Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1901-05-22

tire shot in the forehead that killed him.
He was buried by his mourning com
rades where he fell, and the leg of Cap
| tain Thomas William Ward, wounded
earlier in the action, was buried with
him. knew Colonel Ward personally;
he was after commissioner Of the general
land office of the state. He subsequently
lost his right arm also In firing a salute.
In 184S committee of gentlemen came
from LAGRANGE to get Milam's remains
for the purpose Of burying them in a
state cemetery they were seeking to
establish there, with the view of gather
ing the remains OF the illustrious dead
Of Texas in that place, to be truly a
campo santo, to which, for generations to
come, the sons of Texas might make
patriotic piIgrimages; most laudable
scheme since partially carried out in the
state cemetery OF Austin.
But the citizens and authorities of San
Antonio at once rose in vigorous protest
against the removal of Milam's remains.
There had already been negligence
enough; the charred bones of the mar
tyred dead of the Alamo, that mighty
burnt offering to liberty, had been hastily
gathered up and buried indeed, but with
out mark to identity the spot, and it
was already forgotten within ten years
after they fell, and like that OF Moses, no
man knoweth of their sepulcher unto this
day.
Milam's body, however, was exhumed
and Unidentified by the fatal bullet hole in
the forehead. A committee of leading
citizens, with Mayor Pro. Tenn. Samuel 8.
Smith, then located this spot in the CEN
ire of what was then known as the Pro-
testant cemetery, and Milam's remains
| now rest beneath our feet. May his
| memory last in the hearts of all true
Texans as long es the granite shaft here to
be erected shall point its appealing finger
aloft, invoking heavens verdict upon the
| justice of the cause for which he died.
| But it is argued by some that this is all
wrong. That it was wrong in the col
onists to seek to wrest the country from
| the Mexicans. That, as have said, was
| not the fact in this case, but rather the
| contrary; it was the Mexicans, through
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\ trying to deprive the colonists of rig hts
| and privileges that had been granted to
them by the Mexican government, and
accepted in good faith, and numbers of
the Mexicans were loyal and true to
them and fought on their side.
| OF course, the Indians were the first
| owners OF the country and by the same
argument, the white people were wrong
in dispossessing them. Wrong in their
methods they often were; but it has been
said that he who makes two blades of
grass grow where one grew before is a
| benefactor of his kind; and illustrating
| the comparative value of man and the
| lower animals and birds, Jesus said: care
| We not of more value than many SPAR
rows?" and, "If God SO clothed the grass
of the field, shall He not much more
| clothe you, oh, ye of little faith"
/ May we not, therefore, argue that it
has been oeneficent power and provl-
| dence that has redeemed this fair land
| and our whole country from savagery
and made it the peaceful abode of thous-
| ands and tens of thousands, in place OF
| the few roaming savages, who won their
precarious living by the chase; and has
| substituted the home, the farm, the teem-
| ing city, for the wandering tent; and the
iaughte of children and the sound of the
church going bell, for the wild wal
whoop and the twang of the bow.
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