James Wilson Gibbes

“ We come back hither from the rich experiences of life as a son returns to the household of his youth, with pulse stirred by fond emotions, and we lay aside the cares of business and the absorbing thoughts and ambitions that engross our daily lives, so that we may breathe a purer and serener air, as we refresh ourselves with inhalations of the old camaraderie, and surcharge our spirits with a nobler reach of vision. ”

“ The next morning we gave an exhibition drill with 24 men, the judges having refused, after our splendid performance of the day before, to let us compete for the prize of $2,500. The people went into raptures over the drill, and from then we were the lions of the hour. Our reputation was made, and that afternoon when we gave a special dress parade the grand-stand of 25,000 persons and the various military organizations from all over the South went wild over our whole battalion "fixing bayonets" as one man. ”

“ She and the maids of honor had conspicuous seats during the drill, with the colors displayed near them by the color guard. The other sponsors were mere candles beside the sun-like beauty of ours. Miss Fraser is considered by many the loveliest young lady in Charleston. She certainly eclipsed anything I saw in Savannah. Our maids of honor were Misses Bissell and Legare, of Charleston, and Misses Heyward and Lamar, of Savannah, all sweet and pretty as pictures. ”

“ The "Dude Factory" will certainly profit by the trip. People are wild in their praises and the General [Superintendent Johnston] says we have "covered ourselves with glory." We certainly could have roped in that $2,500 if they had let us enter the contest. There was nothing there that could compare with us.
"The Citadel of the Eighties!" This morning I went on a pilgrimage to its tenantless halls and deserted cadet rooms, and as I gazed down the aisles of the past there came to my lips these lines of Longfellow's:
This is the place. ”

“ Gen. John D. Kennedy of Camden, President of the Senate, was accordingly called upon, under the constitution, to cast the deciding vote, which he did against recommittal.
The opponents of the Bill then tried to weaken it with amendments. Senator Harllee moved to cut out the provision for current expenses, and Senator Callison moved to amend by appropriating $33,000 to establish a branch school at each county seat. Both motions failed. The Bill was then ordered to third reading by another tie vote, President Kennedy again saving it. ”

“ An examination of the records shows that General Kennedy cast only one other vote during his term (the President of the Senate voting only in case of a tie) , his second vote being to defeat a Bill to amend the General Stock Law by appropriating $10,000 to build a fence on the boundary line separating Orangeburg and Barnwell counties from Charleston, Colleton, Beaufort and Hampton counties between the Santee and Savannah Rivers. ”

“ I want to tell you that the large number of men in the first case is not through chance, and I suggest that the legislative committee and President Bond unite in seeing that a larger number of selected Citadel graduates enter the races for both Houses each campaign year. ”

“ On January 17 another strong effort to kill the Bill was made when F. F. Gary, of Abbeville, moved to recommit it. This was tabled by a yea and nay vote of 58 to 46, upon the motion of John H. Devereaux, of Charleston.
The Bill was then put upon its final passage, and was ordered to the Senate by a vote of 59 to 49, that being the seventh roll-call in the House.
Mr. Murray then applied the parliamentary clincher, while the friends of the Academy were in the majority, and the Bill accordingly passed over to the Senate, where its course was even more perilous. ”

“ Such home-comings are also faithful pledges of the respect we bear to the memory of our ancestors and our cadet companions and of the tenderness with which we cherish the rising generation. "They introduce the sages and heroes of ages past to the notice and emulation of succeeding times ”