The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-10-10
\ SACRED Duty TO PERFORM.
Four Hundred Unmarked Confederate
Graves.

I acre 3fb JNO 0ObNhSAA
transcendant, SO subj me IN their nature
that they cannot be forgotten untl ms.
tory ana tradition cease to exist. one
is the courage aud devotion OF the oou.u-
ern soldier in battle. The otner is the
unyauiug, nay the ever increasing loyal
ty and constancy which the survivors ana
their descendants cherish for those VINO
fell and to the principles for which they
fell These are verify twin virtues. and
one ia as noble as the other. History
contains but few instances of the former,
it affords no parallel to the latter, Ger
tainly not since the days of Greece IN her
prime.
IT in this loyalty and constancy we
have not given new sentiment to the
world, we have at least restored to Its
pristine glory a sentiment compar
atiyely dormant since Marathon
and Thermopyi@ And with TINS ne"
sentiment of undying constancy TO the
fallen hero We have given new lncen'
tive to courage, a fresh inspiration 10
vaior; and above all comfort ana con
ISOLATION to those moments In Whicn
wears are crowded, the last moments OF
the heroic spirit ere, amid the smoke
and dead fallen air of battle, 1t Is ex-
tinguished forever.
I never see a Confederate monument,
I never pass a well kept Confederate
cemetery. never attend one OF those
high rites and solemn observances IN
which we yearly honor, as best we know
how, our Confederate dead without think
ing: All, if they could only have known 1t;
il to the noble souls ebbing away under
the whitening glare and sitting neat or
Gettysburg or amid the numolng coiu Oh
the Richmond trenches or wherever
the Southen soldier met fate, an
undoubted voice could have whispered:
although from even the short span OF
of your life past is nov In agony riVen;
although all that is mortal of you must
now perish and again become one with
the dust on which you lie; the memory
of your high endeavor and matchless in
trepidity is immortal; it not only cannot
die but it must ever rise in grander and
grander proportions, for it ls vital
thing, thing that will vitalize the hearts
of your people for all time 10 come, and
to your lofty example all future man
hood must rise or be found wanting
The South has done so much to per-
petuate the glory reflected upon her by
her sous In gray that she cannot afford
to stop short of her whole duty. A flaw
in a stone Is of no moment; flaw IN
rare jewel mars it forever.
The remisness of duty to wLlcn l
have reference is at Winchestey, va.
The Shenandoah Valley was the debata-
BILE land Of the Confederacy. Winches-
ter was the debatable city. 1t is said to
have changed hands one hundred and
one times as, during the four years OF
strife, the tide of Southern success
ebbed and flowed The whole region is
one vast battlefield and nearly every foot
of its soil, in that it has been wet with
Southern blood, is sacred.
From far and near over this wide do
main, tie women Of Winchester nave
tenderIy gathered the sad harvest reaped
by the hand of war, and laid our braves
to rest in the great Confederate ceme-
tery in their beautiful town.
Over many hundreds of unknown
dead. who have, nor need, other title
deed to fame than the soiled and tat
tered gray they wore, a splendid monu-
ment and statue, the model for all SUP.
sequent ones, rose many years ago. All
Of the known dead were gathered and
buried by States, and a wooden head
board containing the name and regl-
ment placed over each grave until they
could be perm 2nent y marked.
One after another the Southern States
have hearkened to the ceaseless appeals
of the Winchester ladies, the guardians
of this sacred spot. Virginia came and
marked each grave imperishably. All
save one of the other States did IKE
wise. E7en Delaware forgot not that
she had handful of Confederate war
riors resting there.
One, only one State has proven de-
iinquent-or is faithless the word. AS
with bowed and uncovered head you pass
under the great arch and enter the hal
lowed precincts, there in the forefront OF
the cemetery as they were ever IN the
forefront of a battle, and the larger
number just as was the case in the bat
tie, too, lie the unmarked and, go far
as she is concerned, the unhonored sons,
of a great State State whose proudest
heritage lis that hers was the privilege tC
do more and suffer more in that ennob
ling strife than any other of the Southern
i,terhood.
That State is our oyn-North Caro-
lima. The States that in the sixties il
deepest and most earnest tones OF all said
''Go forth my sons; do valisntly and
fear not the issue whether il be of life OF
death. If We live all honor shall be
yours. If ye tall still greater honor
accord you and yours forever"
The Rev. James Battle Ayirett, rector
of the churches at Louisburg and Kit
trell, formerly of Winchester, Va, and
whose wife, born Williams, was prime
mover III the establishment of the Win
chester metery-though he rode al
chaplain with Ashby, and to the end be
longed to a Virginia command, is &
North Carolinian by birth and at heart
so keeniy feels the disgrace of those un
marked graves that he will spare M
efforts to remove it. At his instance
Franklin county guarantees 800 Of the
s., 900 needed; and it is his aim to yisi
Raleigh and Other places shortly for th'
same purpose. Let all aid and encoar