I read this description of North Carolina's Troops in a book I bought at Appomattox. It really speaks to me Old North State heart! I think we should use it, post it on our website home page, our newsletter and our Facebook page! Tell me what you think?
"They saw their duty, a dead sure thing
And went for it, then and thar!"
John, Can you share more of the context of this with everyone. Which book did it come from? I bought a copy of the Appomattox Paroles April 9-15, 1865.
Ok, The sentence is found in the book "Tarheels, Five Points in the Record of North Carolina in the Great War of 1861-5." Introduction and new material by Patrick A. Schroeder.
The bulk of the book is the report of the committee appointed by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Society in 1904 to validate, once and for all, the North Carolina motto "First at Bethel, Farthest at Gettysburg and Chickamauga, and Last at Appomattox."
After Virginia UCV member Judge George L. Christian spoke at the Grand Camp of the Virginia Confederate Veterans and questioned the validity of North Carolina's claims in the motto, going so far as to print a pamphlet to promote the claims, the NC Literary and Historical Society immediately sprang into action to defend the honor of the Old North State and appointed a committe of distinguished former citizen-soldiers to write a report to verify the claims in the motto. Every member of the committee was a witness to the action described in the motto.
Testimony for "First at Bethel" was written by Major E.J. Hale.
Testimony for "Farthest to the front at Gettysburg" was written by Judge W.A. Montgomery and Capt W.R. Bond.
Testimony for "Farthest to the front at Chickamauga" was written by Judge A.C. Avery.
Testimony for "Last at Appomattox" was written by Senator Henry A. London.
The fifth point discussed in the testimony was "The number of troops furnished by North Carolina and the number of killed and wounded," and was written by Capt S.A. Ashe.
As some of us know, even after all these years and the validation of historical record, we still encounter a few Virginians who dispute the cold, hard facts (Tom Perry, lol).
