ROBERT ADAMS II, Captain, C.S.A.
“Bulkeley Place”, Gadsden, South Carolina
Remarks at the Meeting of the Survivors of the
CHARLESTON LIGHT DRAGOONS,
held in Charleston, South Carolina, on November 1st, 1870

Comrades of the Charleston Light Dragoons, the occasion which calls us together fills my bosom with blended emotions of joy and sadness – Who of us does not feel a grateful pleasure in grasping the hands of his surviving companions in arms? Who of us does not feel penetrated with a profound sense of grief for the loss of those dear comrades who will meet us no more on this “bank and shoal of time?”

We have met to perform a duty of a twofold character, involving a tribute to our Comrades “who fell in the late war”, and to effect a permanent organization of a social character of the Survivors of the Company – These objects command themselves at once to us, and require no discussion save in arranging the details for their earliest successful attainment. Feeling a just and honest pride in the “Charleston Light Dragoons”, (as I do) my comrades will bear with me in the remarks elicited from me by this occasion.

Ours was a particular company – While it claimed to be no more patriotic than other corps, who fought in the late struggle for Southern independence, its conduct on all occasions secured for it everywhere “golden opinions” – “The Dragoons”, from the peculiar constituent elements of which it was composed, had to encounter much obloquy, before it became a part of the Army of Northern Virginia – “Bob-bon”, “kid glove” and such like epithets were applied to this company by domestic warriors and dainty maidens who trembled for the honor of South Carolina.

When the fortunes of war called this company to Virginia, these epithets were dissipated forever. The conduct of the Charleston Light Dragoons in the late war has secured for the company an immortal fame. What though the cause for which the South periled its all has done under, who is so recreant as to be ashamed of having defended that cause? Though the tide of battle turned against the South, the muse of history will depict her valor, her honor, her virtue, and her self-sacrificing devotion in imperishable colors.

Comrades, the dead of our company are like the statues of Brutus and Cassius – the more conspicuous from their absence. How shall I speak of them? The amiable, kind, and benevolent Lieut. O’Hear – the pure and genial Lining Vanderhorst of noble and manly impulse, who scorned a base thing! The cheerful, buoyant and kindhearted Boone – the elegant and refined Poinsett Pringle – the youthful and brave Ben Bostick – the hightoned and chivalrous Alfred Manigault – the affable and always gentlemanly Charley Prioleau – the matchless youths Oliver Middleton, Bee, Arthur Robinson and Aleck Robertson, who were carried to early graves, and the other dear companions who will answer not to our roll call – Let us enshrine their memories in our hearts for aye – Let us their Survivors erect a monument to these our comrades, not as an act of empty pageantry, but as a symbol of our devotion to truth, honor, and all those elements which constitute a “fair manhood” – Comrades, this is our reasonable duty and we should perform it religiously.

Having erected this monument here in Charleston, we should at certain intervals repair hither and consolidate the social ties which would be cemented the more firmly by such an inspiration as this hallowed monument. Comrades, having done our duty to the dead, it is incumbent upon us to bear in mind the responsibilities and requirements of the living hour present. Honor was the keystone of the arch of our military organization. Let it also be the watchword of our lives in a peaceful vocation. Having sheathed our tarnished blades, let us who have not been permitted to die for our country, endeavor to live for that country. The moral lessons of the hour inculcate stern duties – Let us transmit to our posterity the heritage of pure character from their progenitors. In concluding these remarks, permit me by way of exhortation to my comrades to employ the so appropriate words of an eminent English critic, “The courage we desire and prize is not to die decently but to live manfully.”