Judge Priest Page #7

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'And your future, if you survive,

is in your own hands.

'And I promise you this much.

'If you stand fast,

if you do your duty...

'if bravely and honorably,

you acquit yourselves as men...

'than such of you

as live through to the end-...

'and some of you will live-...

'are not to come back to this.

'It's for you to decide.

'Those who remain behind, stand fast.

Those who come with me,

advance one pace.'

Gentlemen of the jury...

I tell you they came at me

like a wave from the sea...

...every one of them.

And as time went on...

...they won for themselves the name

of 'The Battalion from Hell.'

Those men, those felons...

...with the scars of their shackles

still on their legs...

...they fought for the South like men.

None better.

And they died like men, most of them.

There was one of those men of whom

I wish to speak a special word of tribute.

He stood out for his courage

and his fidelity.

For his worth as a soldier and a man.

Most of all, for his invariable truthfulness...

...under all circumstances.

He was from the mountains

of my own state-...

...a man who spoke little but did much.

I saw him once go out under fire...

...during a battle to rescue,

at his own risk, a wounded Union officer...

...who lay there helpless between the lines.

Another time, our stars and bars

was wrested from our hands.

We fought breast to breast that day.

This man of whom I'm speaking

threw himself on a riderless horse...

...and rode into the thick of it...

...and by the grace of God came

galloping back from the jaws of death...

...our colors clutched in his hand.

And another day...

...when every man who served his gun

excepting him was down...

I saw him,

when the Union Infantry charged...

...sitting astraddle his useless gun...

...and with a rammer for his only weapon...

...waiting for the enemy

to come within reach.

A countercharge from

our infantry saved him.

But he had stood fast,

and he was alone.

After the surrender,

I kept his secret.

I've kept it to this very hour.

Though I've seen him daily at his work...

...watching over his daughter...

...providing for her education through me.

And all unknown to Ellie May.

Gentlemen, as a soldier,

I knew that man as Roger Gillespie.

You know him by the name he now wears...

Robert Gillis.

Hooray for Jeff Davis,

the Southern Confederacy and Bob Gillis.

Well, get out of the way.

Can't you see that poor,

helpless child needs a mother?

That's fine. That's great, Jeff.

That's great.

Keep on goin'. Keep goin',

you can have that white vest.

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