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Dixie Book of Days

<h2>May</h2> AT ARLINGTON The dead had rest; the Dove of Peace Brooded o’er both with equal wings; To both had come that great surcease. The last omnipotent release From all the world’s delirious stings. To bugle deaf and signal-gun, They slept, like heroes of old Greece, Beneath the glebe at Arlington. And in the Spring’s benignant reign, The sweet May woke her harp of pines; Teaching her choir a thrilling strain Of jubilee to land and main. She danced in emerald down the lines; Denying largesse bright to none, She saw no difference in the signs That told who slept at Arlington. She gave her grasses and her showers To all alike who dreamed in dust; Her song-birds wove their dainty bowers Amid the jasmine buds and flowers, And piped with an impartial trust— Waifs of the air and liberal sun, Their guileless glees were kind and just To friend and foe at Arlington. James Ryder Randall    [Pg 108] <big>May First</big> The linnet, the lark, and oriel Were chanting the loves they chant so well; It was blue all above, below all green, With the radiant glow of noon between. Joseph Salyards (Idothea; Idyl III)     <big>May Second</big> A strange fatality attended us! Jackson killed in the zenith of his successful career; Longstreet wounded when in the act of striking a blow that would have rivalled Jackson’s at Chancellorsville in its results; and in each case the fire was from our own men! A blunder! Call it so; the old deacon would say that God willed it thus. Col. Walter H. Taylor   Stonewall Jackson wounded at Chancellorsville, 1863 Emma Sanson directs Forrest in pursuit of Streight, 1863    [Pg 109] <big>May Third</big> Chancellorsville, where 130,000 men were defeated by 60,000, is up to a certain point as much the tactical masterpiece of the nineteenth century as was Leuthen of the eighteenth. Lieut.-Col. G. F. R. Henderson, C.B.   General Pender, you must hold your ground, you must hold your ground. Jackson’s Last Command     <big>May Fourth</big> The productions of nature soon became my playmates. I felt that an intimacy with them not consisting of friendship merely, but bordering on frenzy, must accompany my steps through life. John James Audubon   John James Audubon born, 1780    [Pg 110] <big>May Fifth</big> Lord of Hosts, that beholds us in battle, defending The homes of our sires ’gainst the hosts of the foe, Send us help on the wings of thy angels descending, And shield from his terrors and baffle his blow. Warm the faith of our sons, till they flame as the iron, Red glowing from the fire-forge, kindled by zeal; Make them forward to grapple the hordes that environ, In the storm-rush of battle, through forests of steel! From the Charleston Mercury   Battle of the Wilderness; Lee, with 60,000 men, attacks Grant with 140,000, 1864    [Pg 111] <big>May Sixth</big> It depends on the State itself, to retain or abolish the principle of representation, because it depends on itself whether it will continue a member of the Union. To deny this right would be inconsistent with the principle on which all our political systems are founded, which is, that the people have, in all cases, a right to determine how they will be governed. (Rawle’s text-book on the Constitution, taught at West Point before the War between the States)   JUDAH P. BENJAMIN, AMERICAN DISRAELI Who is the man, save this one, of whom it can be said that he held conspicuous leadership at the bar of two countries? Sir Henry James (England)   Tennessee and Arkansas secede, 1861 Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of State, dies, 1884    [Pg 112] <big>May Seventh</big> The slaves who ran away from their masters were set to work at once by General Butler and made to keep at it, much to their annoyance. One of these, having been put to it rather strong, said: “Golly, Massa Butler, dis nigger nebber had to work so hard befo’; dis chile gwine secede once moah.” Ohio Statesman, 1861     <big>May Eighth</big> Having completed our repairs on May 8th, and while returning to our old anchorage, we heard heavy firing, and, going down the harbor, found the Monitor, with the iron-clads Galena, Naugatuck, and a number of heavy ships, shelling our batteries at Sewell’s Point. We stood directly for the Monitor, but as we approached they all ceased firing and retreated below the forts. Col. John Taylor Wood   The “Virginia” again challenges the “Monitor” to battle, 1862 Battle of Palo Alto, 1846    [Pg 113] <big>May Ninth</big> MOTHERS’ DAY Because I feel that, in the Heavens above The angels, whispering to one another, Can find, among their burning terms of love, None so devotional as that of “Mother.” Edgar Allan Poe     <big>May Tenth</big> Fearless and strong, self-dependent and ambitious, he had within him the making of a Napoleon, and yet his name is without spot or blemish. Lieut.-Col. G. F. R. Henderson, C.B. ... Ask the world— The world has heard his story— If all its annals can unfold A prouder tale of glory? If ever merely human life Hath taught diviner moral— If ever round a worthier brow Was twined a purer laurel? Margaret J. Preston   Stonewall Jackson dies, 1863    [Pg 114] <big>May Eleventh</big> The Spanish legend tells us of the Cid, That after death he rode erect, sedately Along his lines, even as in life he did, In presence yet more stately. And thus our Stuart at this moment seems To ride out of our dark and troubled story Into the region of romance and dreams, A realm of light and glory. John R. Thompson   J. E. B. Stuart mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern, 1864     <big>May Twelfth</big> General Lee, you shall not lead my men in a charge! Gordon   General Lee to the rear!—His Soldiers. I do wish somebody would tell me where my place is on the field of battle! Wherever I go to look after the fight, I am told, “This is no place for you; you must go away.” Robert E. Lee   Lee, with 50,000 men, repulses Grant with 100,000, at Spottsylvania Court House; Lee “ordered” to the rear, 1864    [Pg 115] <big>May Thirteenth</big> Good is the Saxon speech! clear, short, and strong, Its clean-cut words, fit both for prayer and song; Good is this tongue for all the needs of life; Good for sweet words with friend, or child, or wife. ········ ’Tis good for laws; for vows of youth and maid; Good for the preacher; or shrewd folk in trade; Good for sea-calls when loud the rush of spray; Good for war-cries where men meet hilt to hilt, And man’s best blood like new-trod wine is spilt,— Good for all times, and good for what thou wilt! James Barron Hope   Landing at Jamestown, 1607 Texas troops, C. S. A., defeat Federals in last battle of the War, at Palmito Ranch, 1865, the victors learning from their prisoners that the Confederacy had fallen (Chas. Wm. Ramsdell)    [Pg 116] <big>May Fourteenth</big> [This exploration] was undertaken at the instance of President Jefferson, and together with the voyage which Captain Gray of Boston had made to the Columbia, in 1792, gave the United States a claim to all the territory covered by the States of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Philip Alexander Bruce   Lewis and Clark start from St. Louis on northwestern expedition, 1804    [Pg 117] <big>May Fifteenth</big> Throughout the events that led up to the Revolution, it seemed ordained that Massachusetts was to suffer and Virginia to sympathize. Until the outbreak of actual hostilities scarcely anything of moment occurred on the soil of Virginia to incite her sons to champion the cause of freedom. Indeed, from the beginning of the controversy between the colonies and the mother country, the British Ministry seemed to have avoided any special cause of irritation to the people of the Old Dominion. The part, therefore, which Virginia took in the events of those days must be attributed to her devotion to the principles of liberty, to her interest in the common cause of the colonies, and particularly to her sympathy with Massachusetts in the suffering which that province was called upon to endure. If we lose sight of these motives as the springs of Virginia’s conduct in that struggle, we shall be unable to appreciate either the nobility of her spirit or the wisdom and energy which marked her initiative. S. C. Mitchell   Virginia opposes Boston Port Bill, 1774    [Pg 118] <big>May Sixteenth</big> I refuse to make any acknowledgments for what I have done. My blood will be as seed sown in good ground, which will produce a hundred fold. James Pugh (Before execution under Gov. Tryon, North Carolina, 1771)   Battle of Alamance Creek, 1771     <big>May Seventeenth</big> He came into military and political life like some blazing meteor, with exceeding brilliance and splendor speeding across the horizon of history. His activities in politics and war covered only a brief span of seventeen years, 1848 to 1865, and in so short a period but few men ever received more, maintained their parts better, were the recipients of greater honors, or bore themselves with nobler dignity, greater skill or more superb courage either in victory or defeat. Bennett H. Young   John C. Breckinridge dies, 1875    [Pg 119] <big>May Eighteenth</big> Hushed is the roll of the rebel drum, The sabres are sheathed and the cannon are dumb; And Fate, with pitiless hand, has furled The flag that once challenged the gaze of the world. John R. Thompson (From “Lee to the Rear”)     <big>May Nineteenth</big> But the fame of the Wilderness fight abides, And down into history grandly rides Calm and unmoved as in battle he sat, The gray-bearded man in the black slouch hat. John R. Thompson (From “Lee to the Rear”)     <big>May Twentieth</big> You can get no troops from North Carolina. Gov. Ellis (Reply to Washington administration, April 15, 1861)   North Carolina secedes from the Union, 1861    [Pg 120] <big>May Twenty-First</big> The Dixie girls wear homespun cotton, But their winning smiles I’ve not forgotten; Look away, away, away down South in Dixie. They’ve won my heart and naught surpasses My love for the bright-eyed Dixie lasses; Look away, away, away down South in Dixie. Chorus: I’ll give my life for Dixie; Away, away; In Dixie’s land I’ll take my stand, And live and die for Dixie. Away, away, Away down South in Dixie. Marie Louise Eve     <big>May Twenty-Second</big> How brilliant is the morning star; The evening star how tender; The light of both is in her eyes,— Their softness and their splendor; But for the lash that shades their sight, They were too dazzling for the light, And when she shuts them all is night,— The daughter of Mendoza. Mirabeau B. Lamar    [Pg 121] <big>May Twenty-Third</big> Great Chieftain of our choice, Albeit that people’s voice No comfort speaks in thy lone granite keep; Through those harsh iron bars There come back from the stars Low echoes of the prayers they nightly weep. William Munford   Jefferson Davis puts in irons at Fort Monroe, 1865     <big>May Twenty-Fourth</big> Yet to all Americans it must be a regrettable chapter in our history when it is remembered that this man was no common felon, but a prisoner of state, a distinguished Indian fighter, a Mexican veteran, a man who had held a seat in Congress, who had been Secretary of War of the United States, and who for four years had stood at the head of the Confederate States. Myrta Lockett Avary (Davis in chains)    [Pg 122] <big>May Twenty-Fifth</big> A rich and well-stored mind is the only true philosopher’s stone, extracting pure gold from all the base material around. It can create its own beauty, wealth, power, happiness. It has no dreary solitudes. The past ages are its possession, and the long line of the illustrious dead are all its friends. George Davis     <big>May Twenty-Sixth</big> Cease firing! There are here no foes to fight! Grim war is o’er and smiling peace now reigns; Cease useless strife—no matter who was right— True magnanimity from hate abstains. Cease firing! Major William Meade Pegram   The last Confederate army, under General Kirby Smith, surrenders at Baton Rouge, 1865    [Pg 123] <big>May Twenty-Seventh</big> Representing nothing on God’s earth now, And naught in the water below it, As a pledge of a nation that’s dead and gone, Keep it, dear Captain, and show it. Show it to those who will lend an ear To the tale this paper can tell Of liberty born, of the patriot’s dream, Of a storm-cradled nation that fell. Too poor to possess the precious ores, And too much of a stranger to borrow, We issued to-day our promise to pay, And hoped to repay on the morrow. Major S. A. Jonas (From “Lines on the back of a Confederate note”)    [Pg 124] <big>May Twenty-Eighth</big> Old time negroes intuitively knew who “belonged” to them and who did not. The following incident is told of Senator Sumner’s visit to friends at Gallatin, Tennessee, some years before the war; the colloquy is between the Senator and “Old Virginia Jeff:” “Jeff, I hear you call all the white folks down here ‘Marse’—‘Marse Henry,’ ‘Marse John’ or what not, isn’t that true?” “Yas, sah.” “And you always call me ‘Mister Sumner.’ Now, Jeff, here’s a quarter. During the rest of my visit you call me Marse Charles, you hear?” Major John C. Wrenshall   P. G. T. Beauregard born, 1818    [Pg 125] <big>May Twenty-Ninth</big> If we wish to be free—if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending—if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained—we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us! Patrick Henry   Patrick Henry born, 1736     <big>May Thirtieth</big> Those who oppose slavery in Kansas do not base their opposition upon any philanthropic principles, or any sympathy for the African race. For, in their so-called Constitution, framed at Topeka, they deem that entire race so inferior and degraded as to exclude them all forever from Kansas, whether they be bond or free. Robert J. Walker   Kansas given territorial rights by Congress, 1854    [Pg 126] <big>May Thirty-First</big> SONG OF THE CHATTAHOOCHEE ... All down the hills of Habersham, All through the valleys of Hall, The rushes cried Abide, abide, The wilful waterweeds held me thrall, The laving laurel turned my tide, The ferns and the fondling grass said Stay. The dewberry dipped for to work delay, And the little reeds sighed Abide, abide, Here in the hills of Habersham, Here in the valleys of Hall. Sidney Lanier   British Government declared suspended in North Carolina (Mecklenburg) 1775     <hr style="width: 50%;" /> [Pg 127] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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