382 Southern Historical Society Papers.
[From the Richmond, Va., Times, Jan. 30, 1898.]
THE CONFEDERATE DEAD.
A Beautiful Poem by A. C. GORDON, of Staunton.
To the Editor of the Times:
In reading the excellent address of Capt. R. S. Parks to the veterans [see ante pp. 354-364], as reported in your paper, and the beautiful and fitting verses with which he closed, it occurred to me that you would enjoy, if you have never seen it, or read it, the entire poem as delivered by the author, the Hon. A. C. Gordon, of Staunton, Va., upon the occasion of unveiling the monument erected to the Confederate dead at Staunton, Va. , and I enclose you a copy. The late Professor George Fred. Holmes told the writer of this that he considered Mr. Armistead Gordon's poem "the finest on such an occasion he had read since the war." With many other distinguish- ing qualities, I am happy that Virginia has in this son one who writes so beautifully in verse.*
G. JULIAN PRATT. Waynesboro, Va. , January 25, 1898.
THE CONFEDERATE DEAD.
"The grief that circled his brow with a crown of thorns was also that which wreathed them with the splendor of immortality." Castelar* s "Savonarola"
I.
Where are they who marched away, Sped with smiles that changed to tears,
Glittering lines of steel and gray
Moving down the battle's way Where are they these many years ?
Garlands wreathed their shining swords;
They were girt about with cheers, Children's lispings, women's words, Sunshine and the songs of birds
They are gone so many years.
- He has written as well in prose, it may be assumed, for, as fellow student
with Thomas Nelson Page at the University of Virginia, he yielded to the latter (it has been admitted), some conceptions upon which our dialect writer rose to fame and wealth.
