Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-03-12
From the Columbia Phoenix.
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY.

The graceful correspondence which we pub
lish below breathes the sweet accents of peace.
The act which has called it forth will meet
with responsive thrill from the hearts of the
whole people, The x-Confederate soldiers of
Lancaster have honored themselves in turning
away from the memory of strife, and, by their
kindly attentions, adopting as comrades those
of an army of invasion, who fell by their way
sides in hostile and deadly encounter. The war
is really over with men of brave and tender
hearts. The paramount duty now remains
for all ofall portions ofthe country, who appre-
ciatc the glory of clemency and the victories
of peace, as we'll as the distinctions of war,
henceforth to consign all bitterness to oblivion.
"The bravest arc the tenderest,
The loving are the daring"
CHESTER S. c., March g. 1874.
Colonel Black, u. s. A., Commanding Post,
Columbia, S. C-CoLoNEL Please receive
herewith two coffins, containing the remains
of two United States soldiers, who we're slain
in skirmish with Confederate States cavalry
in Lancaster county, South Carolina, Febru-
ary %, 1865, and February %, 1865, respec.
lively. As shown by the inscriptions upon
the coffin plates, they were privates in the
cavalry division of Major-General Judson
Fitzpatrick, whose command was then moving
on the extreme left Of Gen. Shermans army,
in the direction of Chesterfield, S. c., en- route
to Fayetteville, N. C. The name of one was
j. E. Smith, 26th Ohio Volunteers, and of
the other, Harvey LEIGH, regiment unknown.
They were buried on the roadside, where
their bodies remained until they were exhumed
on the 18th of February, 1874, BY number
of the ex.Confederate soldiers Of Lancaster,
and placed with respectful and tender care in
the cofins where they now rest, in order that
they may be forwarded to the National Gene
terry, at Florence, S. G. In executing the sad
but grateful trust with which I have been
honored by my former comrades, it is proper
that should state the true and only motive
that has impelled their action in the premises.
The ex-Confederates of Lancaster, S. c., in
taking up the bodies of these dead soldiers of
the Union from their neglected graves, near
the public highway, and forwarding them with
due respect for honorable interment in ma
tional military cemetery, have been prompted
specially by the following considerations
l. The generous and fraternal conduct of
the survivors of the Union army, as exhibited
in their decorating the graves of the Confed-
crate dead at Madison, Wisconsin, in May
last, in which ceremony, at the suggestion of
the orator of the day, Gen. G. G. Washburne,
Governor of Wisconsin, the orphans of many
Union soldiers participated.
2. The recent successful recommendation
by Governor E. F. Noyes, of Ohio, that the
Legislature of the State should make liberal
appropriation to surround the Confederate
cemetery at Columbus with suitable iron
railing.
3. The utterances and action of the many
distinguished officers and soldiers of the Union
army who assembled in the Convention of
Mexican War Veterans, held at Washington,
D. c., January 15, 1874
They have also read the expressions, on the
last named occasion, of the illustrious Chief
Magistrate of the republic and the great SOL
dier, now General of the army of the United
States, in which they embodied their desire
that the soldiers who fought against each other
in the late civil war should unite as citizens of
common country, and pledged their infu-
ence to promote that end.
The Mexican war veterans Of Lancaster
we're prominent in the performance of this
fraternal act, and under the direction of Ma
jor K. G. Billings, guarded the bodies for sew
eral nights in the Court House, while awaiting
transportation, the Catawba river having been
rendered impossible by the recent heavy
rains. All who engaged in it were ex-Con-
federates, many Of whom bear upon their per.
sons inefaceable scars of battle, who added
by their conduct in the field new lustre to the
martial renown of that historic district which
gave birth to Andrew Jackson. I can best
indicate the depth of their sincerity by stating
the fact that they travelled several miles to
exhume and honor these remains of Union
soldiers, through a country marked by monu-
mental chimneys that are still black with the
fires of internecine war. should add, that
the bodies are conveyed to Columbia free of
charge from the point at which they reached
the railway, pursuant to instructions of Col.
j. B. Palmer, President of the Charlotte, Co.
lumbia and Augusta Railroad-himself dis
tinguished ex-Confederate officer. Indeed,
this act will meet with disfavor only from
that select band of Southern patriots who,
amid the general clash of arms, devoted their
great mental energies to the ascertainment of
the law Of safe distances as applied to projec.
tiles and stood 6rml ly by their homes until
their homes were invaded. 1 am, Colonel,
very respectfully, your obedient servant,
T. j. MACKEY,
Judge of the Sixth Circuit, S. G..
Posr OF COLUMBIA,
COLUMBIA, S. c., March 4, 1874.
Hon. r. H. Mackeu Jud0e 9Th Circuit s. O..