Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1861-06-05
For the Yorkville Enquirer.
To the Volunteers from York District

For the i HorkVnie Enquirer
To the Volunteers from York District.
GALLANT SIRs 1T has perhaps occur
red to you, that the illustrations intended
to eviuce the true spirit of soldier, have
been sufficiently extended to be regarded
as exhaustive. Another and final line of
thoughts, however, herein given, and with
this, and few practical suggestions added,
the correspondence will be arrested.
6. In further eradication Of the inapor-
tance of ptety and religious trust to the
soldier, 1t can be proued that the most emf
nent, truly excellent, highly commendable
and honorable a0arriors Of earth, have been
men Of this stamp.
1t is not disputed that there are many
brilliant names that charm US in the annals
of the world, of men who possessed not the
characteristic We describe. The writer is
too we'll aware of the deathless interest that
attaches to the warlike characters and deeds
of hundreds of names that adorn the au-
cient and modern historic records of the
past. Space would fail to allude to any Of
the distinguished exploits of such famous
but ungodly heroes as Saul, Amasa, Joab
and Abuer, of the Bible history; and Her.
cules and Ajax, and Agamemnou and Hec'
tor, and Ulysses of Trojan fame; and Cy'
rus aud Alexander, and Caesar, Marius,
Hannibal, Scipio, Xerxes and Antony and
many others of ancient Greece and Rome
and Mohammed, Tamerlaue and Jenkhis
Khan and Frederic the Great, and Fred.
eric the Sd, Charles the 9th, and Charles
the 18th, and Richard the Lion hearted,
and the Duke of Marlborough, and Napo'
leon Bouaparte, and Wellington, and Kos
ciusko, and many of the American distin'
guished warriors.
But iu reference to all, or the most Of
these, is it not true that they were prompt
ed by ambition or desire for conquest, OF
bloodthirstiness? Even where there was
room for patriotism, as in case of few OF
them, how was the patriot sunk into a mere
self.seekiug coneueror? How sad, too, was
the doom, and Infamous the fate that befel
the most of them? But few of them es-
capped being victims of suicide, or conspira-
cy ending in death, or assassination, or some
disgraceful end in fight, or exile, or neg
lect and detestation of their countrymen.-
As to the majority of them, so little is there
to admire or commend, in either their char
acters or motives; so checkered their pub,
lie career with reverses and misfortunes
and so thick the gloom of sadness and even
disgrace that spreads itself over their death
and even now their very Dames, that none
should be tempted to initiate them, or envy
their doubtful fame. But when on the
other hand, the record of Christian heroes
is unfolded, and their achievements brought
out in array, the eye is not met by features
traits, and acts, which either shrink frou
scrutiny, or over which the mantle of char
ity must be thrown to save them from sus
picion. The escutcheon presented by the
lives and memories of these, is always fail
and praiseworthy--unless, as is often at
tempted, it is blackened by the tongue Of
slander-which be means that it cannot des
troy-or unless through the rude assaults
of envy and imp;ety, discharging their ma
tired to religion against its votsrles-the
names and characters of God fearing cham
pions in war, are traduced and villi6ed by
men who are always jealous Of and ready
to assail and murder what they cannot exec
or even rival 1t must suffice, for the pur
pose in hand, to adduce but few ilustrs
tions, and the detail of facts must be very
brief, and the men adduced as examples are
specimens of large numbers. Omlttlng
more than passing allusion to Abraham
whose successful expedition to rescue his
nephew, Lot, from the hands of the foul
Confederate Kings, who had swept every
thing before them in the fruitful vale Of
Sodom, is the first recorded war of human
history, but which teaches what constitutes
a true military and moral hero, and exhib
its the patriarch as competent for achieve
ments in war, upon au extensive scale, hac
be been called to this vocation, We haster
to speak of him who for forty years was
military leader to two and half million:
of people, of whom only six hundred thous
and we're able to bear arms. Iti plain thai
the reference is to Moses, who had the
leadership of the hosts Of Israel from Egypt
to Canaan. Considering the character and
resources of the Egyptian masters, from
whose thraldom he had to emancipate his
people in the outset-the rebell'ous and
mutinous spirit of the motley crowd that
he led, the desolate and perilous state OF
the country trasersed, the magnitude and
diversity of difficulties and dangers encoun'
tered, ';uc protracted period over which the
campaign was extended, the prodlg'ous
number and amazing strength Of his enc
mics, and the 6ual success that crowned the
whole, and none can dcrJt that the general
ship has never been paralleled in the hlsto
~ of the world. Such an army, under
such circumstances, no other man has evel
led. True it is, Moses was favored with the
miraculous interpositiou aud aid of Jeho
yah; Int this fact only tends to establish
the point We have in hand, for unless he
had possessed the spirit to fear and trust ir
God, he would never have enjoyed this Di,
vine intervention. Granting that the guar
danship and favor shown to him were ex
traordinary and miraculous, yet when ths
spirit and conduct of Moses towards Goc
are remembered, a special significance il
given to these, and they furnish striking
exhibition of power for wonderful achieve