Part 3

The course of ex-Confederates since the war closed deserves, as a rule, the highest commendation. As far as my observation extends, good soldiers in time of war make good citizens in time of peace. The toils and hardships of army life fit and prepare them for the battles of civil life. The success of ex-Confederates as civilians has been commensurate with their success as soldiers. Kentucky has selected from Morgan’s men some of her highest legislative, judicial and executive officers. From our ranks this and other States have been furnished mechanics, farmers, merchants, bankers, teachers, physicians, lawyers, and ministers of the gospel. There was hardly a neighborhood in Kentucky in which there did not reside after the war closed one or more ex-Confederate soldiers, while many became useful and honored citizens of other States. Coming out of the army, most of them ragged and poor, some of them crippled for life, with no Government pension to depend upon, they went to work for a living, and their labors have not gone unrewarded.

DRY-GOODS CLERK AFTER THE WAR.

I want to say for myself, I got back from the Civil War in the summer of 1865. For four months, I clerked in a dry goods store at Ragland’s Mills, on Licking River, in the east end of Bath County. How much do you reckon my salary was? I got my board and $12.50 a month! I am glad to say I receive, in my present position, a little more than that now.

SPECIAL PARDON.

After the surrender in April, 1865, President Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation, whereby the rights of citizenship were withheld from certain classes who participated in waging war against the United States Government, among whom were those who had left a loyal State and joined the Confederate Army. It became necessary, therefore, for me to obtain a special pardon from the President, which I did in the summer of 1865, through the aid of my uncle, Henry S. Lane, then United States Senator from Indiana.

THE PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Most of us have passed far beyond the meridian of life, but I trust there is much usefulness in store for us yet. We should not content ourselves with the victories and honors of the past. The present and future have demands upon us. The welfare of our respective communities and States, as well as of our common country, calls for our continued labors in their behalf.

I shall always remember a remark made by my friend, Jerry R. Morton, of Lexington (one of Morgan’s men, and, for many years after the war, Circuit Judge of that district), who has passed on ahead of us, one day while we were in Canada together. We were walking along the Detroit River, and as we took in the broad landscape view that stretched out before us, and saw the United States flag floating from a fort below the city on the other side, he stopped and, pointing across the river, exclaimed: “I tell you, Stone, that’s a great country over yonder!” I acknowledged the correctness of his estimate of the American republic. Standing on foreign soil, poor, self-exiled Rebels as we were, we did not feel at liberty to call this _our_ country then. But all of us have the right to call it _our_ country today. With peace and prosperity throughout the land and all sections again united in fraternal feeling, we have, even in this progressive age, beyond question the greatest country in the world.

In the world war that has practically, if not entirely, closed, we know what our country did for the cause of human liberty. The boys in khaki went across the seas,—the descendants of those who wore the gray and those who wore the blue, and they turned the tide of battle against the foe. That is conceded. We are today looked up to by all the nations of Europe to bring about a Treaty of Peace, and a League of Nations, that will prevent, as far as possible, wars for the future. We have, in my opinion, dealing with that situation and laboring with it in Paris, as great a President as this country has ever had; and if he comes back home, as I believe he will, with this League of Nations secured, and a Treaty of Peace that shall do justice to all the belligerents, including our recent foes, as well as the other nations of the world, he will go down in history, in my opinion, as the greatest statesman of all time—Woodrow Wilson. May God bless him! [Great applause.]

* * * * *

Transcriber’s Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors.

Page 6, “form-” changed to “forming” (battalion, thus forming)

Page 12, “Infrantry” changed to “Infantry” (Infantry, as I recall)