"The United States has no North, no South, no East, no West." "_We are
one and undivided_."
ADIEU
My kind friends--soldiers, comrades, brothers, all: The curtain is rung
down, the footlights are put out, the audience has all left and gone
home, the seats are vacant, and the cold walls are silent. The gaudy
tinsel that appears before the footlights is exchanged for the dress of
the citizen. Coming generations and historians will be the critics as
to how we have acted our parts. The past is buried in oblivion. The
blood-red flag, with its crescent and cross, that we followed for four
long, bloody, and disastrous years, has been folded never again to be
unfurled. We have no regrets for what we did, but we mourn the loss of
so many brave and gallant men who perished on the field of battle and
honor. I now bid you an affectionate adieu.
But in closing these memoirs, the scenes of my life pass in rapid review
before me. In imagination, I am young again tonight. I feel the flush
and vigor of my manhood--am just twenty-one years of age. I hear the
fife and drum playing Dixie and Bonnie Blue Flag. I see and hear our
fire-eating stump-orators tell of the right of secession and disunion.
I see our fair and beautiful women waving their handkerchiefs and
encouraging their sweethearts to go to the war.
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