Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-12-17
ON TO KENNESAW.
The Difference Between 1864 and 1895
as Seen by q Veteran.

/ The Difference Between 1864 and 1879
as Seen by q Veteran.
Henry Watterson. in the Louisville
Courier-Journal. says:-The route TO
Atlanta via Dalton and Resaca, and
Calhoun and Gainesville and Big Shan
ty and AIlatoona and Kennesaw, has a
significance for certain graybeards,
who. though they may not be able 10
keep the water out Of their eyes III 1888,
were not wont 20 do much weeping dur'
ing the spring and summer OF 1901.
Whether he wore one uniform or the
other. il would do a world OF good 10
everyone Of these il he could make the
Journey over again. as have just made
it. not through rifle pits and over re-
doubts. inch by inch, so TO say, but IN
an observation car. pausing a moment
near the pivotal points TO look over the
brow of Dalton hills and recall the
brilliant fight at Rocky Face, where
the Orphan Brigade. with Mr.. Chief
Justice Lewis (even then "Old Joe Lew
is'9 az its head, did much gallant work;
al Resaca TO peer out through Snake
Creek Gap. and 70 recall how McPhear-
son and Logan swept through, while
sherman fauked around those early
MAY DAYS. 10 mark where COrse held
the fort at AllatOOna; TO see again the
spot where the great Leonidas Polk
gave up his life; almost TO hear again
the guns AT Kennesaw; in short, 70
comprehend. after thirty years, the full
import OF that daredevil march TO the
sea. the valor of each side actually
clarifying the valOr of the other side,
and so on 70 the walis-the earthen
walls-of Atlanta itself, where for six
weeks. we had a panic, the like Of
which no man would care TO repeat.
10 was a sight to see this same At
lalta. th5. evening of August 81. 1864
when Hardee having fought the battle
OF JOneSbOrO 20 make diversion, those
of us inside marched out and away
down the McDOnOugh road. Ii was a
sight 10 see, One cOnglOmerate mass
of smouldering ruins. the lines Of the
streets Obliterated; on every side the
smoke AID debris of,bUrniug homes anal
decorated shrine; the very household
flowers torn from the Intel. / drove
along PeaChtree street the other AZ
ternOOn-a street that in Opulence and
beauty is fast overtaking Third avenue
in Louisville and Euclid avenue in
Cleveland-and. of all the ancient
landmarks but one remained: it was
mansion in those days by some mira>
Gle it escaped the siege; now, n little
dingy brick house, CrOuching between
and beneath two vast structures. saO
and silent, like some poor wan woman
in fading black who has seen better
days as in truth this has; a simple yet
royal homestead whose dOOrways blaZ-
ed with hOspitable light and warmth,
and whose rOOf-tree sheltered nObleSt
and most beautiful of women. long
since gone TO her rest, Il is we'll that
Atlanta has left these things far away
in the past Perhaps it is not i'll that
so many Of those who could live only in
the past have vanished from the scene,
and that the intervening years, leyeling
the graves and efaclng the scarfs, have
plOughed their ruthless highways un-
consciously 10 those who went down be,
meath the drums and trampings of that
dread time The dead past has cen
buried its dead The living must cen
live and let live: and it is not for those
whose lives are behind them 10 lay any
crosses upon those whose lives are be-
fore them, or to dispute the viii OF God.
No direr test could have been applied
TO a people than four years of war
and thirty years Of peace have applied
to the Southern people; no people ever
endured such an ordeal; no people who
ever existed could have survived it.
Behold the proof right here I'm Atlanta,
albeit proof is everywhere. cOnserva-
tive manhood and wOmanhOod behold
the safe guards of the future; for here.
here Will be found the stuff to meet and
beat agrarian encrOuchments. to drive
back alike the lesions OF Usurpation
and the hOrdes Of anarchy. and to de-
fend and maintain orderly government
laid in Democratic principles on Re,
publican lines.