Watauga Democrat

THE LAST OF THE VETERANS
(St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

He passed by his commencement at the University of North Carolina in 1861 to answer the call for volunteers. He rode with Stonewall Jackson in dashes around the Union Army. He served with Lee. As a Major of the Gray he laid down his arms at Appomattox. One of the good losers, he went home and took up the practice of law and the task of binding the nation's wounds. First, he gave his talents to State office, then, when he was 70 years old, the Fifth North Carolina District sent him up to Washington. There his closest friend was the last of the Union veterans in the House, an Ohioan who served with Grant. Many times in them the Blue and the Gray sat chuckling together, telling stories of the four years when they were on opposite sides of the firing line. For ten terms twenty years--Congress was richer for this white-bearded old Southerner's gentlemanly grace.

Charles Manly Stedman, North Carolina Congressman and American soldier, the last of the Civil War veterans on Capitol Hill. No one could have worn the honor with truer charm.