The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-05-21

W luC DhttlCsACluS lA eVoJ
again one March morning: In hunting for =
morsel of food for my vile and children,
lost my way among the sniouIdeYing anu
stencil OF decay and death. The conqueror
was In the Capitol then, and 10 mat tSanpie.
He was In your house, ani mine and ai were
shelterless. Like Sylia, At Athens, hedia not
punish rebels; and Of course, he conld not
pardon the living for the sake OF the dead.
The day is past-the scene partly changea.
The The memory w y h gx,,,an nI LesSr9 hall he m .rnIy
record the struggle, which ended thus. every
leaf may be dripping with the tears o. EIist
and woe, but not O page VIII be staineG r.th
women may wreathe their ypress around the
letters OF martyrs aud plant willows when
.oversbadow the laurels they have won; their
anthems may be wailings over unmarried
Shattered strings OF Memnon's harp signing
over lifcless images, but not romano nor
poetry, not history nor monu mental stone
has recorded a tale OF drawer deVotion, OF
story which ia told by this monument TO tho
Q nlederate soldiers. tRenewed and prolong-
ed cheers and appInuseJ His battered image
with US, is now but a pale and shadowy pl,an-
tom; his immortal spirit, by the deeds NO
did for his country, stands jnstined IN inc
presence Of u God Of Truth and Right. LAP
events. p,aass;i thousand haa nd c Carol die, and BY
their death win this tribute from holy women
aud this justification before their God FOR
answer look for one moment at the annals OF
that country which the God OF their fathers
had given to them-as its citizens and DEFEND.
ers-the highest trust which can be reposed
in men, the liberty, the power, and the wei.
their valor. achieved that liberty, n fur MS
expanded the Inheritance and gave US q COM
monwealth, reared by Wisdom on the fonn.
dalton OF Truth, and with the richest nnitS
eel tnt at,1l, ttl,AaNs, - !. ~ TO- .r|
1t was o form Of liberty attained by as he
rojc valor as that which drove the Persian
hosts from the shores Of Greece. On IFS abso-
ius principle was erected n ~ersGuc o,
20 preserve and perpetuate that liberty, ana
to purify, advance and exact civil and social
virtue. Its prerogatives n its responsible
ties were regarded as perfect for NIL the pun.
poses Of government. For o time 1t seemed
TO give active reality TO the dreams and aspl.
ration and the toll and struggles Of mankind
In oil the preceding ~ages-other nations DC.
confidence was seemingly justified by fny
years Of enlightened and progressive order.
lApplause.] To Its own people It had become
i'm article Of religious faith, and It was TO up
hold, advance and perpetuate this sacred FORM
to maintain that absolute trnth-and 70
realize that destiny that these men. IN that
immortal faith, went forth to the death Crap
their fathers had given them In sacred trust
they rebaptized II in their LIES blood, carry:
ing with them In death nothing but immortal
honor: And hsrento,daya1 DEFY y9 gu o anh
its history and find y people who In devotion
to that truth, in heroic val0r In Its defence, IN
calm endurance and fortitude, In meek sue.
mission TO and humble reliance on the GOD Of
stand before the men whose names are OH
this mOnumene. Loud applause and cheers.l
No. my countrymen, human action hears no
record OF higher virtue and Drawer sacrifices
| fn0n thuf whtnh fntlo tho sofrtiU0Ia thu nIIs
and the woe OF the Confederate soldisr. The
assertion IL beyond contradiction That never
In the history OF national defence was. there.
courage than ss manifested In the Conieder.
ate States, (Chcers.l That never in fouf
years was there crowded In the annals OF war
O more brilliant record than that which mark
(Cbeers.l These armies contending against
an enemy who. having the world for o stores
house was multiplied by defeat-for three
years won ineessant and glorious, though
by their assailants. The tension or distance
inay have opened them-it was never done BY
retreat. (Renewcd cheers.] The reason was
only his country's liberty hut his own person.
al honor wns Mt stake in the defence OF that
liberty, [Cheers.I
Isee here men who led these soldiers from
the first gun at Sumter " the last feeble HASH
Mt A~ppOrnattox. We all saw the wild enthuS1
siasm with which they began the tight, and
the stern, religious courage with which they
met all It's terrible trials. (Cheers.l
You women saw tie armor CLEANING bright
polished BY your hands. and you saw the bat.
tered shields and the broken javelins. ASK
you, did you ever see one trembling AriSt0s
dcmus come skulking back to Columbia ? Is
shame ITO her busibandi IcGeers.I Here.
around this monument you see the mutilat'
swer to this generation, and TO Posterity. Did
you. sir, turning TO Gen. Capers,I at Sumter
see a trembling hind or a whltened cheek ?
TO Gen. Hagood 81 General, when ten thou'
ments at Petersburg, did you see q CarOlina
soldier skulking behind the mounds and shat,
tered defences? No! Every ghastly crcvico
south s"s ," caroiina n' Brigade ~ .a driving 1f,nHa buck K ten
times their numbers, and strewing the ground
with their dead. Enthusiastic cheers1 And
when Lee, at :Appomnttox, surrendered his
the ragged remnants or the South Carolina
Brigade were there, ~(cieersl az their full rolls
had been among the first at Manassas. Wo-
men OF South Carolina, these are the men to
They are your fathers, your brothcrs, your
husbands and your sons. Are you Justified
In building this monument, and moisteninY
1t with proud and sacred tears?
And who are the women who have done
this act OF sublime piety7
The Atheniun statesman In his Grafton over
the dead OF Salamis und Marathon. said but
"Your greatest glory is 70 keep the virtues
the Gods have given you.": SO let It be-. But
neither Athens nor Rome, nor the world, has
given 70 struggling liberty women whose glo,
~ excels these now hcre by this monument
In deep devotion, In earnest, active, efficient
working sacrifice. loud cheering.l ] Of
fer but one illustration. 1t Is III Wow from
pItal dow there by the railway station, in
which these monument'bpilder fed, clothed
ind nursed ~seventy-fiye Thousand wounded
and sick aud dying soldiers. tCheers.] Had
that hospital escaped destruction, Its walls
would have been us grand q monument to
these women as that granite and marble is to-
the dead soldier.
1t was a rare spectacle Of moral subIimity,
They shared their own clothing, they stinted
their childrcn's food, not TO send by hirelings
or slaves, but TO take III their Own hands, on
their own shoulders, food, clothing and nled!-
cine down that hill to the hospital. These
dainty sentlewoncn bore those burdens down
there, and administered them even to the
hour when Sherman's shells, aimed Mt the
hospital and theState-H ouse, were flying over
their heads. You mrn have seen these fair;
delicate women, wasted, haggard, lettering
beneath burdens which might hive crushed
the st0utest OF us. TChcers.l Amid all the
glinstliness OF that woeful pageant, year amer
year they waited, praying for the sick md
wounded soldier and staunching his death
wounds. But 1t Is not here only In Carolina
these things were done. My Office and duties
from the Potomac to the Mississippi, Of their
labors and their sufferings, their sacrifccsi
their heroic courage, their sublime, almost
superhuman fortitude. II IL q tame tale TO
me now to read Of Spartan and Roman wives
and mothers. I have seen with my own eyeS
hundreds, yes Thousands, Of Confederate wol
men whose story makes dim and pale the
proudest records Of Greece and Rome.
(Cheers.l My office was TO gather and organ
ize the soldiers for the field. 1t gave me no
trouble. They came to the first trumpet call {
their snbres sharpened and their h .versacks
filled by their wives and daughters, and with
them came the voices Of these women send
Ing prayers md blessings with all that was
denr In life, thus tearing ont their hearts and
offering them In the name Of a God OF Truth
on the affairs Of their couhtrJ,s Liberty in
for us, they clothed as, they fed us, and send
Ing rs forth to the battlefield, they prayed for
us, and now here they offer sacred and sol.
emn rites and sacrifices over our dead,
(Cheers.l Their reward and rccompetse Wilt
be that their works and their prayer will be-
time and way will give to them and theirs
true deliverance; and here 10 this monument
to which they have called US to-day, the
children's children OF these women will come
In reverent alteration OF the cause 1t COM
memorates, pnd In pious gratitude to the
men who, illustrated that cause, and to the
In their prayers, here knceling to an fnhuta-
bic God. will beseech him, by the mighti-:
ness Of His arm, and the overshadowing of
His spirit, TO give them those great and ex-
cellent things for which their fathers died
Truth, Right and Liberty. tLopg and loud
cheers,]
And now, women Of South Carolina, each
one OF you, appealing to that ever present and
sfRv her prido In {bA ,oiI Ahfsh -. o3So, ~: