The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-11-19
Silence of Peace.
Ali If theY could only speak.

l 1uEIo Is u uldl Ul0 oloO dV IhO ASoA VI
every grave in the National Cemetery to
tell of war. If there is no name the
word Unknown" signifies that d soldier
who was killed in certain battle lies
buried there.
It's the guns which are silent-which
have nothing to speak for them. Here
and there one has been saved as u relic,
but the vast majority have disappeared
in the molting furnaces, to come out in
more peaceful form.
! What of the great barbette guns at
Fort Sumter, the black.mouthed monsters
which roared defiance at Beauregard as
he struck his first blow at the Federals !?
What of the grim muzzles which belched
fame from the many port holes as brave
Anderson fought to delay the inevitable :?
A hundred cannon manned by Confed-
crates, hurled death and destruction at
the fort for fateful hours, and nearly
every one of them was called into use in
later years. Can one single piece of
that ordnance be found to day?
Great siege guns hurled shot and shell
into Yorktown, Charleston, Petersburg,
Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Island No. 10,
and half score of other places. Who
can point out the spot where one Of those
monsters lies resting to-day?
In the rank weeds at Fort Pillow lies
/ disabled cannon. 1t may be spoken Of
as dead. a great shell from Federal
yunboat inflicted mortal injury. If that
Sid cannon could only speak, what q
story it could relate of the fierce fights
in the bend of the great river. Ithelped
to drive the gunboats back again and
again; it thundered at them as they
finally ran the gauntlet; it fell into Fed
lsral hands; it was retaken by the Con.
federates; it saw all the horribleness Of
var before it was thrown down to sink
away in the soft soil and be half hidden
in the weeds.
On the ridge above Vicksburg-the
ridge from which hundred guns
hurled shot at the Federal craft-one
may find two old cannon, defaced, Grip
pled, useless. They will never thunder
again. If they could speak! Just think
Of the story they would tell, beginning
with Sherman's attack, and ending on
that historical Fourth of July which
witnessed Pemberton's surrender! Be-
tween those dates were hundreds of days
and nights-days of battle-nights of
slarm-Weeks of staryation-months of
suspense and horror. These cannon
could tell lis all, but they are forever
silent.
| And what of the hundreds of field
batteries? Each gun came to have its
name and history. Each one came to
nave its friends and admirera in the
brigade. Each new scar added to its
list of friends-each battle proved it
more worthy of confidence. Think of
the battles one of those rusty, defaced
and useless pieces could name Think
of the thrilling incidents it could relate !
In the roadside ditch between Fred
ericksburg and Charlottesville one lies
dead, and 80 buried out of sight that few
eyes rest upon it. On the field of Antie-
5im-over in the woods where Hooker
rushed at Stonewall Jackson and could
not drive him-lies another. No man
can say that O third can be found, though
he look over every field of battle known
to history. What of the pieces which
aamed and roared at Bull Run, Will
l;amsburg, Fairfax and the Seven Days?
What of those which thundered up and
down the Shenandoah and the Drury?
What of the hundreds which belched
shot and shell at Fredericksburg, Chan
cellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga,
Appomattox? Of the hundreds not one
single dozen have been preserved through
these twenty years of peace. The bur-
den of silence is upon them. They may
exhibit their scars and rust, but the
secrets of the battle lie safely hidden in
their black depths. They could tell of
fathers, brothers, and sons.of heroes
and cowards-of advance and retreat
of gallant charge and bloody repulse,
but they are silent forerer.-Detr0a Free
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