THE IMMORTAL SIX HUNDRED
recall all the noble spirits of that Immortal Six Hundred. Their names are written on Fame's scroll. God knows them; the world will honor them. Many of those dear comrades have joined the silent army. Their memory shall always have the warmest spot in my heart; my prayer is for God's choicest blessings upon them all who were true unto the end of the inhuman ordeal of retaliation inflicted upon us by Stanton and Foster, backed by the United States Government. We who were true can speak of the comradeship of love to each other. It was born in suffering, cemented by the brutality of a civilized government controlled by brutes. Men, as a rule, when suffering, become selfish; but this was not true of the majority of the six hundred. Of course, there were some selfish men in our number, but it can be truthfully said, take out from our number the seventeen scallawags who took the oath of allegiance, surrendering their manhood, and there never was a grander lot of men
160
