The Rev. E. Harding, his connection and chaplain, in his sketch of General Ramseur, to which I am indebted in preparing this memoir, writing of his Christian character, says: "Ramseur read his Bible a great deal, and when opportunity offered held family prayers"; he was "fond of conversing on religious subjects, and punctual in attending divine service"; that he "was a high-toned and chivalrous gentleman, a gallant soldier, an humble Christian."
His last thoughts on earth were of home and heaven, the sweetest words in any language. He said bear this message to my precious wife: "I die a Christian, and hope to meet her in heaven." No balm to the bruised heart could be more precious, no assurance more gratifying.
Irrespective of section, irrespective of service, the blue and the gray—Sheridan, Custer, Federal and Confederate surgeons—gather around his couch to minister to his wants and smooth his dying pillow. His soul takes its flight, and the day men called his last was his first in the Paradise of God. His body was carefully embalmed by the Federals, borne through their lines and delivered to his early and cherished friend, General Hoke. And thus was illustrated the saying that the world would remain at peace if those who made the quarrels were the only men that fought, for between the soldiers of the two armies there was no personal animosity—of one race, of one nationality, equally brave and equally sincere, they did not bring on the war, and not with their consent have its animosities been continued. Ramseur's remains were carried to his native village, and there a large concourse of his neighbors and friends assembled to express their sorrow and do honor to his memory. They accompanied his remains to their last resting-place, which is in the Episcopal churchyard, and deposited them beside those of his father and mother. Over them a loving and devoted kinsman has had erected a handsome monument, on one side of which is engraved the Confederate flag and the names of the principal battles in which he fought, and on the other the date of his birth and of his death, with this appropriate inscription: "A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ."
Want of space causes the omission of several pages, not strictly biographical, of General Cox's sketch, delivered originally as an address before the Ladies' Memorial Association of Raleigh, May 10, 1891. It is well enough, however, that he and others have taken such occasions to give brief analyses of the causes and motives which shaped events of which he was an eye-witness and in which he was a conspicuous actor.
General Cox has shown something of the same nerve and courage in writing this sketch that characterized him in battle. In justice to the State and her dead heroes he has uttered some truths which small men are willing to suppress in the interest of harmony. His sketch is a valuable chapter of North Carolina history.
BRYAN GRIMES.