Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-08-30

! were III your lTOuG duu Oll y Jul liduN' O''
were as firm under that terrible fire as the
Spartans at the Pass of Thermopyla, whose
deathless devotion to duty you were ready
! to emulate You retired only when ordered
to do so, and you faced the foe and continued
firing as you retreated from the field. Your
gallant cOmrade, Lieutenant w. II. Reeves,
and were wounded and fell into the hands
| of the Second Corps, and / must say they
! treated us not only humanely but Hospitality.
! They sympathiZed with US and did every
thing in their power to make us comtorta-
BILE. | shall never forget the generous man.
ner in which some of their officers spoke of
the thin grey line tipped with steel which
| they found it so difficult to dislOdge-that
| fought Romans in the best days Of Rome.
Though sad at heart at being separated
| from my cherished comrades to whom my
thoughts mournfully turned, my sorrow III
tensitied to know that the struggle, the sac
rifices they were making, was about to be
shrouded in defeat, l could feel my cheek
glow with pride as / lay and listened to the
tribute that was paid to McGowan's Brigade
by those that were arrayed against them.
The unequal contest was rapidly drawing to
close. Lees feeble forces were being har-
rassed and hemmed in on all sides. A wall
of steel surrounded them. Weakened by
famine and worn out by fatigue and fighting,
they were forced to yield-not to the foe
but to fate, against which there is no armor.
That noble old army, whose daring deeds
and achievements had awaken
| ed the applause of every civilized country,
at the bidding of its chief folded its flags
and in front Of 10000 Federal soldiers laid
down it's 10000 rifles. r. +. Lee-the sim
pie mention of his name thrills every South
ern heart to its very centre: There have
been no darts of detraction leveled at his
| ol,, o4o ,iol,r r.
ror in which the world can see the white
ness of his soul. He was as generous as he
was great, as good as he was grand. Our
confidence in him and our love for him were
as illimitable as his fame. 1t has been said
that the blood of Robert Bruce flowed in
his veins. He was no less renowned than
the hero of Bannockburn. In speaking OF
r. E. Lee am reminded of Curran's felic-
itous words touching the noble blood Of Lord
Edward Fitzgerald, which are no less appo-
site when applied to the leader OF the Army
of Northern Virginia: "Nobler than the
loyalty that first ennobled it-that like a
rich stream rose till it ran and hid its foun-
tain."
There is an Arabian proverb which says
'the remembrance of the past is sigh" i"
1t strikes the key note to the dirge Of our
sorrow when we recall the many cherished
images and hallowed recollections OF the
past. 1t is with quivering lip and moisten-
ed eye that try to speak OF our comrades
who sealed the sincerity Of their principles
in the purest and most precious blood that
ever anointed the sacred cause OF liberty /;
whose fame shines and ever will shine in
imperishable glory many of whom lie in
unknown graves beneath Virginia's historic
hills and verdant wales, beneath the sunny
slopes of Sharpsburg and beneath the ensan-
guined soil of Gettysburg, above which the
Verdure of summer blooms, upon which
Gods bright and blessed sunlight shines,
over which heavens feathered choristers
sweetly warble their morning madrigals,
and the weird wind softly and sadly sighs
as if in sympathy "for the unreturning
brave" They, at least, were spared the hu-
initiation of defeat and the ignominy OF its
accompaniment. How sad to contemplate
the desoation and despair which followed
the downfall of the Confederacy! With all,
save life end honor, lost, many Of our gal
liant comrades returned to Carolina to find
the old homestead which had cradled their
infancy, around which clustered the most
endearing memories, in ruins. The faithful
father, the fond mother, the sweet young
sister, the darling and devoted wife gone
from earth to peace and happiness in heav-
en-. Well might they breathe forth the ten
der lines of Campbell's "Exile of Erin"
"Where is my cabin door, fast by the wildwood? :?
Sisters and sire! did you weep for its fall?
Where the mother that looked on my childhood?
And where is the bosom friend dearer than all
Oh my sad heart long abandoned by pleasure
Why did it dOte on Il fast fading treasure?
Tears like the rain drop may fall without measure
But beauty and rapture they cannot recall.
1 am not here to discuss the rights of the
States under the Constitution framed by
Thomas Jefferson. The President of the
Confederacy has ably and nObly vindicated
the cause Of which he was the chosen and
honored chief. He was singled out for pun
ishment and persecution. Upon his good
grey head were poured the vials of rancOr
and wrath. He was derided and denounced,
manacled and confined in dungeon. He
silently and sublimely suffered for the peo-
pie in whose service the best years Of his
life were passed. In the camp and in the
cabinet, in the field and in the forum, the
light Of his genius and gallantry ditfused
it's lustrous rays, illuminated the land of his
birth. Why try to belittle and blacken his
rupt, mean or merciless is as far removed as
the sea is from the sky. There is no stain
on his shield; it is as spotless as star. He
is the truest type of an American scholar,
soldier and statesman. Every breeze that
comes to him from hislOved South is balmy
with the affections of those who appreciate
his worth and value his heroism. God bless
Jefferson Davis! God grant that content
ment and joy may encircle the heart of our
noble old chief, to whom / this day offer
the homage of an humble but devoted South
ern soldiers heart, and / know, my COM
rades, that what l have said of Jefferson
Davis finds responsive echo in the breast
of every one present.
There may be, and doubtless are, those
who would have us forget the past-that
past in which You Colonel Davis, and your
comrades from Fairfield, Lancaster, Pick
ems, Richland and York of the Twelfth
Regiment behaved so handsomely and he
roically; in which SO many of them went
grandlv down to death. But my friends,
my comrades, if we were to forget the past,
we would be unworthy to call Carolina
mother. Forget the past, the history of
which has been written in the blood OF the
bravest and best of men-the past in which
you periled your lives, in which the gal
liant and glorious Gregg, the bold and bril-,
liant Barnes, the brave and true hearted
Miller, the high minded and fearless Book
ter, who were the chivalry of courage, who
so nobly upheld the martial renown OF Car
olina, who added new lustre to the light
of her fame and met death with fortitude
and patriOtiSm-the past in which the men
in the ranks, the real heroes of the war, dis
played more than Spartan courage, eXhlb-
tied more than Roman fortitude, accom-
plished all that valor and self-sacrificing
heroism could, whose devotion and daring
scarcely find parallel in martial history,
who, though outnumbered in every fight,
broke through the ranks of the foe and fol-
lowed the Southern Cross as it streamed
over the crimson-crested waves of war and
along the tide of triumph from Richmond