Appomattox until General Lee came with the Army of Northern Virginia. During that period General Colston kept the enemy at bay, and repelled several assaults upon our lines; in one of which his horse was shot.

In August, 1864, he was placed in command of the city of Lynchburg, and ordered to strengthen its defences. There he remained on duty until after the surrender, holding the city committed to his keeping.

In every field of duty General Colston served with distinguished gallantry, fidelity and ability.

After the war he was without resources, except his intellect, attainments and character. He delivered lectures in Baltimore, Richmond, Raleigh and other cities, on the life and character of his colleague, friend and commander, Stonewall Jackson. Later he established in Wilmington, N. C., a military academy in the midst of the officers and men whose brigade commander he had once been, and conducted it successfully until March, 1873, when he accepted military service under the Khedive of Egypt, as one of his general staff, with a rank equivalent to that of colonel, to aid in the organization and discipline of his army.

Colston continued in that service until 1879, when he resigned; England having assumed control of Egypt and required the Khedive to reduce his army and discharge his American officers. During that period he commanded two expeditions of great importance sent for the exploration of the great south country lying between Egypt and the equator. The first occupied him from October, 1873, to May, 1874;. the second from 1874 to 1876. His services in these expeditions, for which his scientific attainments, and his capacity and experience as a soldier eminently fitted him, were very valuable and were highly appreciated by his government. To attest the esteem and honor in which General Colston was held, the Khedive obtained for him from the Sultan, the firman and decoration of "Knight Commander of the Turkish Imperial Order of the Osmanieh;" a distinction which is never granted except for eminent and meritorious public services.

During the last expedition he was called upon to exhibit the highest virtues which ever adorn mankind. Marching with his command over deserts of sand, hundreds of miles in extent, with watering places distant four or five days journey apart, under the burning rays of a tropical sun, and in a temperature reaching sometimes 160 degrees, General Colston became ill. He was also thrown from his

.camel and injured by the fall. accompanied with great pain could neither walk nor ride. But his intellect was bright, and his spirit undaunted. He was carried hundreds of miles across deserts in a litter supported on the shoulders of four Arab soldiers, who were relieved every half hour. He always remembered affectionately these strange, but kind and gentle men who were detailed for the duty.

The result was paralysis of his legs, about the region of his liver.. He

The surgeon advised and insisted that he should turn over the command to the next in rank, and go direct to Cairo for proper attention and treatment. He refused. He was the only American left with the force; had been obliged to send one home to Cairo on account of his illness, but he had been notified that the government had sent another American officer by another route to meet him at El Obeid hundreds of miles away. He knew that if he gave up, the expedition would be a failure, and the American staff would be discredited in Egypt. He declared his purpose to remain in command, and march (in the litter) with his army until he could meet the officer sent out to relieve him. When at. El Obeid he turned over the command to Major Prout, Colston was wholly paralyzed from his waist down, and was given up to die by the attending surgeons. Reaction and relaxation, following relief from the tension of so great responsibility, would probably have been fatal to most men under the circumstances. But his vigorous constitution, cherished by habits of virtuous life, and his indomitable pluck enabled him to rally. After remaining at El Obeid for six months in the care of an order of charitable sisters, he got well enough to be carried to Khartoum, 300 miles across the desert, in a litter rigged up between two camels.

Courage and constancy; steadfast to the last." These immortal words of Lee addressed to his army, doubtless recurred to Colston's memory, and helped to sustain him in his dire distress.

General Colston brought back to America a considerable sum of money in gold, the savings of his Egyptian pay-enough probably to satisfy his modest wants for life. Some of his friends in Wall street undertook to make a great fortune for him, and he lost it all. Thrown again upon his own personal resources, he delivered lectures and wrote for magazines on subjects with which his great learning and large experience had made him familiar. In the year 1882 he was offered the professorship of natural philosophy, mechanics and astronomy in the Virginia Military Institute. This was a great temptation. It offered him a berth for life, with most congenial surround

ings. But he declined the offer, because, he said, he did not consider himself competent to teach astronomy, as it ought to be taught there. He had not made a specialty of astronomy.

Modesty, self-sacrifice, conscientiousness, absolute truthfulness, virtues which adorned his whole life, attained supreme radiance here.

In August, 1882, he was appointed a clerk in the Surgeon-General's library division of the War Department. He discharged his duties so well, that for several years after he became unable to go to the office, his work was sent to him to be performed in his bedIn May, 1894, he was removed on account of his physical disability. Thrown again upon the world absolutely penniless, his spirit was bright as ever. He never murmured.

room.

Then the Confederate Soldiers' Home at Richmond, Virginia, threw wide its doors. His veteran comrades opened their arms and hearts, and said: 'Come to us beloved and honored friend, and be our guest. And there, with the light of love, friendship, and admiration shining all about him, he passed the painful remnant of his days. He was not debtor. He gave more than he received. To the last, amid all his suffering, he was bright, cheerful, witty, and charming. To the many who gladly sought his company, he gave knowledge, instruction, and entertainment; and more than all, the pleasure of the sweet and edifying society of a lovely man.

He died on July 29, 1896, and was buried with military honors. .2. Resolved, That we remember with gratitude, pride, and pleasure, his exalted character, his pure and manly life, and we cherish the remembrance.

3. Resolved, That our sorrow is not without hope. He served his generation faithfully and well. He lived unselfish, died poor, and entered with clean hands the court of divine equity.

4. Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the minutes, and copies thereof sent to the daughters of the deceased.

Ode to the Confederate Soldiers' Monument in Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington, N. C.

Dedicated to the Ladies' Memorial Association, of Wilmington, N. C.

BY GENERAL R. E. COLSTON.

This Ode was delivered at the Anniversary Supper of the 3rd Regiment Association, on May 10, 1872, in reply to the second regular toast:

"OUR DEAD."

Erect upon a granite base

He looks toward the glowing West;
How stern and sad his noble face,

How watchful!-tho' he stands at rest.

He seems to scan with steadfast gaze
The foeman's dark'ning line of blue;
Does he perceive across the haze

The glancing bay'nets flashing through?

One hand with ev'ry clinched nerve

Grips hard the gun o'er which he bends;

The other hangs in graceful curve
Which rounds the sinewy fingers' ends.

Behold!-no carpet-knight is he,

His manly grace is Nature's own;
In ev'ry feature one may see

The light that's caught from battle alone.

His garments rough are old and worn,
Hard used the shoes upon his feet,
That belt and cartridge-box were borne
In many a victory and retreat.

Upon this soldier's stalwart form

No stars, no bars to mark his grade,
And on his modest uniform

Not ev'n an humble worsted braid.

He's but a private!-All unknown,

He gives his strength, his blood, his life,

Content to fall, obscure, alone,

Unheeded in the deadly strife.

What flag, what State his fealty claim?
"C. S." upon his belting's plate,
"N. C." upon his cap, proclaim

The soldier of the "Old North State."

Oh who stands here? Whose image this, Instinct with life tho' cast in bronze?— The type so true, so vivid is

That ev'ry heart at once responds:

"I ought to know, I've seen that face, In fight, on march, by bivouac's flame, Tho' now I can't recall the place,

Nor who he was, nor what his name.

Yet sure, I know that shape, that head,
Like half-forgotten friends they seem;
No doubt he's numbered with the dead,
But I have seen him,-'tis no dream.

O triumph of the Sculptor's skill

Which thus could strike the magic chord, And cause the Southern heart to thrill And stir once more its mem'ries' hoard!

This man of bronze, we know right well,
We greet his grave, familiar face,
And thus, we do confess the spell

Of GENIUS,-king of time and space.

For in this wondrous work of Art

A form was giv'n by plastic hand

To the IDEAL of our heart,

The SOLDIER-TYPE of Southern land!

And in this pile that towers above

And lifts its crest toward the sky,

Forever shine true woman's love

And constant faith which ne'er can die.

O'soldier of perennial bronze

Erect upon the granite gray,

Stand at thy post, till from Death's bonds

Thy comrades burst, on Judgment Day.