The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-11-23
Tns srATn sUssylIIy.oDlIis lI.Dli AssourArIoT


/ TER SEAxR EgsyIvoas Association
We Rxias bsiow Inc iesisr ;ssla l; .
Sea-. ohn s. Prestqg To- 80 COsvsntioa
ISs Ie Survivors ois he lag way vhiSh
IsRasr read at the meeting q Chpflestohi,
Ion Th1rsday: M /. IS
eiEsS; COLUMBIA isHovambAr Ii, 1861
Mx DRAR SIR: It is a painful regret to
me thHs Eosnnot be present ut the preli.
tninary meeting of the State Survivors
Association. Up to this hour, had set
my heart on being there to join in its or
ganiaation. and aid in giving the first
impetus to its honorable and holy work,
and to meet again many who 1 had
known, honored end loved in the Geld
[ am very, very sorry TINT it is so that I
cannot be there. Will you not have the
kindness to make known to our comrades
my profound and entire sympathy? We
are all survivors OF our brothers aud sons
who died gloriously. for their country
and for liberty, and we have survived
that liberty aud that country for which
they died.
We now associate onrselves to keep
alive in our hearts. by solemn rites and
good deeds, the memory of the virtues
and the great deeds of those who perish
ed, that thereby our spirit may be so in.
tlamed as never to forget che cause for
which they died, although that cause did
seem to die with them. It does seem to
me that this is duty near to and very
close upon our duties to that God in
whose presence the justified spirits of
our comrades are living forever-past all
survivorship. 1t is quite equal to our
duties to their and our posterity, and to
our own present.
Let the initiatory performance of this
sacred duty be made with the profound
est impression of oil its solemn relations
In debating the terms Of our Associa-
tion, strive to DO justice to all the heroic
dead and to all the living whom God has
blessed, (although condemned to survive
their liberty,) by having made them SOL
diers OF the army Of the Southern Con-
federacy. Many Of our fathers have been
soldiers of liberty for centuries; but we
may say with proud humility, that we
have given a new blazon to their shields,
by adding to them the quarterings of SOL
dlers OF the Southern Confcderacy. It
is as noble title of honor as was ever
won by man. Let us, then, build for it
not only monuments of marble and brass,
but those everything memorials which will
U"SAA III WIG llCaTC US long 06 There
lives one drop Of Confederate blood.
This Association, then, is meant to
,, perpetuate our own honor and that of
our brothers who won it Mt tho price of
death.
We assume. thus, the gravest obliga-
tlons. and do trust that the organiza.
ton will be as pure and FREQ from living
passion, rs if our hands were Joined over
the graves Of our comrades, and that
with earnest and patient deliberation. it
| will be so constructed as to bind us in q
holy brotherhood, and as our Charleston
comrades have already expressed it, bring
comfort and blessings to many of the
survivors Of the Confederate army and
navy. who aro disabled by wounds re-
celvcd and disease contracted in the SER
vice, from earning livelihood for them
selves and their families, and many wi
dows and orphans left destitute by the
death Of their husbands and fathers in
the cause Of their country"
Pray communicate to tho meeting, in
such wise as you may choose, this ex-
preston Of my earnest and active symua-
| thy. Faithfully yours, .H -
JOHN S. PRESTON.
| To Major BARKER