The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-07-06
~. COLUMBIA, @, FRIDAY MORNING. JULY G. 1866

ana song. The lives OF some of these
heroes whose graves you have this day
decked would surpass in romance the
Ivanhoe of Scott. Hereafter the his
torlan need not go to France for a
hero--the neighboring church-yard
will furnish him subject. Tie fol-
lowers of the victorious Alexander,
the mighty Caesar and Napoleon, the
great Washington, have not equaled
in heroism or suffered the privations
of these nameless soldiers, whose
graves you, to-day, ornament.
Around Petersburg, in the cam
palgn of 1864, on summers day, an
officer saw group of some twenty
veterans bathing. he observed bat
tie marks on each one; on some,
three and four. In prison, at Fort
Delaware, there was colonel, who
sas captured, wounded in his fiftieth
battle numerous skirmishes not
reckoned. These are specimens.
These scars and battles have their
history. These men were parents,
husbands, brothers, friends. Some
one may have been the only son of
his mother, and she widow, who
wept at his death because she had no
others to send to fight the battles of
her country. Some one may have
been the lonely picket on the Poto-
mac, who shouted ''Oh, Mary" and
''was off duty forever Some may
have been young husbands, in the
prime of life, with genius, fortune
and hope; and now. when his little
children cry out father" there is no
reply. Some noble sons, whose
hearts were world of affection. and
parents and sisters looked to their fu-
ture rs full of honor and usefulness.
Are these figures of speech? Look
around you and behold in this assem-
bly, the living witnesses.
1t would be invidious, ut this time,
to name any Of the Confederate dead
buried here, for the most of them
were animated with the same patriot
ism, apd discharged their duties in
their respective spheres. But we
would be pardoned by these sleeping
heroes themselves. if present. did We
mention "the noblest Roman OF them
all, whose name. before the war. at
the South, like that of Caesar, was
the synonyne Of bravery. In death,
he evinced the same lmperturbable
spirit, and telegraphed to his Go
vernon. Il freely give up my life for
the independence of South Carolina i"
Not for two rd-fought years after
wards, was it determined that there
was no such thing as the independ-
ence OF State. While passing a
handsome monument, in this ceme-
terry, erected over gallant lientenant,
killed at Boonsboro, my eye caught
the inscription ''iberty and my coun-
try" All! my friends, this is the key
note of all the sufe1ings We endured
and dangers we braved Cali We such
men rebels? The vindicatory justice
OF mankind will repel the opprobrium.
Is this treason? Is this rebellion:
Has it the essence OF crime?
Rebellion, foul, dishonoring word
Whose wrongful blight 80 OFT has stained
The holes. causo that tongue OF sword
CT mortal ever lost or gained;
How many spirit, born to bless.
Hath sunk beneath that whitening uAuls?
Whom but days, an hours success
Had waited to eternal fame.
If they failed, what does it prove;
Success means nothing Might is
right, is the dictum of tyrants. Right
is eventually might, is the fiat of Je-
hovah. II we failed. the victors have
nothing to boast Of We faced world
in arms. England, France and Ger
many were subsidized with Northern
wealth, banking on the prospective
capital of a conquered South The
odds were greater than anything his
tory records. We will, then, cherish
the memories of these soldiers in our
heart Of hearts. They did all that
men could do.
Forget not the field where they perished,
The trusst, the best of the brave,
All gone, and the bright hopes they che
rishcd,
Gone with them and quenched in the
grave
A Carolina matron first conceived
the idea Of preserving inviolate the
grounds of Mount Vernon. The
ladies Of glorious old Virginia first
laid the floral offerings on the graves
of the Confederate dead around Win
chester. With heart and hand, bring
your offerings bedewed with tears,
and lay them on these soldiers graves,
forgetting not the loved ones of our
stricken city who sleep in unfriendly
lands. Bring, then, your flowers
Tho sweet flowers tendrils proof of fee
bleness
go.es strength; .nd SD we fling on, feel
ings ont,
fl.e tenants Of the hes to bear us up"
Bring. then. the cypresi. the myrtle