Address of Gen. E. P. Alexander on Alumni Day, West Point Centennial, June 9, 1902And sullenly twixt us and them Flows by Potomac s river. The Confederate veteran! With these words does there not arise in every mind the thought of a meteoric army, which over forty years ago sprang into existence, as it would seem, out of space and nothingness, and after a career of four years, unsus tained by treasury or arsenal, but unsurpassed for brilliant fighting and lavish outpour of blood, van ished from earth as utterly as if it had been a phan tom of imagination. It had followed as a banner, a Starry Cross, born in the fire and smoke of its battle line, which had flown over its charging columns on many fields, and under many leaders, whose names proud history will forever cherish, and then in a night it also had taken its flight from earth, to be seen no more of men. A Federal historian wrote ofthis army