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BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
T. banter. 
 Post-Bellum Mortality Among Confederates, 
 
 A D D R KS S 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 (onfederate Qurvivers' \3rssociation 
 ^^- ^*J ~*J \^ 
 
 AT ITS 
 
 QUARTERLY MEETING 
 
 IN 
 
 AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, AUGUST 2D. 1887. 
 
 BY 
 
 COL: CHARLES C, JON ES, JR., LL, D,, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 AUGUSTA, GA. 
 
 CHRONICLE PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
 1887. 
 
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 / 
 
3(on. ] Dyi T. banter. . 
 Post-Bellum Mortality Among Confederates, 
 
 A D D R BSS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 (onfederate Qurvivors' Association 
 ^^ ^^J ~*J \^ 
 
 AT ITS 
 
 QUARTERLY MEETING 
 
 IN 
 
 AUGUSTA. GEORGIA, AUGUST 2o 1887. 
 
 COL: CHARLES C JO N ES, JR., LL. D.. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 AUGUSTA, GA. 
 
 CHRONICLE PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
 1887. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 COMRADES: 
 
 Since our pleasant Reunion on the 26th of April last, five 
 of our companions have joined the legions encamped! on the 
 Further Shore Eobert Wallace, second lieutenant of the 
 Washington Artillery, died on the 10th of May; J. C. Allen, 
 private in Company A, Cobb's Legion of Cavalry, on the 28th 
 of the same month; William Delane, private in Company A, 
 Fifth Regiment Georgia Infantry, on the 9th of June; Charles 
 A. Plait, captain of the same company on the 21st of July 
 memorable as the anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas 
 and to-day we receive the afflictive intelligence that our com- 
 rade Theodore D. Caswell, Lieutenant Colonel of the Second 
 Battalion, Georgia Sharp Shooters is lying dead in Asheville 
 North Carolina. 
 
 .The strong hand of mortality has also been laid upon two 
 noted Confederates. William Smith, a war-governor of Vir- 
 ginia, and a Major-General in Confederate service departed 
 this life at his home in Warrenton, Virginia, on the 18th of 
 May, at the advanced age of ninety years ; and, on the 18th of 
 July, Eobert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter quietly ended his long 
 and honorable earthly career. 
 
 Born in Essex County, Virginia, on the 21st of April, 1809, 
 Mr. Hunter acquired his collegiate education at the University 
 of Virginia. Having completed his professional preparation 
 at the Winchester Law School, he was called to the Bar in 
 1830. In early manhood his active interest in public affairs, 
 an honorable ambition for preferment, and the exhibition of 
 unusual abilities were recognized and rewarded by an election 
 to the Virginia House of Delegates, of which he remained a 
 member for three years. 
 
In 1837 he was advanced to a seat in Congress, which he 
 filled for two consecutive terms. Returned to the National 
 Assembly in 1847, he presided over the Twenty-Sixth Congress 
 as Speaker of the House of Representatives. From bis earliest 
 participation in national affairs he manifested an intellectual 
 superiority, an independence of thought and action, and broad 
 views of measures and government which, maintained and 
 heightened during subsequent years, secured for him an envia- 
 ble reputation for integrity, political sagacity, and wise states- 
 manship. Possessing uncommon intellect, and exhibiting 
 admirable traits of character, he was an earnest student, an 
 engaging speaker, was gifted by nature with a noble presence, 
 and was in every way a man of commanding influence. In 
 1847 he became a Senator of the United States, and continued 
 to be a prominent member of that august body until, in 1861, 
 Virginia severed her connection with the Union. 
 
 When the State of Virginia passed her Ordinance of Seces- 
 sion and sanctioned a resolution adopting the constitution of 
 the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of 
 America, a delegation, consisting of Mr. Hunter, and the hon- 
 orable William C. Rives, John W. Brockenbrough, and W. R. 
 Staples, was elected to represent that State in the Provisional 
 Congress at Montgomery. Upon the adjournment of that 
 Congress to meet at Richmond the designated capital of the 
 infant Republic Mr. Hunter was again chosen as a delegate 
 from the Old Dominion. 
 
 It will be remembered that Mr. Toombs resigned the port- 
 folio of the State Department and accepted service in the nVld 
 with the rank of brigadier general. In this emergency Presi- 
 dent Davis summoned Mr. Hunter to his cabinet. He accepted 
 the appointment of Secretary of State, and discharged the 
 duties of that responsible position until the organization of the 
 Confederate Senate, when he became a member of that body, 
 and retained his seat, as the leading Senator from Virginia, 
 until the close of the war. The valuable services he rendered 
 both in the National Assembly of the United States and in the 
 Confederate Congress, are well remembered. The conspicuous 
 part borne by him when, at the instance of Mr. Davis, and in 
 association with Vice-President Stephens and Judge Campbell, 
 he participated in the Fortress Monroe Conference is fresh in 
 our recollection. 
 
Subsequent to the conclusion of the war Mr. Hunter was 
 for some time the treasurer of his native State. Of late years 
 he has led a retired life, toiling for bread in the midst of dis- 
 appointments and losses. At the last, we doubt not, he wel- 
 comed surcease from labor and. anxieties in the repose of a 
 simple but honored grave. 
 
 Thus do we inscribe a page in memory of one who held 
 high office and discharged important duties in the civil service 
 of the Confederacy. 
 
 Although only twenty-two years have elapsed since the 
 fall of the Confederacy, the catalogue of the dead who, while 
 in life, bore prominent parts in the maintenance of that govern- 
 ment, is remarkable. Not the flight of time only, but. burthen- 
 some losses, weighty disappointments, mental and physical 
 tension, and unusual afflictions have had much to do in bring- 
 ing about a heavy mortality. This will increase during the 
 next decade in a greater than geometrical ratio, and very 
 soon there will be none among the living who bore personal 
 allegiance to the Confederate Flag. The youngest survivor of 
 the Confederate Army and Navy well-kept benedict or spruce 
 bachelor though he be must surely have attained at least to 
 his fortieth year. The head of the average soldier is silvered 
 with age, and multitudes who were in the meridian of life 
 when the storm raged have succumbed to the inevitable law 
 which fixes the bounds of human longevity. 
 
 Let us see, in a general way, how the record stands. 
 
 Our venerable President still lives and, at Beauvoir, enjoys 
 a serene old age beneath the grateful shadows of Southern 
 Live-Oaks and Magnolias ; but the Vice-President of the Con- 
 federacy four years ago terminated his active and useful career. 
 
 Of those who held the portfolio of State Robert Toombs, 
 R. M. T. Hunter, and Judah P. Benjamin, all are dead. 
 
 Of the four Attorneys General, only two, Ex-Governor 
 Thomas H. Watts, and the honorable George Davis survive. 
 
 Mr. Memminger, of the Treasury Department, still lives. 
 The other Secretary, the gifted George A. Trenholm has, 
 for years, been sleeping that sleep which knows no waking. 
 
 Of the five Secretaries of War Leroy Pope Walker, Judah 
 P. Benjamin, George W. Randolph, James A. Seddon, and John 
 C. Breckinridge not one is alive. 
 
The accomplished Adjutant General Samuel Cooper, R. G. 
 H. Kean chief of the bureau of War, A. C. Myers Quarter- 
 Master General, L. B. Northrup Commissary General, 
 General L. M. St. John chief of the bureau of Subsistence, 
 General Josiah Gorgas chief of Ordnance, Col. T. S. Rhett 
 in charge of the Ordnance bureau, General J. F. Gilmer 
 chief Engineer, General John S. Preston chief of the bureau 
 of Conscription, General John H. Winder commanding 
 Prison Camps, Robert Ould chief of the bureau of Exchange, 
 Richard Morton chief of the Nitre and Mining bureau, 
 and A. H. Carrington acting Provost-Marshal General, are, 
 I believe, all dead. Quartermaster General Alexander R. Law- 
 ton, now verging upon seventy, represents the United States 
 at the Austrian Court. 
 
 Rufus R. Rhodes Commissioner of Patents is thought 
 to be no longer among the living. 
 
 Turning to the Navy Department we find upon the death, 
 roll the names of Secretary Stephen R. Mallory, of Commodore 
 F. Forrest chief of the bureau of Orders, of Admirals Frank- 
 lin Buchanan and Raphael Semmes, of Commodores Tattnall, 
 Maury, Whittle, Hollins, Ingraham, and of many other promi- 
 nent officers. 
 
 Post Master General John H. Reagan lives, and is a mem- 
 ber of the National Legislature. 
 
 ...Of, the Commissioners who represented the Confederacy 
 abroad, Jameis -Mv Mason and William L. Yancey accredited to 
 Great Britain, John Slidell accredited to France, P. A. Rost 
 accredited to Spain, John T. Pickett accredited to Mexico, 
 Bishop Lynch accredited to the States of the Church, and 
 John Forsyth, Martin J. Crawford, A. B. Roman, and Charles 
 J. Faulkner accredited to the United States, are dead. The 
 octogenarian, A. Dudley Mann accredited to Belgium resides 
 in France. The honorable Lucius Q. C. Lamar accredited to 
 Russia is a member of President Cleveland's Cabinet, and 
 General William Preston accredited to Mexico rejoices in 
 his broad acres in the blue-grass region of Kentucky. 
 
 Among the Consular, Confidential, and Foreign Agents of 
 the Confederacy we note the demise of C. C. Clay, Jacob 
 Thompson, James P. Holcombe, Charles J. Helm, Colin J. 
 McRae, George N. Sanders, J. L. O'Sullivan, 1 and of others 
 holding less important positions. 
 
Of those who bore rank as Full Generals in the armies of 
 the Confederacy only two survive : Generals Joseph E. John- 
 ston and G. T. Beauregard. General Albert S. Johnston fell in 
 the memorable battle of Shiloh, and Generals Eobert E. Lee 
 and Braxton Bragg died since the cessation of hostilities. 
 
 There were two generals with temporary rank E. Kirby 
 Smith, and John B. Hood. The former lives, and the latter, in 
 dying, commended his orphans to the care of the soldiers of 
 the Confederacy. 
 
 Twenty-one officers were complimented with the grade of 
 Lieutenant General. The only survivors are Generals James 
 Longstreet, E. Kirby Smith, D. H. Hill, Stephen D. Lee, Wade 
 Hampton, Jubal A. Early, Alexander P. Stewart, Joseph Whee- 
 le,r, Simon B. Buckner, and John B. Gordon. 
 
 Of the one hundred who were commissioned as Major 
 Generals in Confederate service, if my information be correct, 
 only forty-five are now numbered among the living, 
 
 Of four hundred and eighty who rose to the grade of 
 Brigadier General, an inquiry by no means partial, inclines 
 me to the belief that there are not two hundred in life. 
 
 With the exception of Thomas H. Watts of Alabama, 
 Joseph E. Brown of Georgia, Zebulon B. Vance of North Caro- 
 lina, M. L. Bonham and A. G. Magrath of South Carolina, 
 Isham G. Harris of Tennessee, and perhaps Eichard Hawes of 
 Kentucky, all the War-Governors of Confederate StQitflttrttre 
 dead. BBOCro^ 
 
 We have not sufficient data to speak with certainty in 
 regard to the Senators and Representatives in Confederate Con- 
 gress, but we do know that the mortality among them has been 
 commensurate with that which has occurred in other depart- 
 ments. Of those who tarry with us, not a few have almost 
 reached the last span in the bridge of life, and must soon fall 
 into the dark stream which bears away the generations of 
 men. 
 
 The Constitution of the Confederate States was signed by 
 forty-nine delegates. All who affixed their signatures to that 
 memorable document are dead except C. G. Memminger, W. 
 Porcher Miles and William W. Boyce of South Carolina, Au- 
 gustus R. Wright of Georgia, David P. Lewis and Jabez L. M. 
 Curry of Alabama, W. P. Harris, Alexander M. Clayton, and 
 
8 
 
 J. A. P. Campbell of Mississippi, Alexander de Clouet of Louis- 
 iana, and Thomas N. Waul and John H. Reagan of Texas. 
 
 And who can furnish even a partial roster of the field, 
 company, and non-commissioned officers, privates, subordinates 
 in various departments, and servants of the Confederacy, who 
 have died since the final surrender ? Surely none, save the 
 Recording Angel, is competent for such a task. Wounds, 
 bruises, poverty, desolation, exposures, want, and disappoint- 
 ments have exerted a potent influence in shortening the lives 
 of many who escaped death upon the march, on the field of 
 battle, or in prison camp and hospital. In the natural order of 
 affairs the multitude of those who have thus gone to their 
 graves must be great. Sad as the fact is, we may rest assured 
 that with the close of this century there will remain compara- 
 tively few, competent, from personal experience, to narrate any 
 of the incidents connected with the Confederate struggle for 
 independence. 
 
 This being so, the obligation is laid upon all, who can, to 
 perpetuate in enduring form the true philosophy of events, the 
 genuine circumstance of the action, the inspirations, the ex- 
 alted aspirations, the patriotic impulses, the heroic endeavors, 
 the illustrious achievements, and the grand memories which 
 impart to the defensive war maintained by Confederates an 
 importance, an interest, a dignity, an elevation, and a sanctity 
 beyond compare in the history of kindred revolutions. 
 
 Unfortunately, the historian too often busies himself so 
 largely with laudations of the victor that justice is lamely 
 meted out to the aims and the exploits of the vanquished. 
 There is, however, apart from recorded history, a general senti- 
 ment, an honest appreciation of fact, a faithful narrative of 
 event, a true interpretation of purpose, which may be transmit- 
 ted from sire to son, and which will prove very potent in form- 
 ing the judgment, moulding the thought, and shaping the ap- 
 preciation of the rising generation. Let us see to it, my Com- 
 rades, that we are not misinterpreted by our sons. Our chil- 
 dren should be thoroughly taught the noble lessons inculcated 
 by the lives and acts of those who died for country and for 
 right. A proper conception and a due observance of the prin- 
 ciples and conduct of those who, in the past, illustrated the 
 integrity, the virtues, and the valor of the Old South, will best 
 ensure the manliness, the honor, and the courage of the future. 
 
9 
 
 The present, alas ! is essentially a utilitarian age. It is icono- 
 clastic in its tendencies, and lamentably debauched by commer- 
 cial methods. Ennobling sentiments and worthy purposes are 
 too often supplanted by schemes for the accumulation of wealth, 
 and the sordid manipulation of money-making enterprises. I 
 fear me, in losing our distinctive characteristics, we are lower- 
 ing the standard of our fathers. 
 
 While life lasts, let us proclaim in our walk and conversa- 
 tion and illustrate in our conduct the vital influence of a con- 
 secrated past the elevating sway of hopes and principles dear 
 to the hearts and consciences of all who venerate truth, admire 
 fortitude, abhor questionable thoughts and acts, and acknowl- 
 edge the claims of neighbor, country, and God. In the light 
 of that bravest epoch in the history of nations, with all its 
 heroic actors, noble deeds, and marvelous examples of self- 
 sacrifice, virtue, and high emprise, let no word of apology be 
 uttered in the present. Let no sentiment be cherished which 
 is not loyal to the traditions of that wondrous period. Let no 
 act be committed which does not savor of reverence for its 
 inspirations and deeds. And thus, when all who participated 
 in the struggle shall have passed away, the blessed memories 
 which appertain to the dead nation and peoples will remain 
 unimpaired, and the examples of patriotism, of self-sacrifice, 
 of heroism, and of sublime endeavor will stand for the honor 
 of the days that are gone, and challenge the emulation of the 
 
 In time to come, as now, when the names and valorous 
 deeds of those who died in defense of home and right are 
 repeated, in glad acclaim will admiring hearts respond : 
 
 "Roll back, O Time, the sacred scroll 
 On which is told their story: 
 For by the light that falls to-day 
 We'd read their quenchless glory. 
 For no historic page proclaims 
 Such deeds of high endeavor 
 As those the South enshrines within 
 Her heart of hearts forever. 
 
 Awake ! fond memories of the past, 
 E'en though ye bring us weeping: 
 Unroll, O Time ! the precious scroll 
 We gave into your keeping. 
 Flash all the golden letters out 
 That tell their glorious story : 
 Proclaim from every mountain peak 
 'Dead on the field of glory'."