This day will be memorable for one of the bloodiest fought battles on the American Continent. the combined forces of the enemy, under Jackson, Lee, Longstreet, and the whole rebel set, have made a stand near Sharpsburg, and all day long, from 5 o'clock in the morning until now, (8 o'clock P.M.) have been contesting with the Union Army under McClellan led by Burnside, Hooker, Summer, Keyes and all other heroes of the war.

Though conscious of my inability to discharge, in a suitable manner, the duty assigned me on this occasion, yet, when asked to unite in rendering homage to the memory of the great Confederate Captain, I did not feel at liberty to decline the call. I have realized, however, most fully and sensibly, the difficulties of the position I occupy. All the powers and charms of eloquence and poetry, combined, have been called into requisition, to commemorate the deeds and virtues of him whose birth-day we celebrate. They are not at my command, and the highest eulogy which I am capable of pronouncing upon the character of our illustrious Chief, must consist of a simple delineation of his achievements, couched in the plain, unadorned language of a soldier, who bore an humble part in the many events which marked the career to which your attention will be called.

The Merrimac was built in 1856 as a full-rigged war-frigate, of thirty-one hundred tons burden, with auxiliary steam power to be used only in case of head winds. She was a hybrid from her birth, marking the transition from sails to steam as well as from wooden ships to ironclads.

No destruction of property by the Confederate armies during the War between the States has been condemned by the people of the North in such unmeasured terms as the burning of Chainbersburg, Pa., in 1864 by order of Gen. Early. While bitterly denouncing this as a wanton destruction of property, they applaud Sherman for permitting and encouraging his troops to commit daily the most unprovoked acts of incendiarism and theft upon the helpless citizens along his line of march from Dalton to Atlanta; and after the fall of the latter, with no army in his front to intercept his "famous"---infamous---march to the sea, the acts perpetrated upon the defenseless women and children, to say nothing of incendiarism, were as fiendish and brutal as ever marked the conquests of the Goths and Vandals in the days of barbarism.

And now as to what branch of the service drove the Yankees back from our extreme left at Bentonville, N. C., on the third day of the fight (second day of the Infantry fighting). We read the account in January VETERAN, by Capt. B. L. Ridley, of Gen. Stewart's Staff, and comment in February number from Capt. George Guild, Texas Cavalry Brigade. I suggest that not only the cavalry and infantry, but the artillery, too, had something to do with it, and I believe the enemy thought that dear "old Joe Johnston" had prepared yet another surprise for Sherman, and that the falling back of the skirmishers of Butler's Cavalry Brigade, dismounted at the time, was merely a ruse.

After the battle of Chancellorsville Gen. Lee spent some time in reorganizing the army into three corps, commanded respectively by Gens. Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and Ewell; and in June, Ewell's column taking the left of the line, we advanced into Maryland.

On the morning of July 17, 1861, the Eleventh Virginia Regimental Infantry did not, as was usual, do any drilling. We boys thought strange that no sound of tho drum had called us to our usual daily avocation. It had been drill, drill, drill, three times a day. We very soon found that there was something going on, as the orderly couriers and staff officers were moving from one headquarters to another. Very soon an orderly approached Col. Garland and handed in a paper. Our adjutant, J. Lavance Meen, ordered us to prepare for marching.

It was on the morning of the 3rd of July, 1863, at Gettysburg. On the evening before Hood and McLaw's divisions of Longstreet's corps, on the right wing, had driven the enemy from all his positions on the open plain to the stronghold of Cemetery Ridge. My company (C, 18th Mississippi), with others, was occupying the extreme front picket line in direct range of the sharpshooters.

The removal of Gen. Johnston, and the appointment of Hood to succeed him in command of the Army of Tennessee, was an astounding event. So devoted to Johnston were his men that the presence and immediate command of Gen. Lee would not have been accepted without complaint. They were so satisfied that even in retreat they did not lose their faith in ultimate success. They were not reconciled to the change until the day before the battle of Franklin.