The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-06-04
For the +. & M.-Household
ST. Augustine.

My last letter left US standing at the
frowning ramparts of old Fort Marion,
and the next step, by sort of natural
sequence, was to visit the military GEM
etery, which lies beyond the Southern
| limits of the city, on what is known as
the L. ;. military reservation.
| The day was exceedingly warm, and
the glitter Of the sunlight upon the sand
and the incoming waves of the rising
tide made blue veil, about the most
desirable article one could possess.
| Tramp, tramp, through sand as fine and
white as powdered lime, until strength
and patience both go overheard, and
vexed inquiry OF passing Blue coat
gains the agreeable response that we
have passed the objective point of our
walk some several hundred yards, and
that visit to it can only be made thro'
card OF admission to be obtained from
the Adjutants office.
We turn to retrace the wasted steps,
and our civil Yankee returns to present
the requisite ticket of admission, which,
with the innate courtesy Of most Ameri
can men, he has gone to the trouble of
getting for US.
To my comrades whispered sugges-
1
give him something for his trouble, l
return shocked negative! The idea
of offering an American soldier piece
of money for bit of courtesy! In lieu
thereof say few words of thanks and
appreciation Of his gallantry, and we
pass on.
AT the turnstile we show the sentry
our ticket, and enter the silent biveuac
where many gallant heart lies pulse
less until the last great Reveille shall
sound.
This city of the silent is pretty,
shady. and we'll turfed square, kept ex-
/ quisitely neat and tidy by details from
the garrison.
The first point of interest Of course
was the three pyramids which mark the
burial place of Major Dade and the hum
dred and seven soldiers who were killed
with him by the Seminoles in what is
known in history as "Dade's massa-
cre.'
My interest in the spot was brighten
ed By personal reasons, for Major Dade
had been friend of my grandfather, the
late Hon. Alfred Moore, and in visit
paid to him shortly before he was order
ed on the campaign which terminated
so disastrously, he had spoken with hor-
ror of an Indian war, and told grandpa
he had always had presentiment that
he would be scalped by the Indians, and
die in their hands which presentiment
was realized under circumstances of
great horror in 1885. He was fastened
to tree, or stake, scalped. transfixed
with arrows, and left to die of wounds
and starvation under burning sun,
and in sight of the fostering heaps of
his dead comrades who had sold their
lives so dearly; and against such over
whelming odds. When the massacre
was discovered by the Americans the
bodies of the slain were buried where
they fell but afterwards they were re-
moved 10 where they now lie. A lady
told me she had often heard an old st.
Augustinian tell of the day when two
wagons brought the poor bones of los
men to st. Augustine, and they were
buried with military honors. Poor rem
nants of humanity how pitiful it SEEM
ed There they lie under three large
white pyramids, aud near by granite
shaft records the story of their gallantry
and death, though with a singular omis-
sion not one single name is given, and
only know that Major Dade was the
son of one of the oldest of Virginia
families, and that North Carolina also
gave one of her hero-sons in the person
of Lieut.. Keyes, who was at West
Po,nt when my father first entered as
cadet.
| 1t seemed impossible to realize all the
fierce conflict in which they had perish
ed, so strange stiffness rested over
the spot, not even a birds song, nor
the whirr of tiny wing spoke OF life
beside those silent mounds.
There are not many graves in the
cemetery, and over the majority of them
are monuments raised by their COM
rades-in-arms. OF course more than
one records the name of North Caro-
linian, men who died in the United
States service in the years before 1.-The
bloody chasm" yawned between the
States.
Speaking of death naturally suggests
life, and st. Augustine is wonderfully
healthy. The percentage Of old women
is very conspicuous. The people seem
to have learned the secret of living on
nothing, and therefore can prolong ex-
istence indefinitely.
Among the native population you
will notice certain children whose pale
olive skin, soft dark eyes, and wonder
fully beautiful hair as soft and thick as
floss silk, and FURNISHED and lustrous as
if gilded with dark red gold, marks them
distinctly as neither American nor
Spanish.
The quest ton of their nationality will
be answered either reluctantly or with
a certain defiant pride according to their
innate sense of honor and loyalty to
their own. They are Minorcans, whose
ancestors were induced to leave Minor
ca, and other of the Grecian Isles in the
early days of Spanish occupancy.
Brought over as emigrants with fair
promise and false representations and
then made virtual slaves, and held
in rigorous bondage, with no rights,
even of life, left to them,-th iron
entered their soul, and to-day their
descendants acknowledge themselves
to be Minorcans either with the
false shame of enforced serfdom
still in their manner, or with the defiant
Ipride of those who resent injustice and
cling with loyal faith to their own in
spite of disaster and enforced disgrace.
And to the last my whole heart re-
sponded with respect and fellowship
st. Augustine suffered terribly during
the war. All arms-bearing men flock
ed to the standard of the Starry Cross
and early in the war the U. S. fee
seized the town, put it under MARTA
law, and the hardships of the womer
and children left therein can be NOR.
readily imagined than described. They