[Speech of Joseph Wheeler prepared for the tenth annual banquet of
the Confederate Veteran Camp of New York, New York City, January
19, 1898. Edward Owen, Commander of the Camp, presided. As General
Wheeler was ill and unable to attend the banquet, his speech was
read by J. E. Graybill.]
History has many heroes whose martial renown has fired the world, whose
daring and wonderful exploits have altered the boundaries of nations and
changed the very face of the earth. To say nothing of the warriors of
biblical history and Homeric verse, as the ages march along every great
nation leaves us the glorious memory of some unique character, such as
Alexander, Hannibal, Cæsar. Even the wild hordes of northern Europe and
the barbaric nations of the East had their grand military leaders whose
names will ever live on history's pages, to be eclipsed only by that of
Napoleon, the man of destiny, who, as a military genius, stands alone
and unrivalled: "Grand, gloomy, peculiar, he sat upon the throne, a
sceptred hermit, wrapped in the solitude of his awful originality."
The mediæval ages gave us noble examples of devotedness and chivalry;
but it belonged to the American Republic, founded and defended by
Freedom's sons, to give to the world the noblest type of warrior; men in
whom martial renown went hand in hand with the noblest of virtues, men
who united in their own characters the highest military genius with the
loftiest patriotism, the most daring courage with the gentlest courtesy,
the most obstinate endurance with the utmost self-sacrifice, the genius
of a Cæsar with the courage and purity of a Bayard.
Patriotism and love of liberty, the most ennobling motives that can fire
the heart of man, expanding and thriving in the atmosphere of free
America, added a refining touch to the martial enthusiasm of our
forefathers and elevated the character of the American soldier to a
standard never attained by fighting men of any other age or nation.
To recall their names and recount their deeds would lead me far beyond
the time and space allotted. Volumes would never do justice to the
valorous achievements of George Washington and his compeers, the boys of
'76--of the heroes of 1812 and of 1848; of the men in blue who fought
under Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas, and Farragut; of the men in gray
who followed the lead of Johnston, Jackson, and Lee from 1861 to 1865;
of the intrepid band that sailed with Dewey into Manila Bay, or of the
small but heroic army of 1898 that fought at Las Guasimas, El Caney, and
San Juan, and left the Stars and Stripes floating in triumph over the
last stronghold of Spain in the New World.
But above the grand heroic names immortalized by historian and poet
shines with an undimmed lustre, all its own, the immortal name of Robert
Edmund Lee.--
"Ah, Muse! You dare not claim
A nobler man than he--
Nor nobler man hath less of blame,
Nor blameless man hath purer name,
Nor purer name hath grander fame,
Nor fame--another Lee."
The late Benjamin H. Hill, of Georgia, in an address delivered at the
time of General Lee's death, thus beautifully describes his character:
"He was a foe without hate; a friend without treachery; a soldier
without cruelty; a victor without oppression, and a victim without
murmuring. He was a public officer without vices; a private citizen
without wrong; a neighbor without reproach; a Christian without
hypocrisy, and a man without guile. He was Cæsar without his ambition;
Frederick without his tyranny; Napoleon without his selfishness, and
Washington without his reward. He was as obedient to authority as a
servant, and royal in authority as a true king. He was gentle as a woman
in life, and modest and pure as a virgin in thought; watchful as a
Roman vestal in duty; submissive to law as Socrates, and grand in battle
as Achilles!"
Forty-four years ago last June, I found myself in the presence of
Colonel Lee, who was then Superintendent of the Military Academy at West
Point. I have never in all my life seen another form or face which so
impressed me, as embodying dignity, modesty, kindness, and all the
characteristics which indicate purity and nobility. While he was then
only a captain and brevet-colonel, he was so highly regarded by the Army
that it was generally conceded that he was the proper officer to succeed
General Scott.
His wonderful career as leader of the Army of Northern Virginia, as its
commander, is so familiar to all of you that any comment would seem to
be unnecessary. But to give some of the younger generation an idea of
the magnitude of the struggle in which General Lee was the central and
leading figure, I will call attention to the fact that in the battles of
the Wilderness and Spottsylvania (which really should be called one
battle), the killed and wounded in General Grant's army by the army
under General Lee, was far greater than the aggregate killed and wounded
in all the battles of all the wars fought by the English-speaking people
on this continent since the discovery of America by Columbus.
To be more explicit: take the killed and wounded in all the battles of
the French and Indian War, take the aggregate killed and wounded in the
Revolutionary War, take the aggregate killed and wounded in the War of
1812, take the aggregate killed and wounded in the Mexican War, take the
aggregate killed and wounded in all our wars with the Indians, and they
amount to less than the killed and wounded in Grant's army in the
struggle from the Wilderness to Spottsylvania.
In order further to appreciate the magnitude of the struggle, let us
make a comparison between the losses in some of the great battles of our
Civil War, and those of some of the most famous battles of modern
Europe. The official reports give the following as the losses in killed
and wounded of the Federal Army in seven, out of nearly a thousand
severely contested struggles during the four years' of war: Seven Days
fight, 9,291; Antietam, 11,426; Murfreesboro, 8,778; Gettysburg,
16,426; Chickamauga, 10,906; Wilderness and Spottsylvania, 24,481.
In the Battle of Marengo, the French lost in killed and wounded, 4,700,
the Austrians, 6,475. In the Battle of Hohenlinden, the French loss in
killed and wounded was 2,200, the Austrian loss was 5,000; at Austerlitz
the French loss was 9,000; at Waterloo, Wellington lost 9,061 in killed
and wounded, Blucher lost 5,613, making the total loss of the Allies,
14,674.
I mention these facts because such sanguinary conflicts as those of our
Civil War could only have occurred when the soldiers of both contending
armies were men of superb determination and courage. Such unquestioned
prowess as this should be gratifying to all Americans, showing to the
world as they did that the intrepid fortitude and courage of Americans
have excelled that of any other people upon the earth. And as the world
will extol the exhibition of these qualities by the soldiers that fought
under Grant, the historian will find words inadequate to express his
admiration of the superb heroism of the soldiers led by the intrepid
Lee. Meeting a thoroughly organized, and trebly equipped and appointed
army, they successfully grappled in deadly conflict with these
tremendous odds, while civilization viewed with amazement this climax of
unparalleled and unequal chivalry, surpassing in grandeur of action
anything heretofore portrayed either in story or in song. Whence came
these qualities? They were the product of Southern chivalry, which two
centuries had finally perfected. A chivalry which esteemed stainless
honor as a priceless gem, and a knighthood which sought combat for
honor's sake, generously yielding to an antagonist all possible
advantage; the chivalry which taught Southern youth to esteem life as
nothing when honor was at stake, a chivalry which taught that the
highest, noblest, and most exalted privilege of man was the defence of
woman, family, and country. It was this Southern chivalry that formed
such men as Lee and Stonewall Jackson; they were the central leading
figures, but they were only prototypes of the soldiers whom they led.
It is this character of men who meet in banquet to-night to honor the
name they revere and the noble life they seek to emulate. I say, God
bless you all, the whole world breathes blessings upon you. Among the
foremost in these sentiments are the brave soldiers against whom you
were once arrayed in battle, and they, together with seventy million
Americans know that in future perils to our country, you and your
children will be foremost in the battle-line of duty, proud of the
privilege of defending the glory, honor, and prestige of our country,
presenting under the folds of our national ensign an unbroken phalanx of
united hearts--an impregnable bulwark of defence against any power that
may arise against us.