Furl that Banner, for 'tis weary; Round its staff 'tis drooping dreary; Furl it, fold it, it is best; For there's not a man to wave it, And there's not a sword to save it, And there's not one left to lave it In the blood which heroes gave it; And its foes now scorn and brave it; Furl it, hide it, let it rest! Furl that Banner! True, 'tis gory, Yet 'tis wreathed around with glory, And 'twill live in song and story, Though its folds are in the dust: For its fame on brightest pages, Penned by poets and by sages, Shall go sounding down the ages,-- Furl its folds though now we must. ABRAHAM J. RYAN (_The Conquered Banner_) _Lee issues farewell address to his army, 1865_ _Leonidas Polk born, 1806_ April Eleventh Man is so constituted--the immutable laws of our being are such--that to stifle the sentiment and extinguish the hallowed memories of a people is to destroy their manhood. GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON We had, I was satisfied, sacred principles to maintain and rights to defend for which we were in duty bound to do our best, even if we perished in the endeavor. GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE We must forevermore consecrate in our hearts our old battle flag of the Southern Cross--not now as a political symbol, but as the consecrated emblem of an heroic epoch. The people that forgets its heroic dead is already dying at the heart, and we believe we shall be truer and better citizens of the United States if we are true to our past. RANDOLPH H. MCKIM April Twelfth From this time a clear-cut issue was formulated and presented to the States and the people. The "firing upon the flag of the nation" was made the immediate pretext for aggressive measures against the Lower South. _As so heralded_, it served to inflame the hearts of thousands who, it seems, had not noticed or who had forgotten, as it is forgotten to-day, that this was not the first firing upon the Stars and Stripes. The flag had been fired upon from the coast of South Carolina as early as January 9, 1861, for the same reason as that which provoked attack upon it on April 12. [From introduction to "The Battle of Baltimore," _The Sun_, April 9, 1911.] _Fort Sumter fired on by Beauregard, 1861_ _North Carolina instructs her delegates to the Continental Congress to declare for independence, 1776_ _Henry Clay born, 1777_ April Thirteenth The history of the world presents no parallel to the manner in which he wrote himself upon his own age, and subsequent ages, with his pen. He was no teacher like Plato; he was not a professional litterateur like Voltaire; he was not a mere maker of books like Carlyle; and yet he put his stamp indelibly upon the minds and hearts of English-speaking people during his own day and for all time to come. THOMAS E. WATSON _Thomas Jefferson born, 1743_ April Fourteenth