Memorial to the Victors at Plymouth
The following is an extract from the address by Josephus Daniels, June 19, 1928, at the unveiling of the Confederate Memorial Marker on the site of the Battle of Plymouth, North Carolina.
“If the man from Mars should seek to learn how the Confederate army, poorly equipped and poorly-fed, kept at bay superior forces for four long years, the answer would be” “Look at the character, resourcefulness, and courage of the men who led the armies and who followed them in battle.”
Every army is judged by the oncoming generation, not by its victories or defeats, but by the spirit and life of its personnel. By that standard the battalions of the South have stood the test of threescore and more years.
While the survivors of those who wore the grey cannot take their sons to Gettysburg or to Appomattox and say, “Upon these battlefields we overpowered our opponents and carried our standards to victory,” they can indeed point to success after success won against superior odds, almost in the very shadow of Washington, DC, and on a hundred fields of battle. Among these splendid victories that attest to the glory of the brave men who achieved them stands out in bold relief the battle of Plymouth. It is fitting, therefore, that we should stand here today with the thin line of the immortals with bowed heads, in honor of the victor of Plymouth, as there is unveiled here a memorial to their valor and their success.
Many battles surpassed the one waged and won here by Southern troops, for the most part North Carolinians, in the number of troops or in far-reaching results. It has, however, one distinction that is without parallel in that the victory was so highly esteemed by President Jefferson Davis that he promoted Brig-Gen. Hoke to the rank of Major General by telegraph immediately after the news reached him.
This was the only promotion made directly by President Davis on the field of battle during the war.”
(“Two Illustrious Roberts of the Southern Confederacy.” Confederate Veteran, September 1912, pg. 437)