The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-08-15
Honor the ssReBel:D

The following is the letter Of Capt. W.
E. Earle in response to the invitation
from the Butler Guards, Of this city, to
attend their annual pic mic at Farr's
Mills:
WASHINGTON, b. O., July 20, 1889.
Gentlemen: desire to thank you very
sincerely for your kindly remembrance
and consideration of.me as manifested by
your courteous invitation to spend the
18th inst. with you at Farr's Mills. I
greatly wish that l could accept aid I
would gladly maize it the occasion Of q
visit to my family and friends, but my
i'll health forbids.
You young men Of the present Butler
Guards carry With your name a weightA
responsibility, for on your shoulders rests
the obligation of maintaining the char
acter, honor and espret de corps Of the
command that was trained by Henry
Lee Thurston and to the death followed
Hoke, pulliam, Powell, eagle and
Isaacs. How Well remember the pride
and admiration with which I looked
upon those dirty, ragged rebels as they
passed through Charleston in July, 1868,
after bloody Gettysburg, in which all but
six we're struck, and on their way to
avenge their dead at Chickamauga.
Never blush to be called ",ebels." Wash
ington, Greene, Lee, Hamilton, Knox,
Pinckney, Marion, Sumpter would have
been rebels if they had failed; but they
succeeded and we're "patriots.n Success.
full reyolutionists are 'patriots;;" )" unsuc.
cessful ones "rebels," but success and
failure are NOT the criterions OF standards
Of right and of.wrong. It is the faithful
and honest discharge of duty which
makes success and failure alike honora.
ble and the Confederates have made
"rebeln title of distinction and Of
honor among men. The Confederate
who saw his duty and went for it whilst
in sight, should not only not blush at the
title of "rebel," but should justly elevate
his men with conscious pride Of right.
Look at the facts ! wholly without manu-.
featuring facilities and our ports blockad-
ed, eleven States with less than one.third
of the population and less than one.
fourth the material resources of the rest
of the Union, We upheld the unequal
contest for four long, weary years. 1t
cost q debt of twenty thousand, seven
hundred and fftyiseven million dollars
and an army Of twelve hundred and
sixty Thousand men to put down our
rebellion. We:yielded only when We
we're exhausted, and there ara more
names on the pension list of the Union
than there ever we're on the er.rolls
of those who fought under the "Bonny
Blue Flag" Does that not prove that
We fought because of our conviction Of
right and that we had the courage of
our convictions? Think of this: The
First Regiment Of Rifles (0rr's Regiment)
from Pickens, Anderson and Abbeville.
lost by death eighty-one per cent. Of its
entire enlistment. The 26th N. c.,
(vance's Regiment just from the other
side of the same mountains, lost eighty
three per cent. Such yalor is unheard
ofin The annals since the invention of
gunpowder. have met thousands of
men who fought against. US, but never
one who did not admire our bravery and
grit. Let us never fail to respect our
selves. The war is over and with all the
incidents and vicisitudes of disaster and
defeat, tits better for US that we are again
q homogeneous part Of this great Repub.
lie; butevery judge of human nature
knows that we are better citizens of the
United States and tru,sr Americans be-
cause ne were true to our sense of duty
and of,right during that most trying
period.
I wish you all good time at Farr's
Mills, and though l can't be with you, I
shall think ofyou pleasantly on the 25th.
With highest sentiments of esteem and
regard, am, yours sincerely,
WIZ. E. EARLE,
Lieut.. W. g. Beacham and others, Com
a,i!tee of Invitation of Butler Guards.