The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-10-07
THE SOUTH IN HISTORY.
FHE BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICAN
LIBERTY.

FHE BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICAN
LIBERTY.
Her Place in Literature, Science,
Education, Theology, Jurisprudence,
Craftsmanship and Military Glory.
BYL. WHITE.
OF the great powers that now
rule the destinies of the world, no
one more demands our attention
as having risen to such degree of
eminence in so shcrt time as the
American nation. "Truth," it has
been said, is stranger than felton,"
and no better instance is found to
prove this than in looking back over
the past century of our republics
existence and tracing her steps
through stormy adversely to height
equal if not higher than that attain
ed by the Roman Empire during a
period ten times as long. A century
ago witnessed the birth of our ma
ton, when it broke the chains of
oppression with which it was bound
and proved its right to resist as a
free and independent country by
that long and unequal struggle
known as the American Revolution.
AS in the early history of Greece, we
find her Sparta and her Athens
rivaling each other for supremacy,
so in this country, there early sprang
up, by reason of diversity of soil and
climate and the different natures of
the people settling in different parts,
those germs of contention and rival
ry which, growing with their years
and strengthening with their strength,
have caused to exist the sectional
terms North and South which have
always been linked together in the
chain of our history. Realizing the
fact that there have always existed
times in the progress of human
events when it seemed proper to
pause and take a brief retrospect of
the past, no time seems more fit
than the present for us to consider
the part acted in our national drama
by this Southern land of ours, the
beloved "Dixie" of Confederate
days.
If there is a spot which ought to
be dearer than any other to true
American heart. it is that upon
which was first kindled that fame
of liberty which, burning brighter
and brighter, now illumines the re-
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The South-nay the very country
in which we stand to-day-elaims
this beloved place, for upon this soil
was laid the corner stone of our
temple of liberty by that little band
of patriots who declared their right
to be free in the Mecklenburg De-
claration Of Independence. Time
will not permit to recount the glori-
Gus deeds of her sons during the
series of battles which began with
the victory at Fort Moultrie, "the
bright and morning STAR of our in
dependence, and including Eutaw
Springs, Cowpens and Kings Noun
tain ended at Yorktown, where was
witnessed "the baptism of liberty"
Methinks that the inspiration Of a
Milton or the eloquence of a Demos
themes would but family portray the
characters of Campbell, Sumter,
Marion and Moultrie, and a like
host of kindred spirits whose names
have come down to posterity as
nobler examples of heroes and patri-
OTIS than Homer or Virgil sung or
than those who fell at Thermopyle
or on Marathon's plains.
"And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his God's?'
But in this period there is one who
claims more than a passing notice
one who stands out SOLITARY and
alone in his grandeur like the
mighty monument which perpetuates
his memory one whose name shall
be cherished in the ages to come
one who was commissioned by heaven
to conduct our nation from its
Egyptian bondage through the will
derness of calamity and war to the
verge of the promised land" of
freedom and prosperity. Yes, the
mother of States can proudly boast
that her soil furnished a. birthplace
for Washington, and that beneath
.Vernon's shades rest the ashes of one
ofthe greatest statesmen, generals and
heroes that the world has ever seen.
But like the patriarch of old, he
was permitted only to view from his
"Pisgah heightof fame the promised
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