Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-06-04

tnelf JacKets OF gray anu JacRets OF Dlue, steep
side by side on an hundred battle-6elds, from
Gettysburg to the Rio Grande. The grave, long
ago, made peace between them, and their name.
less and unmarked tombs have brought an ad
monition to the living, that to-day is throbbing
the hearts and moving the impulses of the
people Of our common country wherever Al
soldier of the late war fell
We have met to-day to offer the sad tributes
oflove to their memories. Young and aged
youth and maidens-former foes and friends
have assembled with garlands in their hands,
and the sweet offerings of friendship in their
hearts, to wreathe above the graves Of those
who fell at the call of Duty.
l will be pardoned for calling your atten'
tion away, for moment from the dead to the
living For the first time within the decade
following the close of the war, the living Of
both armies, and the people of both sections,
have resolved to bury the bitter memories
that it raised, and make common offering of
the fowery tributes to the gallant dead of the
war. Upon this peaceful eve, our country.
men from one end of this broad land to the
other, propose to bury the asperties of the
past. Over the graves Of the DEAD they
propose to seal the friendship of the living
The occasion is not forced or unnatural one.
1t is born of the mutual respect of each to
the principles that actuated the two sections in
the war. 1t is concession that the soldier
who wore the gray, as we'll as he who wore
the blue, was q hero worthy of his country's
remembrance, and entitled to its respect and
admiration. Upon no other basis has per-
manent and cordial friendship been practical
bic or desirable. It does not revive the
causes of the quarrel, nor attempt to adjust
the ethics or the justice Of the one side or the
other; but in spirit of true magnanimity,
proposes to let dead issues remain forever
buried.
Such results are neither strange nor impos-
sible. England had scarcely emerged from
the darkness Of the middle ages, before civil
war arrayed one.half of her people against
the other. Five times, within the past three
and one.9uarter centuries, have her people
been antagonized in civil war; Yet its mem
cries were soon obliterated from the hearts of
a people less enlightened than ours; and no
one now asks whether his ancestry followed
the flag of York, or of Lancaster, or Of Charles
the Second, or of Cromwell.
To-day, then, for the first time since the first
hostile shot of the war; the "Conquered Ban.
ner," as we'll as the "Star Spangled Banner
takes its place in our common history-the
one to be folded away tenderly in the hearts
of the Southern people; the other, let us de-
voutly trust, to remain forever the emblem Of
a Union restored.
The American patriot, whatever lie his po-
litical tendencies, must regard the occurrences
of to-day as an achievement Of no ordinary
significance. 1t imports a practical recon
struction of the Union on basis of mutual
concessions to opinions and prejudices of the
past, and of respect and confidence for the fu-
ture. From such reunion will, in time fol-
low correction of the errors and follies of a
forced reconstruction. AS the next fitting
step toward burying the animosties of the
living, let US hope that the noble proposition
of General Wilcox, of the Federal Army, to
invite the survivors of gallant Corps of
Confederates to their next annual reunion
will be carried out, and that in time these
Army Corps will annually meet to talk over
their campaigns and the heroism they devel-
.Uhilst the memories of the war may be
thus aaectionately preserved, for the hardy
endurance, the devotion to principle, and the
more than Spartan valor of its heroes, all else
but these-and the memory Of the gallant
dead-should pass into oblivion.
Inan adjoining battle-ground, lie the hum
BILE remains of soldier Of the first Revolu-
tion-Captain James B. Fulton-where he
has slept, unconscious of the bitterness of the
second Revolution. In closing the ceremo-
MES of to-day, l would suggest that the com
mon offerings of Federal and ex-Confederate
soldiers could not be more happily consecra'
ted than over his honored dust.
In this enclosure, lie the mortal remains OF
soldiers of the Confederacy, and soldiers OF
the Federal Army. The grave knows no dis
tinctions between them, nor strife nor bitter
ness. AS you pass through this silent camp
ing.ground of the Dead, to place your gar.
lands upon their mounds, affection claims for
your kindred and loved ones the first notice.
But let that charity that "suf1ereth long and
is kind, that hopeth all things trusteth all
things, and endureth all things" prompt you
to reserve few choice garlands for the un'
known soldier dead. And in placing these
over the silent clay of the heroes whose valor
is our common heritage, it is needless to en-
qure whether he was buried in blue or a
gray jacket-whether he fell under the fiery
Southern Cross, or the Stars and Stripes
whether in the service of his country after
the conflict had ended, or in the ordinary du-
ties of life:
"God knows best. He has somebody's love;
Somebody's heart enshrined him there;
Somebody waited his name above,
Night and morn on the wings ofpraycr.
Somebody wept when he marched away,
Looking so handsome, brave and grand;
Somebody's kiss on his forehead lay;
Somebody clung to his parting hand.
Tenderly bury the soldier dead,
Pausing to drop on his grave tear!
Carve on the wooden slab DER his head
SOMEBODY'S darling slumbers here"
At the conclusion of the address, the assem-
bled company Immediately entered the burial
ground adjacent, and beautifully and appro'
priately decorated the graves of all the sol,
diers-those of the Confederates who died or
received their death-wounds in the service, as
we'll as all ex.Confederates who have died at
their homes since the war and are buried in
that cemetery. In the performance of the
simple but touching and tender tribute to the
memory of departed valor, the soldiers in blue
we're no less conspicuous in decorating the
graves of the Confederate dead than were
friends and kindred; while the graves Of the
Federal dead, lying in the same church-yard,
were decked by the citizens. All was done
with beauty and care, speaking more un'
mistakably than words, of the tender affection
in the hearts of those who placed the silent
yet eloquent symbols of love over the last
resting place Of soldiers "gallant in strife, and
nohla in thnir ire - hnt who NOW sleen the