The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-06-11
Confederates Capture Chicago.
PEACE HATH HER VIC
TORiES-

FhfNS~E- ftfNSt ~ FtG.Fr VIZ
TORIES
Dedication OF the Monument TO South
ern Heroes--E,oquent Address o
Wade Hampton.
The monument erected In Chicag,
to the memory OF Confederate dead
was dedicated with imposing ceremo
nies on the 3ist of May. There was al
immense cOncourse OF people, and many
prominent COnfederatcs cook part In
the proceedings.
Gen. John @. Underwood, who origi
mated the idea of the monument, brief
ly sketched the inception and progress
of the monument which culminated In
the great gathering, aud closed by
introducing as presiding officer of the
exercises the Rev. III. w. Bolton, pas.
tor of the Centenary Methodist
Church and past commander OF U. s.
Grant Post, N. %, G. A. r., whom he
eulogized as the embodiment OF hon
or, justice and morality. broad rep.
resentative OF the Union veteran, q
humanitarian and Christian genGle-
man." DR.. Bolton, on taking the chair,
returned thanks for the honor confer
red upon him, and in q speech of some
upon the soldiers of the late war, bot b
North and South. After an anthem by
double quartette, the orator OF the
day, Gen. Wade Hampton, was intro
duced, and spoke as follows:
The scene presented here today is
one that could not be Witnessed in any
country but our own, and for this rea-
son, Ii no other, 1t possesses signfi-
canoe worthy OF the gravest consider
alton. A few years ago, brave men
from the North and from the South
stood facing each other in hostile ar
ray, and the best blood OF the country
battlefield. Thousands, hundreds OF
thousands, OF our bravest sleep iD
bloody graves; men who gave their
lives to prove the faith Of their con-
victions and how North and South,
standing by these graves wherever
they may be, grasp hands across the
bloody chasm, and proudly claim Fed
eral and Confederate soldiers as Amer
leans, men who have given to the
world as noble examples Of courage
and devotion to duty as can be enroll.
ed on the pages of history. Nor is
this all that marks this occasion as
which would render it memorable In
our annals for all time to come. No
monument in the world has such an
honorable history as attaches to
yonder one. That marks the graves
Of no victorious soldiers, but of tho fol.
lowers of a lost cause it stands not on
Southern soil, but on Northern: the
men who rest under it's shadow come
from our far off Southland and 1t
owes its erection not to the comrades
of these dead soldiers, but mainly to
the generosity and magnamity of their
former foes, the citizens OF this great
city. All honor then to the brave and
liberal men of Chicago who have
showed by their action that they re-
gard the war as over, and that they
can welcome as friends on this solemn
and auspicious occasion their former
enemies. AS lOLg as this lofty col
umn points to heaven; as long as one
stone of its foundation remains, future
generations OF Americans should look
upon it with pride, not only as an
honor to those who conceived its con-
struction, but as q silent though noble
emblem of a restored Union and a re-
united people. In the name OF my
comrades, dead and living, and in my
own name, give grateful thanks to
done honor to our dead heroes, not as
Confederate sOlciers, but as brave
men who preferred imprisonment and
death rather than freedom obtained
by dishonorable sacrifice of the prin-
ciples for which they were willing to
die. g
OF the 5000 Confederates buried
here not one was an officer; all were
privates, In no way responsible for the
the unhappy war which brought an
lliad of woes upon our country. And
yet these humble private soldiers, any
one of whom could have gained free
the Federal government, preferred
death to the sacrifice of their princi-
pies. Can any possible dishonor pos
sibly attach to the brave men of Chica-
go because they are willing to recOg-
niZe the courage and the devotion te
duty OF these dead Confederates.
Imagine, II you can, my friends, the
despair, the horror OF these poor pri-
Yates, lingering in prison and dying
for their faith. They died here, in
what they looked upon as a foreign
and hostile land, far from the land of
their birth, with no tender hand OF
mother or wife to sOothe their en-
trance into the dark valley OF the
memories of their far off homes and
loving kindred to add the sharpest
pangs to death itself. They were
true men, and say II you please that,
they were mistaken, that they were
wrong, no brave man on earth can fail
to do honor to their courage and their
steadfast adherence to what they con-
ceived to be their duty. You, the
brave citizens of Chicago, In doing
honor to their memory, honor your
selves and humanity. Nor will you
blame us of the South, while apprecia-
ting gratefully your generous action
In behalf of our dead comrades, for
cherishing with pride and reverence
their memory. You could not respect
us we're we to feel otherwise. Death
places its seal on tho actions of men
and 1t Is after death that we "meas-
ure men"
"a King once said of PENCE struck
down;
"'Taller he seems in death
And this speech holds true for now as then,
1t is after death we measure men,
Aud as the mists of the past have rolled
away,
Our heroes who died in their tattered grey
Grow taller and greater in all their parts
I'LL they I'LL our mind as they fill our
hearts,
And for those who lament there is this re.
lief,
That glory stands by the side of grief.
Yee, they grow taller as the years go by,
"A. n l.. - Il