People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1896 — ALL LOYAL TO THE FLAG. [ARTICLE]

ALL LOYAL TO THE FLAG.

Scene at General Gordon’s lecture on the “Bast Bays of the Confederacy.” There was a touching scene at the conclusion of Senator J. B. Gordon’s lecture on the “Last Days of the Confederacy” before the Lincoln club at Rochester the other evening. General Gordon spoke for two and a half hours under appeals to “Go on; go on.” In concluding he said: “As I stand here tonight in your presence and In the presence of the great God who is the judge of us all aa the selected ohief of all the living Confederate soldiers I want to present to you my honor, the honor of all the living Confederates, the honor of a great people, that we are ready to join with you in waving aloft this proud banner (here he caught up the American flag from the table and held it above his head), aDd we join with yon all who love that flag in saying that, by God’s help, there shall never come to it one blot or stain; that as long as the ages remain that flag shall be the most proud and potent emblem of human freedom in all this world.” The large audience arose as one man and fairly went wild with enthusiasm. Old soldiers, with empty sleeves and hobbling on crutches, rushed forward with tears streaming down their cheeks and greeted their former foe. General Gordon was much affected.