The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-06-27
Circular to the People of the South

u.
A Corresponding Secretary of the
~ PETERSBURG MEMORIAL ASSO-
ClAIlON, 1T becomes my duty to seek
your aid in O cause which is so sacred. 40
precious, that we would do and suffer all
things for its successful prosecutions; but
circumstances deny us what would be
equally the pride and joy Of our hearts to
perform. We, therefore, come to you, op-
pressed with the magnitude Of the work,
asking your sympathy and cooperation
And what ls the cause for which we plead?
"ls it that we should say, come with us to
crown with laurel, and celebrate in song,
the victors Of righteous, noble struggle,
to rejoice with them that the conflict end,
ed, the warfare accomplished, they return
with shouts of victory and glad hosannas
to their happy homes, their long forsaken
affairs, their expectant and exulting loved
ones?" not this, not this, oh, God! our
hearts are In the dust, our laurels wither-
return no morel ''They have fought their
last battle, they sleep their last Sleep"
and 1t is on their graves we place the
roses OF our grateful affection, and the
immortelles of our undying remembrance
All along the lines of this long beleaguered
marks hero's grave; while in distant
homesteads, in every Southern State,
weeping mothers mourn these loved ones,
absent from their iresides, absent from
the consecrated cemeteries of their fathersl
Shall these 1000 graves be neglected and
nothingness by the very beasts of the
field, and be ploughed into the soil which
they died to defend? Forbid it, ye mo-
theirs. ye sires, ye maidens of the South;
forbid it, ye comrades, who battled at their
sides; forbid it, ye legislators. who are
Commonwealth; forbid it, oh, God! Thou
God of the fatherless, the widow, and the
friendless!
We, as an Association, offer you the pit
tance which the ravages and desolations of
war have left US; we offer you the willing
labor OF our hands, and that of our noble
young men who have toiled with US; we
offer you spot made ours by the patriotic
generosity OF our city fathers; and we say
to you, help us to take these bodies Of
your noble cons, reverently to lay them in
honored graves, and to rear over them
proud monument worthy Of our cause and
their deeds. Is it not fitting that here,
where the last blow was struck, where
half-clad, starving men stood up so heroi-
cally amid such scenes of terrible carnage,
pressed and finally overwhelmed by
legions of the foe, the admiration and
wonder Of the world. is it not fitting that
exultingly exclaim "these are our sons"
proudly committing their names to pos
terity? Our receipts outside do not ex-
coed $500; up to this date all the dead
have received equal care; now we are
making efforts to rescue from distant bat
tle-felds the ''slain of our city," which
draws largely on our impoverished treasu-
ry, and unless this appeal shall be liberal
ly responded, to the traces Of father, hus-
band, son, must perish from the earth.
Then, shall we lay them by the side of our
noble cong wiiom we are now gathering
from mountain, hillside and valley, send
them to alumber in their natal soil or
leave them were they fell? No, no! let us
deny ourselves anything, everything,
rather than deny to these SCARED, and
manned, and toil-worn martyrs, the sweet
repose Of consecrated grave, until the
last trump shall summon them to man
sions prepared above. Confident that we
shall not plead in vain, we leave the cause
with you, awaiting your action to carry
out the plans before us.
MRS. j. NJ. WYCHE,
Cor. Sec'y. l.. III. a., Petersburg, Va.
EXECUTIVE Communicative. VIM. T.
Joynes, President; Mrs. John Miller
Treasurer; Mrs. G. Pannin, Recording
Secretary; Mrs. J. n. Wyche, Correspond
ing Secretary; Mrs. David Calender. Mrs.
Wna. Simpson. June az
Cleaveland Mineral Springs.
rTFfrTa a