THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Honors on Confederate Memorial Day
April 26 is officially
Confederate Memorial
Day. However, since the mode now is to take the Monday nearest the date
as a
holiday, April 24 this year was officially noted for those who closed
businesses and had a day off from work, making a long weekend from
April 21
through Monday, April 24 as a time to remember our Confederate Dead.
April 26 marks the official end
of the War
Between the States for
Already, General Robert E. Lee
had
surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in
Supporters of the Southern cause
can feel
pride in the way General Lee conducted himself at that meeting. It is
reported
that Lee maintained dignity to the end. He appeared at Appomattox
Courthouse in
a brand new uniform, wearing an embroidered red sash, and polished
boots with
spurs. Standing tall, with his gray hair and beard in place and his
dress
uniform impeccable, he met General Grant whose boots were muddy and his
old
slouch hat askew.
The Generals, nevertheless, were
gracious
to each other. Grant said to Lee, "I met you once before, General Lee,
while we were serving in
Lee had evaluated the hard
nine-month siege
at
The Confederates were to lay
down their
arms, which they did. Lee suggested that his men would need their
horses for
spring planting. Grant agreed to this request and also promised to
provide
rations to the emaciated Confederate Army.
Astride his horse, Traveller,
General Lee
rode among the ranks of his faithful soldiers. His words to them were:
"Men, we have fought this war together. I have done the best I could
for
you. My heart is too full to say more." (p. 167, "Almanac
of American History.")
General Grant expressed his feelings with these words: "I feel like
anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who has fought
so long
and valiantly." (p. 167, "Almanac
of American History.")
Much lay ahead before the War
Between the
States was officially over. Because news traveled slowly in April of
1865,
there were more skirmishes in various places before complete cessation
of
fighting. That's why the treaty between Johnson and Sherman was not
signed
until
And then remained the long road
to
Reconstruction. In his second inaugural address, President Abraham
Lincoln
expressed his hope for reconciliation: "With malice toward none, with
charity for all...let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind
up the
nation's wounds."
President Lincoln's
assassination shot hit
him at Ford's Theater in
As we observe Confederate
History Month
this April, we remember the sacrifices of soldiers, many of them our
ancestors,
who fought for what they believed.
Without the war, slavery may not
have died
out soon. The South's economy may have lingered for many more decades
to
agrarian pursuits with production hinging on slave labor. The Civil War
and the
period of Reconstruction were tragedies in
An anonymous poet has written
these
striking lines for "Confederate Memorial Day":
The marching armies of the past
Along our southern plains,
Are sleeping now in quiet rest
Beneath the Southern rains.
We bow our heads in solemn
prayer
For those who wore the gray,
And clasp again their unseen
hands
On our Memorial Day.
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