Ah
The Smithfield Herald.
VOLUME 5.
SMITHFIELD, JOHNSTON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, MAY 21, 1887.
NUMBER 49.
Hon. A. M.Waddell's Spsich on the 10th.
In the following eloquent
speech, Mr. E. W. Pou, Jr., intro
duced tlie orator of the flay, Hon.
A.M. Waddell.
I.A1UKS AND FKLI.OW CorXTHV-
jiex: Years have parsed away
i nee our common country trem
bled under that fearful shock of
;irins. It was the providence of
God that oar cause should fail,
and that our brave armies should
be beaten on the field of battle.
lie idol of the Southren heart
has been forever destroyed and
its shrines have all been broken
into fragments ! The Union of
the people has been made forever
sure! Its achievements in the
past are our achievements; its
hopes in the future arne our hope
its destiny, at last, is our destiny.
We have swr.ru to "protect, to
defend and to preserve" that Un
ion, but we have never relin
quished the right to meet one :
day iu each year 'round this sa
cred spot to bewail our common
misfortune, to lament our com
mon defeat, and to shed tears of
of sorrow upon the graves of our
fallen heroes. We are assembled
here to-day, to perforin a sacred
duty. We are assembled to lift
the veil from yonder modest mar
ble shaft, erected by loving hands
to the memory of those brave
souls who fell in the battle of
Bentonsville. Long years in un
marked graves they slept. The
sighing breezes played their
dirge. No tears were shed on
those graves save the dews of j
Heaven. I would be untrue to
the grateful feelings of our peo
ple were i to allow one incident
to pass uiimentioned. The first
leaf that was swept from those
graves; the first flower that was
planted there was by the sympa
thetic hand of a noble .Southern
woman. Those men who laid
down their lives to protect her
home, and it pained that proud
heart that they slept in unmark
ed graves.
Ah! that little monument is aj
poor tribute indeed to the mem
ory of those brave men. There i
was but a little band that consti- !
tuted our whole army at Ben
tonsville. Discouraged, disheart
ened, hopes all fled, they had
drank to the very dregs of the
cup of bitterness. They saw the
whole country smoking and in j
ruins, not one single ray of hope
pierceel the pall of gloom that
overspread the land! They saw
these scenes of horror and their I
breasts burned within them.
Death would be sweet for the,
sake of revenge ! Other Sorth
era Generals had been kind and
humane and merciful, but on I
came that pitiless tyrant, with
his horde of vandals, leaving
naught behind save chimneys, 1
that stand as sombre monuments
of his heartless cruelty. Sher
man's army, flushed by its suc
cess in capturing booty and plun
der, was approaching on the one
side, while Seofield was moving
steadily toward that little band
on the other side. O, that was
a day of awful suspense. Gen.
Johnston had his men to cast up
breastworks. Behind these they
waited. The attack was made.
The enemy, 40,000 strong, were
repulsed, were beaten back as far
a they could be beaten back,and
at length were compelled to take
refuge in the swamps and thick
ets. The men who sleep in those
graves fell in that struggle. Build
that monument so high that the
first morning sunbeams kiss its
topmost shaft! Still, it will be
an inadequate tribute to the bra
very and heroic endurance of the
men who fell in that last sad
struggle.
We have been fortunate in our
selection of an orator for t his day.
will speak to you of those sad
times, not from history, but from
an eventful experience. Going
forth when the first drum-beat
ailed to arms, through all the
vicissitudes of fortune, he stood
by his colors to the end, until
they were forever furled at Ap
pomattox. His season of useful
ness was not yet over . In that
gloomy period of reconstruction,
when our beloved commonwealth
was in the hands of foe and vic
tor, his ringing voice was heard
throughout the Stafe proclaim
ing eloquent protest. It is with
pride as a C arolinian, that I pre
sent to you, the statesman, ora
tor, patriot, in the person of Al
fred Moore Waddell, of Wilmington."
THK ADDRESS.
Ladies and Gentlemen: While
I feel highly honored by the ac
tion of those who called me to
the performance of this duty,
candor requires me to say that it
has been undertaken solely be
cause it was a duty, from which
no true soldier of the Confedera
cy would ever seek to escape,and
one which, however inadequate
ly performed, ought to afford a
melancholy satisfaction to the
speaker.
If, in attempting to discharge
it instead of seeking to touch
your hearts or rouse your enthu
siasm by eulogizing our dead
whose bones lie here, 1 should
rather speak some truths which
we need to remember, the offer
ing, I trust, will not be unaccep
table to you. It would not be so
to them I am sure, if my voice
could reach them and who shall
say that it cannot reach them?
On these memorial days I never
can divest myself of the thought
that if not in some sense actual
ly present, the de ad are in some
way conscious of the utterances
of the living, when made in re
gard to themselves. The thought
is a soothing and a sobering one,
and makes the language of exag
geration, or emp ty flattery, or
falsehood, doubly contemptible.
That thought has been with me
and has sustained me when speak
ing of the Confederate dead, not
only here in my native State but
at the National Capital, in the
great cities of the North, and
amid the hills of far New Eng
land: and I trust it has preven
ted me from speaking words
which they, if living, would be
ashamed to hear.
As the years come and go, each
leaving a little more frost upon
my head, I feel my heart grow
tenderer toward those who, a
quarter of a century ago, fear
lessly faced the storm of battle
on many a bloody field and final
ly fell iu a hopeless struggle for
the main tai nance of the rights
bequeathed to them by their
fathers. If I ever forget them,
or their deeds, or ever fail or
refuse to honor their memory, or
vindicate their patriotism, may
I be forgot ton among men!
You have erected a modest
monument to the memory of the
brave men who fell in the last
hard-fought field of the war, a
few miles distant from this spot.
The deed was acceptable in the
eyes of patriotism and honor as
if you had erected a far more
splendid memorial. If I should
ask why you have done it, how
tremendous and overwhelming
would be the answer of your
hearts! And yet if these men
were traitors or unprovoked reb
els against the beneficent sway of
lawful authority, you are perpet
uating a crime in thus honoring
their memory. They have been
and are to this day so called by
some of our countrymen, and the
cause in which they were enga
ged has gome into his history as
"The (treat Rebellion."
K bcliion ! luul dishonoring Word
V hose wi'inuhil bKufat s oft h:it b staid .d
Thw ItitHcst cans.: ihat tongue or sword
Of ni 'i tal i:ViT lost ur gained. "'
But names do not always cor
rectly designate; things, and we
rest in the assurance that when
Time, the avenger, shall have
fully sifted and laid before the
tribunal of History all the facts
relating to that gigantic struggle
she will amend the record so as
to make it speak the truth in re
gard to these men and their he
roic compatriots.
While it would really be crim
inal now to excite any hostility
either to the government or to
any portion of cur fellow citizens
in the minds of our youth, it
would be ecmal v criminal in us
to suffer them to grow up with
the belief that their fathers were
conspirators and traitors who,
causelessly and wickedly, engag
ed in a bloody rebellion against
"the best gover sin tent under the
Sun." That such has been the
teaching all over the country
cannot be denied, and the con
stant, every-day iillusion to the
war as "the rebellion, lias famil
iarized the word to the ear until
the meaning conveyed in it is
likely to be forgotten. It is a
fit companion-word to that oth
er phrase of covert reproach and
slander, the " New South," and
neither of them is ever heard on
the lips of a man who wore a
grey uniform from 1861 to 1865.
The one phrasejinvolves an al
legation of crime, and is based
'CAROLINA CAROLINA. HEAVEN'S BLESSINGS ATTEND HER."
either on ignorance of the nature
of the Federal government as
originally constituted, and its
relation to the States, or on a
disregard of the truth; and the
other phrase, the "New South,"
is tantamount to an insinuation
that there is something about
the ante bellum South to be
ashamed of, and which has been
remedied by contact with a high
er civilization. And both the
allegation and insinuation are
i false, and degrading to us. Do
j you think this an inappropriate
time and place to say these
things? Where then, if not on
an occasion like this, when we
! are unveiling a monument over
' the graves of the men who died
for the South, and whose mem
ories are thus dishonored, can be
appropriately said ? I would
consider that I had been recreant
to the plainest part of my -duty
to-day if I failed to say them,
and to seek to impress them upon
1 you with all the earnestness with
which I myself cherish them.
If there was any possibility of
reviving that struggle now, it
would smack of treason to insist
upon a justification of the course
of the South; but the very fact that
its reyival is impossible yes,
1 impossible for a thousand reas
ons, chief among which is the
fact that in the Union of the.
States our every hope and inter
est is involved not only leaves
us a liberty to insist upon that
justification, without incurring
the odium of disloyalty, but
makes it our duly to ourselves,
and our dead to do so on the
proper occasion. It is not my
purpose, of course, to attempt
such a justification on this occa
sion, beyond a few words.. That
it is the proper office of the
Southern historian for whom we
anxiously wait (although it has
already been done in a masterly
and unanswerable argument), and
it can and will be done in a man
ner that Will leave no.room for
doubt in the mind of any candid
and honest inquirer after the
truth. The young man of to-d ly
who knows the Constitution only
amended, and the government
only as it has been administered
since the war who never lived
in what he continually hears de
nounced as "the era of slave
power" who has grown up un
der the shadow of a mighty cen
tralized national government, in
an age of dollar worshipping ma
terialism, and who has seen only
the wide contrast between the
wealth and power of one section
of the country, and the strug
gling poverty of the other is in
danger of forming opinions and
arriving at conclusions in regard
to the civilization and conduct
of the Southern people, which
are very far from the truth, and
are grossly unjust. The govern
ment which the founders estab
lished, and from which the South- !
eru States seceded was not the
government under which we now
live. Alexander Hamilton him
self, if now alive, would not rec
ognize them as the same. The
written form of it, altered as it
is, is the part least changed, and
it is the part least regarded. By
a process of evolution it was
transformed from a Federal com
pact into a sovereign nationalty.
The best epitome of the whole
subject that has ever been utter
ed, fell from the lips of the most
eloquent of Southern Statesmen
a few days ago at the unveiling
of the Calhoun monument at
Charleston. The words are few,
but they are mighty and compre
hensive, and they contain both
an explanation and vindication
of the action of the Southern
people. Mr. Lamar attributes
the change in our political sys
tem chiefly to the acquisition of
territory by the government,
which territory became States of
the Union, containing a majority
of the whole. The result of this
was a reversal of the nature of
the Federal Government, making
it the creator of many States, in
stead of beiifg as it was in the
beginning, their creature.
In 1789,' said Mr. Lamar, 'the
States were the creators of the
Federal Government; in 1861
the Federal Government was the
creator of a large majority of the
States. In 1789 the Federal
Government had derived all the
powers delegated to it by the
Constitution from the States; in
1861 a majority of the States de
rived all their power and attri
butes as States from Congress
i under the Constitution. In 1789
the people of the United States
were citizens of States originally
sovereign and independent; in
1861 a vast majority of the peo-
pie oi ine unuea states were
citizens of States that were orig-
inally mere dependencies of the
1 a l 1 -r -r d - r i i
Federal Government, which was
the author and giver of their po
litical being. With all these
forces on the side of the Union,
backed by a majority of State
Governments, with their reserve
powers, it was a natural conse
quence that the unity and integ
rity of the United States as a
sovereign nation should be estab
lished on the battlefield ; that
its Govermnent should come out
of the conflict with a prestage
and power greater perhaps than
any on earth ; and that the elev-
en minority States, after a resis-
tence as heroic as recorded in
the annals of Greece and Home,
should succumb to overwhelming
forces."
Yes, they succumbed to over
whelming forces, but they never
entertained a doubt of the right
fulness of the cause which they
were engaged, and no true man
among" them entertains any doubt
about it to-day, whatever he may
have thought of the expediency
of it at the time it beiran. Dis-
aster did not change their con-
victions, although it may have ; ed merited distinctions and has
verified their apprehensions. The j been entrusted with high and
very fact, that from the begin- i inportant duties by his fellow
ning, they confronted these over- ; citizens and by the Government,
whelming numbers, backed by all of which have been executed
unlimited resources of every ; with characteristic ability and
kind, and fought them to the ; fidelity ; and now in the evening
bitter end, achieving splendid J of a well spent life and with nat
victories over them, and only I ural force but little abated, he
yielding when completely ex- enjoys what is better than the
hausted, is the most conclusive j honors and emoluments of office
evidence of their rightful con- J the universal respect of his
viction of the rightfulness of ! countrymen.
their cause. Not even thev. for
mer enemies deny this, an the
whole world has acknowlecl and
applauded their heroic valor, and
splendid achievements. Their
fame as sdldi&rs is secure; it is
our duty, to see to it that the
purity of their motives, the in
tegrity of their patriotism, and
the legal and moral basis of their
magnificent struggle for inde
pendence shall be as thoroughly
vindicated and established . 11ns tonvrlle was a remarkable one,
cannot be done if our children and was as creditable to the Con
tire to be taught that the right j federate people as any battle of
was exclusively on one side in J the war. After Gen. Johnston's
the war, and that their fathers j removal from the command be
had forfeited their citizenship, ; fore Atlanta which Gen. Hook
even in their own States, by the i er Gf the Federal army said "con
crime of rebellion. ; tributed materially to the eol
A Southern writer, in a recent j lapse" of our cause, and which he
book characterized those who ! aiso said was received by the
take pleasure in rolling the word j Federal officers "with universal
"Rebellion" under their tongues, rejoicing," and after the discour
as under bred people. To those ; aed and demorilized fragment
of them who use the term, know
ing the truth of the history, a
different name may hereafter be
applied. The only rebellion
save one in Rhode Island, that ! country like vandals, and after
has ever occurred in this country the capture of Fayetteville and
since the achievment of Ameri- the burning of the arsenal there,
can Independence happened in the 14th and 20th corps of the
Pennsylvania, and was suppress- Federal forces, with Kilpatricks
ed by a Southern slave holder j cavalry ( in all about 35,000) under
named George Washington. That ! charge of Sherman himself march
others will occur in the future j e on the road towards Raleigh ;
I have very little doubt but they j ana when they reached a point
will not be on Southern soil. . about four miles below Averas
Now that the Constitution has j boro they found the gallant Gen.
been so changed as to createonly j Hardee waiting to receive them
one sovereignty in our land, to j with about 6,000 men, most of
which States and people are j whom, he said in his report had
alike subjected the Southern peo
pie will faithfully abide by it;
but if that had been the claim
from the beginning there never
would have been an American
Union, and the opportunity to heroes, who behaved with the
use the epithets 'rebel' and 're- j steadiness of veterans. Indeed
bellion,' and 'traitor' and 'treas- their conduct was superb, (for
on' would never have arisen for j they were required to perforin
the gratification of those who the trying duty of changing po
revel in them. sition under fire) and they were
This much I have felt it to
be my duty to say on tnis occas
ion, as due to the memory of the
brave and true men who went
forth to battle and die in defence
of their rights, their liberties and
their homes.
We hoped to be honorc to
day by the presence of one to
whom they looked, with thl con
fidence of children, as areat
captain and master of the art of
war, and whom they were ever
ready to follow with enthusiasm
even into the very jaws of oeath
It was under his directing hand j soldier, Gen. Hoke, had his Divis
that the splendid fight occurred, ion of 4,775 men here at Smith
in which those who lie here lost j field. Gen. Stewart also had here
their lives, when the littbi rag
ged remnant of the army drove
the hordes confronting them un
til the arrival of new hordes
overwhelmed and defeated them.
The story of that desperate
content, will be recited to you in
a few moments. It would have
never occurred,(according to the
judgment of competent foes as
well as friends) if that illustrious
1 T "l -i
soiaier naa Deen continued; in
I command at Atlanta, for then,
I according to the opinions of those
to whom I refer, Sherman's army
would never have reached North
Carolina. It was a mistake, made
doubtless, in good faith. It ought
to be, and douptless is, a source
of profound satisfaction to him
to know that no time during the
war, did his brave soldiers ever
for one moment falter in their
devotion to him, or doubt in the
least degree, success under his
leadership. They were always
ready and willing to render im
plicit obedience to his orders,
and to execute them with enthu-
siastic confidence ; the best proof
j of it was that the intelligence of
his removal from their command
was hailed with joyful acclama
ti :ns in every Federal camp, and
by all his enemies from Sher
man down to the private soldier,
who told me about it after the
fall of Wilmington. Since he
laid aside the stained sword,
j which for more than a half cen-
tury he had worn with distin
guished honor to himself and
his country, and passed into the
i sphere of civil life he has receiv
When I express the hope, as I
most cordially do, that he may
still live many years in the en
joyment of it, I know that from
every heart in this great assem
blage there will rise spontane
ously a sincere amen, which
would find an echo in every heart
throughout the South.
Considering all the attendant
circumstances, and the disparity
0f numbers, the battle of Ben
of the army had retreated through
Georgia and South Carolina, fol
lowed by Sherman's great host,
who burnt and desolated the
never seen field service, and had
been organized on the march.
The enemy repeatedly assaulted
this little force but were repulsed
every time by the little band of
j greatly cheered by the result
although their loss was about 500
men.
This was on the 16th of March,
1865. That night, hearing that
the enemy had crossed Black
river below him, and apprehen
ding a flank movement he with
drew to Elevation.
It was discovered on the 17 th
that this force of the enemy was
not marching toward Raleigh
and Gen. Hardee remained at
Elevation to rest his men. At
this time that splendid N. C.
3,950 men of the Army of Ten
nessee. About daybreak on the
18th, Gen. Johnston hearing that
the enemy was marching toward
Goldsboro' by two roads the
j right wing on the direct road
j from Fayetteville and the left
I
wing on the Averasboro road,
and that they were some distance
apart, ordered Hardee from Ele
vation and the troops here at
Smithfield, t o concentrate a t
Bentonsville, so as to attack the
head of the last column of the
enemy. A mistake in the map
as to distances delayed Hardee,
but he got there the next morn
ing (19th March) and Gen. John
ston immediately moved to his
position which was on the East
ern edge of an old plantation,
lying North of the road and sur
rounded on three sides by a dense
blackjack thicket. There was
but one road through the thicket
which made it very difficult to
deploy the troops. Hoke occu
pied the left of the line of the
battle, his two batteries, which
were our only artillery, on his
right and Stewart's command on
the right of the artillery. By
this time the enemy appeared
and deployed, and immediately
made a vigorous attack on Hoke
which that veteran soldier met
with his accustomed firmness
and repulsed after a half hour of
hard fighting. Hardee had now
got into position on the right,
and the enemy then assaulted
Stewart but was again repulsed.
Then Gen. Johnson ordered Har
dee to cliarge with the right wing,
followed successively by the
other brigades towards the left,
each command facing obliquely
to the left as it went in. They
swept along in splendid style,
over the last half the distance at
a double-quick, without firing a
gun until they drove the enemy
from their entrenchments back
to their second line. Then they
opened fire and charged again,
Gen. Hardee on the right dashing
over the breastworks on horse
back in front of his men. They
drove the enemy into a dense
pine thicket where they made
another stanc, but they were
still driven until the impossibil
ity of managing a movement in
such a dense wood, caused them
to halt and gather up their dead
and wounded and after night-fall
they resumed their first position,
which they held. The troops
were in fine spirits, as well they
might be after such success
against such. odds.
This very unexpected and live
ly performance caused Sherman
to bring over his right wing from
the Fayetteville road to the
Avorasboro road, and the next
morning they were coming up
rapidly in the rear of Hoke's Di
vision. Hoke changed front to
the left to meet it, Hampton and
Wheeler prolonging his line to
the left. About midday Sher
man's whole force, about 70,000,
was concentrated and from that
time until sunset, made attact
after attack upon Hoke's Divis
ion, the last one which was the
severest, being made on Kirk
land's brigade. Every one of
these attacks failed, and he en
emy were so effectually driven
that our infimary corps brought
in a numoer of their wounded
who had been left on the field,
and carried them to our field
hospitals. The enemy far over
lapped our left, and a cavalry
skirmish line was deployed to
show up a front equal to the
enemy's. This was on the 20th.
On the 21st, the enemy early
began a very spirited skirmish,
and during the whole afternoon
directed a heavy fire against our
centre and left. A little after 4
o'clock the 17 th corps broke
through the thin cavalry skir
mish line on the left, and began
pressing towards Bentonsville in
the rear of our centre, and on
the only route of retreat. And
now a brilliant performance oc
curred. Hampton, with a small
cavalry force, and Cumming's
Georgia Brigade, under Col. Hen
derson, hurried to the left to
head off the enemy, and met
them just as they struck the road.
At the same time, Gen. Hardee
dashed up with the 8th Texas
cavalry. Hardee ordered Hen
derson to charge the enemy in
front, the Texans to cliarge their
left flank, and Hampton charged
the right flank, while Wheeler
a long distance off charged their
rear in flank. Despite their great
numbers the enemy gave way be
fore these simultaneous and
splendid attacks, and were de
feated in a few moments and
driven back. Gen. Hardee's only
son, a lad of sixteen, was in the
Texas cavalry and was killed in
this charge. Meantime the fight
I continued along the rest of the
line. There being not object now
in holding his position, which
the swollen stream in his rear
made hazardous, Gen. Johnston
during the night crossed Mill
Creek at Bentonville, and the
next morning after the rear guard
had defeated every effort of the
enemy to force the bridge, the
army moved on and bivouacked
near here on the South side of
the Neuse that evening.
In the first day's fight we had
14.100 men and the enemy about
35,000. We captured four pieces
of artillery the first day, and in
the three days captured 903 pris
oners. We lost in all 223 killed,
1467 wounded and 653 missing,
but many of these returned. The
enemy's killed and wounded
were estimated to largely exceed
4,000.
Such was the last serious blow ;
struck by the forlorn hope of an
expiring nation, and it was de
livered, not with frantic passion
born of a reckless desperation,
but with the same steady deter
mination, the same patient forti
tude, and the same brilliant cour
age that won for the Confederate
soldiers during the war, the ap
plause of an admiring world,
and has made him an immortal
figure in the history of our race.
The end soon follow -vl, uid
the new-made natio.j, t.iat, four
years before had been launched
amid the thunder of artillery
and the rejoicing of millions,
whose hopes and prayers it car
ried with it, perished, and was
swallowed up in that remorseless
sea whose silent shores are strew
ed with the wrecks of dead em
pires j but it left behind it glori
ous memories of unselfish patriot
ism, of sublime faith, of heroic
devotion, of Knightly valor, of
patient srffering, and of splendid
achievements, which will never
die while such virtues and such
deeds are prized by mankind.
With the surrender of our
armies all seemed to be lost and
hope forever fled. Our gallant
boys had given their young lives
in vain ; our fathers and brothers
and sons had fought and suffered
for naught. So it seemed to us
all then, and for some years after
wards. But was it true? Did
we gain nothing by our sacrifices
and sufferings, and have we ex
peri need only unmixed evil as
the result of the war ? No in
telligent man will now so assert.
The Southern people, inspired
with the same indomitable spirit
which characterized them in that
trying period, have under the
provinence of God, in a great
measure wrought out their own
social and political salvation, and
are far advanced on the way to
master material wealth and pow
er than they liave ever enjoyed
at any period of their history ;
and it has been the natural re
sult of that conflict.
War has generally been the
precursor of every advance in
civilization. It is especially true
of cival wars and more especial
ly of cival wars in enlightened
countries.
The slumbering engines which
such wars awaken and put in
motion among a people do not
exhaust themselves in the con
flict, but are subsequently direct
ed to the arts of peace which
thus rsceive a new impulse and
are promoted accordingly. I have
always regarded the display, of
these energies by the Southern
people since the war as the high
est evidence they have given, or
could give of their capacity for
great things, and they would hard
ly have been developed except
by such a calamity.
Notwithstanding the heroic
qualities exhibited by our people
during the war, it is no exagger
ation to say that not only our
former enemies, but ourselves
have been astonished at the re
cuperative power displayed by
them in the past twenty years ;
and this is the hope on which our
future rests. Important as are
the other elements of progress
developed by the results of the
struggle this is our mainstay
the sure foundation on which the
the fabric of our fortunes will
be constructed this unconquer
able spirit of determination, this
earnest resolve to work out our
salvation as a people peacefully,
by the light of experience, and
under the inspiration of justice,
honor, and truth. It is being
rapidly accomplished, and the
glory of the achievement, thank
God, is all our own.
CONTINUED ON SECOND I'AGE.