest's
sound. The storm of battle rages. It is appalling,
terrific, yet grandly exciting. It recalls the im-
agery of Byron's night-storm amidst the Alps :

"The sky is changed, and such a change i * * *
*********** Far along
From peak to peak, the rattling crags among
Leaps the live thunder! Not from one lone cloud,
But every mountain now hath found a tongue,
And Jura answers from her misty shroud
Back to the joyous Alps who call to her aloud."

After two hours of incessant firing the storm at
last subsides. It has been a grand and fit prelude
to what is now to follow. All is again silent. Well
knowing what is shortly to follow, all watch in
strained expectancy. The waiting is short. Only
time for Pickett to report to his lieutenant-general
his readiness and to receive the word of command.
Pickett said: ''General, shall I advance?" Long-
street turned away his face and did not speak.
Pickett repeated the question. Longstreet, with-
out opening his lips, bowed in answer. Pickett, in
a determined voice, said: "Sir, I shall lead my
division forward," and galloped back and gave the
order, "Forward march !" The order ran down
through brigade, regimental and company ofBcers
to the men. The men with alacrity and cheerful-
ness fell into line. Kemper's brigade on the right,
Garnett's on his left, with Heth's division on the

42

left of Garnett, formed the first line. Armistead's
brigade moved in rear of Garnett's, and Lane's and
Scales' brigades of Pender's division moved in the
rear of Heth, but not in touch nor in line with
Armistead. As the lines cleared the woods that
skirted the brow of the ridge and passed through
our batteries, with their flags proudly held aloft,
waving in the air, with polished muskets and
swords gleaming and flashing in the sunlight, they
presented an inexpressibly grand and inspiring
sight. It is said that when our troops were first
seen there ran along the line of the Federals, as
from men who had waited long in expectancy, the
cry: There they come! There they come! The
first impression made by the magnificent array of
our lines as they moved forward, was to inspire
the involuntary admiration of the enemy. Then
they realized that they came, terrible as an army
with banners. Our men moved with quick step as
calmly and orderly as if they were on parade. No
sooner than our lines came in full view, the
enemy's batteries in front, on the right and on the
left, from Cemetery Hill to Round Top, opened on
them with a concentrated, accurate and fearful fire
of shell and solid shot. These plowed through or
exploded in our ranks, making great havoc. Yet
they made no disturbance. As to the orderly con-
duct and steady march of our men, they were as if
they had not been. As the killed and wounded
dropped out, our lines closed and dressed up, as if
nothing had happened, and went on with steady
march. I remember I saw a shell explode amidst

43

the ranks of the left company of the regiment on
our right. Men fell like ten-pins in a ten-strike.
Without a pause and without losing step, the sur-
vivors dressed themselves to their line and our
regiment to the diminished regiment, and all v^ent
on as serenely and as unfalteringly as before. My
God! it v^as magnificent — this march of our men.
What was the inspiration that gave them this stout
courage — this gallant bearing — this fearlessness

— this steadiness — this collective and individual
heroism? It was home and country. It was the
fervor of patriotism — the high sense of individual
duty. It was blood and pride of state — the in-
herited quality of a brave and honorable ancestry.

On they go — down the sloping sides of the
ridge — across the valley — over the double fences

— up the slope that rises to the heights crowned
with stone walls and entrenchments, studded with
batteries, and defended by multiple lines of pro-
tected infantry. The skirmish line is driven in.
And now there bursts upon our ranks in front and
on flank, like sheeted hail, a new storm of missiles

— canister, shrapuel and rifle shot. Still the col-
umn advances steadily and onward, without pause
or confusion. Well might Count de Paris describe
it as an irresistible machine moving forward which
nothing could stop. The dead and wounded —
ofificers and men — mark each step of advance.
Yet under the pitiless rain of missiles the brave
men move on, and then with a rush and cheering
yell they reach the stone wall. Our flags are
planted on the defenses. Victory seems within

44

grasp, but more is to be done. Brave Armistead,
coming up, overleaps the wall and calls on all to
follow. Brave men follow his lead. Armistead is
now among the abandoned cannon, making ready
to turn them against their former friends. Our
men are widening the breach of the penetrated and
broken lines of the Federals. But, now the enemy-
has made a stand, and are rallying. It is a critical
moment. That side must win which can command
instant reinforcements. They come not to Arm-
istead, but they come to Webb, and they come to
him from every side in overwhelming numbers in
our front and with enclosing lines on either flank.
They are pushed forward. Armistead is shot down
with mortal wounds and heavy slaughter is made
of those around him. The final moment has come
when there must be instant flight, instant surren-
der, or instant death. Each alternative is shared.
Less than 1,000 escape of all that noble division
which in the morning numbered 4,700; all the rest
either killed, wounded or captured. All is over.
As far as possible for mortals they approached the
accomplishment of the impossible. Their great
feat of arms has closed. The charge of Pickett's
division has been proudly, gallantly and right roy-
ally delivered.

And then, at once, before our dead are counted,
there arose from that bloody immortalized field,
Fame, the Mystic Goddess, and from her trumpet
in clarion notes there rang out upon the ear of the
world the story of Pickett's charge at Gettysburg.
All over this country, equally North and South,

45

millions listened and returned applause. Over
ocean Fame wings her way. Along the crowded
population and cities of Europe she rings out the
story. The people of every brave race intently lis-
ten and are thrilled. Over the famous battlefields
of modern and ancient times she sweeps. Over the
ruins and dust of Rome the story is heralded.
Thermopylae hears and applauds. The ancient
pyramids catch the sound, and summing up the
records of their hoary centuries, searching, find
therein no story of equal courage. Away over the
mounds of buried cities Fame challenges, in vain,
a response from their past. Over the continents
and the isles of the sea the story runs. The whole
world is tumultuous with applause. A new gen-
eration has heard the story with undiminished ad-
miration and praise. It is making its way up
through the opening years to the opening cen-
turies. The posterities of all the living will gladly
hear and treasure it, and will hand it down to the
end of time as an inspiration and example of cour-
age to all who shall hereafter take up arms.

The intrinsic merit of the charge of Pickett's
men at Gettysburg, is too great, too broad, too im-
mortal for the limitations of sections, of states, or
of local pride.

The people of this great and growing republic,
now so happily reunited, have and feel a common
kinship and a common heritage in this peerless ex-
ample of American courage and American heroism.

But let us return to the battlefield to view our
dead, our dying and our wounded. Here they lie

46

scattered over the line of their march; here at the
stone wall they lie in solid heaps along its foot ;
and here within the Federal lines they are as
autumnal leaves — each and all precious heroes —
each the loved one of some home in dear, dear Vir-
ginia. Now we seem to catch the sound of another
strain. It is more human ; it touches pathetically
more closely human hearts. It is the wailing voice
of afflicted love. It is the sobbing outburst of the
sorrow of bereavement coming up from so many
homes and families, from so many kinsmen and
friends; and w^ith it comes the mournful lamenta-
tions of Virginia herself, the mother of us all, over
the loss of so many of her bravest and best sons.

Of her generals Garnett is dead, Armistead is
dying; and Kemper desperately wounded. Of her
colonels of regiments six are killed on the field,
Hodges, Edmonds, Magruder, \A'illiams, Patton,
Allen, and Owen is dying and Stuart mortally
wounded. Three lieutenant-colonels are killed,
Calcutt, Wade and Ellis. Five colonels, Hunton,
Terry, Garnett, Mayo and Aylett, are wounded.
Four lieutenant-colonels commanding regiments,
Martin, Carrington, Otey and Richardson are
wounded. Of the w^hole complement of field offi-
cers in fifteen regiments only one escaped unhurt,
Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph C. Cabell. The loss of
company officers are in equal proportion. It is a
sad, mournful summing up. Let the curtain fall on
the tragic scene.

But there are some of those who fell on that

47

field whom I cannot pass by with a mere enumera-
tion.

Gen. Lewis A. Armistead, the commander of
our brigade, is one of these. Fortune made him
the most advanced and conspicuous hero of that
great charge. He was to us the very embodiment
of a heroic commander. On this memorable day
he placed himself on foot in front of his brigade.
He drew his sword, placed his hat on its point,
proudly held it up as a standard, and strode in
front of his men, calm, self-collected, resolute and
fearless. All he asked was that his men should fol-
low him. Thus in front he marched until within
about one hundred paces of the stone wall some
officer on horseback, whose name I have never
been able to learn, stopped him for some purpose.
The few moments of detention thus caused were
sufficient to put him for the first time in the rear
of his advancing brigade. Then quickly on he
came, and when he reached the stone wall where
others stopped, he did not pause an instant — over
it he went and called on all to follow. He fell, as
above stated, amidst the enemy's guns, mortally
wounded. He was taken to the Eleventh Corps*
Hospital, and in a few days he died and was buried
there.

Another: Col. James Gregory Hodges, of the
14th Virginia, of Armistead's brigade, fell instantly
killed at the foot of the stone wall of the Bloody
Angle, and around and over his dead body there
was literally a pile of his dead officers around him,
including gallant Major Poor. On the occasion of

48

the reunion of Pickett's Division at Gettysburg,
1887, General Hunt, chief of the Federal artillery
at this battle, who had known Col. Hodges before
the war, pointed out to me where he saw him lying
dead among his comrades. He led his regiment in
this memorable charge with conspicuous courage
and gallantry. He was an able and experienced
officer. At the breaking out of the war he was
Colonel of the Third Virginia Volunteers, and from
20th April, 1861, until he fell at Gettysburg he
served with distinguished ability, zeal and gal-
lantry his State and the Confederacy. He was
with his regiment in every battle in which it was
engaged in the war. He commanded the love and
confidence of his men, and they cheerfully and fear-
lessly ever followed his lead. His memory deserves
to be cherished and held in the highest esteem by
his city, to which by his virtues, character and
patriotic service he brought honor and considera-
tion.

Col. John C. Owens, of the Ninth Virginia,
Armistead's Brigade, also of this city, fell mortally
wounded on the charge, and died in the field hos-
pital that night. He had been recently promoted
to the colonelency of the regiment from the cap-
taincy of the Portsmouth Rifles, Company G. As
adjutant of the regiment I had every opportunity
of knowing and appreciating Col. Owens as a man
and officer. I learned to esteem and love him. He
was intelligent, quiet, gentle, kind and considerate.
Yet he was firm of purpose and of strong will. He
knew how to command and how to require obedi-

49

ence. He was faithful, and nothing could swerve
him from duty. Under his quiet, gentle manner
there was a force of character surprising to those
who did not know him well. And he was as brave
and heroic as he was gentle and kind. Under fire
he was cool, self-possessed, and without fear. He
was greatly beloved and respected by his regiment,
although he had commanded it for a very short
time. He fell while gallantly leading his regiment
before it reached the enemy's lines. He, too, is to
be numbered among those heroes of our city, who
left home, never to return; who after faithful and
distinguished service, fell on the field of honor,
worthy of the high rank he had attained, reflecting
by his life, patriotism and courage, honor on his
native city, which will never let his name and
patriotic devotion be forgotten.

John C. Niemeyer, First Lieutenant I, Ninth
Virginia, was killed in that charge just before
reaching the famous stone wall. He was a born
soldier, apt, brave, dashing. He was so young, so
exuberant in feeling, so joyous in disposition, that
in my recollection of him he seems to have been
just a lad. Yet he knew and felt the responsibility
of office, and faithfully and gallantly discharged its
duties. He was a worthy brother of the distingu-
ished Col. W. F. Niemeyer, a brilliant officer who
also gave his young life to the cause.

And there, too, fell my intimate friend, John S.
Jenkins, Adjutant of the Fourteenth Virginia. He,
doubtless, was one of those gallant officers whom
General Hunt saw when he recognized Colonel

50

Hodges immediately after the battle, lying dead
where he fell, who had gathered around him, and
whose limbs were interlocked in death as their
lives had been united in friendship and comrade-
ship in the camp. He fell among the bravest,
sealed his devotion to his country by his warm
young blood, in the flush of early vigorous man-
hood when his life was full of hope and promise.
He gave up home which was peculiarly dear and
sweet to him, when he knew that hereafter his only
home would be under the flag of his regiment,
wherever it might lead, whether on the march, in
the camp or on the battle field. His life was beauti-
ful and manly — his death was heroic and glorious,
and his name is of the imperishable ones of
Pickett's charge.

Time fails me to do more than mention among
those from our city who were killed at Gettysburg:
Lieut. Robert Guy, Lieut. George W. Mitchell,
John A. F. Dundedale, Lemuel H. Williams, W.
B. Bennett, John W. Lattimore, W. G. Monte,
Richard J. Nash, Thomas C. Owens, Daniel Byrd,
John Cross and Joshua Murden — heroes all —
who contributed to the renown of Pickett's charge,
gave new lustre to the prowess of arms, and laid a
new chaplet of glory on the brow of Virginia,
brighter and more immortal than all others worn
by her.

''Let marble shafts and sculptured urns
Their names record, their actions tell,

Let future ages read and learn

How well they fought, how nobly fell."

PRISON REMINISCENCES

AN ADDRESS BEFORE
STONEWALL CAMP
CONFEDERATE VETERANS
PORTSMOUTH : VIRGINIA
FEBRUARY 2ND, 1904

PRISON REMINISCENCES

In the charge of Pickett's Division at the battle
of Gettysburg I was wounded and taken prisoner.
With some others I was taken to the Twelfth
Corps Hospital, situated in the rear of the left bat-
tle line of the Federals. I was here treated with
much kindness and consideration. Among other
officers who showed me kindness was Col. Dwight,
of New York. Professor Stoever, of Pennsylvania
College, at which I graduated in 1850, on a visit
to the Hospital met me, accidentally, and we had
a talk of the old college days.

I wore in the battle a suit of gray pants and
jacket. They were a little shabby. After I had
been at the hospital a few days it occurred to me
that I ought to make an effort to get a new outfit
so as to make a more decent appearance. The
ways and means were at command. I wrote to an
old friend and former client, then living in Balti-
more, for a loan. A few days afterwards two
Sisters of Charity came into the hospital and in-
quired for me. They met me with gracious sym-
pathy and kindness. One of them took me aside,
and, unobserved, placed in my hand a package of
money, saying it was from a friend, and requested
no name be mentioned. They declined to give me
any information. I never knew who they were.
There was a mystery about them. They could not
have come for my sake alone. But this I know,
they were angels of mercy.

54

I made known to the authorities my wish to go
to Gettysburg, and while there to avail myself of
the opportunity of getting a new suit. The author-
ities of the hospital, through Col. Dwight, con-
ferred on me a great honor — the honor of personal
confidence — absolute confidence. They gave me
a free pass to Gettysburg, w^ith the sole condition
that I present it at the Provost office there and
have it countersigned. I went alone, unattended.
The fields and woods were open to me. They
somehow knew — I know not how — that I could
be trusted; that my honor was more to me than
my life.

On my way to town I called by the Eleventh
Corps Hospital, to w^hich General Armistead had
been taken, to see him. I found that he had died.
They showed me his freshly made grave. To my
inquiries they gave me full information. They told
me that his v.^ound was in the leg; that it ought
not to have proved mortal; that his proud spirit
chafed under his imprisonment and his restlessness
aggravated his wound. Brave Armistead! The
bravest of all that field of brave heroes! If there
be in human hearts a lyre, in human minds a flame
divine, that awakens and kindles at the heroic
deeds of man, then his name will be borne in song
and story to distant times.

I had my pass countersigned at the Provost

office. It gave me the freedom of the city. There

were many Federal officers and soldiers in the city.

"7 It was a queer, incongruous sight to see a rebel

lieutenant in gray mingling in the crowd, and ap-

55

parently at home. They could see, however, many
of the principal citizens of the town cordially
accosting, and warmly shaking by the hand, that
rebel. I met so many old friends that I soon felt
at home. As I was walking along the main street,
a prominent physician. Dr. Horner, stopped me
and renewed the old acquaintanceship. He pointed
to a lady standing in a door not far away, and
asked me who it was. I gave the name of Miss
Kate Arnold, a leading belle of the college days.
He said, "She is my wife and she wants to see
you." There was a mutually ^ cordial meeting.
While standing in a group of old friends I felt a
gentle tap on my shoulder from behind. It was
my dear old professor of mathematics, Jacobs. He
whispered to me in the kindest, gentlest way not
to talk about the war. I deeply appreciated his
kindness and solicitude. But I had not been talk-
ing about the war. The war was forgotten as I
talked of the olden days.

On another street a gentleman approached me
and made himself known. It was Rev. David
Swope, a native of Gettysburg, who was of the
next class below mine. He manifested genuine
pleasure in meeting me. He told me he was living
in Kentucky when the war broke out. He recalled
a little incident of the college days. He asked me
if I remembered in passing a certain house I said
to a little red-headed girl with abundant red curls,
standing in front of her house, "Vl\ give you a levy
for one of those curls." I told him that I remem-
bered it as if it were yesterday. He said that little

56

girl was now his wife; and that she would be de-
lighted to see me. He took me to a temporary
hospital where there were a large number of our
wounded. He had taken charge of the hospital,
and manifested great interest in them and showed
them every tender care and kindness. I fancied
that those Kentucky days had added something to
the sympathy of his kind, generous nature towards
our wounded; and when I took leave of him, I am
sure the warm grasp of my hand told him, better
than words, of the grateful feelings in my heart.

I must ask indulgence to mention another inci-
dent. I met on the college campus a son of Prof.
Baugher, who was then president of the college,
and who was president when I graduated. The son
gave me such a cordial invitation to dine with him
and his father that I accepted it. They were all
very courteous; but I fancied I detected a reserved
dignity in old Dr. Baugher. It was very natural
for him to be so, and I appreciated it. The old
Doctor, while kindhearted, was of a very positive
and radical character, which he evinced on all sub-
jects. He was thoroughly conscientious, and was
of the stuff of which martyrs are made. He was
thoroughly orthodox in his Lutheran faith ; and in
politics, without ever hearing a word from him, I
venture to say he was in sympathy with, I will not
say, Thaddeus Stevens, but with Garrison and
Phillips. My knowledge of him left me no need to
be told that his views and feelings involved in the
war were intense. And there he was, breaking
bread with a red handed rebel in his gray uniform

57

giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Was he not
put to it to keep mastery of himself?

Happy for man that he is double sighted; that
there is within him a quality allied to conscience,
— call it charity — that enables him to choose on
which side to look. The venerable Doctor saw be-
fore him only his old student, recalled only the old
days, and their dear memories. If there was any-
thing between his heart and his country's laws,
there was nothing between his heart and his
Saviour's sweet charity.

And here I must relate an incident of those old
days not wholly irrelevant and inopportune. I
graduated in 1850. I had the honor to be the
valedictorian of my class. In preparing my address
I took notice of the great excitement then prevail-
ing on account of the discussion in Congress of the
bill to admit California as a State into the Union.
Great sectional feeling was aroused through this
long protracted discussion in the Senate. One
senator dared use the word "disunion" with a
threat. The very word sent a thrill of horror over
the land. I recall my own feeling of horror. In
my address to my classmates I alluded to this sec-
tional feeling, deprecating it, and exclaimed, "Who
knows, unless patriotism should triumph over sec-
tional feeling but what we, classmates, might in
some future day meet in hostile battle array."

Dr. Baugher, as president of the college, had re-
vision of our graduating speeches, and he struck
this part out of my address. But alas! it was a
prophetic conjecture; and members of our class

58

met in after years, not only in battle array, but on
the fields over which, in teaching botany, Prof.
Jacobs had led us in our study of the wild flowers
that adorned those fields.

Many other incidents occurred on this day deep-
ly interesting to me, but they might not interest
others. I returned to the hospital, but not before
leaving my measure and order with a tailor for a
suit of gray, which was subsequently delivered to
me.

-^ It was a queer episode — a peace episode in the
midst of war. This experience of mine taught me
that the hates and prejudices engendered by the
war were national, not individual; that individual
relations and feelings were but little affected in
reality; and that personal contact was sufficient to
restore kindliness and friendship.

A short while afterwards I was taken from the
Twelfth Corps Hospital to David's Island, which
is in Long Island Sound, near and opposite to New
Rochelle, in New York. A long train from Gettys-
burg took a large number of Confederate wounded,
not only from the Twelfth Corps Hospital but
from other hospitals, to Elizabethport, and from
there the wounded were taken by boat to David's
Island. We were taken by way of Elizabethport
instead of by way of Jersey City, on account of a
recent riot in New York City. All along, at every
station at which the train stopped, it seemed to me,
our wounded received kind attentions from leading
ladies, such as Mrs. Broadhead and others. These
ladies brought them delicacies in abundance; and

59

at Elizabethport these attentions became so con-
spicuous that Federal officers complained of the
neglect of the Union wounded on the train, and
forced the Southern sympathizers, as they called
them, to distribute their delicacies between the
wounded of both sides.

When we arrived at David's Island, we found
there a first-class hospital in every respect. It was
called "De Camp General Hospital." It consisted
of a number of long pavilions, and other buildings
delightfully and comfortably arranged, and fur-
nished with every appliance needed to relieve the
wounded and sick. It had been previously occu-
pied by the Federal sick and wounded. It was
quite a relief for us to get there. After our arrival,
with those already there, three thousand Southern
wounded soldiers occupied these pavilions. Only
a few of these were officers. Most of the wounded
were in a very pitiable condition. The New York
Daily Tribune, of Wednesday, July 29, 1863, had
this to say of them:

THE SICK AND WOUNDED.

''The sick and wounded Rebels were handled
with the same care and tenderness that is bestowed
upon our own invalid soldiers. Those who could
not walk were gently carried on stretchers, and
those who were able to stand upon their feet were
led carefully from the boat to the hospital
pavilions. They were in a wretched condition —
dirty, ragged, and covered with vermin — their
soiled and torn uniforms, if such they may be

60

called, were stained and soaked with blood; and
their wounds, w^hich had not been dressed from the
time of the battles at Gettysburg until their ar-
rival here, were absolutely alive with maggots.
Many of them had suffered amputation — some
had bullets in their persons — at least a score have
died who were at the point of death when the boat
touched the wharf.

"On their arrival here they were dressed in the
dirty gray coats and pants, so common in the
Southern army. Shakespeare's army of beggars
must have been better clad than were the Confed-
erate prisoners. One of the first acts of Dr. Sim-
mons, the surgeon in charge, was to order the
prisoners to throw aside their ^ragged regimentals,'
wash their persons thoroughly and robe them-
selves in clean and comfortable hospital clothing,
which consists of cotton shirts and drawers, dress-
ing gown of gray flannel, and blue coat and
trousers of substantial cloth.

'Their old rags were collected in a heap and
burned, notwithstanding the great sacrifice of life
involved. We looked about the island in vain to
find a butternut colored jacket, or Rebel uniform.
The 3,000 prisoners did not bring with them
enough clean linen to make a white flag of peace
had they been disposed to show any such sign of
conciliation."

Who were these dirty, ragged soldiers, whose
soiled and torn uniforms, if such they could be
called, were stained and soaked with blood? The
world knows them as the gallant followers of Lee,

61

whose triumphant valor on every field, and against
all odds, had filled the world with wonder and ad-
miration, — who suffered their first defeat at Get-
tysburg — suffered from no want of courage on
their part as Pickett's charge shows, but solely
from want of prompt obedience to Lee's orders.
The three thousand wounded Confederate soldiers,
in these pavilions, were the very flower of the
South — the sons and product of its best blood;
inheritors of a chivalric race, the bone and sinew
of the land, bright, intelligent, open-faced and
open-hearted men; including in their ranks many
a professional man — many a college student —
readers of Homer and Plato — readers of Virgil
and Cicero. There were among these ragged-
jacket wearers men who, around the camp fires,
could discuss and quote the philosophy and elo-
quence of the Greek and the Roman. These were
the men who bore with cheerfulness, and without
complaint, the conditions described; who asked
only that by their service and suffering their
country might be saved.

Yes, it was of these men, in these pavilions, that
the assistant surgeon of the hospital. Dr. James E.
Steele, a Canadian by birth, said to me : "Adjutant,
your men are so different from those who formerly
occupied these pavilions; when I go among your
men they inspire in me a feeling of companion-
ship."

In the same article of the Tribune there is some-
thing personal to myself. I will lay aside all false

62

modesty, and quote it here for preservation for
those who take an interest in me.

ADJUTANT J. F. CROCKER.

"In pavilion No. 3 we saw several Confederate
officers, with one or two exceptions, they were
abed, the nature of their wounds rendering it pain-
ful for them to sit up. One of these officers, how-
ever was sitting at a table writing a letter. He
was very civil and communicative. He was a
native of Virginia, a graduate of Pennsylvania
College at Gettysburg, where he was wounded —
a lawyer by profession, and really a man of
superior talents and culture. He has brown hair
and a broad forehead. He is apparently 35 years
of age. He said it was impossible for the North
to subdue the South. The enemy might waste
their fields, burn their dwellings, level their cities
with the dust, but nothing short of utter exterm-
ination would give the controlling power to the
North. The intelligent people of the South looked
upon the efforts to regain their rights as sacred,
and they were willing to exhaust their property
and sacrifice their lives, and the lives of their
wives and children, in defending what they con-
ceived to be their constitutional rights. They
would consent to no terms save those of separa-
tion, and would make no conditions in relation to
the question of slavery. They would suffer any
calamity rather than come back to the Union as
it was. They would be willing to form an alliance
with any country in order to accomplish the fact

63

of separation. 'Such are my sentiments,' said the
Adjutant. 'I will take the liberty of asking my
comrades if they endorse what I have said.' Cap-
tain J. S. Reid, of Georgia, Adjutant F. J. Hay-
wood, of North Carolina, Captain L. W. Mc-
Laughlin, of Louisiana, Lieut. T. H. White, of
Tennessee, L. B. Griggs, of Georgia, Lieut. M. R.
Sharp, of South Carolina, Lieut. S. G. Martin, of
Virginia, all responded favorably as to the opinions
presented by their spokesman. Mr. Menwin asked
the Adjutant what he thought of the fall of Vicks-
burg, Port Hudson, Jackson, and the defeat in
Pennsylvania. 'We have seen darker days,' replied
the Adjutant; 'when we lost New Orleans, Fort
Donelson, and Island No. 10. W^e shall now put
forth extra efforts, and call out all the men com-
petent to bear arms.' This officer undoubtedly
represents the views of some of the leading men
in the Confederate Army, but there is a diversity
of opinion here among officers and men. If they
seem to acquiesce in the opinion of such men as
Adjutant Crocker, who appears to be deeply in
earnest, and who looks and speaks like a brave and
honest man, they do not generally respond to his
views and sentiments. He says the North is fight-
ing for the purpose of abolishing slavery, and that
appears to be the prevailing opinion among the
prisoners in his pavilion."

The Tribune with this article came, when it was
published, into the hands of a friend who wrote :
''I saw and read with a thrill of pride that piece in
the N. Y. Tribune that spoke of you. I felt proud

64

indeed to know that one of whom an enemy could
speak in such terms was a friend of mine. I shall
preserve it to read with increased pleasure in the
future." The hand that preserved it, in after
years, placed it in my Scrap-Book where now it
is.

There came to David's Island a group of ladies
as devoted, as self-sacrificing, and as patriotic as
ever attended the wounded in the hospitals of
Virginia. They gave up their homes and estab-
lished themselves in the kitchens attached to the
pavilions. With loving hands and tender sympathy
they prepared for our sick every delicacy and re-
freshment that money and labor could supply. It
was to them truly a service of love and joy. These
were Southern-born women living in New York
City and Brooklyn.

From their pent-up homes, and their close hos-
tile environment, within which there was no lib-
erty to voice and no opportunity to show their
deep passion of patriotism, they watched the for-
tunes of the beloved Confederacy with an interest
as keen, and an anxiety as intense, as was ever felt
by their mothers and sisters in the Southland.
Imagination itself almost fails to depict the avidity
and joy with which they availed themselves of this
opportunity to mingle with, and to serve our
wounded and to give vent to their long suppressed
feelings and sympathy. It was my great pleasure
personally to know some of these. There were
Mrs. Mary A. Butler, widow of Dr. Bracken But-
ler, of Smithfield, Virginia; and her sister, Miss

65

Anna Benton, daughters of Col. Benton, formerly
of Suffolk, but who many years before the war,
removed to New York. There were also Miss
Kate Henop and Miss Caroline Granbury, both
formerly well known in Norfolk; Mrs. Algernon
Sullivan, Winchester, Virginia, the wife of the
distinguished lawyer of New York, and Mrs. Susan
Lees, of Kentucky, who after the war adopted the
children of the gallant cavalryman, Col. Thomas
Marshall, who was killed in battle. There were
others whose names have escaped me. If there
ever be erected a monument to the women of the
South, the names of these patriotic women of
whom I have been speaking, should be inscribed
on its shaft.

A Virginian, then living in Brooklyn, whose
peculiar circumstances prevented his returning to
his native State, Dr. James Madison Minor, made
me frequent visits for the happiness of giving ex-
pression to his feelings. He said it was an inex-
pressible relief. His little daughter, wishing to do
some thing for a Confederate soldier, out of the
savings from her monthly allowances, bought and
gave me a memorial cup which I still have.

Mrs. James Gordon Bennett came to the Island
with a coterie of distinguished friends, among
whom was General Dix. She brought a quantity
of fine wines for our wounded. She with her
friends came to my pavilion, and asked for me.
The surgeon in charge, Dr. James Simmons, had
referred her to me. When I presented myself, she
said: ''Adjutant Crocker, I wish to do something

?i'??y

■^^■M^y — ;■-- -

! GET"

66

for your men. I do not mean mere words." A\'ith
some pride of independence, I replied, "There is
nothing I can ask for my comrades" ; and then I
quickly said: ''Yes, Mrs. Bennett, there is one re-
quest I wish to make of you for them, and I feel
that you, as a woman of influence, can do some-
thing for us." She shrugged her shoulders in the
polite French style, and said she was but a woman,
with only a woman's influence. I made a compli-
mentary reply and said to her: "Mrs. Bennett,
my companions here had their clothing battle-torn
and blood-stained. They are now in need of outer
clothing. They have friends in New York City
who are willing and ready to furnish them ; but
there is an order here forbidding our soldiers from
receiving outer clothing. Now, my request is that
you have this order withdrawn, or modified, so as
to permit our men to receive outer clothing." She
promptly replied that she would use all her influ-
ence to accomplish the request, — that she expected
to have Mrs. Lincoln to visit Fort Washington
(her home) next week, and she would get her to
use her influence with the President to revoke the
order. The New York Herald of the next day,
and for successive days, had an editorial paragraph
calling public attention to the order, telling of the
exposure of the wounded and sick prisoners to the
chilling morning and evening winds of the Sound,
and insisting, for humanity's sake, that the order
should be revoked. Afterwards I received from
Mrs. Bennett the following note :

67

"Fort Washington, Sept. 14th, 1863.
Sir:

Yesterday Mrs. Lincoln visited me at Fort
Washington. I embraced the opportunity to ask
her to use her influence in regard to the request
you made me. She assured me she will attend to
it immediately on her return to Washington. For
all your sakes I sincerely hope she may succeed.
I have done all in my power. I can do no more.
Hoping that your prison hours may pass lightly
over, I remain with best wishes for yourself and
brother ofificers.

Yours truly,

H. A. Bennett.
To Adjutant Crocker."

Mrs. Bennett conversed freely with me about
her husband. She said he was always a sincere
friend of the South ; that when, upon the firing
upon Fort Sumter, the wild furor swept the City
of New York and demanded that the American
flag should be displayed on every building, Mr.
Bennett refused to hoist the flag on the Herald
Building, and resisted doing so until he saw the
absolute necessity of doing it. She said he wept
over the condition of things. She spoke also of
her son James. She said that when Vicksburg fell
!'J\vcim.y came to me with tears in his eyes, saying,
^Mother, what do you think? Vicksburg has
fallen. Brave fellows — brave fellows!' I replied
that it was the tribute which brave men ever pay
to the brave."

68

Dr. James Simmons, the surgeon in charge of
the Hospital, was a native of South CaroHna.
Somehow he took a great fancy to me, and gave
me a warm friendship. He took me into his con-
fidence and talked freely with me about his sur-
roundings, and how he came to remain in the
Federal service. He married Miss Gittings, the
daughter of the well known banker of Baltimore.
He became a citizen of Maryland, and while wait-
ing for his State to secede, he became involved in
the Federal service, and found that he could not
well leave; and he concluded that as a non-com-
batant he would probably have opportunities of
serving our captured and wounded soldiers. He
himself was not beyond suspicion; for I remember
his saying to me in his of^ce, with a motion, re-
ferring to the writers in his office, "these are spies
on me." The Federal authorities, I believe, had
in the war more or less suspicion about the South-
ern officers in the army, — that they did not fully
trust them until like General Hunter, they showed
cruelty to their own people. Real traitors are al-
ways cruel. Benedict Arnold on the border of the
James, and on our own waters here was more
cruel with the firebrand and sword than even
Tarleton was. Let it ever be thus. Let infamous
traits be ever allied to infamous treachery. I occa-
sionally met Mrs. Simmons, who, I believe, spent
most of her time at New Rochelle. Her warm
grasp of the hand told me more plainly than words
that the sympathies of her heart were deeply with
us. I made a request of Dr. Simmons. His kind

69

heart could not refuse it. I told him I wanted a
Confederate uniform, — that I had a friend in New
York City from whom I could get it — that I knew
it was against orders for him to grant my request.
He answered: ''Have it sent to my wife at New
Rochelle." I had my measure taken and sent to
New York. Soon I received a full lieutenant's uni-
form in Confederate gray of excellent quality,
which I, afterwards, on returning home at the end
of the war, wore for a while for lack of means for
getting a civilian's suit.

While at Johnson's Island to which prison I was
taken after leaving David's Island, and when the
exchange of prisoners had been suspended, I made
special effort to obtain an exchange. For this pur-
pose, I wrote to my brother. Rev. William A.
Crocker, the Superintendent of the Army Intelli-
gence Office at Richmond, and got him to see
Judge Ould, the Commissioner of Exchange on my
behalf. I at the same time wrote to Dr. James
Simmons to aid me in getting exchanged. I re-
ceived from Dr. Simmons the following letter and
enclosure :

"Medical Directors' Office,

Department of the East,

New York, Feby. 13th, 1864.
Dear Sir:

Your letter of the 11th Jany. did not reach me
until a few days since. I have written to Colonel
Hoffman in your behalf and sincerely hope that he
may grant your request. I am but slightly ac-

70

quainted with Col. Hoffman, and can only hope
that the justice of the case may cause him to grant
your request. If I can be of any service to you
pray command me. I send a copy of my letter to
Col. Hoffman, and regret I did not receive your
letter sooner. Be kind enough to remember me
to Capt. Butler, Kincaid and others.
Very truly yours,

J. Simmons.
Capt. J. F. Crocker,
Prisoner of War,

Johnson's Island."

"New York, Feby. 13th, 1864.

COLOXEL :

I enclose you a letter from Capt. J. F. Crocker,
prisoner of w^ar now at Johnson's Island. The let-
ter which reached me only a few days since was
directed to David's Island, Capt. Crocker suppos-
ing I was in charge of that hospital. If anything
can be done for him not inconsistent with the reg-
ulations of your department, I am sure you would
be conferring a favor upon a gentleman and a man
of honor and refinement. The orderly behavior of
the prisoners while at David's Island was in a
great measure due to the influence of this gentle-
man. I am. Colonel,

Your obedient servant,

J. Simmons, Surg, of &c.
Colonel Hoffman,

Comr. Genl of Pris.,
Washington, D. C."

71

With other officers I left David's Island for
Johnson's Island on the 18th of September, 1863.
While on the steamer going to New York City,
Dr. James E. Steele, the assistant surgeon of the
Island, before mentioned, came to me and asked
me if I had an Autograph Book. He said a lady-
wished to see it. I gave it to him. He soon re-
turned it, cautioning me about opening it. When
he left me I opened it. Two names had been writ-
ten in it, J. M. Carnochan, M. D., and Estelle Mor-
ris Carnochan, and within the leaves there was a
ten dollar note. I took it as a token of good feel-
ing towards me, and as a compliment delicately
made. Dr. Carnochan was a native of South Caro-
lina. He then lived in New York City, and was
by far the most eminent surgeon of that city. He
frequently came down to David's Island to per-
form difficult operations on our wounded. His
wife, as I understood it at the time, was the
daughter of General Morris, of Maryland, and her
mother was the daughter of the famous founder
and editor of the Richmond Enquirer, Thomas
Ritchie.

In passing from New York City through the
great States of New York and Ohio to Sandusky,
one thing deeply impressed me — the great num-
ber of men in civilian's clothes of the military age,
who gathered at the railroad stations. I said to
myself, "War in the North is fully organized —
with such resources of men and war material, it is
prepared to conduct the war for an indefinite time,
and that it was with the North only a question of

72

finances and of public opinion." It renewed my
grief at our defeat at Gettysburg. That was the
pivotal point of the war. A great victory there
would have achieved peace, and would have en-
abled the South, instead of the North, to determine
the terms of reunion and reconstruction. Had it
not been for the delinquency of some of our gen-
erals, Lee's Army would have won a complete and
decisive victory on the first and second days of that
battle, as I have explained in my address on
"Gettysburg — Pickett's Charge."

We arrived at Johnson's Island about the 19th
of September, 1863. The following of^cers of my
regiment, the 9th Virginia Infantry, had already
reached there: Maj. Wm. James Richardson, Cap-
tains Henry A. Allen, Jules O. B. Crocker, and
Harry Gwynn; Lieutenants John H. Lewis, John
Vermillion, Samuel W. Weaver, John M. Hack,
Henry C. Britton, M. L. Clay, Edward Varnier
and Henry Wilkinson. I was assigned to a bunk
in Block 12. This building consisted of large
rooms with tiers of bunks on the sides. Subse-
quently I with four others occupied room 5, Block
2. My room-mates and messmates were, Captains
John S. Reid, of Eatonton, Ga., and R. H. Isbell,
of Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Lieutenants James W.
Lapsley, of Selma, Ala., and John Taylor, of
Columbia, S. C.

The first incident of personal interest to me
after my arrival in this prison occurred thus: I
met on the campus Colonel E. A. Scovill, the
Superintendent of the prison. I said to him:

7Z

"Colonel, you have an order here that no one is
allowed to write at one time more than on one
side of a half sheet of letter paper. I have a dear,
fair friend at my home in Portsmouth, Va., and T
find it impossible for me to express one tithe of
what I wish to say within the limits prescribed."
He replied: ''Write as much as you wish, hand
me your letters to your friend, and tell her to
answer to my care." That kind act of Col. Scovill
made him my personal friend, and he afterwards
did me other important kindnesses. I believe that
the surest way to become a friend to another, is to
do that other person a kindness. A kindness done
has more effect upon the donor, than upon the re-
cipient, in creating mutual interest. This gracious
favor of Col. Scovill was highly appreciated, and it
added happiness to me and to my dear friend.

I brought my battle-wound with me, unhealed,
to Johnson's Island. I had not been there long be-
fore gangrene appeared in it. It was a critical
moment. My friend, Dr. Brodie Strauchan Hern-
don, of Fredericksburg, Va., a prisoner, by imme-
diate and severe remedy arrested the gangrene at
once ; and soon afterwards made a permanent cure
of the wound, and also restored my general health.
The tardiness of my wound in healing was caused
by the low condition of my health. On our way to
Pennsylvania, I sat on my horse in the mid-stream
of the Shenandoah while my regiment, the 9th Va.,
waded across. I did the same when it crossed the
Potomac. When we reached Williamsport I went
under the treatment of our surgeon. It was there.

74

for the first time since I was twelve years old, a
drop of intoxicating- liquor passed my lips, save at
the communion table.

It was owing to the condition of my health that
a slight injury on my lip, while at David's Island,
caused by my biting it, although not malignant,
refused to heal. Finally I was advised by Dr.
Herndon to have it cut off. He said, however, that
the operation could not be safely performed in the
prison on account of a tendency to gangrene. I
obtained permission to go to Sandusky for the pur-
pose. I was given a parole. I went to the leading
hotel in the city. There I met — strange coinci-
dence — with Mr. Merritt Todd and his wife, both
natives of my own county, Isle of Wight, Va.,
friends of my father in their early days, with their
granddaughter, Parker Cooke, then about fourteen
years of age. Their home before the war was in
Norfolk. Mr. Todd had established a large and
lucrative business in curing hams in Cincinnati
where he owned valuable real estate. To prevent
the confiscation of his property he made Ohio the
State of his residence during the war, and was at
this time in Sandusky. Nothing under the circum-
stances could have added more to my happiness
than thus to be thrown in intimate intercourse
with these friends.

I reported to the Federal surgeons. They re-
ceived me most courteously. They seated me in a
chair for the operation. They asked me if I wished
to take an anaesthetic. It instantly flashed in my
mind to show these kind surgeons how a Confed-

75

erate soldier could bear pain, and I answered No!
I sat in the chair from the beginning to the end of
the operation without a groan or a token of pain.
Their work was done skillfully, effectively and
kindly. The trouble never returned. These ofifi-
cers were very polite and hospitable to me. In re-
turn for their hospitality I had one or more of
them to dine with me at the hotel. Don't raise
your hands in horror! Why should I have been
less a gentleman than they? Once a gentleman, —
always a gentleman — under all circumstances a
gentleman. No true Southern soldier ever lost in
war his good manners or his humanity.

I again had the freedom of a Northern city. And
although I walked the streets in Confederate gray,
no one showed the slightest exception to it or
showed me the least afTront. But on the contrary,
there w^as one citizen of the place, to the manor
born, who visited me almost daily — and a very
clever and strong man, too, he was. According to
his account, he had been ostracized; his home had
been surrounded and threatened by mobs; he had
been hooted and maltreated on the streets. Why?
He said because he was a Democrat and opposed
to the war. He was a genuine ''Copperhead," and
either from intolerance or other cause, he was a
warm sympathizer with the South. The opportu-
nity to express his sympathy was a great relief
and gratification to him. He never tired of talking
about Lee and his battles and his successes. He
had reached a state of mind when he was even glad
to hear of the defeat of his country's armies and

7t

the success of ours. At the end of four weeks, I
returned to the Island.

When I first reached Johnson's Island I found
that the rations given to the prisoners, while plain,
were good and abundant. Within the prison was
a sutler's store from which the prisoners were al-
lowed to buy without restraint. Boxes of pro-
visions and clothing from friends were permitted.
To show the liberality with which these were al-
lowed, I received from my dear brother, Julius O.
Thomas, of Four Square, Isle of Wight county,
Virginia, a box of tobacco which he had kindly
sent as a gift to me, through the lines under the
flag of truce. It was as good to me as a bill of
exchange, and I disposed of it for its money value.
This condition continued until the issuing of
orders, said to be in retaliation of treatment of
Federal prisoners at Andersonville. These orders
put the prisoners on half rations, excluded the sut-
ler's store from the prison, and prohibited the re-
ceipt of all boxes of provisions — with a discretion
to the surgeon in charge to allow boxes for sick
prisoners. The result of these orders was that the
prisoners were kept in a state of hunger — I will
say in a state of sharp hunger — all the time. My
messmates whom I have before mentioned, were
as refined and as well bred as any gentlemen in the
South ; and they had been accustomed to wealth.
We employed a person to cook our rations, and to
place them on the table in our room. What then?
Sit down and help ourselves? No. We could not
trust ourselves to do that. We would divide up

77

the food into five plates as equally as we could do
it. Then one would turn his back to the table, and
he would be asked: ''Whose is this, and this," and
so on. And when we had finished our meal, there
was not left on our plates a trace of food, grease
or crumb. Our plates would be as clean as if
wiped with a cloth; and we would arise from the
table hungry — hungry still — ravenously hungry.
We no longer disdained the fat, coarse pork — the
fatter, the better. It was sustenance we craved.
No longer did we crave desserts and dainties. The
cold, stale bread was sweeter to us than any cake
or dainty we ever ate at our mother's table. We
would at times become desperate for a full meal.
Then by common consent we would eat up our
whole day's rations at one meal. And then, alas,
we would get up with hunger — > hungry still. My
God, it was terrible ! Yet we kept in excellent
health. I said it then, and I have said it hundreds
of times since, that if I had an enemy whom I
wished to punish exquisitely, I would give him
enough food to keep him in health with a sharp
appetite, but not enough to satisfy his appetite. I
would keep him hungry, sharply, desperately hun-
gry all the time. It was a cruel, bitter treatment,
and that, too, by a hand into which Providence had
poured to overflowing its most bounteous gifts.

One practical lesson I learned from this expe-
rience; that a hungry man can eat any food, and
eat it with a relish denied kings and princes at
their luxurious boards. It has made me lose all
patience with one who says he cannot eat this, and

78

cannot eat that. Between such an one and starva-
tion there is no food he cannot eat, and eat with
the keenest enjoyment.

Shall I leave out of my stor)^ a bright, happy
page? No. On the 13th of January, 1865, there
was sent by express to me at Johnson's Island, a
box prepared and packed by the joint hands of a
number of my friends at home then within the
lines of the enemy, full of substantial and delicious
things. The mail of the same day carried to Lt.
Col. Scovill the following note :

"Portsmouth, Va., Jany. 13th, 1865.
Lt. Col. Scovill:

Colonel : — Today by express I send a box of
provisions for my friend. Adjutant J. F. Crocker.
If there should be any difficulty in regard to' his
having the articles sent, will you do me the favor
to use your influence with the surgeon in obtain-
ing his permission for their delivery? If you will,
I shall take it as a new kindness added to that one
granted by you in the past, and shall not feel less
grateful for this, than I did, and do still feel for
t^^^- Yours respectfully.

This note was sent into me with the following
endorsement: -jany. 17th, 1865.

Adjt. : — Make an application to Surgeon W^ool-
bridge and enclose it to me.

Yours, &c.,

A. E. Scovill,
Lt. Col. & Supt."

79

Application was made, and that box was sent in
immediately to me. Yes, it was a new and added
favor from this warm, generous-hearted officer and
man; and I have ever since borne in my heart and
memory a kind and grateful feeling towards him.
My messmates and I had a royal feast.

I cannot omit to notice the religious feeling that
prevailed in the prison, and I cannot better do so
than to copy here a letter written by me at the
time.

"Johnson's Island, Sunday, July 10th, '64.

This is the holy Sabbath, my dear friend. Can
I better interest you than by giving you a religious
view of our prison? There are many things in
prison life, if properly improved, that conduce to
religious sentiments. A prisoner's unfortunate
condition, of itself, imposes upon him much seri-
ousness, and in his long unemployed hours reflec-
tion grows upon him. There is a pensive sorrow
underlying all his thoughts, and his sensibilities
are ever kept sensitive by the recollection of home,
and the endearments of love from which he is now
indefinitely excluded, while his patriotic anxieties
are constantly and painfully alive to the wavering
fortunes of his country. You will not therefore be
surprised to learn that there is here a high moral
tone and religious feeling. The present campaign
was preceded by daily prayer meetings here, and
for a long time afterwards kept up. And it would
have done your heart good to have heard the earn-
est appeals that rose to the throne of the Great

80

Ruler of Nations from every block. You can im-
agine the great burden of these earnest prayers.
These prayer meetings are still of almost daily
occurrence. We have here also our Bible Classes,
and also our Christian Associations, that do a great
deal of good. But above all we have our sermons
on the Sabbath and other days. Among the offi-
cers here are a number of prisoners who are min-
isters. It is one of our greatest privileges that
these are allowed to preach to us unmolested, and
with all freedom. I can scarce ever attend one of
these services without having my eyes moistened.
There are two subjects that never grow trite,
though never passed over without allusion in these
services — our country and the loved ones at
home. These ever elicit the hearty amen, and the
tender tear. These touch the deepest and strong-
est chords of our hearts. Ah ! was country ever
loved as it is by its far off imprisoned soldiers !
Was home and its dear ones ever loved as by him
who sighs in imprisonment. The heart grows hal-
lowed under these sacred, tender influences. Shut
out from the beautiful green earth we learn to look
up to the sky that is above us ; and through its
azure depths and along the heights of its calm
stars, our thoughts like our vision, rise Heaven-
ward. Many a one who entered these prison
bounds with a heart thoughtless of his soul's high
interests, has turned to his God; and now nearly
on every Sabbath there is either some one baptized
or added to some branch of the Church. It is a

81

high gratification to make this record of my fellow
comrades, and I know it will be a delight to you.

Your devoted friend,

The death and burial of Lt. Henry Wilkinson,
Company B, 9th Va., deeply affected me; and I
cannot deny him a kind word of mention in these
pages. He was the only one of my regiment who
died in the prison. He was severely wounded at
Gettysburg, at the Bloody Angle. He was from
Norfolk. He was a gallant, conscientious, patriotic
soldier. He asked only once for a furlough. That
came to him after we had started or were about to
start on our Pennsylvania campaign. He declined
it. It was to him as if he were taking a furlough
in the presence of the enemy. There was some-
thing pathetic in the refusal. It was to give him
opportunity to meet, and see, one whom he loved.
He sacrificed to duty the heart's dearest longing.

Well do I remember his burial. That open
grave is even now clearly before me, as vividly as
on that day. His comrades are standing around.
There is a tender pathos in the voice of the holy
man, a Confederate minister, who is conducting
the solemn service. There are tears in the eyes
of us all. The deep feeling was not from any
words spoken but a silent welling up from our
hearts. The inspiration felt in common was from
the occasion itself — the lowering down the youth-
ful form of this patriotic soldier into the cold
bosom of that bleak far off island — so far away —

82

so far from his home and kindred — so far away
from the one that loved him best. Well do I re-
member as I stood there looking into that grave
into which we had lowered him, there came to me
feelings that overcame me. I seemed to identify
myself with him. I put myself in his place. Then
there came to me as it were the tender wailing
grief of all who loved me most — dear ones at
home. Even now as I recall the scene, the feel-
ings that then flowed, break out afresh and I am
again in tears.

EXCHANGED.

BY A LADY IN KENTUCKY.

From his dim prison house by Lake Erie's bleak
shore
He is borne to his last resting place, ^

The glance of affection and friendship no more

Shall rest on the Captive's w^an face.
The terms of the Cartel his God had arranged
And the victim of war has at length been
''exchanged."

His comrades consign his remains to the earth

With a tear and a sigh of regret,
From the land he could never forget.

He died far away from the land of his birth
'Mid the scenes of his boyhood his fancy last
ranged
Ere the sorrows of life and its cares were
"exchanged."

83

The clods of the Island now rest on his head
That the fierce storms of battle had spared
On the field that was strewn with the dying and
dead
Whose perils and dangers he shared.
From home and from all that he loved long
estranged
Death pitied his fate and the Captive
"exchanged."

(Copied in my Autograph Book when on the
Island).

The United States government had suspended
the exchange of prisoners so long that it had be-
come a general belief of the prisoners that they
would be kept in prison until the close of the war.
The renewal of exchange came as a great joy to
us all. It was not only personal freedom we
craved, but we desired to renew again our service
in our armies in behalf of our country. There had
been several departures of prisoners, when, on the
morning of the 28th of February, 1865, I received
notice to get ready to leave, and that I was to
leave at once. In a few moments I had packed up
some of my belongings — as much as I could
carry in a dress suit case, and joined my departing
comrades. We were taken by rail to Baltimore^
and from thence by steamer down the Chesapeake
Bay and up the James to Aiken's Landing, which
place we reached on the 3rd of March. There was
no incident on the way worthy of note. I recall,
however, the deep emotion with which I greeted

84

once again the shores and waters of dear Virginia.
It brought back to me the impassioned cry of the
men of Xenophon, 'The Sea! The Sea!" I recall
as we came up Hampton Roads how intently I
gazed towards this dear home city of ours, and
how% as we entered the mouth of the James, I
seemed to embrace in fond devotion the familiar
shores of my native county. Ah ! how we love our
native land — its soil, its rivers, its fields, its for-
ests! This love is God-implanted, and is, or should
be, the rock-basis of all civic virtue.
j At Aiken's Landing we were transferred to our
Confederate steamer. "Once again under our own
flag," I wrote on the Confederate steamer and sent
it back by the Federal steamer to my home city to
gladden the hearts of my friends there.

We landed at Rocketts, Richmond. As we pro-
ceeded up on our way to General Headquarters,
and had gone but a short distance, we saw a boy
selling some small apples. We inquired the price.
''One dollar apiece," was the answer. It w^as a
blow — a staggering blow — to thus learn of the
utter depreciation of the Confederate currency. I
may just as well say here that all the prisoners at
Johnson's Island stoutly maintained their confi-
dence in the ultimate success of our cause. They
never lost hope or faith. They never realized at
all the despondency at home. The little boy with
his apples told me that it was not so in Richmond
I at once seemed to feel the prevailing despond-
ency in the very air, and as we made our way up

85

the street I felt and realized that there was a pall
hanging over the city.

When I reached General Headquarters I found
out that we were not exchanged, that we were
prisoners still, paroled prisoners. I was given a
furlough. Here it is before me now:

''Headquarters Department of Richmond,

Richmond, Va., March 3d, 1865.

In obedience to instructions from the Secretary
of War the following named men (paroled prison-
ers) are granted furloughs for 30 days (unless
sooner exchanged) at the expiration of which time
they will, if exchanged, rejoin their respective
commands.

Adjt. J. F. Crocker, 9th Va. Regt.

By order of Lieut. -General Ewell.

J. W. Pegram, A. A. General."

The next day I went to the ''Pay Bureau Q. M.
Department." I was paid $600 in Confederate
notes. I have before me the certificate that was
given me.

"Richmond, Va., March 4th, 1865.

I certify that I have this day paid First Lieut,
and Adjt. Jas. F. Crocker, 9th Va. Regiment, from
1 June to 30 Nov., 1862, pay $600.

Geo. a. Barksdale,

Capt. & A. Q. M."

86

I took what was given me. I asked no ques-
tions. I made no complaint. I concluded that the
market would not stand a much larger issue, or
the boy would raise the price of his apples. I in-
formed the department that I wished to go to see
my brother, Julius O. Thomas, in Isle of Wight
county. I was given transportation tickets with
coupons to go and return. I went by the Rich-
mond and Danville Railroad to Danville, thence to
Raleigh, thence to Weldon and thence to Hicks-
ford. From Hicksford I was to make my way as
well as I could. I reached without difficulty our
ancestral home, Four Square, where my brother
lived. I shall never forget the kind and loving wel-
come he and his dear wife gave me. It was indeed
a true home-coming. The prison half-rations were
forgotten. I remained about three weeks. I then
started for Richmond to report to Headquarters to
see if I had been exchanged or not. I took the
train in Southampton county for Weldon and
thence to Raleigh. When I reached Raleigh I
heard that Richmond had fallen. Wlien I reached
Danville, I learned that Lee's retreat had been cut
ofT from Danville. L then determined to go across
the country to see my brother, Rev. William A.
Crocker, who was living the other side of Camp-
bell Court House, and with whom was my dear
mother. I took the stage to Pittsylvania Court
House. When I reached there, I learned that
Lee's army was operating in the direction of
Appomattox. While waiting there a few days in
uncertainty, a section of a battery was drawn up

87

in the Court House square, abandoned and dis-
banded. While the men were unhitching the
horses, I said to them that I had $100 in Confed-
erate notes in my pocket which I would be glad to
eive for one of the horses. A horse was at once
handed to me and I gave them my last $100 in
Confederate notes. I mounted this horse, and rode
him bareback to my brother's.

On my way I met large bodies of unarmed sol-
diers going South to their homes. Their silent
walk and sad faces told of a sorrow in their hearts.
These were Lee's men. They had surrendered at
Appomattox their arms but not their honor. They
were heroes — but they were not conscious of it.
They were unconscious of their fame and glory.
These were they of whom the world was to declare
they made defeat as illustrious as victory.

When I came in sight of my brother's home, I
saw that his woods near the road were on fire, and
that persons were engaged in fighting the fire. I
saw that my brother was among them. I jumped
off my horse, broke off the top of a bush, and ap-
proaching my brother from behind I commenced
fighting the fire a short distance from him, turning
my back on him. I had been thus engaged for
some time, unobserved, and without a word, when
I heard, suddenly, the cry: "Brother! My
Brother!" I was in his arms and he in mine, and
we wept — wept tears of affection and joy at meet-
ing, and wept tears of sorrow over our lost
country. All was over.

Colonel James Gregory Hodges,
His Life and Character

AN ADDRESS BEFORE
STONEWALL CAMP
CONFEDERATE VETERANS
PORTSMOUTH : VIRGINIA
JUNE THE 18 TH, 1909

'X

/

Colonel James Gregory Hodges.

COLONEL JAMES GREGORY HODGES

James Gregory Hodges was born in Portsmouth,
Va., on the 25th day of December, 1828. His
father was Gen. John Hodges. Gen. Hodges was
one of the most noted citizens of Norfolk county
for his high character, intelHgence, wealth, social
position and for his public services. For a num-
ber of years he was a member of the county court.
He served in the General Assembly of Virginia.
In the war of 1812 he, as captain, commanded a
company attached to the Thirtieth regiment of the
third requisition for the State of Virginia, com-
manded by Maj. Dempsey Veale, and mustered into
the service of the United States on the 26th of
April, 1813, at the camp near Fort Nelson, situ-
ated on what is now known as the Naval Hospital
Point. This regiment was engaged in the battle
of Craney Island. He subsequently held the com-
mission of colonel of the Seventh regiment of Vir-
ginia in militia and later was elected on joint ballot
of both houses of the General Assembly a briga-
dier general of the Ninth brigade in the fourth
division of the militia of the commonwealth and
commissioned by Gov. John Tyler on the 7th day
of January, 1826.

The mother of James Gregory Hodges was Jane
Adelaide Gregory. She was a descendant of the
colonial clergyman, John Gregorie, who was rector
of Nansemond county parish in 1680. Her grand-

92

father was James Gregory, who married Patience
Godwin, the daughter of Thomas Godwin and
Mary Godwin, his wife. This Thomas Godwin was
a descendant of Capt. Thomas Godwin, the original
settler and ancestor of the Godwins of Nansemond
county, who was a member of the House of Bur-
gesses and the presiding justice of the county court
of Nansemond county for many years. James
Gregory was a vestryman of the upper parish, and
afterwards, by a change of the boundaries of the
parish, a vestryman of the Suffolk parish of Nan-
semond. His son, James Gregory, the father of
Mrs. Hodges, married Mary Wynns, the daughter
of Col. Benjamin Wynns, of the revolution, and
Margaret Pugh, the daughter of Francis Pugh
and Pherebee Savage.

James Gregory Hodges was educated at the once
famous Literary, Scientific and Military Academy
of Portsmouth, of which Capt. Alden Partridge, A.
M., of New England, was superintendent. His
associate professors were: William L. Lee, A. B.,
professor of mathematics, natural philosophy and
civil engineering; William H. H. Davis, A. B., pro-
fessor of mathematics, topographical drawing, mili-
tary instructor and teacher of fencing; Lucius D.
Pierce, A. B., professor of ancient languages;
Moses Jean Odend'hal, professor of modern lan-
guages, and H. Myers, instructor of martial music.
To show the high character of this school, I beg
to mention the names of the gentlemen who com-
posed the board of trustees, and who are remem-
bered as among the most honorable citizens of

93

Portsmouth: Gen. John Hodges, president; Holt
Wilson, Dr. Joseph Schoolfield, Capt. James
Thompson, Col. M. Cooke, John A. Chandler, Dr.
R. R. Butt, Dr. A. R. Smith, Dr. William Collins,
William H. Wilson, Maj. Walter Gwynn. This
school had a large number of cadets. Of these
cadets James Gregory Hodges, of the senior de-
partment, and John Collins Woodley, the brother
of the late Dr. Joseph R. Woodley, of the junior
department, were by common consent elected to
decide all disputes that arose among the cadets;
and such was the cadets' great admiration and res-
pect for their high character and judgment that all
readily acquiesced in their decisions.

He chose medicine as his profession and gradu-
ated at the University of Pennsylvania. He gained
great success and eminence in his profession. Dur-
ing the yellow fever here in 1855 he gave untiring
and faithful devotion to the sick day and night
from the beginning to the end of the epidemic.

He was elected mayor of the city of Portsmouth
April, 1856, and again in April, 1857.

The Third regiment of Virginia volunteers of
this city was organized in 1856, and Dr. James
Gregory Hodges was elected colonel; David J.
Godwin, lieutenant colonel; William C. Wingfield,
major; John W. H. Wrenn, adjutant; C. W. Mur-
daugh, commissary; John Hobday, quartermaster;
Dr. H. F. Butt, surgeon, and Dr. V. B. Bilisoly,
assistant surgeon. At the time of the organization
of the regiment it was composed of the following
companies: Portsmouth Rifle Company, Capt.

94

John C. Owens; Old Dominion Guard, Capt. Ed-
ward Kearns; the National Grays, Capt. John E.
Deans; the Marion Rifles, Capt. Johannis Watson;
the Union Guard, Capt. Nathaniel Edwards, and
the Dismal Swamp Rangers, Capt. James C. Choat.
On Saturday, the 20th day of April, 1861, when
the regiment was ordered by Gov. Letcher into
the service of the State, it consisted of the same
companies except the Union Guard, which had
been disbanded the year before.

The twentieth of April, eighteen hundred and
sixty one — memorable day! On this day com-
menced in Virginia an unproclaimed war. The
ordinance of secession had been passed on the
17th day of April, 1861. The proclamation of
President Lincoln calling on Virginia for her
quota of military forces to wage war against her
sister States of the South brought all Virginians
of true loyalty together. War was the inevitable
result of national and State action. Gov. Letcher
had sent down Gen. William B. Taliaferro to take
charge of the organized forces of this section when
called into the service of the State. At noon the
United States authorities closed the doors of the
navy yard and began the destruction of its build-
ings, its ships and stores. It was an act of war
and was so regarded by all. At 2 p. m. the volun-
teer companies of the city were called into the
service of the State. At that hour the long roll
sounded summoning our local military to arms.
Our military responded to the roll call with a

95

unanimity and with a patriotic devotion unsur-
passed.

Near sunset of the 20th of April the Pawnee
passed the foot of High street on her way to the
navy yard. I see her now as vividly as I did at
that hour. Her officers were at their posts — her
men at their loaded guns and upwards of 400 ma-
rines and soldiers at quarters — all standing ready,
on the least provocation, to give and to receive
the order to fire. She moved with a firm steadi-
ness and the silent majesty of authority. She
seemed a living thing — with a heart beating to
stirred emotions and sharing the hostile feelings
and defiance of those whom she bore. Her power
and readiness to do harm inspired a kind of terror
in every breast. On her arrival at the yard the
work of destruction received a new impetus. On
every side were heard the vulcan sounds of destruc-
tion; on every side were seen the flames of burning
buildings and blazing ships. Our forces were not
sufficient to interfere and there seemed to be a
mutual understanding on both sides — the result of
weakness on our side and ignorance on that of the
enemy — that the Pawnee, with the Cumberland in
tow, at the end of the destruction of the yard,
might leave without molestation.

The enemy left early in the morning of the 21st,
and Col. Hodges, under the order of Gen. Taliaferro,
entered the navy yard to take charge, to restore
order and to protect what was left and to turn the
yard over to the civil and naval officers of the
State. This was done, and leaving one of his com-

96

panics in the yard as a guard he took the other
companies of his regiment to the naval hospital
grounds and there threw up breastworks for pro-
tection against any United States vessel that should
attempt to re-enter the harbor. It was a Sunday
morning. We all remember the work of throwing
up the breastworks. It was done with a will —
with patriotic devotion. I did some spading on
that work, citizens also helped, and the mothers
and daughters of our city came down and cheered
us in our work. All apprehension soon left us and
we were exuberantly cheerful and happy. Troops
from every quarter came pouring into our midst.
Batteries were thrown up at every point of defense.
We soon felt that the enemy could never again
come into our harbor by land or water against our
will.

Very soon after matters had become well ordered
at the naval hospital grounds Gov. Letcher ap-
pointed and assigned to the Third regiment, Vir-
ginia volunteers. Col. Roger A. Pryor, and his field
officers and assigned Col. James Gregory Hodges,
Lieut. Col. David J. Godwin and Maj. W^illiam
W'hite to the Fourteenth Virginia regiment. This
was done on the alleged policy that it is better for a
colonel to command a regiment of strangers than
a regiment of his personal friends. Maj. William
C. Wingfield and the other stafT officers of the old
Third Virginia regiment resigned and afterwards
did distinguished services under other commands.

Col. Hodges with his regiment was ordered to
take command of Jamestown Island, and we find

97

that on the 31st day of May, 1861, he was there in
command not only of his own regiment of ten com-
panies but also of five companies of artillery and
two additional companies of infantry. His adju-
tant at this time was Lieut. Evans.

This assignment of Col. Hodges to the Four-
teenth Virginia regiment and to the command of
Jamestown Island took him from his home — from
the companionship of his wife and two infant boys.
On the 11th day of August, 1853, he married
Sarah A. F. Wilson, the daughter of William H.
AMlson and Ellen Keeling. His son, William Wil-
son Hodges, was born on the 29th of April, 1854,
and his son, John Nelson Hodges, was born on the
3rd of May, when he was in command at the Naval
Hospital grounds, and he gave to his little baby
son the name of Nelson, after Fort Nelson, erected
on those grounds in the revolution. To him and
to his w^ife it was a most painful separation, yet
bravely and cheerfully borne in the spirit of pa-
triotic duty to their country. His letters to his
wife were ever full of the most devoted love to her
and of the keenest, tenderest interest in his two
infant children, whom he calls so dearly "my boys."
There was an ever intense longing to be with his
wife and children and always the firm recognition
of his duty to be ever with his regiment.

On August 1, 1861, Gen. Magruder ordered Col.
Hodges to take six companies of his regiment and
to join him in the lower part of the Peninsula.
Gen. Magruder with 5,000 men, made a demonstra-
tion of a regular line of battle before Newport

98

News with the purpose of drawing out the enemy
at that place, but the enemy failed to appear. He
afterwards made a like demonstration near Hamp-
ton to draw the enemy from Old Point to make an
attack, but the enemy failed to appear. On the
7th of August Gen. Magruder ordered Col. Hodges
to report to him at Newmarket bridge. Col.
Hodges reached there about 9 o'clock p. m. when
Gen. Magruder ordered to his command two other
infantry companies and tw^o companies of cavalry,
and directed him to proceed to Hampton and de-
stroy the town. He reached Hampton about 11
p. m. He found every thing as still as death, and
not a sound to be heard excepting the sound of"
the horses feet and occasionally the clanking of
a sabre. He marched his men into St. John's
Church yard, dismounted his cavalry and sent a
picket guard to the bridge leading to Old Point.
Here the enemy's picket guard opened fire, and
for some time there w^as an active firing, but no
serious harm w^as done and the enemy withdrew.
Then the w-ork of destroying the town commenced.
Col. Hodges, in his account of the expedition to his
wife, says :

''It grieved me sorely to have to destroy the
town; but I believe it is all for the best, as it em-
barasses the enemy very much and takes from them
elegant winter quarters whilst our troops will have
to suffer in log huts and tents. I went into many
houses which formerly had been well taken care of;
the furniture was broken to pieces and scattered all
through the house. They were filled with filth

99

of every description, and most obscene expressions
written all over the v^alls. If I had lived and owned
a house there I would willingly have applied the
torch to it rather than have had it desecrated in
the way the whole town had been."

The regiment was afterwards stationed for a
vv^hile at Mulberry Island, and also at Lands End.
In May, 1862, it was ordered to Suffolk and was
there made a part of Armistead's brigade. On
the reorganization of regiments in the spring of
1862 Adjutant Evans was made Lieutenant Colonel
and C. W. Finley was made Adjutant of the Four-
teenth Virginia regiment; and Lieutenant Colonel
David J. Godwin was made Colonel of the Ninth
Virginia regiment. The brigade now marched to
Petersburg, where the Ninth Virginia was made a
part of it. It then moved to Richmond and then
to a camp on the Williamsburg road below Rich-
mond. It was at Seven Pines, but only slightly
engaged on the second day of the battle. The
brigade was at Malvern Hill and engaged in that
memorable charge. Col. Hodges thus speaks of
it:

''The battle of Tuesday, July 1, was the most
terrific that can be conceived of. My imagination
never pictured anything to equal it. I lost in killed
and wounded on that day about one-fourth of my
regiment. They all acted nobly. Men never fought
better. The battle flag of the regiment which we
carried into the fight has forty-seven shot holes
in it; and every man in my color guard wounded.
During a charge a shell burst near me, killing two

100

of my men. wounding Capt. Bruce so severely that
he only survived tv^^enty-four hours, wounded sev-
eral others, knocked me down and burnt all the
l)eard off the right side of my face, scorched the
sleeve of my coat from my hand up. The shock
was so great that I did not recover from it for sev-
eral hours.''

From this description you can form some idea of
that terrible battle in which our forces attempted
to dislodge the enemy from the crown of Malvern
Hill, defended by fifty pieces of artillery and com-
pact lines of infantry, raking an open field for three-
fourths of a mile. Brave men of this city, of my
own regiment, the Ninth Virginia, poured out on
that battle field that rich blood which even at this
late day brings sorrow to hearts still beating.

The Fourteenth regiment remained in the
neighborhood of Shirley until Gen. ^IcClellan em-
barked his forces and left for Washington. It then
went to Hanover Junction, then through Louisa
county and on to join Lee's army, which it did on
the upper Rappahannock. It was at Second
Manassas and was in the Maryland campaign.

The battle of Sharpsburg was fought on Wed-
nesday, the 17th of September, 1862, from 3 a. m.
to night. The two armies held their respective
positions all the next day without firing a gim.
Lee crossed the Potomac into Virginia early on
the morning of the 19th. Col. Hodges writing on
the 22nd of September, 1862, in Berkley county,
near Martinsburg, says that General Armistead
was wounded early on the morning of the 17th

101

and that he took command of the brigade and that
he was still in command, but expected Gen. Arm-
istead to be able to return to duty in a few days.
Gen. Early in his official report of the battle says:
''Shortly after the repulse of the enemy Col.
Hodges, in command of Armistead's brigade, re-
ported to me, and I placed it in line in the position
occupied by my brigade and placed the latter in
line on the edge of the plateau which has been
mentioned and parallel to the Hagerstown road
but under cover." This battle was the most de-
structive battle of the war for the time engaged.

In his letter last mentioned Col. Hodges says:
"We have had a very hard time since we left Rich-
mond. I have not slept in a tent since leaving there
and have only been in three houses. We eat w4iat-
ever w^e can get and sometimes the quality is any-
thing but good and the supply scanty. This army
has accomplished wonders and undergone the
greatest amount of fatigue."

On the 15th of October, 1862, Armistead's brigade
was encamped near Winchester, Va. On that day
Col. Hodges writes : "On Monday last we had a
grand review of our division, by Gen. Longstreet,
who commands our corps d'armie. There were
two members of the British Parliament present.
We had about ten thousand men in line, and the
w^hole passed off very well. It was quite an im-
posing sight. I suppose the Englishmen did not
know wdiat to make of such a dirty, ragged set of
fellows. The orders forbade the barefooted men
from going out. I think they ought to have let our

102

army be seen just as it is. I have now some eighty
men without shoes, notwithstanding that I have
within the past ten days issued to my regiment
one hundred pairs."

Burnside had superseded Gen. McClellan in the
command of the Union army, and was now moving
towards Fredericksburg. When this intention
manifested itself, our forces concentrated in the
neighborhood of Culpepper Courthouse. Our
brigade was ordered thitherward. I remember the
first day's long, severe march. The first day's
march is always trying to soldiers who have been
in camp for weeks. Speaking of the shoeless con-
dition of the army, I remember an incident that
occurred under my very eyes. I beg to mention
it. Moses Young, a member of my regiment from
this city, as he marched along the road, saw a dis-
carded old pair of shoes. He stopped and looked at
them and then at his own shoes. He took them
up, turned them over, and then looked again at
the old shoes he had on. It was evidently with
him a close question as to which pair had the ad-
vantage. He finally shook ofY his old shoes and
put on the pair which a preceding comrade had
discarded as worthless. The wearer of these old
shoes was a patriotic and gallant soldier.

When our brigade arrived at Culpepper Court-
house, it was in Gen. Anderson's division. It was
here on November 7, 1862, that Armistead's
brigade was placed in the new formed division of
Gen. Pickett and all the Virginia regiments in An-
derson's division were taken from it and Southern

103

regiments substituted in their place. It was here
that John S. Jenkins, of this city, on the 17th of
November, 1862, entered on his duties as adjutant
of the Fourteenth Virginia, appointed in the place
of Adjutant G. W. Finley, who resigned to go
home to attend to the affairs of his father, who
had recently died. He subsequently joined Gar-
nett's brigade and was at Gettysburg and there
captured. He afterwards became a distinguished
Presbyterian minister and held the title of D. D.
On the 21st of November, 1862, Armistead's
brigade left Culpepper Courthouse, and reached
camp near Fredericksburg on the 23rd. The
brigade was in line of battle on the 13th of De-
cember, 1862, when Burnside crossed the Rappa-
hannock and attacked our forces, but it was not
actively engaged. It wintered at Guinea Station on
the Richmond and Fredericksburg road. In the
spring it was ordered to Suffolk, from there it was
ordered to join Lee's army then ready to com-
mence its march into Pennsylvania.

Col. Hodges, writing on the 9th of June, 1863,
from Spottsylvania county, says : "We left Han-
over Junction yesterday morning and have pro-
ceeded forty miles on our way to join Gen. Lee,
either in Culpepper county or beyond if he has
crossed the upper Rappahannock. We have now
been marching every day for a week, averaging a
full day's march of seventeen or eighteen miles
every day. My men are in excellent condition, and
I know will perform their whole duty should they
be required to meet the enemy. So you may ex-

104

pect to hear a grand account of the regiment ; and
I am proud to say that it has always done well, and
in some instances far excelled those they were
thrown with.''

Pickett's division pushed hurriedly on to catch
up with Lee's advancing army. The division was
at Chambersburg on the 1st day of July engaged
in ordinary camp drill, while Lee's advanced forces
were engaged in severe battle at Gettysburg. It
left the next morning for Gettysburg, and arrived
in the afternoon at a camping ground between
Cashtown and Gettysburg. Only three brigades of
the division were present, Kemper's, Garnett's and
Armistead's. The field officers of the Fourteenth
Virginia were, at this time. Col. James Gregory
Hodges, Lieut. Col. William White, Major Robert
Poore, and Adjutant John S. Jenkins. Early on the
morning of July 3 these brigades were taken to the
battle line. I w^'ll not undertake here to describe
Pickett's charge. This was done in an address de-
livered before this camp on November 7, 1894, pub-
lished in the Southern Historical Society Papers,
Vol. XXXni, p. 118.

The charge of Pickett's division, made up entire-
ly of Virginians, is recognized the world over as
unsurpassed in all the annals of history for steadi-
ness of march, unwavering courage, and for the
patriotic, calm determination to do all that was
possible to be done to win victory at any sacrifice
of life. All know^ the awful fatality among the
officers and men of the division. Of its generals,
Garnett was killed, Armistead fatallv wounded, and

105

Kemper desperately wounded. Of its colonels of
regiments six were killed outright on the field:
Hodges, Edmonds, Magruder, Williams, Patton,
Allen, and Owens and Stuart were mortally
wounded. Three lieutenant colonels were killed:
Calcott, Wade and Ellis. Five colonels, Hunton,
Terry, Garnett, Mayo and Aylett were wounded,
and four lieutenant colonels, commanding regi-
ments, Carrington, Otey, Richardson and Martin,
were wounded. Of the whole complement of field
officers in fifteen regiments one only, Lieut. Col.
Joseph C. Cabell, escaped unhurt. Of the field offi-
cers of the Fourteenth Virginia, Col. Hodges, Maj.
Poore and Adjutant John S. Jenkins were killed,
and Lieut. Col. William White was wounded.

Col. Hodges led his regiment in this memorable
charge with conspicuous courage and gallantry.
He was an able and experienced officer. His devo-
tion to his official duties were never surpassed. His
regiment was never in the presence of the enemy
without his being there in command. His officers
and men were devoted to him. He fully enjoyed
their admiration, esteem and confidence. Many
letters to him in life and after his death to his
widow, convey unqualified appreciation of him as a
man and a commander. His family made every
effort to ascertain where his body was buried, but
all in vain. He sleeps in the trenches with those
who made that charge of Pickett's division im-
mortal. He was the idol of his family, admired
and loved by them with an affection and devotion
which words fail to convey. For their sake and

106

for the sake of those survivors here who knew him,
I make as a part of this address a touching incident
of the reunion of the association of Pickett's divi-
sion at Gettysburg on the 3rd of July, 1887, as pub-
lished at the time in the Landmark :

''Adjutant J. F. Crocker, of the Ninth Virginia, in
the course of his remarks, in receiving from Col.
Andrew Cowan, of Cowan's Battery, the sword of
the young unknown Confederate officer who fell
within a few feet of the guns of the battery, while
giving the order: ''Men! take these guns," alluded
to the sad memories awakened by the scenes of the
day. In this connection, and as illustrative of
them, he had come to the battlefield of Gettysburg
bearing a sacred request from the invalid widow
of a gallant Confederate officer who was killed in
the charge of Pickett's division, asking him to
make a prayer at the spot where her dear husband
fell for his long sorrowing widow and orphan sons,
with the hope that God, in some way, would bless
the prayer to their good. That gallant officer was
Col. James Gregory Hodges, of the Fourteenth
Virginia regiment, the brother of the speaker's
wife. He stated that early and careful but unavail-
ing efforts had been made to find the place of his
burial and he now desired to find and have identi-
fied the spot where he fell. The simple story
brought tears to many who stood around. When
the speaker closed his address. General H. J. Hunt,
chief of artillery of the Union army, in whom kind-
ness and courage are equal virtues, came promptly
forward and gave his hand warmly to Adjutant

107

Crocker and in sympathetic tones said, "I can tell
you something of Colonel Hodges, of the Four-
teenth Virginia; I can carry you to the very spot
where he fell." The general said that immediately
after the battle, hearing that General Garnett,
whom he knew in the old army, had been killed,
he went out to look for him and when he came to
the stone wall a long line of Confederate dead and
wounded, lying along the wall, met his view, but
his attention was arrested by the manly and hand-
some form of an officer lying dead on his back
across other dead. He thought he had seen the
face before, and on inquiry was told that it was
Col. Hodges of the Fourteenth Virginia, whom he
remembered to have seen in social circles before
the war. The spot where Col. Hodges fell was
identified by General Hunt and others, and is at
the stone wall near the monument of the Sixty-
ninth Pennsylvania. With General Hunt and other
Union officers and men standing around, uncov-
ered, a brief prayer was made that God would re-
member and bless the widow and sons of the brave
officer who fell at this spot, but now rests in an
unknown grave. It was a sad, solemn scene, full
of touching pathos. The sun was sinking beyond
Seminary Ridge, with its slanting rays mellowing
the sheen of the grain waving fields, while here
and there were groups of Union and Confederate
veterans, mingling in peaceful, heartfelt and fra-
ternal accord."

There is another incident, which I must here
relate.

108

In October, 1903, Senator John W. Daniel, who
knew my relation to Colonel Hodges and that he
was killed in Pickett's charge, was in the National
Library at Washington, engaged in getting official
information for a future paper on "The Virginians
at Gettysburg," and seeing in the library a man
whose appearance attracted him, he said to him-
self— that man is a Northern man and was an offi-
cer in the war and I will speak to him ; and he ap-
proached him. His conjecture was right. It was
Capt. John D. S. Cook, of the Eightieth New York
regiment of volunteers, known, however, in the
service as the Twentieth New York State
Militia. He informed Senator Daniel that Col.
Hodges fell at the stone fence, within less than
one hundred and fifty feet of the Federal line,
directly in front of the said New York regi-
ment ; that after the struggle was ended his
body was discovered and identified as Col.
James Gregory Hodges, of the Fourteenth
Virginia regiment, by some papers found upon it.
His sword and scabbard had been destroyed by a
shot, but a soldier detached his sword belt and
handed it to him and that he had kept it as a treas-
ured relic of the battle to be an heirloom in his
family. He stated to Senator Daniel that if any
of the family of Col. Hodges still survived he would
gladly send it to them. Senator Daniel at once
wrote me, giving me an account of this interview
with Capt. Cook and his address at Kansas City,
Mo. I wrote him, informing him that Mrs. Sarah
A. F. Hodges, the widow^ of Col. Hodges, was liv-

109

ing and that she would ever appreciate his kind
offer. Capt. Cook sent at once to her the sword
belt with a letter of noble sentiments and sym-
pathy. This sword belt is the same that Col.
Hodges wore when his picture was taken, which
now hangs in Mrs. Hodges' room. The noble act
of Capt. Cook is tenderly appreciated by every
member of the family. A correspondence with
Capt. Cook has given me a high estimate of his
character and ability. He moved from New York
to Kansas City at the close of the war, where he
has practiced law with eminent success and dis-
tinction.

Col. Hodges was handsome and manly in ap-
pearance. He had dark hair, bright dark eyes, and
a highly intellectual face. He was gentle in man-
ners, and he ever bore himself with kindness to
others. He had a generous and noble nature, and
he enjoyed, in a high degree, the esteem and con-
fidence of the community. His leading character-
istic to the public was his high sense of duty and
his strict observance of it. He illustrated this in
his conduct as colonel of his regiment. Under
trying temptations, which involved the tenderest
feelings of his heart, he still held that to be with
his regiment was his supreme duty — a duty which
he recognized as due to his position and to his
country. He was ardently patriotic and his whole
being, convictions and feelings were with the Con-
federate cause.

But the fairest, sweetest phase of his character
was found in his domestic life. No one can read

no

those letters he wrote in every camp, on every
march, before and after every battle — written to a
tender loving wife whom he idolized and about his
darling little boys, without realizing that all his
highest happiness and interest centered in these
loved ones. His son, John Nelson Hodges, died on
the 21st day of July, 1890, and his son, William
Wilson Hodges, died on the 26th day of April.
1893, unmarried — thus leaving their widowed
mother now childless — an added grief, which, like
that other, is ever present in the heart, but bravely
borne with that resignation which comes from the
sanctifying faith that God does all things well.

Again I commend to the keeping of Heaven, as
I did on the battlefield of Gettysburg that saintly
wife and mother, whose sorrows and piety have
made her a priestess, and her room to all who
know her well, a sanctuary of God.

RESPONSE TO THE TOAST:

'OUR CONFEDERATE DEAD"

Response to the Toast:
OUR CONFEDERATE DEAD"

Our dead need no eulogy. Like those who fell
at Thermopylae, their fame is fixed forever — the
symbol of heroism and patriotic devotion. The
summation of all praise, of all the glowing tributes
which poetry or impassioned eloquence can pay to
them and to their deeds is, THEY MADE DE-
FEAT AS ILLUSTRIOUS AS VICTORY. This
is the greatest of human achievements, and to the
full height of which the heroic of no past age have
ever reached. It was accomplished — it could only
have been accomplished — by men who combined in
themselves the highest qualities of the hero and
the patriot with the best elements of a chivalric
race — by men having the profoundest sense of the
righteousness of their cause and who believed that
they were serving alike the ends of their God and
their country. What the South, what the whole
country, owes to their great achievement we can-
not now approximately estimate. We will have to
leave that to time and to the observant thought of
History. Some of its obvious results we see. To
one of these I will allude. To it we owe the
prompt, contented, and enduring peace and frater-
nal accord which followed the close of the war. By
reason of it the South was enabled to yield cheer-
fully to the results without any touch of humilia-
tion or self reproach. The South felt that her

114

armies by their splendid action, courage, and
prowess, had not only vindicated her honor and
sustained her pride, but had achieved a wealth of
renown that more than compensated her for all she
had lost, yea, compensated her for the very death
of her dead. And thus feeling, the South has met
the obligations of a restored Union with a frank,
open, and truly loyal spirit. To the South the
glory involved in this great achievement must ever
be a priceless, imperishable heritage, which will
continue to enrich the blood, and exalt and en-
noble the spirit of our posterity to the remotest
times. The production and maintenance of a
brave, true, patriotic, and pious race of men on this
globe, is the ultimate aim and consummation of its
creation. ^lay we not believe that the people of
the South, who received the baptism and conse-
cration of suffering, of fire and blood, by being-
true to the memory of their illustrious dead, and
inspired by their great deeds, shall be of that race
which shall reach the height of that consumma-
tion, and sway the scepter and wear the crown of
the ultimate civilization of the world.

I am not seeking by this line of thought to ag-
grandize the glory of the South at the expense of
the North. Far otherwise. We are one people of
a common race. The courage, heroism, and pa-
triotic devotion of the armies of the North have
added new and imperishable glory to the history
of the country, in which with equal pride we claim
a share. It is not a matter of subtraction. It is a
matter of addition of the matchless courage and

115

prowess of the two armies, which sent a thrill of
admiration around the world and which constitute
today the glory of our American arms. It is the
inspiration of great achievements and of great sac-
rifices paid to the love of country on both sides
that we feel in common.

But what most becomes this occasion is not to
speak of but to be with our dead tonight. Com-
rades, let us have a reunion with them. Let us in
thought and feeling go back to the time when we
were by their side — by their side on the weary
marches, around the camp fires and in the fierce
charges of battle. Yea, more; let us be ourselves
again. Let us enter into that community of
thought, feeling and aspiration that made them
and ourselves one. Let us catch again the spirit
of that lofty patriotism with which we all took up
arms, and of that devotion with which we bore
them. Let us in contact with our dead feel once
more that divine flame that burned like an altar
fire on our hearts — that master passion of our
lives which left to the future nothing to so move us
again — our all absorbing — all swaying — yet ten-
der, fond love of the Confederacy. My God! may
it not be permitted to us blamelessly for one brief
moment to feel again that love, which to us was
as holy as our religion — dearer than our lives —
and in which there throbbed all that the human
heart can feel for home and country.

Comrades, let us go back to those scenes. Our
dead will meet us there. Feel you not, echoing
upon your hearts a spirit sound? It is a drum-

116

beat from that far ofif, eternal camping-ground of
our dead. Comrades, they are falHng into meet us.
Let us go. * * * *

Friends, pardon us, they are our brothers, dearer
than brothers in blood. No one knows — the world
cannot know — how we loved them — with what
tenderness w^e cherish their memories, and with
what fidelity we would keep eternal wardship over
their honor and over their fame.

There they sleep — on fields made immortal by
their valor. More than a third of a century lies
between them and us. What a change! And
here w^e are tonight — Veterans of the Confederacy
and Veterans of the Union — host and guest, at a
common festive board in patriotic accord — broth-
ers in a common citizenship — equal — sharing with
equal pride the greatness and the lustre with which
American valor — North and South, has imperish-
ably crowmed this great Republic of freedom — all
made possible, seemly, and hearty, by that great,
unequaled achievement of our dead, in MAKING
DEFEAT AS ILLUSTRIOUS AS VICTORY.

What more can we ask for our beloved dead
than that all America honor their memory, and
that the world and history acknowledge that their
heroic deeds have exalted the greatness, the glory,
and the fame of the nation.

Citizenship— Its Rights and Duties

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED
BEFORE THE YOUNG MEN'S
CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF
PORTSMOUTH : VIRGINIA
FEBRUARY 21ST, 1895

CITIZENSHIP — ITS RIGHTS AND DUTIES

The word "citizen," in its popular sense means
resident, inhabitant or person. In a political sense
it means one who owes allegiance to a sovereign
or to a sovereign power. One is a citizen of that
country or State to which he owes this allegiance.
Citizenship is the inter-mutual relation between
the sovereign power and the citizen, and it implies
protection and care on one side and obedience and
duty on the other.

We are citizens of a dual government, and, as
such, we have a dual citizenship. We are citizens
of Virginia and are at the same time citizens of
the United States. The statute law of Virginia de-
clares who shall be its citizens. It enacts that:
'*A11 persons born in this State, all persons born in
any other State of the Union who may be or be-
come residents of this State ; all aliens naturalized
under the laws of the United States who may be
or become residents of this State ; all persons who
have obtained a right of citizenship under former
laws; and all children, wherever born, whose
father, or if he be dead, whose mother shall be a
citizen of this State at the time of the birth of such
children, shall be deemed citizens of this State."
Code, Section 39. The Constitution of the United
States prescribes who shall be its citizens. It pro-
vides— "All persons born or naturalized in the
United States, and subject to the jurisdiction

120

thereof are citizens of the United States, and of
the State wherein they reside." Section 1, Article
XIV.

The United States and Virginia in their respect-
ive relations to us as citizens are both sovereign ;
and to each we owe allegiance. But our relations
as citizens to them respectively differ, but do not
conflict. To understand fully this dual nature of
our citizenship w^e must recur to the origin of the
United States. When the thirteen original colo-
nies achieved their independence, each of them be-
came absolutely a sovereign State, independent of
each other and of all other political sovereignties;
and in the treaty of peace with Great Britain, the
independence of each was separately recognized
and named.

During the War of Revolution for the purpose
of common defense these States formed a Confed-
eration by the adoption of what are known as the
articles of Confederation. These constituted in
fact nothing more than a treaty of amity, of com-
merce and of alliance between independent States.
After the war it soon became evident that these
articles w^ere insufficient to maintain an efficient
union of the States, and were inadequate to the
necessities of a Federal Government.

To form a more perfect Union of the States,
each State, in its sovereign capacity, in 1787, sent
its representatives to a general convention called
for this purpose. This convention framed a con-
stitution, which was submitted to the people of
each State for ratification and adoption. The

121

people of the several States in their respective con-
stitutional conventions adopted the constitution
This constitution v^as thus but a compact between
the sovereign States. By it the people of the sev-
eral sovereign States created the Union of the
States and the Federal Government for its admin-
istration. By this compact the people of the sev-
eral sovereign States, out of their own sovereign
powers, conferred on the Federal Government cer-
tain powers, which powers thus delegated and con-
ferred were a curtailment of their own powers.
The Federal Government was a mere creature of
the people of the States and made a common agent
for them — to exercise certain powers thus dele-
gated and conferred for the common welfare of all.
The Federal Government being thus created and
holding only delegated powers, can exercise only
those powers expressly conferred by the Constitu-
tion and those necessarily implied by the powers
conferred. All other powers are denied to it, and
are expressly reserved to the people of the several
States. But by the Constitution itself, the Consti-
tution of the United States and all laws made pur-
suant thereto, are supreme and paramount to the
constitutions and laws of the several States. Hence
all provisions of the constitutions of the States and
of the laws in conflict with the Constitution of the
United States or with the laws made pursuant
thereto, are null and void, and likewise all laws
passed by the General Government that are not
within the powers delegated to it, are also void, as
being in excess of powers granted and as in con-

122

flict with the reserved powers of the States. Thus
it follows that while there may be conflicting en-
actments between the Federal and the State Leg-
islatures, there can be no conflicting laws. The
Federal Government is sovereign in all matters
growing out of the powers conferred on it; and
the States or the people thereof are sovereign in
all matters growing out of their reserved or un-
delegated rights. Each is sovereign within the
sphere of its powers. In all national afYairs the
United States Government is sovereign ; in all
State aflfairs the States are sovereign. As there
can be no conflict in their respective laws, so there
can be no conflict between themselves as sover-
eigns. While acting within their proper powers
they are not antagonistic to each other. They are
harmonious. They are supplemental of each other.
The one is the complement of the other. The two,
in fact, make one government of the people. The
duty we owe, as citizens, to the Federal Govern-
ment and its laws is absolute ; and the duty we
owe to our State Government and its laws is
equally absolute. As the laws cannot be conflict-
ing, so our duties to each cannot be conflicting.

We are citizens of the United States in all Fed-
eral matters, and as to such we owe allegiance to
the United States. We are citizens of Virginia in
all State matters, and as to such we owe allegiance
to Virginia. As long as the Federal and State
Governments move within their respective spheres
there is no such thing as a first and second allegi-
ance. It is only in the event of a great rupture of

123

the relations between the two governments grow-
ing out of the usurpation of powers, as in our late
war, that this question of a first and second allegi-
ance can arise. And inasmuch as the General Gov-
ernment is the creature of the States, and holds
only a delegated sovereignty as to the delegated
powers, granted by the States, in such event, if it
be the General Government that has made an
usurpation of powers, then the delegated sover-
eignty returns to the State to which it originally
belonged, and with it returns the delegated allegi-
ance. On the contrary, if it be the State that has
usurped the powers that belong to the Federal
Government, and the usurpation is so great as to
bring on a conflict between the two, then in that
event our first allegiance is due the General Gov-
ernment. As we owe no duty to an unconstitu-
tional law, Federal or State, so we owe no allegi-
ance to either the Federal or State Governments
in any matters in which they transcend their pow-
ers. It is usurpation alone that relieves allegiance
and dissolves the bond of union between the
States. Hence I lay it down as the first, the high-
est and most imperious duty of an American citi-
zen, which term is used to denote one who is a
citizen of a State and of the United States, to use
all possible lawful means to keep the Federal and
the State Governments within the limits of their
respective powers. A citizen who does less than
this is wanting in patriotism. One who conscious-
ly seeks to induce the State or the United States
to usurp powers belonging to the other, is a traitor

124

to the Union and to his State. Who, appreciating
the benefits of our solar system, would seek, if he
had the power, to sever any of the laws that bind
the planets in harmony with each other? Who,
appreciating the benefits of the Union, would seek
to weaken or break a single principle that holds
the States together? So long as the equilibrium
of rights between the States and the Union is main-
tained, our system of United States will move
along as serenely, as harmoniously, as majestically
and as splendidly as does our solar system through
the spaces of the Universe. A like essential to our
welfare as citizens is the preservation of the Union
and of the States, each in all its powders. Each is
essential to the other. Without either the whole
system of government fails. States without the
Union fall into weakness and anarchy. Union
without the States falls into empire and despotism.
The beneficence of our dual government is, that as
to national affairs we are a republic, and as to local
affairs we have home rule. The strength of all the
States is combined for the defence of the States
against foreign foes without, and against internal
foes within. To the General Government are ex-
clusively given the Army and Navy, the power to
declare war and to make peace, the regulation of
commerce with nations and of commerce between
the States, the collection of customs, the control of
all navigable waters and admiralty jurisdiction, and
courts with exclusive jurisdiction over Federal
matters. These are the great powers that make
our General Go\ernment national, and give to it

125

strength, power and majesty. The reservation of
any of these powers by the States would have in-
volved them in constant confusion and conflict with
each other. It is the exercise of these great pow-
ers and others given by the Constitution to the
General Government that has contributed so large-
ly to the prosperity and happiness of the people,
and has made the name of the United States so
potent and so much respected among the nations.
When we look around us within the borders of this
extended republic and see the great and innumer-
able blessing that flow from the General Govern-
ment to each and all of us, when we regard its
power and resources for defence, security and for
aggression, when we contemplate the exalted posi-
tion which our country holds among the nations
for power and national advantages, who is it that
does not feel his very being glow with pride and
patriotism for the privilege to be called an Amer-
ican citizen. Go where you may; among the
proudest and most enlightened nations of the con-
tinent, or among the rude and barbarous tribes of
the far ofif lands, that name brings to you, if you
deserve it, respect, consideration, honor and secu-
rity. In these respects there has been but one
name in history that has been more potent. To
have been a Roman citizen carried with it for cen-
turies more potency than was ever attached to the
citizen of any other country. A striking and fa-
miliar illustration of this and of the value of citi-
zenship was given, when the Roman Chief Captain
in Jerusalem rescued Paul from being mobbed by

126

the Jews, who made a great outcry against him.
I quote from holy writ. 'The Chief Captain com-
manded Paul to be brought into the castle, and
bade that he should be examined by scourging,
that he might know wherefore they cried so
against him. And as they bound him with thongs
Paul said unto the Centurion that stood by, is it
lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman
and uncondemned. When the Centurion heard
that he went out and told the Chief Captain, say-
ing, take heed what thou doest ; for this man is a
Roman. Then the Chief Captain came and said
unto him: Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said,
yes. And the Chief Captain answered, with a great
sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, but
I was free born. Then straightw^ay they departed
from him which should have examined him ; and
the Chief Captain also was afraid, after he knew /
that he was a Roman and because he had found
him." Citizens! the time w\\\ come, if it has not
already come, w^hen no government or govern-
mental official within the limits of this earth, will
dare to bind, much less to scourge an American
citizen uncondemned.

The privileges and immunities w^hich belong to
us as citizens of the United States are under the
care and protection of the Federal Government,
and all its great delegated powers may be and
should be exercised in securing them to us.

To this great government thus created by the
States and administered by of^cers elected by the
people of the States, we owe allegiance, obedience^

127

service, loyalty and devotion. It is our govern-
ment, and we should cherish it with patriotic
fervor.

We are citizens also of the State of Virginia.
This implies that the State is sovereign and that
we owe it allegiance. We have seen that the
United States is sovereign only to the extent of
the powers granted by the Constitution and that
we are citizens of the United States only to the ex-
tent and within the powers granted. Beyond these
delegated powers, we, as citizens of the United
States, have no privileges and immunities, nor can
the United States secure to its citizens any right
or privilege not placed under its jurisdiction by the
Constitution. All rights of citizens not so granted
and secured are left to the exclusive protection of
the State. We derive these rights of citizens from
the States, which retained all the residuum of sov-
ereignty and political powers other than those
granted to the United States, and as citizens of the
State we are entitled to all the privileges and im-
munities within the scope of these reserved, pow-
ers. With these privileges and immunities which
we derive from the State, the Federal Government
cannot interfere, nor has it any authority to en-
large or diminish them. In the language of the
Supreme Court of the United States in Presser vs.
Illinois, 116, U. S. R. 268: ''A State has the same
undeniable and unlimited jurisdiction over all per-
sons and things within its territorial limits as any
foreign nation, when that jurisdiction is not sur-
rendered or restrained by the Constitution of the

128

United States — that by virtue of this it is not only
the right but the bounden and solemn duty of a
State to advance the safety, happiness and pros-
perity of its people and to provide for its general
welfare by any and every act of legislation which
it may deem to be conducive to these ends, when
the power over the particular subject or the man-
ner of its exercise is not surrendered or restrained
by the Constitution and laws of the United States."
However great and many be the political pow-
ers conferred by the people of the States on their
General Government, they are not to be compared
in number or importance with the political powers
reserved by the people of the States to themselves.
The powers delegated to the General Government
are known ; they can be numbered and their limits
are fixed. But the reserved powers of the people
of the State are not fully known; they cannot be
numbered, and they have no fixed limits. They
come into being and into play with every new
emergency and with every new want of the people.
They can only be described by the general state-
ment that the people of a State, outside of the pro-
visions of the Constitution of the United States,
can do everything that the life, growth and welfare
of its people may require. So absolute sovereign
is the will of the people of the State within the
scope of their powers, that the people of the State
have ever deemed it expedient to place Constitu-
tional limitations on the powers of its own Legis-
lature which, in the absence of such Constitutional
limitations, would represent that sovereign will.

129

It would be a vain attempt to enumerate the
manifold matters that fall within the exercise of
these powers of the State. They are such as are
embraced under what are termed municipal law
and police. They cover all rights of persons, all
rights of property, the elective franchise, the pun-
ishment of crimes, and everything relating to the
peace, good order, health and general welfare of
the community. These concern us in the most in-
timate relations of life. They secure to us the most
sacred rights of person, of action, of speech, of con-
science. They keep guard over our homes and
conserve the sweet relations of the family. They
protect us in our property, in our business, and
give to us the peace of the Commonwealth.

The laws of the State are made on the theory
of allowing to the citizen the greatest liberty that
is compatible with the general good and consistent
with the rights of others. It is evident that this
liberty is largest in a simple condition of society.
But as society becomes more and more compli-
cated, these rights of personal liberty become more
and more limited. Society is based upon a com-
promise or limitation of personal rights for the
common welfare. It is fundamental that one must
so use his own as not to injure others.

There are but few of the original rights of man
which do not become limited upon his becoming a
member of society, and this limitation is increased
by the growing complications of civilization. Much
has been said in glittering platitudes about the in-
alienable rights of man. Scarcely any of these

130

rights generally so considered are absolutely such.
I would say only those rights are inalienable which
in a free government can be enjoyed under all con-
ditions without being required to be limited for the
general welfare.

As the primary object of government is to secure
the best welfare of all, no individual right can be
allowed to stand out against this welfare. In the
necessity of the case every such right must receive
modification when the general good requires it.
Many illustrations in the simplest affairs of life
readily occur to you, which show that man has no
right, no liberty, the enjoyment of which he does
not hold subject to limitations of law imposed for
the general welfare. All we have as members of
the community is regulated liberty, regulated
rights. All that we can require is that the regula-
tions placed on these shall be considerately and
necessarily made in order to promote the general
happiness . We have, however, one inalienable
right which has come to us as a priceless heritage
— freedom, political freedom, the freedom of mak-
ing our own laws and of being the sole judges of
what laws are most suitable to our own condition,
to our habits, manners, customs and genius, and
most conducive to our own welfare and happiness.
It is this liberty that is to us inalienable. It is a
heritage of which we cannot deprive our posterity
by any binding act. In the maintenance of which
no flow of blood is too costly, no treasury too vast,
no sacrifices too great. Perish all rather than this

131

liberty should fail in our hands and be untransmit-
ted to those who come after us.

Seeing that in a free country the people are the
source of all political power, and are the makers of
their own laws, it is evident that their happiness
and prosperity must depend upon themselves.
Their laws and their Government must be a reflex
of themselves. If the people be virtuous, honest,
incorruptible and courageous — if they be watchful
of their liberties, if they maintain a high sense of
justice, if they be truly patriotic — then all will be
well with them ; their laws will be wise, their gov-
ernment pure, and their happiness secured. On
the contrary, if the people decay in virtue — if they
lower their sense of justice, if they become indif-
ferent to their liberties — then Government will be-
come corrupt, the judiciary prostituted, and public
rights will become the sport of audacious partisans
and of unlawful combinations.

On the citizens of the United States and of the
States rest the perpetuity of the Union and the in-
tegrity of the States ; and on them rest the grave
responsibility of good government and the general
welfare. Every consideration of self-interest and
of patriotism hold them to the faithful discharge
of this most sacred and solemn trust. Let the citi-
zens but be true to the General Government, to
the States, and to themselves as freemen, then this
glorious Republic of States and of the people will
move steadily forward to its high grand destiny
with ever increasing prosperity and happiness to
its own citizens, lending its influence to the libera-

132

tion and betterment of mankind throughout the
world. We cannot reahze the future greatness
and glory of this republic of ours. We know if it
be true to the traditions of the Fathers, it will, by
the beneficence of its free institutions and by its
conservative influence, dominate the whole world
— not in empire, but in the respect and admiration
of the nations. Already is this country of ours, in
its morn, the freest, greatest, happiest and most
prosperous on the globe. And, today, the greatest
political advantage vouchsafed to man is to be a
citizen of the State and of the United States. This
is yours by birth or adoption. Do not under-
estimate the value and honor of such a citizenship.
Let it inspire you with true loyalty and devotion.
Give to both, the State and the United States, true
allegiance, obedience and service, and contribute
by an honest, pure, industrious life and faithful
conduct your best to the common welfare, and you
will have discharged the full duties of citizenship.

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