ADDHESS r.TFK AXD SEin I( ES GENERAL JAMES IT. LAXE, ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA, (iET^KRAL \VIL,L,IAM Rl FFIX COX, ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA. DELTVERED BEFORE U. K. LKE (AMP ( OXFKDKRATE; VKTErfANS, No. 1, RICHMOND, VA., DEC KMBFR 4, TOOS. ADDRESS. My Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is the dictate of reason as well as of affection which prompts the devoted daughters of General Lane to present to this Camp the portrait of their accomplished father, to speak from your walls, already illumined by portraits of many illus- trious and patriotic soldiers and statesmen, his and our com- patriots ; representatives of that Southland which gave to our country Washington, Jeiferson, Marshall, Jackson, Calhoun, Clay and, later still, Davis, Lee, Jackson and others, whose deeds and fame mark the brightest pages in history — all fit examples of that heroic and dominant Anglo-Saxon race which, even prior to the days of Runnymede, when it wrested the great Writ of Right from a tyrannical king, has been a devoted lover of liberty, and Avhich race has found in America its purest type in the South, ])()th before and since the War Between the States. Man is not an isolated being and lives not for himself alone, for the history <)f the great and good are incentives to the emulation of their achievements. I am, however, present not to speculate aud philosophize, but to present to this Camp the portrait of General James II. Lane and, with your indulgence, to set forth his varied accom- plishments as a soldier and a man, which justly entitle it to a prominent place in this "Hall of Fame." General Lane was small of stature, a little over medium height, erect and soldierly in bearing, alert of movement, an excellent swordsman, of quiet disposition and a firm discipli- narian. He possessed the quality of warmly attaching his friends and of winning the loA^e and devotion of his soldiers, who, Vv^hile severe critics, are quick to discern the merits of a good soldier who will lead and sliare with them the dangers of the battlefield. They often manifest their attachment to their leader by bestowing upon him a "camp name" ; hence "Mars Robert/' "Old Stonewall," "Old Jube," and so forth. As soon as Major Lane had shown his prowess in his first battle they dubbed him "Onr Little Major," and later on "Our Little General." General Lane was born at Mathews Courthouse, Vii-ginia. He was the son of Colonel AValter Gardner and Mary A. H.. Barkwell Lane, and, while a modest man, he and his family were well pleased to trace their descent from Revolutionary and Colonial ancestry. lie was a "two-star" graduate of that superb school, the Virginia Military Institute," not inappropriately termed the "West Point of the South." Subsequently he ])ursned a scientific coury(^ at the University of Virginia. Professor F. LI: Smith has given so attractive a description of the Gen- eral while at this renowned seat of learning that I cannot do better than quote from him. He says: "Graduating with honors at the Military Institute in 18.^)4, two years later Lane catae to the University of Virginia. Tliough he stayed but one year (1856-'57), he made his mark, and left in the memory of his teachers an abiding respect for his ability and solid character. The writer of this sketch enjoyed the privi- lege of being the head of one of the schools of the LTniversity which Lane attended, and in after years, with others, felt a ]iride in the distinction gained by his promising pupil." After serving on the hydrographic survey of York River, Lane was chosen assistant professor of mathematics and tac- tics at the Virginia Military Institute, which rounded out his education and well qualified him for the duties he was subse- quently called upon to undertake. Plutarch never fails to enumerate, wlien the case of his hero permits it, the advantage of being born in a State where native talent is cherished. While General Lane was for- tunate in being reared and educated in his native State, where he might n^ceive inspiration from the examples and achievements of the great men and noble women of this grand old Commonwealth, yet circumstances decreed that he must seek his fortune among strangers. In the Old ISTorth State he found a home and congenial occupation. In that State there w^ere no large cities, with their advantages of literary culture, historical research and social intercourse, and for over a century no competent his- torian had arisen to exploit the achievements of her sons, their virtues and their love of liberty, her soldiers, statesmen and jurists, of whom there were many of more than national fame. John Eandolph said of Mr. Macon that ''he was the wisest man he ever knew," and Mr. Benton declared him "the last of the liomans," yet to this day no complete biogi-a- phy of this distinguished man has been written. As it was said of old, "While Greece made history, Athens wrote it," so it may be said of ISTorth Carolina that, while she contributed so largely to populate, civilize and upbuild the nation, it was reserved for comparatively modern research to remove the moss from her archives and bring to light her valuable history, her struggles with her warlike Indian tribes, her contribution to the ill-fated Carthagena Expedition, the part borne by her soldiers under Braddoek with Washington at Dnquesne, her aid to George Rogers Clarke in conquering the great Northwest and adding it to the domain of Virginia, which that State generously surrendered to the General Gov- ernment for the public good. The part North Carolina bore in the Revolutionary struggle is too well known to need mention here. Suffice it to say that Bancroft, the historian, has declared "These people were al- ways devoted to liberty." It was among these people that General Lane Avas called to acce])t the chair of philosophy in the Military School at Char- lotte, North Carolina, an institution presided over by D. II. Hill, later a lieutenant-general. Hill was a graduate of West Point and had won distinction and promotion in the Mexican War. He and General Jackson were brothers-in-law and were warm friends ; and, inasmuch as Lane was the pupil of the latter, and afterwards a professor with Jackson at the Military Institute, it is probable that it was through his appreciation and recommendation that Lane secured a pro- fessorship in that admirable institution. We have now reached that period in the life of Professor Lane when he is about to enter upon his military career in the War Between the States. ISTearly two generations have come and gone since the conflict of arms began, and it seems ap- propriate that the events which led to this mighty struggle should be reviewed, for, however distinguished may have been General Lane's career in war, his right to our admiration must rest upon the merits of the cause he espoused. 1 will therefore briefly state these facts. I say briefly because the occasion will not permit of extended treatment. The thirteen colonies were formed by grants from the mother country and were dependent on the crown of Great Britain, each with its own separate and distinct government. • At the time of the Declaration of Independence the slave trade was a subject of lawful commerce, recogTiized by the laws and practice of mankind. Indeed, in the past, Queen Elizabeth had knighted Sir John Hawkins for his success in this trafiic, which had greatly increased the royal revenue. The Declaration of Independence was drafted by a slave- holder and adopted by the representatiA-es of slaveholders. At that time the colonies had no common government ; the articles of confederation were submitted to the representatives of the States and finally adopted by all in 1781. During the Revolutionary AVar the strongest bond that held these States together was that of common danger; but after the war the articles of union which had then sufiiced were found inadequate for the demand of peace. AMiat was to be done ? A convention was summoned ''to form a more perfect union," the delegates to which were elected by the Legislature of each sovereign State. After this work was completed it was submitted to each State for ratification or rejection. The adoption by nine out of the thirteen States was necessary for its acceptance. Should any States fail to adopt it they would retain their sovereignty and independence, and there was no purpose to coerce them into the Union. It was twelve months before ISTorth Carolina consented to the adoption of the Constitution and two years before Hhode Island took a similar step. Indeed, several of the States, notably Virginia and New York, only consented to enter this Union with the reservation ''That the powers granted under the Constitution, being derived from the people of the United States, may be resumed by them whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression, and that every power not granted thereby remains with them and at their will ; that therefore no right of any denomination can be cancelled, abridged, restrained or modified by the Congress," etc. The debates in the convention which framed the Constitu- tion show that the whole subject of slavery was carefully and painfully discussed, and had it been forced to an issue would have resulted in the defeat of the Constitution. The trend of public thought was tending towards emanci- pation, and some representatives from the slaveholding States thought the power to abolish it ought to be given to the Fed- eral Government. That this power was not given to the Fed- eral Government was one of the chief objections by Luther Martin to its ratification. Mr. Mason and Mr. Madison sympathized in the emancipation movement, and it found stronger support at the South than it did among many dele- gates from the New England States. Mr. Jefferson was among the strong ' advocates for its restriction. Sufiice it, these views were not those of the collective body whose duty it was to make the government. In the meantime many of the so-called free States, finding this institution an encumbrance instead of a blessing, by prospective legislation emancipated their slaves. Many of the Northern slaveholders, taking advantage of this pros- pective emancipation, were enabled to send South their slaves 6 and dispose of them to the Southern planter, where the de- velopment in the production of indigo, tobacco and cotton rendered the employment of African slavery highly profit- able. Another question which greatly perplexed and embarrassed the collective delegates was this : Should the Federal Govern- ment at any time enact legislation which should prove detri- mental and destructive for the best interests of the minority, wdiat provision should be made for the determination of their rights — where should the appeal lie ? The idea of the consolidating party was that the question of determining when the government should override its au- thority was to be left to the Federal Government ; whereas the States' rights party insisted that the provision in the Con- stitution which declared that the section which provided that "The powers not herein delegated to the United States hy the Constitution 7ior prohibited hy it to the States were reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people thereof," left the question with the injured party. So embarrassing was this question that it likewise was left for future determination. Had it been forced to an issue, this would also have led to a defeat of the Constitution. The Federal idea of a centralized government, as under- stood and exercised by the elder Adams, viz., in the passage of the "alien and sedition laws" and the suppression of the liberty of the press, was so obnoxious to the great body of the American people that he was overwhelmingly defeated for re- election by Mr. Jefferson, who represented the States' rights party, and by successive elections the Jeffersonian construc- tion was upheld and sustained until the election of Mr. Lin- coln, who, while failing to receive a popular majority by a million of votes, nevertheless secured the presidency. The establishment of "Mason and Dixon's Line," which provided that all States north of that line should be free States and all States south of that line slave States, instead of quiet- ing the slavery agitation, virtually divided our country into two separate peoples. It increased the aj^itation at the North, where some declared that there was a ''higher law" than the Constitution ; others, that they would have an 'Smti-slavery Constitution, an anti-slavery Bible and an anti-slavery God," and others at the North insisted they would have "no Union with slaveholders or slave States," and that those who stood for the Constitution and enforcement of the la^v■s were "dough- faces," and that the slaveholders were an idle, worthless set, who lived upon the labors of others. Meeting reviling with reviling, the people of the South called the peo})le of the North "Black Republicans," a set of "shopkeepers and craftsmen," who vvorshipped the "almighty dollar" more than the dictates of an enlightened conscience. The estrangement between the sections became more and more bitter, and was intensified at each recurring election through the employment of opprobrious epithets and mislead- ing caricatures, until social intercourse between political par- ties at Washington was virtually at an end, and personal threats and physical encounters occurred in the halls of Con- gress. The invasion of the sovereign State of Virginia by John Brown and his band of outlaws, with the avowed purpose of inciting insurrection among our slaves, intensified sectional feeling and alarm on the part of the South — especially when it became known that when the leader of this invasion was executed for violating the laws of the land he was held up as a martyr ; and, furthermore, a Governor of one of the original thirteen States (Massachusetts), which had actively partici- pated in the slave trade, was elected on account of his strong sympathy with these outlaws. The National Democratic party, whose nominations and elections were made irrespective of section, became demoral- ized through too much confidence in its success, even when its ranks were disorganized. It was startled and amazed, in common with the conservative leaders of both sections, to dis- cover that the candidate of a purely sectional party had for the first time in our history secured a majority of the elec- toral college, not one of the electors coming from the South. Before this election ten Northern States, by the adoption of the so-called "personal liberty bills," had set at naught the "fugitive slave law," notwithstanding it had been reasserted and strengthened by the compromise of 1850, which compro- mise was supported by that grand triumvirate, Webster, Clay and Calhoun, as well as by other patriotic statesmen of ability and renown. It was in reference to this very matter that Mr. Webster, in a speech delivered at Capon Springs, Virginia, in 1851, de- clared : * * * "I have not hesitated to say, and I repeat, if the JSTorthern States refuse willfully and deliberately to carry into eifect that part of the Constitution which respe.cts the restoration of fugitive slaves, and Congress provides no remedy, the South would no longer be bound to observe the compact. A bargain cannot be broken on one side and still bind the other side." * * * ♦ It is insisted that Mr. Webster's course on this subject was not consistent. Very true, but his later convictions tended more and more in favor of the Southern view. While slavery was not the cause of the war, it was employed by the Northern press and agitators as a means of solidifying the jSTorth against the South, and by persistent misrepresenta- tion to win the sympathy of the outer world. The debates in the convention which made the Constitution of the United States demonstrate that the jealousy of sections was even then flagrant. The South was the more prosperous and the more conciliatory, and, to avoid intensifying this feel- ing of sectionalism, what was termed the "balance of power" was arrived at. Mr. Madison insisted, "Whenever there is danger of at- tack, there should be a constitutional power of defense." !Xo principle could be clearer, for, as government is estab- lished for the protection of the weak, and no tyranny is more absolute and unrelenting than the tyranny of mere numbers, 9 protection is indispensable to escape the aggressions of the powerful. Tn relation to these considerations, Mr. Hamilton said, "It is a contest for power and not liberty" ; and, said Mr. Madison, "It is of great importance in a republic to guard one part of society against the injustice of another part." These axiomatic truths were veritable ''apples of gold" turned to ashes upon Southern lips through ^sTorthern aggressions, by abuse and slander of the Soiith, its institutions, the open vio- lation of the spirit of the Constitution, discriminating legis- lation, and war against the institution of slavery. At the election of Mr. Lincoln, and before his inaugura- tion, the cotton and g^df States withdrew from the Union and set up a government at j\Iontgomery, owing in part to the views as above stated. In taking this step, notwithstanding their justification, in my opinion, they made a great mistake, as, had they stood together with their friends in the ISTorth and in the border States, they might possibly have defeated the machinations of their sectional foes. At least it was vrorth a further trial. Tliey, however, thought otherwise. These States, which comprised many of our ablest states- men, though under much provocation, did not proceed without carefid deliberation. They knew the Constitution was estab- lished "to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity." They had seen the Union endangered, decisions of the highest courts set at naught, and domestic tranquillity imperiled by a "higher-law party," and unseemly Avrangles on the floor of Congress, and they felt that their liberties were endangered. They deemed it more conducive to the public welfare to withdraw from the Union and set up a government of their own, possibly with the idea that a re- action in public sentiment at the ^N^orth might justify their return to the Union. The course pursued by the General Government toward Maryland and other border States during the progress of the war would seem to huxe negatived sucli a hope, provided it ever obtained. 10 The inaugural address of Mr. Lincoln was not reassuring to the friends of the Union, either in the I^orth or South. The treatment of the commissioners from the seceding States by his Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, to say the least, was ambiguous and irritating. Many hoped and believed the spirit of compromise and conciliation which led to the forma- tion of the Constitution might bridge over our troubles. A like course in 1820 had resulted in the Missouri Compromise; the nullification trouble was thus avoided and the compromise of 1850 prevailed. General Scott, Judge Douglas, Horace Greely and others advised a policy of pacification, and, knowing that the non- enforcement of a right is not its abandonment, recommended that the small garrison in Charleston harbor be withdrawn. In the meantime Mr. Lincoln was visited by the "seven Gov- ernors from the l^orth," who urged a strenuous policy. To what end ? Was it to save the LTnion or was it to strengihen and build up their sectional party, which had at length achieved a victory over the South, a reaction against which was beginning to appear ? In any event, his policy hence- forth was more vigorous in preparing for the conflict. His friends ascribe to him as a great merit the questionable fact of so maneuvering that he forced the South to strike the first blow. The firing on Fort Sumter was generally received with re- gret and amazement, but subsequent appeals to the passions of the l^orth against firing on the flag aroused a feeling of resentment which destroyed all efforts for peace. In the end the greatest agitator and ablest orator of the North, Wendell Phillips, was enabled to exclaim, "Thank God, we at last have a Northern party !" The proclamation of Mr. Lincoln calling for troops to make war upon the seceding States aroused a spirit of resist- ance in all of the border States difficult to realize in these days of peace and prosperity with which our country is now blessed. A spirit manifested on the part of the South is well I 11 described by one who participated in the war, as follows: "Every man became a laborer, every woman a worker. There was nothing that the necessities of life demanded that we did not fashion with our own hands. Deprived of all support from the outside world, we dug from our own hills and wrested from our soil and evoked from resources the measure and extent of which we had never dreamed before whatever was necessary for the loved ones at home and the armies main- tained in the field. We illustrated a heroism and a valor which is the admiration of the world and the highest pride of our gallant adversaries. They conquered no ignoble foe." The war being over, with resolution and determined strength the Confederates leaped into civil life and carved out the wonderful resources of the South, to the wonder and admiration of mankind. These resources are indeed inesti- mable. On the part borne by General Lane in the War Between the States it is needless for me to more than briefly linger. The most impartial of ISTorthern historians, Swinton, in his "Army of the Potomac," speaks of us as "that body of in- comparable infantry," that array of "tattered uniforms and bright muskets," which for four long and weary years under Lee upheld the cause of our young Confederacy, "which rose so fair and fell so free of crime" ; as having been borne "on its bayonets, opposing a stout front to the mighty concentration of power brought against it, which, receiving terrible blows, did not fail to give the like, and which, vital in every part, died only with its annihilation." The fame of Lee's army is world-wide. The historian, the poet and orator have united in its eulogy, and any endeavor that I might make to add to its praise would but result in re- peating what has been already better said by others. Beneath the smooth and quiet surface of the North C-aro- linian there has always existed a military zeal and ardor Avhich then found expression in the formation of local militia companies, uniformed and sustained by local contributions. 12 The election of Mr. Lincoln, who was known to be hostile to the institutions of the South and who owed his success in the main to a virile and aggressive element in his party, natu- rally produced much uneasiness among the ablest and most conservative men of the country. These aforesaid militia organizations were composed of the flower of our young men, both officers and privates, many of whom were college gradu- ates and representative of the substantial interest of their communities. Upon the refusal of Governor Ellis to comply with the President's call for troops to war upon sister States, he im- mediately convened the General Assembly, which took the State of ISTorth Carolina out of the Union and also called for thirty thousand volunteer troops to repel invasion. The officers of the Charlotte Military Institute promptly tendered their services. A camp of instruction was organ- ized at Raleigh, of which D. H. Hill became commandant and Lane adjutant and instructor in tactics. Soon a regiment was formed of six-months volunteers, of which Hill was elected colonel and Lane major. , The Bethel Regiment volunteered on the I7th day of Aprils 1861, and soon after left for Richmond. On passing through Petersburg, The Express of the 2 2d of April has this to say: * * * "iSTorth Carolina marshals her bravest and her best for the coming conflict, and sends to Virginia soldiers who will uphold and transmit to posterity the enviable glory and fame of their patriotic sires. Drilled to perfection and armed to the full, with brave hearts to lead and brave hearts to follow, they will do their duty, and that nobly." * * * Says The Richmond Examiner of the 23d of April ; * * * "Without waiting for the form of legal secession, she com- menced sending her gallant sons to join those already in the field. * * * Those who saw their close columns and steady march as they marched down Main Street in perfect order, their polished muskets glittering in the dim moonlight, de- 13 scribe the scene as almost spectral in its appearance, so regu- lar and orderly were its movements." At this time the citizens of the southeastern portion of Vir- ginia were greatly annoyed and alarmed by marauding par- ties sent out by General B. F. Butler, who had a large force with him at Fortress ]\Ionroe. Colonel Hill's regiment, consisting of some eight hundred men, with the Howitzers' Battery, under comnumd of Major Randolph, together -with other troops, numbering in all about fifteen hundred, the whole under command of Colonel Magru- der, were promptly dispatched to the Peninsula. They pitched camp at "Big Bethel" and immediately commenced fortifying and entrenching, working night and day, to be ready to repel any attack that might be made by the enemy. Pretty soon Major Lane, with a detachment of one com- pany of his regiment and one g-un of the Plowitzers, was sent out to chastise a marauding party. So fearlessly did they attack these marauders that they soon put them to flight and vigorously pursued them across Newmarket Bridge, up and even into the very face of the enemy's camp. Butler, incensed by this brave and fearless demonstration, sent forward a force of 4,400 men to "chastise these rebels," destroy their encampment and spike their guns; but they found the "lowlands in battle array." After an engagement of some two hours' duration, the Fed- erals, being pretty severely punished, were rehietant to con- tinue the attack further. \Yhen ]\rajor Winthrop, vainly urging forward his force, mounted a log in the presence of Confederate troops and fell back mortally w^ounded, the battle ceased. The retreat of the enemy, who commenced carrying off their dead and wounded, soon became disorderly and ended in a virtual rout. When the smoke arose from the victorious battlefield of the Confederates it was discovered that they had sustained the loss of but one man killed, a ]u-ivate, the brave and courageous Wyatt, who had volunteered with three others, namely, Wil- 14 Hams, Thorpe and Bradley, all of Captain John L. Bridgers' Edgecombe Gnard, to set fire to a building from which the enemy was firing into our lines. Our wounded consisted of some eight or more. Wyatt was the first soldier of the Coiifederacy who had fallen in regular battle, and this was the first battle which took place between the opposing forces of the war. The moral, military and political effect of this battle was most marked. The Southerners were enthused ; the i^Torth- erners cast down. The Northern press called for the recogni- tion of the South or sending to the front a general more com- petent than Butler to command the Union army. During the six months of its exist(^nce this regiment was a virtual camp of instruction ; it furnished to the Confederacy 135 commissioned ofiicers, comprising a lieutenant-general, two major-generals and three brigadier-generals, with others of lower rank. A vacancy occurring by promotion in the office of lieutenant- cojonel, the capacity shown by Lane resulted in his promotion to supply the vacancy in September, 1861. Later on he was elected to the colonelcy of the Twenty-seventh Regiment. This honor was bestowed, notwithstanding he had but two acquaintances in the regiment. On leaving his old command, as a mark of esteem and high appreciation of his soldierly qualities, he was presented by its ofiicers with a sword, bridle and saddle. Lie early inspired his new command with such esprit de corps that, upon the expiration of its twelve months' term of service, it promptly re-enlisted for the war. He was now in the brigade of L. O'B. Branch, formerly a distinguished member of Congress, whom, upon his making known his purpose to resign and offer his services to his State, President Buchanan was so anxious to dissuade from resign- ing that he offered him a place in his Cabinet. He was, how- ever, too loyal to his State to suff^er personal preferment to dissuade him from his conviction of duty. 15 In the engagement with tlie troops of General Fitz John Porter at Hanover Courthonse, 27th May, 1862, Lane was cnt off from his command, with great danger of captnre. But so skillfnlly did he extricate his troops that he was compli- mented and congratulated by General Lee and other superior officers. His regiment, with Branch's brigade, was the first to cross the Chickahominy and thus clear the way for A. P. Hill's division. In the battles of Mechanicsville and Cold Harbor, June 26th and 27th, Lane was wounded in the head. In the battle of Frazier's Farm, while charging a battery, he was painfully wounded in the cheek. With his brigade he was in the battle of Cedar Run, where, by repulsing the enemy's infantry and cavalry, he aided in restoring Jackson's disordered left. At Manassas Junction, Aug-ust 26th, Lane took part in the defeat and pursuit of Taylor's New Jersey brigade. He supported the left of Jackson's corps at Manassas Plains and engaged in that series of hard-fought battles, August 28th, 29th and 30th, which resulted in our magnificent victory. During a pouring rain he participated in the battle of Ox Llill, near Fairfax Courthouse, on the night of the 11th of September, which scored another victory for the Confederates. With his brigade he scaled the heights of the Shenandoah and aided in the capture of Harper's Ferry, which resulted in the surrender of eleven thousand handsomely unifonned sol- diers, equipped with improved Enfield' rifles, whereupon Lane exchanged his old-fashioned guns for these improved arms. Hurrying forward with A. P. Hill's light division to Sharpsburg, where Lee's sore-pressed, attenuated lines, with bulldog courage, were barely holding their own, he aided in repulsing Burnside's attack on the right and gave hope and inspiration to our troops. Here the gallant and patriotic Branch fell, mortally wounded, and Lane took command of the brigade on the field. 16 and it was one of the three brigades that constituted the rear guard of the Army of ISTorthern Virginia when Lee recrossed the Potomac. Lane commanded the brigade on the 20th of September at Shepherdstown and aided in routing and driving the enemy across the Potomac, "in the face of a storm of round shot, shell and grape" from the opposite shore of the river. Upon the petition of the officers of the brigade and the endorsement of Generals Lee, Jackson and Hill, Lane was promoted to a brigadiership, the coveted wreath gracing his collar, and he was assigned to the command of Branch's old brigade, with the officers and soldiers of which he had fought many a battle and achieved many victories. Lane bore a conspicuous part in the crushing defeat of the Federals at Fredericksburg in December, 1862. Here again the officers of the brigade honored themselves by bestowing upon Lane a testimonial of their confidence in and respect to him as their commander and of esteem for his m^ny gentlemanly and soldierly qualities. General Lane took a prominent part in that series of battles, May 1, 2 and 3, 1863, at Chancellorsville. On the night of the 2d his brigade, unaided, repulsed Sickles' formidable "midnight attack" and captured the colors of the Third Maine Regiment, together with a number of officers and men. At Gettysburg he was conspicuous for his daring and reck- less exposure of himself. On the 3d, while fighting on Pick- ett's left and encouraging his weary but none the less cour- ageous soldiers, he had his horse shot from under him. Lane's brigade confronted and skirmished ^vith the enemy in front of Hagerstown and was the rear guard of that part of Lee's army which crossed the Potomac at Falling ^Yaters, and v/as highly complimented by his division commander. Only a soldier can appreciate the resourcefulness, the forti- tude and skill required of a commander to accomplish a sue- lY cessfnl retreat when vigoronslj'' pursued by the enemy. Lane possessed such qualifications. In the battles of the Wilderness, May 5th and 6tli, 1S64, Lane took an active part. He opened a destructive fire on his too confident foe on the afternoon of the 5tli and held him in check until other troops arrived during the night. At Spotsylvania he was daily engaged from the 12th to the 21st of Hay. When Ed. Johnson's trooj)s were surprised and overwhelmed at the "Bloody Angle" on the early morning of the 12th, amidst a dense fog, Lane was on his right in the advance line. He promptly drew his troops back to an incompleted line at right angles to Hancock's advancing columns. Forming his men into double ranks, the front rank fired while those in the rear speedily loaded and exchanged guns with the front rank. So hot and destructiA^e was this fire that the enemy was held in check until the arrival of Gordon's troops. Said a correspondent of a London paper, then pn^sent : "Lane's IsTorth Carolina veterans successfully stemmed the tide of Federal victory as it went surging to the right." The same afternoon Lane was directed to cross the line at the left of the courthouse and attack Burnside in the flank. So successfully did he execute this order that he captured three or four hundred prisoners, three stands of colors and a battery of six guns. Through Colonel Venable, of his staif, General Lee thanked General Lane and complimented the brigade for its gallant charge. In the second battle of Cold Harbor Lane was so danger- ously wounded that he was not expected to live, bufhis brave heart and resolute purpose overcame his physical injury, and, rapidly recovering, he was back in time to take part with his brigade in the battle of Jones' and Pegram's farms. When General Gordon made his disastrous attack on Fort Steadman (Hare's Hill), Grant not only repulsed this attack with heavy loss to us, but, by a counter-attack and with re- 18 inforcements, swept off the whole of the Confederate skir- mishers from Hatcher's Run to Lieutenant Run. Next daj (General Wilcox being sick) General Lee put Lane in charge of the division, with orders to restore the line in front of the division, which he did. A portion of his brigade took part in the defense of Fort Gregg, which was one of the most thrilling and resolute en- gagements in the closing hours of the war. After the evacuation of Petersburg and Lee's retreat to Appomattox, Lane's command did its full duty, and among the Confederates paroled at Appomattox his brigade stands conspicuous. General Grant was magnanimous at the time of our sur- render, and on all occasions endeavored to see justice done the South, even ^'when friends were few." Anything he might have said concerning Gonfed(>rate mat- ters about the closing hours of the war is of abiding interest to its survivors. I therefore quote the following detached extracts, taken from a conversation had with him during his tour around the world : He said he was so far from his base that, ''If Lee had con- tinued his flight another day, I should have had to abandon the pursuit, fall back to Danville, build the railroad and feed my army." * * * Again, "The war was a tremendous strain upon the coun- try. Rich as we were, I do not now see how we could have endured it another year, even from a financial point of view." Lie said it was not his object to defeat Lee in active battle. That might have resulted in a dispersion of his army and encounters with g-uerilla bands. His purpose was to remove Lee and his army out of the contest, and, if possible, have him use his great influence in inducing the surrender of Johnston's and other isolated armies. Colonel Marshall, of Lee's staff, is my authority for the 19 statement that at the surrender Grant urged Lee to see Lin- coln, and wliatever terms of pacification thev agreed upon the country would uphold. Grant little understood the depth of selfishness that prompted political agitators and plethoric contractors to pro- long the war. Indeed, it was the fear at the North that the extra constitutional methods practiced at the South might imperil their own liberties that rescued us from further per- secution. Speaking of the proposition to arrest General Lee and bring him to trial for treason, Grant said ; * * * '"On one occasion Mr. Johnson (in the presence of his Cabinet) spoke of Lee and wanted to know why any military commander had a right to protect an archtraitor from the law. I was angi'y," he adds, "at this, and spoke earnestly and plainly to the President and told him ""'' * * I had made certain terms with Lee — the best and only terms. If I had told him and his anny that their liberties would be invaded, that they would be open to arrest, trial and execution for treason, Lee would never have surrendered, and we should have lost many lives in destroying him. Now, my terms of surrender were according to military law, and so long as Lee was observing his parole I would never consent to his arrest." The subject was dropped. Grant at this time was Commander-in-Chief of tlie United States Army. Of President Davis he said: * * * "'The war was a tremendous war, and no one knew better than those who w^ere in it. Davis did all he could, and all any man could, for the South. The South was beaten from the beginning. * * * Davis did all he could for his side, and how much he did no one knows better than those that were in the field. * * * Davis is entitled to every honor bestowed on the South for gallantry and persistence. The attacks upon him from his old followers are ignoble." Having accompanied General Lane from Big Bethel to Appomattox, his military career here closes ; but, as a tribute 20 from General Lee to an officer under his command was an honor never unworthily bestowed, it was recognized by all as deserving of being treasured for all time. I will, therefore, close this sketch by quoting from General Lee a tribute paid Lane's brigade near the close of the war. It is true, in this particular engagement, Lane, on account of wounds, did not participate ; yet, as a commanding officer is the matrix from which the spirit and determination displayed by his troops in action are derived, he is entitled to credit for their gallantry, whether present or not. This hard-fought and successful battle, resulting in the defeat of "Hancock, the Superb," mark you, took place after the fall of Vicksburg and the disaster at Gettysburg, and shows that even the declining fortunes of the Confederacy, of which every soldier knew, detracted nothing from his purpose to do and dare wherever Lee bade him go. In his correspondence with the Governor of North Caro- lina, General Lee writes as follows : • riEADQUARTEES AeMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, August 2!), 1S64. His Excellency, Z. B. Vance, Governor, Raleigh, North Carolina. Dear Sir: — I have frequently been called upon to mention the ser- vices of North Carolina soldiers, but their gallantry and conduct were never more deserving of admiration than in their engagement at Reams' Station on the 2.")th ult. The brigade of Generals Cooke, McRae and Lane, the last under the command of Genex-al Conner, advanced under a thick abatis of felled trees, under heavy fire of musketry and artillery, and carried the enemy's works with the steady courage that elicited the warm com- mendation of their corps and division commanders and the admira- tion of the army. * * * Your obedient servant, R. E. Lee, CONCLUSION. General. The war was over and peace restored. In council and in the field the Confederate soldier has proved liimself as faith- ful to the United States as he was devoted to the Confederacy. With stout arm and brave heart he renewed the struggle 21 for bread, and gloriously won; and this has been accom- plished though environed with nnusual conditions, too tragic to dwell upon. In the words of a gallant Confederate, now Chief Justice of my State, "Unawed by the garrisons of the victorious army, and unseduced by the blandishments and temptations offered him, these soldiers took their stand for Anglo-Saxon suprem- acy and saved the South from the fate of Hayti and the AVest Indies." General Lane returned to his desolated ancestral home, where his parents had remained, almost heartbroken at their loss of two promising and courageous sons who had fallen in battle fighting bravely by his side. Deciding to pursue the vocation of a teacher, we next see him a professor in the struggling Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College at Blacksburg. He became later on superintendent of the Virginia Mining and Manufacturing- Company, until its works were destroyed by fire. Mr. Davis, in a letter from Beauvoir, July, 1886^ pajs the following tribute to Lane : "Endeared to me as he is by his services to the South, where he was the youngest brigadier in the Confederate army, I admit that I feel a warm interest in his success, not for himself alone, but also as a good exam- ple for the youth of the State I love so ^vell." At the time of his death Lane was and had been for some time professor of important branches of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama (now Polytechnic Institute), with over seven hundred students in attendance. He was fortunate in his marriage to Miss Charlotte Ran- dolph Meade, of Richmond, who was of old Virginia ancestry. Lane remembered his Creator in the days of his youth and embraced the faith of the Protestant Episcopal Church. When called upon to join his comrades then resting be- neath the "dew and the sod," with the beautiful and impres- sive ceremonies of his church, in the presence of his sorrowing daughters and of a large concourse of friends whom he had 22 served so long and so acceptably, his body Avas committed to the ground- — "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." On behalf and in the name of the daughters of General James H. Lane, I present to R. E. Lee Camp, ]S[o. 1, Con- federate Veterans, the portrait of our cherished comrade, to take its place upon your walls with those of many gallant Confederates already assembled here, whose "Bones are dust And their good swords rust. Whose souls ax"e %yith the saints. I trust." ADDENDA. In the course of my achlress I stated that the Senators who withdrew from the Senate of the Imited vStates in the session of 1861, and who stood upon the floor of that distinguished body at that time and vindicated their cause, did not act with- out care and deliberation^ — that they constituted, taken alto- ^gether, such an assemblage of ability and learning as seldom, if ever, graced that hall. In substantiation of this claim, I need only menticm their names ; for, as is known, the story of their lives constitutes the brightest and most dramatic page in the history of this country. Among those who represented the South in this Congress were the following Senators, namely: R. M. T, Hunter and James M. Mason, of Virginia ; Tliomas Bragg and Thomas L. Ciingman, of ISTorth Carolina ; Clement C. Clay, Jr., and Benjamin Fitzpatrick, of Alabama ; Albert G. Brown and Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi; Alfred Iverson and Robert Toombs, of Georgia ; Lazarus W. Powell and John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky ; David L. Yulee and Ste- phen K. Mallory, of Florida; John Hemphill and Louis T. Wigfall, of Texas. All of them did not Avithdraw until each of their States had concluded to secede. The Vice-President, though but thirty-five years of age, had filled many posts of honor. He was the paragon of man- liness — a chevalier, soldier, orator and statesman, and pos- sessed of extraordinary popularity. "No Senator," as was said of him, "ever stood upon the floor of the United States Senate, in the flush of manhood, with a greater future before him, with higher aspirations, greater opportunities, with so many honors in store as seemed before John C. Breckinridge in this hour of his fame and his power." lie, elected to the United States Senate to take his seat in that body after the expiration of his term as Vice-President, had already seen, while presiding over that body, a determina- tion on the part of the majority to trample the Constitution under its feet and conduct the govi-rnment regardless of its provisions. It was only through the urgent persuasion of many devoted frien