Memorial Day 2019

Camp Fires of the Boys in Gray

by Private Carlton McCarthy [1]

The substance of this paper was delivered in response to a toast at the banquet and reunion of the Richmond Howitzers, November 9th, 1875.

For the full paper, see http://www.civilwarhome.com/campfires.htm

"The camp fires of the Army of Northern Virginia were not places of revelry and debauchery. They often exhibited gentle scenes of love and humanity, and the purest sentiments and gentlest feelings of man were there admired and loved, while vice and debauch, in any, from highest to lowest, were condemned and punished more severely than they are among those who stay at home and shirk the dangers and toils of the soldier's life. Indeed, the demoralizing effects of the late war were far more visible 'at home' among the skulks, and bombproofs, and suddenly diseased, than in the army."

"And the demoralized men of today are not those who served in the army. The defaulters, the renegades, the bummers and cheats, are the boys who enjoyed fat places and salaries and easy comfort while the solid, respected and reliable men of the community are those who did their duty as soldiers, and having learned to suffer in war have preferred to labor and suffer and earn rather than steal in peace."

"And, strange to say, it is not those who suffered most and lost most, who fought and bled -- who saw friend after friend fall, who wept the dead and buried their hopes -- it is not these who now are bitter and dissatisfied, and quarrelsome and fretful, and growling and complaining -- no, they are the peaceful, submissive, law abiding and order loving of the country, ready to join hands with all good men in every good work, and prove themselves as brave and good in peace as they were stubborn and unconquerable in war."

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1. Carlton McCarthy joined the Second Company of the Richmond Howitzers on October 31, 1864; he was paroled at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. NARA RG 109 (Virginia) M324/Roll0315. Compiled service records of Confederate soldiers from Virginia units, labeled with each soldier's name, rank, and unit, with links to revealing documents about each soldier.