The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1902-11-28
AS TIE WAR WAS FOUGHT.

vas fought on lines consistent with
the rules of civilized countries.
Unfortunately from the first diff
iicuity as to prisoners arose, and
later when the use of negro troops
in the North was adopted, the uues-
ton became too difficult to be settled.
The su!ferings that were endured by
prisoners on both sides while those
unsolvable questions were discussed,
can never be justified. Undoubtedly
the difficulties in the way of exchang-
ing prisoners were created by the
North, and gave color 70 the charge
that thece was no desire to secure
the return of Northern prisoners
from the South, as it involved the
return Of Southern men 70 their army.
la fact, General Grant in letter to
General Butler expressly so stated.
War is inseparab!e from horrors.
Civilized warfare is indeed q contra
diction in terms, but taken as a
whole, perhaps, the war itself was as
free from extreme barbarity as could
have been hoped for. If the honor
aud honesty which dictated the terms
offered by General Grant aud with
such magnificent moral courage, ac-
cepted by General Lee at Appomat-
tox had been recognized throughout
the North, possibly with all its evils,
many blessings might have come to
both sections as the wars direct re-
suits. Without the sequel the names
of Grant and Lee might for all tine
have been linked together by the
"hole people of the reunited States
in ever grateful memory.
The noble purpose OF General Lee
in putting an end to bloodshcd By
laying down his arms instead OF scat
sering army to wage desu!tory war
fire, should have alIayel oil bitter
ness Of feeling and helping hands
should have been extended to the
desolated South. The wise aud gen.
erous policy CT General Graut in
allowing the Southern private SOL
diers to keep their horses to do their
spring blowing, should have been
followed everywhere. Sad and Bit
ter as seemed the end to those who
had struggled SO nob'y for their
cause, l,t,le did they dream that
their suffering had scarcely begun.
They could not have believed that
the victors who appeared 80 generous
in Tie field would have followed in
such courses that thirty years later
the true history has to be written in
IRcd Rock" and in leopard Spots"
1t is happy augury for the future,
when from the lips of such a distin-
guished son of Massachusetts as
Charles Francis Adams has fallen
tie highest praise of Robert E. Lee.
SOUTHERN HERo's EXAMPLE.
II would indeed have been hap
py fate for the country if the example
of the Southern hero, after Appomat--
tox, which has secured for him for
all time recognition that makes
him only second in war, second in
peace, and second in the hearts Of
his countrymen, had been followed
by the North and its commander.
1t is difficult to speak with calm
ness and moderation of the scenes
enacted in the decade following 1865.
No appeals could check the wild
orgy into which the controlling pow
ers in the North had rUsLed.
A South, 90 plundercd thai all the
rnins Of the war appeared rs nothing;
a North, seeking with corruption
until the records Of credit mobilicr
frands, and black Friday tumults
made the people doubt the integrity
of all The terrible scourga of So
called reconstruction, as directed by
the distorted brain Of Thaddeus
Stevens, and the iniquities of tho
|. ."Freedmen's Bureau" aroused not
only the South, but the North
itself. Even those apostles of the
cause who produced the war-Gree-
ley, Chase, Julian, rhe war Govern
ors Andrew. of Massachusetts,, and
Curtin, of Pennsylvania, and many
others--rebelled a3ains. the actions
of their old political associates. Few
governments have survived such evil
Influences ss eliminated in the great
crime of 1876, when even the will of
the people, overwhelmingly asserted
at the polls, was ruthlessly disregard.
ed. The SAD story is now, 1 hope,