Now with a company, now a squadron, now a regiment, now a brigade, now a division of cavalry behind him, he went upon the march, formed the line of battle, or rode into the enemy’s lines.  Whatever duty was assigned to him, he entered upon its discharge with energy and vigor.  In the varying fortunes of war he was wounded, captured, held as a hostage; but the day of recovery and exchange came, and he once more headed the brave followers who loved and honored and trusted him, and during the last year of the struggle he again shared their hardships and privations and dangers.  But the end came at last, the issue was settled, the arbitrament of war was decided adversely, and he sheathed his sword and returned to the place where his home had been.

The year 1865 marked a low ebb in the fortunes of the Southern people, and perhaps it may not be unprofitable to dwell briefly upon their conduct when under the shadow of defeat and disaster.  The distinguished father of him to whose memory we are this day paying tribute went from the head of a great army to train the new generation of young men of the South in the halls of a university to usefulness in the various walks of citizenship.  The students who enjoyed the privilege of sitting at the feet of this grand college president there learned lessons of patriotism.  They were advised to build up the places left waste and desolate, and to look hopefully forward to a reunited country and a more prosperous future.

Whatever public disappointment or private grief or loss he suffered was buried in his own breast.  He advised his countrymen that the great questions which had long divided the country, and upon which opinions had been so diverse that legislative debate and administrative action had failed in finding a solution, had been finally settled by the sword, and that henceforth their duty was to the Union restored and indissoluble.

With so illustrious an example the immediate restoration of peace and good order all over the South is not to be wondered at.  The annals of all nations may be searched in vain for a parallel.  It is an easy task for men who have accomplished all they desired to lay down their arms and return to their homes and resume their former avocations.

The Southern soldier did all this after failure and defeat.  The cause was lost; his efforts availed nothing.  The homes of many were in ashes; sorrow was in every household; many were stripped of their all.  The labor system of the country was destroyed; commerce was dead.  Many had not seed to plant their lands.  The workshop, the manufactory, the shipyard were silent as the grave.  The arts of peace seemed to have perished.  The soldiers were disbanded without the means of reaching their homes, and the few survivors of those who went forth with bright hopes, proud and confident in their strength, returned one by one weary and footsore and disheartened.