The Louisiana Democrat., 1866-07-18
Confederate Soldiers Dead.
HoNoRs TO THE PATRIOT DEkD.

To The Editor Of The Metropolitan Record: !:
DEAR SIR: | find the following in your
paper Of May l9:
! A Columbus, Miss. paper says that IN
the recent decoration Of the soldiers graves
near that city, no distinction was made be-
tween the graves of Confederate and Fede-
raj soldiers.
know that you came by this honestly !;
but I must think T" a Columbus, Miss, pa
per " is mistaken about the matter; or if it
so occurred as a general thing, or other
than perhaps single exceptional case, ]
am mistaken in the character and taste Of
the people of Columbus. It's inconsistent
with my good opinion of that people to be-
ieve that community which has contrib
uted so much to the Confederate cause, far
nished so many brave men and ofGcers-the
community which is now engaged in the
noble work of raising funds to remove from
the field of Gettysburg the remains of their
brave, lamented Barksdaie to their own
midst, and erect monument to his memo
ry-is guilty of the bad lasts of decorating
alike the graves of those they honor with
those they despised in life. What honor
attaches to having been a Confederate sol
dier, If there is mo distinction made be-
tween the GRAVES of Confederate and Fede-
raj soldiers" What honor to Barksdale
to have been "the most noted brigadier-
general in Lees army" if his grove is to be
decorated alike with the grave of perhaps
the vilest horse-thief, house-burner, murder
er, pluhderer and villain in the Yankee ar
my? The grave of the man who gave all
property, time, service and lfe-for his
country, and the protection of his neigh
bOrs rights and possessions, is to receive
floral decorations exactly like the garlands
placed by the same hands on the grave of
the man who came to destroy all, to burn
his property, pillage his house, and perhaps
insult his family If there 10 mo distinc-
ton made after DEATH why should there
have been any in life? Rider and horse,
friend, foe, in one red burial bient," may
occur, but there should be an after tale to
tell which was friend and which was foe,
which was man and which was beast.
As | understand it, honers shown the
dead in erection OF monuments, decoration
Of graves, and similar marks of respect for
the memory Of the virtues of the deceased,
are designed not so much for the dead as
for the living, for the influence and effect
such marks of honor and distinction have
in moulding the minds of the coming gene
rations to emulate the virtues we honor in
the dead. Such being the case, how are we
to reconcile to the innocent mind of the
child that looks on at such ceremonies,
,chicA he is to honor, which to emulate !;
which grave contains the sleeping dust of
his sire's friend or foe which contains man
or beast, when he sees all decorated alike !?
Aud how shall we answer his chld-like
questions when he asks, Whose grave is
this p 1t is the grave of true and gal
liant Confederate soldier. who, prompted by
the high and holy purposes of lofty patriot
ism, gave his life in his country's cause,
calamity fought and nobly fell for his be-
loved Confederacy. And if ere thy coun
try calls thee, child, go thou and do like
wise" answer the mourning mother, wife,
or sister, her soul glowing afresh with the
fires that stirred it in the days Of the Con-
federacy "And these, whose are these ?"
asks the youthful patriot. "1Aese are the
graves Of Yankees as we call the Federal
soldiers" "Musl | 90 and do like them
too ?" the enthusiastic child naturally asks.
''Oh, no they fought your fathers, burnt
our houses, destroyed our property wher-
ever they could find it, and in every posi-
bic way, insulted women, stole or destroy.
ed little childrens clothes, stole for tro-
phies all our nice furniture, valuable books,
handsome pictures, 6ne carriages, silver
ware, and even the most ordinary articles
of kitchen furniture--enriched themselves
at the expense ofthe Sou.i ern people and,
to impoverish US still more, they induced or
drove our servants away from their happy
homes, and often against their fearful en-
treaties to be allowed to remain with us !;
but, worse than all, they murdered our pris-
oners of war, or cruelty punished them by
all manners Of devices of torture in prison.
suffered them to die by the slow tortures of
starvation and cold-starved or frozen,
sometimes both, in land that boasted of
unprecedented plenty. of every luxury. And
even here in Columbus they murdered our
Colonel VIM. Wade months after the close
of the war;" Then l wouldn't put pretty
flowers on their graves, like I put for the
good, brave ones-I know wouldn't" the
child must naturally answer-and so must
human nature everywhere. | think there
are times when the equality Of mercy :"
should be strained" / know there has
ever been in the South an ample share Of
charity that thinketh no evil, and the
latSswar has developed, or left unimpaired,
more of this Christian quality than | had
thought people SO prosecuted could ever
possess; but, Notwithstanding charity is
"above price in its place, there is such a
thing as charity misappled. And in no
way could it be more injudiciously appro-
priated than in the decoration by Southern
hands of Yankee soldiers gravA-especialy
at the time and place OF decorating the
graves of loved honOred and long-lamented
Confederate soldiers. Common decency
forbids that any should desecrate the graves
Of even the "tilest sinner" that "s,ady re-
turn yet this simple instinct Of humanity
does not lead us into the other extreme of
weaving floral decorations about such a
grave; and with that natural awe which
possesses US in the presence Of the dead,
however debased in life, we may, and
should, pass the graves OF Federal soldiers
unhonored- leaving the silent occupants
to Gods mercy-while we bestow our offer
ings on the graves Of those we loved and
now lament, making, at least the distinc-
i tion :" of giving honor to whom honor is
DUE Nothing less is expected Of US, moth.
ing more could be required. If under
stand it, this beautiful ceremony was inau
yurated far the sole purpose Of distinction
of distinguishing the Confederate sol.
dier's grave. and SO receive it with sad
and grateful joy; but, if it is to become a
leueler-to equalize the best blood and chiv.
airy Of the South, the undaunted heroes,
the bold soldiers Of right, truth, honor and
principle, with the soldiery Of the North,
then let us discard it at once, as failure
of our purpose and sacrilege of honor. !