Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1870-05-25
AN uNpRoyoKEp ASSAULT.

| ing, contained an cultOrlal on Inc CON
| federate dead" which we consider ILL
timed, and of such a character as demands
a notice at our hands. We might afford
to permit it to pass in silence, did 1t not
come from paper pcrsistently protesting
to occupy middle ground politically; or
if il did not contain sentiments which,
at this particular time, are calculated to
wound the feelings of large and highly
honorable portion of this community.
We do not wonder that those who hon
estly espoused the cause of the South in
the late rebellion, should entertain feelings
of respect, and even love, for those who
died battling in a cause which they had
near at heart We can well understand
why they should now feel like paying to
their memory tribute Of respect, like
unto that which we so gladly give to those
who fell in a cause which we all believe
| to be as sacred and dear as any for which
men ever gave up their lives. We think
it right they should do SO. We fully
appreciate such motives, and would not
say one single word or make the slightest
| imputation, which could be construed as
| an insult to them, or az reason to dis
suade them from their purposes. We
have, therefore, no exceptions to take to
the spirit of the article referred TO, in so
| far as it.cncourages such course neither
are we at all surprised that 90 that extent,
ii should be encouraged by many of our
bravest and truest friends.
But there are sentiments aggressively put
forth by the Wing, which if we were per-
suaded were Intentional, we would meet
in spirit quite different from that which
now actuates US, but to which, as it is, we
object, as iill-judged and pernicious. We
need quote but few lines to give the OBJ
jectionablc sentiments. In speaking of
the cause for which it, dead battled, tho
| Wig said
Their section was invaded; armed cohorts
| desccrated their soil a rude and unbridled sol
| dierly invaded the sacred precincts of their
| homes; the voracious flames applied to
| their dwellings, and their wives and their chill
dren were exposed to brutal insults. These
| were the considerations which intensified their
| vengeance and hurried them to the field of car
mage and death. What had they to live for
| with such spectacle as this ever before them
and haunting them at every step!
We cannot conceive why, with such lib
eral sentiments as the Wig processes to
entertain, it deemed it necessary to couple
with its culogy of the Confederate cause
and dead an open, direct insult to every
honorable Union soldier in this commune
ty. We do not know how others may
| view it, but to US it seems that to suffer
such sentiments as the above, at this time
and place, to pass unrcbuked would be I'M
just alike to the dead and living. We do
not know in what spirit they were penned
but if we understand the force and mean
ing of the English language, the Wing pub
fishes in the above extract an unjust and
unprovoked imputation upon the honor
and bravery of every Union soldier, dead
| or living.
/ We know of many brave and true men
who proved their devotion to the South
upon many a well fought battle field, who
! know much better than the editor of the
Wing could know, that the men who
marched from the North TO the rescue of
their brave comrades of East Tennessee,
came for other purposes than to "burn
dwellings or "brutally insult" women and
children. The crude and unbridled SOL
sneers, were men az brave and honorable
| IA ever lINeu, anu lOuBnt IcalOuSlN ana
heroically in as noble "a cause rs ever in
spircd the hearts of mortal men.
These taunts and jeers come in most cases
from men who, as INSCRIPTIONS politicians,
were instrumental in bringing about the
late war, but who took good care never to
improve the opportunity so long afforded
to test the courage or bravery of crude
soldiery" whose valor is attested by hun
dred battles as we'll contested and CALAMITY
fought as any recorded in history.
We have too much honor ourselves and
too much respect for the feelings OF others,
to answer the insult offered to our dead and
living comrades, by giving one in return
TO the many true and generous men and
women whose hearts and hands are now
busted in. preparing 10 decorate the graves
of their dead friends.
| We do not wish to wound the feelings of
amy one at this time, when such Kind Off
ccs revive the recollections OF the past and
make more sensitive the feelings of every
surviving friend. We had even hoped that
the occasion might afford AN opportunity
| for reconciling or moderating the bitterness
OF other days. If the Wing had been con-
tent to alone ,4ulo0iza it, dead NO ,,.o,,Id