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of harsh and unsoldierly conduct towards prisoners of war, nor remove the cause of complaint.
His whole course is a reproach and scandal to himself and his Government.
He brands us “Rebels,” and treats us as if we were criminals of the lowest type.
We should be proud of the noble name “Rebel.”
It is borne by those dead heroes, Generals Albert Sydney Johntson, Stonewall Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, Leonidas Polk, R. E. Rodes and T. R. R. Cobb, by Colonels R. T. Jones and B. B. Gayles, of my own beloved regiment, and by hosts of other gallant officers and no less brave privates, who have been transferred from the Confederate army to that glorious encampment where the white tents of the just are never struck, and where the laureled soldier bleeds and dies no more.
The great Captain of us all has promoted these Rebels to higher rank.
and given them more honorable and exalted commissions.
George Washington, Francis Marion, Israel Putnam, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and “Light horse” Harry Lee (father of our beloved R. E. Lee), were all Rebels.
The glorious name is the patronym of all the mighty dead of this land.
Almost every name held in honor is that of a Rebel: Rebels give names to our universities and colleges, to our charitable institutions, to our counties, cities and streets.
The greatest and noblest of our dead, the purest and most honored of our living, bear the grand old names of Rebels.
No efforts of Lincoln, Seward, Stanton, Beast Butler, Provost Marshal Brady and others of that ilk, brought into dishonorable notoriety by the accidents of war can make the noble title “Rebel” odious.
We, who share the illustrious title in common with Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, Braxton Bragg, Wade Hampton, Jubal A. Early, A. P. and D. H. Hill, M. F. Maury, Raphael Semmes and thousands of other true-hearted patriots, will never blush at its application to ourselves, but our eyes will grow brighter, our steps firmer, our bodies more erect, and our hearts will beat more exultingly, as we listen to the proud and glorious appellation.
Our martyred Saviour was called seditious, and I may be pardoned if I rejoice that I am a Rebel, a Rebel against tyranny and oppression.
I have as my Rebel comrades the best, brightest and bravest of my native South, men whose names are garnered up in her heart, whose valor sheds unfailing lustre upon her arms, and whose fame is among the jewels of her crown, and over the hero dust of many of whom her most precious tears have been shed.
