This presentation speech was for the Rapides Invincibles that would become Co. I, 8th Louisiana Infantry. Dr. S. A. Smith, however, would not be with the company. Due to a dispute over the length of service, the same dispute that caused companies such as the Bossier Boys to be disbanded, he resigned and Capt. Lee Crandall was elected in his place the next day.
The Departure of the Rapides Invincibles
The "Rapides Invincibles", Capt. Lee CRANDALL, commanding, a company enlisting to serve in the Army of the Confederate States till the termination of the war, took its departure from our Wharf Friday evening on the steamer Rapides.
Dr. SMITH's Company, whose members had enlisted for twelve months, having disbanded on Monday, 20th inst., as was stated last week, the "Rapides Invincibles" were organized on the next day, a majority of whom had been members of Dr. S's Co., and were willing to give their services during the war.
The very fact of the "Invincibles" being organized upon the basis of serving for the war, be it of long or short duration, to say nothing of other ties, at once enlisted the deepest of sympathies of our citizens. It being announced that they were to depart on Friday our streets presented an animated appearance.
At 1 o'clock, p. m. the grassy plot of our Court Yard was a moving mass of living beings. The invincibles in full uniform of handsome grey - the handiwork of our patriot women - were accompanied by Hope Fire Company in their gay dress, which company is also a home military body, Capt. CUMMINGS, and by the Southern Guards, Capt. SEVERNS.
The ladies were in full attendance, who besides the uniforms had made a Flag and a banner which were to be presented.
The first ceremony was the presentation to the Invincibles from the Southern Guards of a Confederate flag. M. Ryan, Esg., a lieutenant from the Southern Guards, had been selected by his company to represent them. He did so in his usual felicitous style, making a short speech, the sentiments of which were repeatedly and heartily cheered, during the course of which he took occasion to give a handsome personal compliment to Capt. CRANDELL, which at once brought the Capt. to the stand, accepting the flag in an appropriate and modest reply. The band having played several enlivening airs, MERCER CANFIELD, Esg., who had been selected on the part of the ladies to present their beautiful flag and handsome banner, did so in a short and touching address, the substance of which was as follows:
Officers and Others of the Rapides Invincibles: This in no holiday excursion you have entered upon, and I feel persuaded that none of you have enlisted under any such impression. You have had time to weigh well this matter, and have doubtless done so. you appreciate the danger, you comprehend the risks, you realize the extent of the sacrifice, but feeling that your most sacred rights, your homes, and their endearments, and all the word home means periled. You have patriotically determined to leave all and lay down your lives upon the altars of your country.
Your country called and you have answered; and to-day you stand here pledged to give your best services, not for a day, month, or a twelve-month, but for the war - to give those services to that country so long as she may need them.
And as in all great and good enterprises we are told it is the height of man's delight - the end of his ambition, to win the approbation and smiles of woman, I am deputed to assure you that you have that approbation and those smiles showered upon you in the richest profusion.
The neat and handsome uniform that graces your stalwart forms attests that fact. And as if that were not enough, in the names and in behalf of the fair donors, I have the honor to present to you and request your acceptance of not only one but two, this beautiful flag and this gorgeous banner; so that you will have an abundance of ever-present reminders that you carry with you to the battlefield the deepest sympathies of the women of Rapides.
In thus committing to your trusts and keeping these evidences of their estimate of you and your cause, I am desired to add that they have the utmost confidence, that wherever you may go, under whatever circumstances you may be placed, not only this flag and this banner will be sacredly guarded, protected and defended by you, but also the flag of your dear, dear country; and that by your action and chivalry the lustre of these stars, though few, shall shine brightly enough to pierce and dissipate the clouds of battle, and attract to their orbit that of enthralled Maryland, doubting Kentucky and threatened Missouri, and may-be little Delaware.
And the prayer that accompanies you is that the horrors of a protracted civil war may be averted, but, and if it must come that an unseen hand may guide and lead you safely through and out of the fiery contest, covered all o'er with honor, glory and victory. And that either soon or late you safely return bearing these emblems perhaps soiled by the smoke and blood of battle, perhaps tattered and torn by bullet, sword and bayonet, bat least shreds enough to contain the word "victorious".
The Rev. Dr. HOWARD, on the part of the company, accepted the treasures in the following chaste response, which was delivered in that animated and attractive style for which the Rev. gentleman is so justly celebrated.
Ladies: The "Rapides Invincibles", whose organ I am, accept, with indescribable pleasure, this beautiful banner and flag, as a token of your admiration of their patriotism and courage, and a pledge of your own devotion to the high and holy cause in which they have embarked their fortunes and their lives..
It is a memorable fact in the history of Woman, that, though her peculiar sphere is the fireside of home - the quiet and peaceful retirement of domestic life - yet, whenever extraordinary emergencies have arisen, fraught with peril to society, she as thrust aside the timidities of her sex, the instincts of her nature, and displayed a valor and a patriotism which put to shame the noblest qualities of the sterner sex.
History, both sacred and profane, abounds with narratives on this point exquisitely delicate and touching. When the children of Israel had seceded from the government of Egypt, and Pharaoh and hosts in hot pursuit, to force them back to their galling allegiance, were drowned in the depths of the Red Sea, it was Miriain, who, with a timbrel in her hand, followed by the daughters of Israel with timbrels and with dances, wove these exultant strains - "Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." It was Jael, who decoyed into her tent the lordly and imperious Sisera, who was marching against her countrymen with his nine hundred chariots of war, and his thousands of armed and disciplined warriors; and, as he lay sleeping under her roof, pity for her people fired her breast, hatred for the tyrant gleamed in her eye, and nerved her arm, and with silent and stealthy tread she crept to the couch of the sleeping Captain, and immolated him as a sacrifice to the God of Heaven. It was the Spartan Mother, who, when her country was trembling beneath the mailed heels of a foreign foe, buckled on the sword on the side of her son, and told him to "come home with honor or be borne home dead." It was the women of '76 who inspired with energy and heroism the fathers of the revolution, and nerved them for those splendid victories which won and established our country's independence. And it is the mothers and daughters and sisters of 1861, who are animating with their smiles and counsels the freemen of these Confederate States, and encouraging them to repel the heartless and fanatical invaders from Southern soil. With woman to cheer and inspire, there will be no lack of brave hearts and strong hands.
Ladies, we accept this banner and flag with unfeigned delight. We will bear them with us where the battle rages the fiercest, and where danger is the most imminent. And remembering that your hands wrought them and that your lips blessed them, that your hearts have gone up in prayer to God that victory may perch upon them, we will never, while a man of us lives to move them, suffer them to be trailed in the dust, or a dastard hand to soil their beauty; and we will bring them back again, riddled, perhaps, by the bullets of the foe, when our altars and firesides are secure, and the last armed enemy has retreated or expired. For, to the disgracing yoke of northern usurpation we will never yield, until the Mississippi forsakes her ancient bed, or our boundless and fertile prairies roll up in rugged and barren mountains to the sky.
L. F. Parker and Rev. N. A. Cravens being present and called upon, each made short addresses or encouragement.
At twilight the Rapides being about to start, the Wharf and Levee were crowded with men, women and children.
Amidst the booming of cannon, the firing of platoons of Hope Fire Company, cheering, shouting and waving of handkerchiefs, the steamer bore away the brave sons of old Rapides, from whom, if opportunity present, we shall hear of brave deeds.
- The Louisiana Democrat, Wednesday, May 29th, 1861, Alexandria, La.