The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1865-12-13
Southern Heroes in. the Northern
- % 4l Press. d aa

Southern Heroes in the Northern
= 1di 1a a Press. - al I'd
sisHa l}3q 2te ---------s 1881 osfi 81 I,...t,
There is something in the very nature of
man that makes him take an interest in
battles and seges, in thrilling adventures
and daring exploits. Incidents of military
life have at all times strange fascination
for him, blending as they do in about equal
proportion the two essential elements of
interest danger and daring. In times of
profound peace they arouse and excite us
bytheir startling contrast with the mono
tony of our everyday life, but during the
continuance orat the close ola war, such
as I'VE have passed through, they have a
deeper interest, they arouse stronger feel
ings than mere excitement, they bring into
action stronger and higher faculties than
the imagination they appeal to feeling,
memory, passion and affection, to heart and
mind, to soul and sense. The pictures of
heroism, endurance, and self-sacrifee they
bring before us are no longer as .ofyore
names, or distractions; they are aetualities;
to us heneeforth, Regulus is more real and
Thernopyla nearer home. The selesacri-
6ciDo patriotism of Curtius is no marvel,
we can fellowit hundred times over, and
every example of classic or modern hero
ism but recalls some instance that has oe-
Cured within our own recollection ifnot
under our own immediate observation.
~ Ii is no wonder therefore, that stories
ofthe late war should be so popular, and
that every scrap ofincident connected with
that great struggle should beread with
eager interest. But there is one feature
abOut these incidents of the war published
in Northern papers that is both striking
and instruetive-and that Is, that the he
roes are not the successful raiders and VIC
torious generals Of the Northern army, bat
the defeated paladins of the Gonfederaey.
Not Grant, or Sherman, or Sheridan, orSlo
cum, but Lee, or Jackson, or Johnston, or
Beauregard. Not Fitzpatrick or Gilmore,
but Stuart, or Hampton, or Forrest, or
Mosby, or Malone. These are. the men
whose achievements we glorify, whose
deeds we rehearse, whose heroism we de-
Iioht to honor; these are the men whose
exploits are detailed in our papers, and
whose names are household words in every
Northern State.
Why is this? Why do we not write up
our own great men? Why do we not hold
them up to the admiration of the rising
generation Why seek our heroes outside
of our own lines? @ ~
Because the unperverted instincts OF man
are ever on the weaker side. Because no
amount of force can influence feeling, and
no measure of success can command sym
natby. Because an unequal struggle chal-
ieppes our admiration and kindles that adj
nliration, into enthusiasm. Because no
amount of sophistry and no power OF relt-
Grafton can make men think it glorious tor
five to beat one. And because war Of IN
yasion is in itself and Of its very nature'ca
ruIated to be unpopular with free people
When in addition we take into c0nsidera-
ton the high character and unsullied repu-
tatien Of the leading men of the South, we
nave reason good for the interest they ex.
cite and the position they occupie IN the
] minds Of q large majority of the Northern
masses. ~
I There is always a halo about a people
struggling for independence, which is only
intensified by the fact of their contendlne
AGAINST vast odds; and there is an innate
Inherent, ineradicable sentiment in human
nature which henors the sublime geneFoslt.
! that makes a man unhesitatingly fling hi
life into the scale to redress the uneven
balance in which the fate Of his countr..
hangs suspended. !,
What wonder then, that the Northern
nress seeks for its heroes among the South
srn generals. They fought against vas
odds, and they fought for independence, 10
home and country, to preserve their nativ'
so;l from the tread of hostile armies, thel
towns from pilage, and their lands from de
vastatien. %
Who turns him from the Spartans dyin!
at Thermopyla to admire the victor Persl
ans as they sweep through the defile. Wht
feels the same reverence for the innumera
ble hosts of Grant that they do for tn
few and faint but fearless" veterans o
Lee? Not one. Immense masses ma.
arouse our admiration, but our sympathies
our wishes, our prayers are with the daunt
less souls that knowing face the danger
It, is in conformity with this law Of our ma
ture, and under the influence Of feeling
honorable, though unconfessed, and potent
though unrecognized, that the Northern
!. press gil their columns with the adventure
Of Southern generals and the exploits Q
Southern partisans. ),
There is lesson underlying this that til
Radicals would do well to master, and it
this: no amount of party logic, or lees
lore, no trials OF convictions. nor the stron