Confederate Hero's Day

In Honor to the Heroes

Emerson Emory, M.D. -SOCV

Gaston-Gregg Camp -1384
Dallas, Texas

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After four long years of battle, which by the way was started by the Union, President Lincoln suggested that this Nation bind up its wounds.

Over one hundred years have passed since that day at Appomattox when the commanders of both groups sat to come to terms. In the slowest healing process known to man the wounds of that struggle have still to be completely healed.

Groups who represent Mr. Lincoln's Union continue to condemn the South. In the state of North Carolina recently, a small college was forced to discontinue a course on the history of that state and the instructor disgraced for teaching the true story of the past.

A young cadet at our own Texas A&M University was disciplined for wishing to display his heritage by placing a replica of the battle flag on his locker.

And even I was denied the privilege of honoring black union troops on behalf of southern troops at a recent event in Washington, D.C.

Emerson Emory, M.D. -SOCV

On yesterday an article caught my attention in our local paper about how both sides, the British and Zulu, joined together to honor members of both groups who had fought in the famous South African battle called Blood River.

We have bound our wounds with Germany twice, we have bound our wounds with the Japanese and Vietnamese. We have almost bound our wounds in the mid-East and other parts of the world. When as journalist Elizabeth Wright of New York asks, are we going to quit beating up on the South, and as Mr. Lincoln suggested, bind up the wounds that continue to open between the North and the South.

It is a great pleasure to have been asked to speak on such a memorable occasion as this. To honor such men who dedicated and often sacrificed their lives performing a duty for a cause in which they believed regardless of what others have said such is an act of heroism far beyond the achievements of the average person.

According to Webster, a hero is defined as: 'Any person, esp. a man admired for qualities or achievements, courage, nobility or exploits especially in war and regarded as an ideal or a model.' Today we honor such men.

Heroes are a part of a breed that appears in each generation. They cannot be assigned to any particular race or creed or color or sex, but are seen to appear at a time when there is a need for good men and women to stand up and be counted. A time when others around them are in need of someone to support a worthy cause and as one famous general once said, a time to die on ones feet rather than live on ones knees.

Often the acts of the hero results in their death or total disability. Death not in the ordinary sense of the word but one unable to be forgotten by their comrades and fellow citizens and in many instances by the very persons, their enemies, who may have been responsible for the taking of their lives.

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Today we honor those heroes who were a part of the early history of our state. In the War between the States and for a cause which they believed was just. A cause which they believed would ensure better conditions for themselves, their families and friends. These men could not be looked upon as selfish for many had shown dedication to duty for many years.

I shall speak of two such men today but wish to assure you that this does not mean that they were the only heroes during that conflict. For there are many heroes in battle who escape the honor roll if only because some things escape the pen of those who write history.

One of these for whom I understand this day was originally dedicated - General Robert E. Lee - born in Virginia of a father who was bankrupt and a disabled mother, Lee was an honor graduate of West Point and later served as its superintendent. A feat that many youth of today find hard to believe. General Lee served in the war with Mexico. Fought Indians on the border and was responsible for the arrest of John Brown. He also served as second in command of troops in Texas prior to the beginning of the War between the States.

He is noted for his opinion about slavery, a subject being debated to some extent at that time and quoted as saying:

"There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil. I think it is a greater evil to the white than to the black race."

As the clouds of war drew nearer he found himself torn between his position as a Union officer and a native of the state of Virginia. As such he is said to have made the following statement:

"I shall never bear arms against the United States but it may by necessary for me to carry a musket in defense of my native state of Virginia in which case I shall try to do my duty."

Those who follow the history of the ensuing years will know that General Lee did just that. Follow his duty as he saw it.

The second person that I would like to mention today is General Albert Sidney Johnson, a native Texan who paid the supreme price at the battle of Shiloh April 6-7 1862 when he was struck in the leg by a shell fragment and bled to death on the battle field.

In 1865 during an effort to have his body exhumed and returned to Texas a letter stating his final wishes was revealed by his Aide-de-Camp. It quoted General Johnson as often saying "If I am killed, no matter where I am buried, I want a handful of Texas earth placed over my heart. I will rest easier." The aide went on to say that he now slept within the sound of Yankee bugles and where the noise of cannon, pealing forth notes of joy over the disaster to the cause so dear to him. Will not Texas bring his body home and give it its last resting place?

This effort was continued by the Galveston Weekly News when on it pointed out on May 5, 1865 how often the General had pointed with pride to the example of Texas in her first struggle for liberty. Has she degenerated, it went on to say? May we all have a handful of earth over our hearts before we submit to degradation and dishonor?

Confederate Hero's Day

It is reported that throngs of mourners crowded the streets of this city of Austin in 1867 to pay homage on the return of the remains of Albert Sidney Johnson. Following the procession to the state cemetery where the General was placed to rest with a handful of Texas earth over his heart.

Those who have followed the history of Texas have carried the spirit, if not the blood, of such heroes as these in all of the wars in which our young men and women have gone forth to serve for this nation and state of ours. From the trenches of World War One to such Texas heroes as Dorie Miller and Audie Murphy of World War Two. To others that I am unable to name from the cold winters of Korea the jungles of Viet Nam, the sands of Desert Storm and the now troubled lands of the Mid-East.

Like the heroes we honor today there will be others, always remembering, those who have gone before and will wish only that they will have remembered and that no matter where they may be buried they will be honored to have a handful of Texas earth placed over their hearts.

On April 9, 1865, following the battle of Richmond, General Lee sat with General Grant at the Appomattox home of Wilmar McLean to sign the terms which brought the struggle to an end. With the surrender of Lee, the remainder of the Confederate forces gave up and the last Confederate stronghold of the Gulf coast fell on April 12. By late May the small forces still operating in Mississippi, Alabama and Texas had laid down their arms. On April 15, 1865 Robert E. Lee rode through the rain into Richmond where a great crowd gathered and greeted him. Union officers respectfully raised their caps as he passed. In September he wrote, "The war being at an end... I believe it to be the duty of every one to unite in restoration of the country and the establishment of peace and harmony." ... Something we still find ourselves searching for today. As Elizabeth Wright, a New York journalist observes in her recent article entitled "Beating Up On The Confederacy," "When will the confrontation cease?"

Later in September Lee became president of Washington College of Lexington, Virginia, a position he held for the remaining five years of his life. On October 12, 1870, when he lay dying, he is said to have murmured "Strike the tent" and died.

It would be impossible for me to name each of the heroes for it would mean calling almost all if not all of the brave soldiers who were for the most part were untrained and ill-equipped to do battle who answered the call to arms when they were needed. In closing, I would like to share with you an inscription that is written upon the statue dedicated to soldiers of the Confederacy which stands in Arlington cemetery.

But first because it would be impossible for me to name each man of the Confederate forces which be honor today. I would like to repeat the Eulogy given by Lt. Gen. Jubal Anderson Early of the Confederate States Army.

"I believe that the world never produced a body of men superior in courage, patriotism and endurance to the private soldiers of the Confederate Armies. I have repeatedly seen these soldiers submit with cheerfulness to privations and hardships which would appear to be almost incredible; and the wild cheers of our brave men (which was so different from the studied huzzahs of the Yankees) when their lines sent back opposing hosts of Federal troops, staggering, reeling and flying, have often thrilled every fiber of my heart. I have seen with my own eyes ragged, barefooted and hungry Confederate soldiers perform deed which if performed in days of yore by mailed warriors in glittering armor, would have inspired the harp of the minstrel and the pen of the poet."

Finally the inscription at the base of the Confederate Monument at Arlington Cemetery attributed to the Reverend Randolph Harrison McKim who was a Confederate chaplain and who served as Pastor of the Epiphany Church in Washington for thirty-two years. It reads:

Not for fame or reward
Not for place or for rank
Not lured by ambition
Or goaded by necessity
But in simple
Obedience to duty
As they understood it
These men suffered all
Sacrificed all
Dared all - and died.

General Lee, General Johnson, officers and men of the Confederate military that we honor today, I salute you.

May a hand full of Texas earth forever warm your hearts.