File:49. Jerry Cross, Researcher to Jerry C. Cashion Supervisor Research Branch, October 7, 1983 Page 14 (1ce3edc1-5ccd-4056-9f7e-a6de5e59ba99).jpg

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as it was a rebellion against the injustice of tyranny of taxation without representation, and so on through the years to our last great conflict when thousands of Americans from north and South crossed the seas and battled for what we all conceived to be a glorious principle. And thank God, this American characteristic has led her sons not only into the grime and the gore of the battlefield. This same infinite faith in and unfaltering loyalty to a cause has sent her Asburys out across the western frontier and her Stanelys into darkest Africa, for although both these men were English by birth, they were Americans by adoption and by training. It is gratifying to know that the Government of these United States has caught the vision of our purpose and has sent its representatives to join with us in paying a tribute to our Southern heroes, who, after all, were American heroes, and true to their American ideals, and traditions, fought and scarified all here at Gettysburg in the defense of their cause. How we do honor and glorify the broad vision and deep understanding of this government of ours. It seems to me that never have I loved my country so tenderly as I do today. In the accomplishment of an objective there is to be found, almost invariably, one leading spirit. It is a source of gratification that we have with us today the leading spirit in this movement which has resulted in the placing here of North Carolina’s Memorial, and it is entirely fitting that she should address us on this occasion. A past president of the North Carolina Division, Daughters of the Confederacy, and a leader also in all phases of the civic and cultural and philanthropic activities of her state, she is, and has been for yours, an outstanding personage in North Carolina – a woman whom any state might well be proud to claim. In the World War she sent four stalwart sons into the service of their country. In her personality we find a rare combination of the grace and charm of the old South with the clear viewpoint and practical efficiency of the modern American woman. She might have been the inspiration of Tennyson’s lines: “Faithful, gentle, good, wearing the rose of true womanhood.” It is a happy privilege to present to you Mrs. Marshall Williams, of Faison, North Carolina.

• Keywords: Gettysburg; Gettysburg National Military Park; Photography; monuments; memorials; virtual experience; battlefield