The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1866-10-18
Soldiers Associations.

Soldiers Associations.
In speech delivered before the Sol.
diers' Association recently organized at
Walhalla, Pickens District, Gen. WADE
HAMPTON made the following eloquent
and touching reference to the formation
of these Associations and their Objects
We commend his remarks to the atten-
ton of all soldiers Of the Confederate
army wheresoever dispersed, and tr1st
that each one will feel in duty bound to
rescue from oblivion the names of dead
comrades, render assistance in perpetua-
ting the record of all, and exercise tnat
charity which vaunteth not itself in pro-
viding for the comfort and sustenance of
widows and orphans Especially do we
desire the soldiers of Anderson District to
unite as one man in this great work. Re-
ferring to his old Brigade and their his
toric deeds, Gen. HAMPTON said:
All these proud but sad memories come
thronging fast upon my heart, when 1
look again upon the men who shared with
me for years, the privations, the perils
and the glories OF the past. And though
meeting them under such circumstances
as the present, is fraught with many sad
reflections, it is source of infinite graft
fcation to me to see them once more
You, of my old command, never failed to
respond when 1 called upon you, and now
that you call on me to join with yoa in
paying q morited tribute of respect to our
martyred dead, would be ungrateful in
deed. were I to refuse to answer to- the
appeal.
TO record the names of the brave men
who gave their lives to the country to
perpetuate the memory of their heroic
deeds; to deck their humble graves with
flowers, as we mourn their untimely fate,
are the sad and the only privileges we
have. In our poverty, we are not able
to raise suitable monuments to mark sheir
last resting places in our defeat, we feel,
that as far as human wisdom can fathom,
they died in vain; and in our grief at
their loss, we can scarcely reconcile their
death with the perfect justice and the ih-
finite mercy of the Almighty. 1t was not
permitted to surviving kindred and friends
to consign their loved remains to their
last home, with all the tokens of respect
and honor; but they sleep, nevertheless,
in honored graves, and their duty nobly
done they have
By all their country's wishes blest."
No pious hand collects their sacred dust.
They sleep wherever the folds cf the
Southern cross has waved in triumph, and
they find fit resting places on the fields
their valor won. Your government sets
apart and consecrates great National
Cemeteries on your soil for those who,
while invading that soil with fire and
sword, wero welcomed to hospitable
graves; while the men who died on, and
in defence of their native land, sleep in
unmarked or perhaps unknown graves
Their ashes are not permitted to repose
in National Cemeteries, and branded as
rebels while living, they have not the
privilege, accorded to their foemen, of
Christian sepulture-when dead
'sTheir's was unconsecrated clay"
1t behooves us then-the men who stood
shoulder to shoulder with them while
they were fighting for their country-the
people in whose defence they laid down
their lives, to show by oil the means in
our power, that we are grateful for the
sacrifices they made in our behalf, and
that we reverence their memory. The
Association you have this day formed,
has these laudable objects in view, and if
these were its only purpose, it should
meet the cordial approval of every man,
woman and child in our State. But high
and worthy as are these aims, it contem-
plates others, even higher and worthier.
These are to clothe the naked, to feed the
hungry, to aid the orphan, to comfort the
widow; to alleviate the sufferings of all,
and to pour balm into their bleeding
hearts. God will surely bless an under
taking which has such holy purposes in
view, and the good of every land will
think that you are proving yourselves
worthy of the men who died in the effort
to make you free. l bid you God speed
in this holy work, aud invoke upon it
the blessing of the Almighty. hope that
organizations of this sort will spring up
throughout the entire South-that they
will scatter blessings broadcast over our
land, and that they will serve to bind our
whole people together.
DIGNITY VS.. MlRTH-What's the use OF
that long face? Why not let the joyous
laugh wrinkle, for moment, the stolid
countenance, that looks like piece OF
oboansl,in stretched over a drum-head