John B. Gordon born, 1832
John Pegram killed near Hatcher’s Run, 1865
February Seventh
And there’s Joe—my bully Joe—wouldn’t I walk ten miles of a rainy night to see them hazel eyes, and feel the grip of his soldier hand? Didn’t my rooster always clap his wings and crow whenever he passed our quarters? “Instinct told him that he was the true prince,” and it would make anybody brave to be nigh him.
Major Charles H. Smith
(Bill Arp)
Joseph E. Johnston born, 1807
February Eighth
Hath not the morning dawned with added light?
And shall not the evening call another star
Out of the infinite regions of the night,
To mark this day in Heaven? At last, we are
A nation among nations; and the world
Shall soon behold in many a distant port
Another flag unfurled!
Henry Timrod
(Ethnogenesis)
Southern Confederacy begins to assume definite form in a league of seven Southern States, 1861