NC: History as No More Splendid Scene to Record

 

North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance’s address to his grim veterans beneath tattered battle flags in March 1864 was described as a picturesque and inspiring scene, and attended by “many hundreds of the fair women of Virginia on horseback and in carriages.” At rest then along the foothills of the Blue Ridge, in five weeks Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia would be on the flank of Grant’s invading army.
Bernhard Thuersam,
ChairmanNorth Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission"
Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

History as No More Splendid Scene to Record

“Mr. Speaker . . . the General Assembly of North Carolina, during the year 1907, adopted without a dissenting voice a resolution authorizing the governor and council of state to place a statue of Zebulon Baird Vance in Statuary Hall.  The bill was introduced by Hon. J.C. Buxton, senator from Forsyth County. No man or woman living in North Carolina doubts that above all others he is eminently entitled to this distinction.

He was devotedly attached to the Union and exerted himself to prevent its dissolution. He was opposed to secession until the proclamation of President Lincoln calling for troops to coerce the Southern States left him no choice. The destiny of North Carolina was his destiny. When once the loyalty of North Carolina was pledged to her sister States of the South, his loyalty was unalterably linked with hers.

No period of his eventful life was marked by an incident more attractive by its glamour of romance and patriotic heroism than his visit to the North Carolina troops in [General Robert E.] Lee’s army in March, 1864.

The North Carolina troops whom he visited comprised thirteen brigades, aggregating more than one-half of the army. They were encamped along the bank of the Rapidan River.  General Lee, with members of his staff captivated by the eloquence of Vance and the lofty sentiments to which he gave expression, accompanied him from brigade to brigade.

The enthusiasm of the soldiers knew no bounds. It was the prelude to the campaign which soon after commenced, in which they won imperishable renown. His last speech was made at a general review of Lee’s army near Orange Court house. It was ordered by that great commander as a special compliment to Vance, an honor bestowed upon none other in all its history. No orator in all the annals of time ever had an audience whose presence was more calculated to inspire heroic sentiment and high resolve. It was the remnant of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Upon its banners were names which will long live during the ages to come – Manassas, Chancellorsville, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg.  The greatest commander of the English-speaking race was beside him. Stonewall Jackson had gone to his final rest.  [General James Johnston] Pettigrew had joined him in immortality.

But A.P. Hill and D.H. Hill, [James] Longstreet and [Richard] Ewell, [Jubal] Early and [John B.] Gordon were all before him. They forgot the fields of their glory as they listened to him.  JEB Stuart was there and never so happy, unless at the head of a cavalry charge. [General Robert F.] Hoke of North Carolina, who had established his reputation forever as one of the foremost of all the great soldiers of the Civil War, gazed upon [Vance] with mingled pride and affection. [All present] leaned forward to catch his every utterance.  History has no more splendid scene to record.”

(Address of Congressman Charles M. Stedman of North Carolina; Statue of Zebulon Baird Vance, Proceeding in Statuary Hall, United States Capitol, US Government Printing Office, 1917, pp. 66-75)