We close this narrative with the words of a departed soldier who was a devoted friend of General Lee and afterwards a trusted counsellor of General Grant, as recorded in the Memoirs of Gen. John B. Gordon, pp. 464, 465: "American youth in all sections should be taught to hold in perpetual remembrance all that was great and good on both sides; to comprehend the inherited convictions for which saintly women suffered and patriotic men died; to recognize the unparalleled carnage as proof of unrivalled courage; to appreciate the singular absence of personal animosity and the frequent manifestation between those brave antagonists of a good-fellowship such as had never before been witnessed between hostile armies. It will be a glorious day for our country when all the children within its borders shall learn that the four years of fratricidal war between the North and the South was waged by neither with criminal or unworthy intent, but by both to protect what they conceived to be threatened rights and imperiled liberty; that the issues which divided the sections _were born when the Republic was born_, and were forever buried in an ocean of fraternal blood. We shall then see that, under God's providence, every sheet of flame from the blazing rifles of the contending armies, every whizzing shell that tore through the forests at Shiloh and Chancellorsville, every cannon-shot that shook Chickamauga's hills or thundered around the heights of Gettysburg, and all the blood and the tears that were shed are yet to become contributions for the upbuilding of American manhood and for the future defense of American freedom. The Christian Church received its baptism of pentecostal power as it emerged from the shadows of Calvary, and went forth to its world-wide work with greater unity and a diviner purpose. So the Republic, rising from its baptism of blood with a national life more robust, a national union more complete, and a national influence ever widening, shall go forever forward in its benign mission to humanity." From the oldest to the youngest, let us all unite in the patriotic salutation, "I pledge my allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands. One Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." THE FINISH FOOTNOTES: [1] Toward the close of the war great bounties were paid for recruits in northern cities. Many desperate characters enlisted for this money, intending to desert at the first opportunity. The vigilence of Genl. Grant forced them into battle. Many were captured and landed in Andersonville. Here they conspired to rob and murder fellow prisoners. Capt. Wirtz convened a trial court composed of prisoners who observed all the forms of law in the trial of these desperadoes. Six of them were found guilty of murder and were hung.