The Danbury Reporter.
VOLUME XXXIII.
Old Soldiers' Day
The Followers of Lee and Jack=
son in Line Again.
BUXTON'S SPLENDID ADDRESS
Listened to By a Packed House, After
Which the Crowd Adjourned
to a Good Dinner.
Last Saturday was it grout day
for the old Oonfodorate soldiers of
the county.
Tho occasion marked the tirst
organization of the Stokes veterans
since the stormy days of the six
ties, forty years ago, when they
returned home by ones and twos,
hungry, rugged, broken in spirit
and fortune, heroes of a Lost
Cause.
In spite of the threatening
weather nearly 1,000 men and
women came to do honor to the old
Confederates, Had the day been
pleasanter, it is safe to say tho
crowd would have been larger
than any body of people ever as
eembled in Danbury.
The features of tho day were a
fine address by Hon. -I.C.Buxton,
stirring music by tho Piedmont
band, a good dinner and a good
time generally.
At 10 o'clock the rallying call
of Capt. 1 >euk formed the veter
ans, sevonty-one in number, into
two limw on the court house
square. Though forty years had
elapsed since these men marched
ti the sir una of martial music
amid tho scream of shell and the
rattle of musketry, they had not
forgotten the tactic* practiced in
the olden time, and Ca[ t. Leak put
them through several interesting
figures. His quick sharp com
mands were responded to
with eagerness and agility.
Mr. \V. A. Kiger bare the
colore very gallantly. The
sight i.f the old fomiliar stars and
bars which they had fo'lowed on
a hundred bloody fields brought
tears to the eyes of tho old soldiers.
The names of the men were en
rolled showing that seventy-one
were present.
Officers were then elected as
follows :
Captain James A. Leak.
First Lieutenant—l. J.
Second Lieutenant —M. V.
Mabe.
Third Lieutenant—*J. (l.Tuttle.
()'drrly Sergeant—M. ). James.
Color Hoari r—Joseph H. Stew
art.
Af;er the organization had been
etfeoted, the men marched into
the comt house to listen to the
a Idress of Hon. J. C. Buxton,
! who was happily introduced by
Hon. W. W. King in a few well.
ohotMii remarks. Mr. King ex
pressed himself as delighted that
tho old soldiers of Stokes had at
last organized, after having boon
su neglectful of their duty. He
urged them to l>o true to them
selves, th«ir country, and their
iiuble traditions, uu they had al
ways done.
Mr. Huston then addressed tho
gathering. His speech had been
carefully prepared, and was deliv
: ereil with the characteristic force
' and effect of this able and well
known Winston lawyer, who while
too young tu enter tho war him-
I self came from a family distin-
guished for its bravery and gallan
try in the GREAT struggle of 18(51 -CM.
The court room, the gallery and
annexes wore packed to overflow
ing, and Mr. Buxton's remarks
we J frequently applauded.
At tho ojose of the address, the
soldiers were inarched
adjacent to the new M. E. Church,
where a splendid dinner had been
prepared, and here if any memor
ies of hunger and suffering ii| the
Wilderness still remained, the old
veterans forgot them in the
present delights of thegood things
prepared for their comfort by the
women of Stokes ooijnty who love
them for the record they made in
the greatest army the world ever
saw.
There was plenty to eot and to
spare and many of tho crowd par
took of the refreshments.
It wa.-i resolved to meet again
regularly once a year, at which
time doubtless a much fuller en
rollment will bo effected, as there
are nearly gOO old Confederates in
the county.
All the old soldiers were warm
in their expressions of pleasure at
the ovonts of the day.
A vote of thanks was extended to
the musicians, to Mr. Button and
others who had contributed toward
their entertainment.
Many compliments of Capt.
Leak were passed, that he hud
been so successful in bringing out
a big crowd, and liftd managed the
proceedings so skillfully.
BUXTON'S ADDRESS.
Mr- Buxton spoke as follows :
Confederate Moldiors-»ladios and
geutlemen :
On a bright April day 18(51
books wore laid aside in the old
Academy, the law offices of the
lawyers and the counting room of
tho merchant, the carpenter anil
blacksmith shops were all closed,
the fanners' plows ami hoes wer ■
laid aside; there was a sound of
bugle and a roll of drum on the
streets, people were hurrying to
gethor, and soon the roar of can
non was hoard which told us of
the bombardment of Fort Sump-
Ur by the batteries of the young
confederacy. For months tho very
air had been vibrant with sound
of drum and fife, of jattling tnus
ki try and martial command. The
wholu South was soon n great
camp f shifting, drilling soldiers.
Every departing train boro to the
font tho raw and ungainly troops
of the country, the companies of
State Guards and the gayly dress
ed light heartod cadets of the Mil
itary Schools. There were bitter
partinga and long goodbys—so
long to many of them that not yet
lias word of home greeting come.
It seemed to be a great thing to
bo a soldier in those brave days
when the girls decked the parting
ones in flowers and sang to them
; "The Girl I Left Behind Me,"
"The Bonnie Blue Flag," ami
"Maryland, My Maryland." The
STOKES AND CAROLINA
DANBURY, N. C., THURSDAY AUGUST 17, UK),
scarlet and gokl and gray, tho Hush
ing words, sand burnished
musket, the gay flowers
and parting songs, rnnrked
the beginning of that mighty
death struggle of the South. Soon
the gay snnjj deepened into the
hush before a great battle, or rose
into the cry of the stricken heart
pver the long list of wounded and
slain. War grew grim and fierce
and relentless.
There were hunger and wounds,
pale faces in hospitals and death
of men by tho thousands at the
front and sleeplessness and heart
ache and holy privation and un
failing courage and comfort of
Southern womanhood at home.
Fierce and bitter came the storm
of battle as the thin gray lines of
Lee and Johnston confronted the
soldiers and resources of the world.
Manassas, Shnrpsburg, Fredericks
burg, Seven Pines, Chancellors
ville, Vicksbtirg, Gettysburg, the
Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Peters
burg, Appomattox i all these
names, that wreathed with crepe
their thousands of hearts and
homes, and marked tho rise and
fall of the battle tide- recall to us
t he memories of those days,
On another April day four years
later, the great Commander of the
South, the best beloved man in
any age of our world, said, "It is
all over, never mind my men, yon
have done your best; go to your
homes and be as brave and true as
you have been with me."
Previous to the war between the
States two battles stand out
luminously on the pages of his
tory in commemoration of tho
valor of those who dared and died
for home and country while fight
ing overwhelming odds. Ther
mopylae stands almost isolated in
ancient times among the exploits
of the patriotic Greeks, who pre
ferred death to defeat and bared
their breasts to the invaders' wea
pons, choosing death to dishonor,
In Helnic song and story so heroic
a sacrifice in so holy a cause has
come down to us through the ages,
beautiful and sanctified in the
telling, as it has been repeated
from generation to generation
through the uncounted oenturies.
The Alamo among modern bat
tles, ranks with and surpasses in
glorious deeds tho exploits of
Leonidas' band. Fought here in
America on Southern soil, by
Southern men, the world only
knew the result of tho conflict by
ensuing silence. Thermopylae
had its messenger of defeat; the
Alamo had none. History had
not duplicated those brave deeds
of the Ancient Greeks and the
modern American until the Con
federate soldier, in response to the
call to arms in 1 St> 1, rallied to the
defence of our dear Southland
when on an hundred fields he
surpassed in heroism and courage
tho greatest deedß of the most
valorous warriors of ancient or
modern times. This is not the
time or the place to cite you to
instances of such heroism as caus
ed the world to pause, lost in
wonder and admiration of tho
Confederate Soldier, He exhibited
tenacity of purpose, fortitude in
advorsity, gentleness in victory
and bravery upon the battlefield
through four years of unexampled
privation and suffering, which
have placed him in the front rank
of the soldiers of tho world. Hut
when tho war had ended it was
then that all that was elevating
and truly great in the Confederate
Soldier found expresssion. When
he turned his back on Appomattox
and bade farewell to those scenes
where his valor had won the ap
plause of the world, in his tattered
clothes and unshod feet, tired with
the toil and strife of a hopeless
struggle, defeated, despairing. j>en
niloss, ami starving, groping
through the passes and byways,
brambles and rocks of a land that
had felt tho hot breath of war for
years, ho lookeil into the future
with his face turned homeward,
and braved greater dangers, great
er anxieties, than he had ever car
ried into battle. As he thus stood
in May, 18t>5, photographed
against the sky of his dead South
ern Confederacy, he was the em
bodiment of all that was great and
good, true knightly in the history
of oyr ri',ce He was a king among
men, the bravest of the brave;
greater, truer, nobler in his defeat
than the victor in any less holy
cause. And when he had over
come all tl.o obstacles standing
between him and his home, sweet
home, which had nestled amid
these hills and valleys of his na
tive heath, what met him at his
approach- was it the happy wife
and little children that had clam
bered at his knoo in tho days gone
by '? Was it the dim-eyed mother,
or the now helpless father who
had grown too old to bear arms in
defense of the country ? N t
always. Too often the old homo
was gono, his people scattered.
"The blackness of ashed marked
where it stood,
And a wild mother's screams
o'er her famishing brood."
"War is hell" said a general who
led his incendiary and invading
hordes through the Carolinas.
And so confederate soldier
found it on his return to his des
olate fireside. No man or set of
men, anywhere under the sun,
would have boon censured had he,
at such a moment, lost his nerve
and begun to repine. Not so, how
ever, with the Confederate soldier.
He did not lose his nerve. He di 1
not repine. He belonged to a race
of people which has dominated
always and every where. Such
blood ran in the veins of the
author of the charter of English
liberty. It thundered in Crom
well's veins as he fought his king,
—it humbled Napolean at Water
loo; it has touched the desert and
the jungles with undying glory; it
carried the drum beat of England
around the world and spread on
every continent the Gospel of
liberty; it established this Repub
lic, carved it from the wilderness,
conquered it from the Indians,
arrested it from England, and at
last, stilling its own tumult, con
secrated it forever as the home of
tho Anglo-Saxon and tho theatre
of his transcendent achievement.
Never one foot of it can bo sur
rendered, while that blood lives in
American veins and feeds Amer
ican hearts, to tho domination of
an alien or inferior race.
That spoke the Confederate sol
dier at the close of the war, stand
ing upon his desolate hearthstone,
sitting amid the ruins of his
household. Beginning with
a crust and no bread, having no
money and no credit, he stood in
the presence of starvation with his
ragged ohildron, and his patient
help-mate round about him, the
broken and shattered remnant rf
a once invincible army.
Would the younger generation
of the South have done what ho
did ? Ido not believe it. What
did he do V All government had
fallen away from him with the loss
of the cause he loved so well. He
was more or loss a law unto him
self. But he went to work, called
conventions, passed ordinances in
keeping with the demands of the
new order of things, assembled
Legislatures together and enacted
TABI'LATED LIST OF OLD CONFEDERATES WHO
JOINED THE NEW STOKES CAMP AT DAN
BI'RY SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1
NAME. REGT. CO, R'NK. I*. O.
I ! ' '
Moses P. Bullin... 21st N. C.' F Priv. Stokos. Danbury.
W. M. Duggins... " M " " Red Sh'ls.
W. Fulton " (i '• '• Mayodan.
Willis James " F " " Wal. Cove.
L. D. Lewis " F '• Rockingham. "
W.A.Smith " F .">th ser Stokes. Rock H'se.
C.M.Marshall.... " H Priv. " Capella.
Abel Hicks " F " " Meadows.
Jackson Smith .... " G " " Wal. Cove.
Edmund Rullen ... H " " Campbell.
John W. Fulk " F " •' Hard bank.
William 8u11en.... " F " Dnnbury.
M.O.James " F Sergt. " Wal. Cove.
J. H. Glidewell.... F Priv. " Meadows.
J.A.Page " F " " Pilot Mt.
Alamandor C0x.... " C " " Wal. Cove.
A.M.Hampton... " C •' " (Termant'n
J. H. Gipson " (■ " "
I). S. Tilley " F " " Yade Mec.
T. J. Tuttle " C - •' Wal. Cove.
K. A. Overby *>3d N. C. G " " Smith.
Lee Bennett " 11 •' " Danbury.
R. H. Bennett 11 " " \'ade Mec.
W. M. Cox " II •• •• Pilot Mt.
J. 11. Stewart " 11 " " Danbury.
Win. A. Martin.... " -> " " Smith.
M. V. Mabe " H " " Danbury.
W. S. Wilson " 11 2d ser. " Mayodan.
John Bennett .... " H Priv. " Danbury.
W. R. Bennett .... " (> " " Vade Mec.
J. W. Flinchum . .. " H " " Danbury.
W.R.Hundley.... " G " " Hartman.
J.A.Martin "  " Wal. Cove.
J. W. Southern ... " H " " (iermant'u
J.C.Ellis . (i •' " Xettle Rg.
W. F. Slielton 2d N.C.Bat H " " Francisco.
J. A. Leak " A '• " Peters Ck.
J. B. George " A " " Vade Mec.
W. H. Slaughter... " A " " Kornersv.
Noah Smith " A '■ " Danbury.
A. R. Jones " A •' ". Vade Mec.
Jas. H. Page .... 33rd X. C. 1 " " Germant'n
S. J. Ball 22d N. C. F " " Sandy.Rg.
11. Brown " \ II | " Mayodan.
J. P. Dunlap " H " " Sandy Rg.
A.N. Heath. ... " H " " Pilot Mt.
J. C. Thornborough " L " Randolph. Meadows.
D. K, Smith " H " Stokes. Mayodan.
W.S.Ray... " II " Danbury.
Wm. Bullin " H " " Campbell.
W. J. Wilkins " II " " Sandy Rg.
11. C. Lackey 11 " " Campbell.
G. R. James " H " Dillard.
D. K. Mabe 72d N. C. C " " Dellar.
R. C. Fowler " B " Forsyth. Germant'n
W.W.King " A Ist Lt. (iuiliford. Danbury.
M. B. Bullin olst N. C. A Priv. Stokes. Hartman.
F. J. Woods Hth X. C. H
M.A.Holland.... " A " " Pilot Mt.
J. G. Tuttle 52d N. C. D •' Wal. Cove.
J. W. Tuttle " H
C.M.Williams " B Col'rg " Meadows.
G. J. Tuttle D Priv. " Wal. Cove.
O.C.Jones Ist Bat. A " Forsyth.
Robt. Covington... 13th N. C. 11 '• Rockingham. Rock H'se.
Gabriel Tuttle " B Stokes. Wal. Cove
W. H. Gentry 3rd X. 0. F 2d ser.
J.W.Davis ">7th N. ('. D Priv. Forsyth.
W. A. Kiger 11th V. C. (i " Stokes. Germant'n
Garland Siniili ... «i4sth N. C. A Lieut. Rockingham. Francisco.
J.J.Martin Ist Engin. F , Priv. Danville, Va. Gideon.
laws, also meeting those demands. '
In the meantime crops wore grow
ing, and when gathered, they sup
plied food and money in meagre ,
quantities. In a year or two the
old Confederate having put off liis j
threadbare and ragged gray jacket I
for a better garb, began to build ;
waste places, and then it occurred !
to him that the South was rich in j
minerals, together with other un- |
sought treasures, and he already
knew that she had a monopoly of ;
the cotton product of the world, j
The same old soldier instead of
being a destructionist, became a
constructionist in the highest j
sense of the term.
The mines tilled with the rich- j
est treasures of earth were devel- j
oped, and the cotton which had
been going to the mills of Old as
well as New England, and enrich- i
ing them at his expense, were con- i
verted into cotton goods right here j
at the cotton fields, and this was
done in dvery instance by some j
good old Confederate soldier. If j
lie was not tho only promoter and !
owner of tho mills, ho was always j
one among them.
I challenge to-day the naming I
of a single enterprise in the South |
|of any consequence where South- j
NUMBER 20
! ern men aro engaged in it which
litis not among its members one or
more Confederate soldiers. Every
whirring spindle in every mill in
every Southern State to-day sings
the praises of the Confederate
I soldier who had inaugurated this
onward step in the development
! of these new industries.
So, as they wore tirst in war.
| they were also tirst in peace and
guided th« Sonth's development
|in things material to a height of
prosperity unparalleled in the
history of the progress of the
world. And you must remember
that this was going on under tho
most adverse circumstances. Star
vation was the tirst load that the
Confederate soldier had to carry
from lKC,f> to IHt)7. After that a
still more terrible calamity had to
be faced iu reconstruction. Now
it was that the herculean might
and strength of the Confederate
soldier aided by young men who in
the meantime had come to man's
estate, accomplished the great re
sults which 1 have mentioned,
making the South from a material
standpoint many times richer than
i she was with her slave chattels
! and all other evidences of wealth
| lost with the downfall of the Con-