The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-07-03

IN PETERSBURG MEMORIAL ASSO-
CITATION, it becomes my duty to seek
your aid in a cause which is 80 sacred, 80
precious, that we would do and suffer all
things for its successful prosecution; 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 is the cause for which we plead?
us it that we should say, come with us to
crown with laurel, and celebrate in song,
the victors of a 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
altars, their expectant and exulting loved
ones? not this, not this, oh, God! our
hearts are in the dust, our laurels wither-
ed, our homes desolated, and our warriors
return no more! 'oThey have fought their
last battle, they sleep their last Sleep"
and it is on their graves we place the
roses of our grateful affection, and the
immortel]es OF our undying remembrance.
All along the lines of this long beleaguered
city can be found the little hillock which
marks hero's grave; while in distant
homesteads. in every Southern State,
weeping mothers mourn these loved ones,
absent from their firesides, absent from
the consecrated cemeteries of their fathers!
81
uncared for? shall they be trampled into
nothingncss by the very beasts of tho
field, and be ploughed into the soil which
they died to defend? Forbid it, ye mo-
thers. We sires, ye maidens of the South;
forbid it, We comrades, who battled at their
jealous for the honor and integrity of your
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 sons, reverently to lay them in
proud monument worthy of our cause and
their deeds. 1s it not fitting that here,
where the last blow was struck, where
haif-clad, starving men stood up so heroi-
cally amid such scenes Of terrible carnage,
pressed and finally overwhelmed by
leglo5ns o. OF It the foe, the admiration and
we should thus honor their memory and
exultingly exclaim "these are our sons"
proudly committing their names to pos
terlty? Our receipts outside do not ex-
ceed $500; up to this date all tho dead
nave received equal care; now we are
making efforts to rescue from distant bat
tle-fields the ''slain of our city," which
draws largely on our impoverished treasu-
ry, and unless this appeal shall be liberal
lly 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 sons whom we are now gathering
from mountain, hill side and valley, send
them to slumber in their natal soil or
leave them were they fell2 No, no! let us
deny ourselves anything, everything,
rather than deny to these SCARED, and
MANNED, and toil-worn martyrs, the sweet
rlepose of a 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. M. A., Petersburg, Va.
EXECUTIVE CoMMITTEE.-Mrs. Wm. It.
Joynes, President; Mrs. John Miller,
Treasurer; Mrs. q. Panmill, Recording
Secretary; Mrs. J. NJ. Wyche, Correspond
ing Secretary; Mrs. David Calender, Mrs.
VIM. Simpson. June 81