honors
with the old Stonewall Brigade in endurance, courage, and obstinacy
in action. The soldiers of Texas were tenacious, aggressive, and bold
beyond any of their brethren of the South.
The Tennesseeans, true to the instincts of their "back woods"
progenitors, were kind-hearted, independent, and brimful of courage.
Driven from their homes and firesides by a hostile foe, they became
a "storm center" in battle. They were combative and pugnacious, and
defeat had no effect upon their order, and they were ever ready
to turn and strike a foe or charge a battery. Their courage at
Chickamauga is distinguished by showing the greatest per cent of
killed and wounded in battle that has even been recorded, the charge
of the Light Brigade not excepted, being over forty-nine per cent.
What is said of the Tennesseeans is equally true of the Arkansans.
Of a common stock and ancestry, they inherited all the virtues and
courage of their forefathers. The Confederacy had no better soldiers
than the Arkansans--fearless, brave, and oftentimes courageous beyond
prudence.
The border States' soldiers, Missourians, Kentuckians, and
Marylanders, were the free lance of the South. They joined the
fortunes of the South with the purest motives and fought with the
highest ideals. Under Forrest and Morgan and the other great riders of
the West, they will ever be the soldiers of story, song, and romance.
Their troops added no little lustre to the constellation of the
South's great heroes, and when the true history of the great Civil
War shall be written, they will be remembered. Indomitable in spirits,
unconquerable and unyielding in battle, they will ever stand as
monuments to the courage of the Southern Army.
* * * * *
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE WAR--ITS LOSSES IN KILLED AND DIED.
What were the Confederate losses during the war? Where are the
Confederate dead? Which State lost the most soldiers in proportion to
the number furnished the war? These are questions which will perhaps
be often asked, but never answered. It can never be known, only
approximately. The cars containing the Confederate archives were left
unguarded and unprotected at Greensboro on its way from Richmond,
until General Beauregard noticed papers from the car floating up and
down the railroad track, and had a guard placed over them and sent to
Charlotte. There was a like occurrence at this place, no protection
and no guard, until General John
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