The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1874-03-06
Tho Blue aud tho Grey.

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 waysides
in hostile and deadly encounter. The
war is really over with men Of brave and
tender hearts. The paramount duty
now remains for all OF all portions of the
country, who appreciate the glory of
clemency and the victories Of peace, as
we'll as tho distinctions OF war. hence
forth to consign all bitterness to oblivion.
''The bravest are tho tenderest,
The loving are the daring"
CHESTER, 8. O., March 2, 1874
Colonel Black, U. S. a., Commanding
Post, Columbia, s. C.-Co1oNE1: Please
receive herewith two coffins. containing
the remains of two United States SOL
diers, who we're slain in skirmish with
Confederate States cavalry, tn Lancas.
ter County, South Carolina, February
%, 1865, and February %, 1865. re-
spectively. As shown by the inscrip.
tions upon the coffin plates. they were
privates in the cavalry division of Major
General Judson Fitzpatrick, whose COM
msnd was then moving on the extreme
left of General Sherman's army, in the
direction Of Chesterfield, S. c., e,. route
to Fayetteville. N. G. The name of one
was j. e. Smith, 9th Ohio Volunteers,
and of the other, Harvey Lsich, regi-
ment unknown. They we're buried on
the roadside, where their bodies re-
manned until they were exhumed on the
18th of February, 1874, by o number OF
the ex-Confederate soldiers Of Lancas-
ter, and placed with respectful and ten
der care in the coffns where they now
rest. in order that they may be forward
ed to the National Cemetery, at Flo
renee, s. O. 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 nc
ton in the premises. The ex .Confede.
rates of Lancaster, 8. O., i'll taking up
| the bodies of these dead soldiers of the
| Union from their neglected graves, near
the public highway, and forwarding
them with due re ,pect for honorable in
terment in national military cemetery,
have been prompted specially by the
following considerations:
The generous and fraternal conduct
Of the survivors OF the Unlun a.m,, -.
exhibited in their decorating the graves
of the Confederate dead ut Madison,
Wisconsin, in May last, in which cere-
mony, ut the suggestion of the orator Of
the day, Gen. q. O. Washburne, Go
vernon of Wisconsin, the orphans of
many Union soldiers participated. +.
2. The recent successful recommendn.
tion by Governor E. F. Noyes, of Ohio,
that the Legislature of the State should
make a liberal appropriation to sur
round the Confederate cemetery at Co.
lumbus 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 Vete-
rams. held at Washington, y. O., Janu-
ary Is, 1874.
They have also read the expressions,
on the last named occasion, of the illus
trious Chief Magistrate Of the republic
and the great soldier, now General Of
the army of the United States, in which
they embodied their desire that the sol
diers who fought against each other in
the late civil war should unite as oiti-
zens of common country, aud pledged
their influence to promote that end.
The Mexican war veterans of Lancas-
ter we're prominent in the performance
of this fraternal act. and under the di-
rection of Major X. G. Billings, guarded
the bodies tor several nights in the
Court Honse. while awaiting trensporta.
ton. the Catawba River having been
rendered impossible by the recent heavy
rains. All WHO engaged in it wore ex
Confsderstes, many Of whom bear upon
their persons ineffaceable scars of bat.
tie. who added by their conduct in the
field new lust-e to the martial renown OF
that historic disirict which gave birth
to Andrew Jackson. I can best indicate
the depth Of their sincerity by stating
the fact that they trave!od several miles
to exhume and honor these remains oi
Union soldiers, through country
marked by monumental ohimneys that
, are still black with the fires of inferno.
cine war. should add, that the bodies
are conveyed to Columbia free OF charge
from the point at which they reached
the railway, pursaAnt to instructions o
, Colonel J. B. Palmer, President Of the
Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Rail
road himself distinguished ex-Con
!. IN 81,