The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-12-24
The AsttetaHh Cemetery--Un1on and;
Confetserete Dead.

In explanation Of complaints of
certain radical newspapers, because o
portion of the Antietam Cemetery
has been set apart for the burial of
COnfederates, we quote the law of
the Maryland Legislature according
the use Of the grounds as national
cemetery to the trustees selected by
the respective States. This law will
also explain why a%'lengthy debate"
is said to have taken place at recent
meeting of the trustees, (many of
whom are radicals, in Washington,
on the proposition: -...
Sec. 2. And said lot of ground
shall be devoted, in perpetuity, for
the purpose of the burial and final
resting place of the remains of the
soldiers who fell at the battle of
Antieman, or at other points North
OF the Potomac River, during the
invasion of Lee, in the summer and
fall of 1862, or died thereafter in
consequence of wounds received in
said battle, or during said invasion.
Sec. 4. The care and management
OF the grounds are hereby entrusted
solely to the trustees; and
it shall be their duty, out Of funds
that may come into their hands
through State appropriation or other
wise, to remove the remains of all
the soldiers referred to in the second
section of this act, and to have them
properly inferred in the aforemen-
toned grounds; the remains of the
soldiers Of The Coayederate army to be
buried in a part of the grounds sepa-
rate from those of the Union army.
Governor Fenton, of New York,
"a Republican, has written letter
in reply to certain radicals who object
to burying the bodies of the Con-
federate dead in the cemetery. The
Governor, in his letter, remarks:
A strong local and individual feel
ing in the neighborhood of Antietnm
and other parts of Maryland, natu-
rally engendered by the invasion,
may have created some indifference
in regard to the Confederate dead,
and an indisposition to see them
buried side by side with those who
died in defense of our nationality.
But it is confidently believed that no
such feeling pervades the breasts of
the American people, or the surviv-
ing officers and soldiers of the Union
armies.
When we recall the generosity and
moderation that marked the conduct
of the people, the Government and
the army during the war, and the
magnanimity thnt presided at the
close; when we remember that our
countrymen are now engaged in the
work OF reconstructing the Union on
the basis of universal freedom, and
with an earnest desire to restore to
the Southern States q prosperity in
greater than that which
slavery and rebellion conspircd to
destroy, it is impossible to believe
that they would desire to make an
invidious distinction against the
remains OF the Confederate
dead, OF that they would disapprove
of their being carefully gathered
from the spots where they fell, and
laid to rest in the National Cemetery
on the battlefield of Autietam.
Conquerors rs we were in that
great struggle, our stern disapproval
of the cause in which they fought,
need not forbid our admiration of
the bravery with which they died.
They were Americans, misguided,
indeed, and misled, but still our
countrymen, and we cannot rcmcm-
ber them now either with enlnity or
unkindness.
The hostility of the generous and
heroic ends with death, and brief as
our history is, it has furnished an
enrly and striking example. The
British and Americans who fell ut
Plattsburgh sleep side by side; and Il
common monument on the plains of
Abraham attests the heroism of Wolfe
and Montcalm.
To-day nothing perhaps could
sooner re-awaken national spirit in
the heart Of the South than the
thought that Representatives of the
NortAern States were gathering the
remains of its fallen sons for inter
ment in our National Cemetery; and
In futare days, when our country is
one, not alone in its boundaries, but
III spirit and affection, and the recent
struggle is remembered as IL war less
OF sections than of systems, the
tnt, ,nfn 81