The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-02
HISTORIC OL
 BATTLE GROUND GuiIford is Only One That is Marked and Preserved PEOPLE PAID FOR THE PARK Preservation of This Sacred Spot Has Been Due to Patriotism of Cit
 izens of North Carolina
 and Not the State.
PEOPLE PAID FOR THE PARK
BY FREDERIC J. HAsklN.

of the Revolutionary war which has ] been marked and preserved. The fed eral government has establishe ed great national parks at Gettysburg, Chicka mauga, Vicksburg and Shiloh for the war, and the state governments have co-operated by building many monu- ments on these fields. But Congress has never seen fit to undertake the pre- servation of any of the scenes of the 1 battles which gave the Aemrican na- tion it's separate station ariong the peo- ples of the world. The camp ground at Valley Forge is preserved by the state of Pennsylvania, there is a mon l town and monuments and tablets erect ed by patriotic people and societies are set mp in many places.
 At Guilford battle ground, however, there is more than mere tablets can 1 signify. There is the same old road across which General Greene disposed his two lines of militia an done line of regulars. Up that road came Lord Corn l Wallis and his splendid soldiers, Eng ] fish of the Queens guard, scotch fusi- leers and the mercenary Hessians. The rail fence behind which the Carolina militiamen awaited the approach of the enemy Is gone. but its position is mark ed by a line of granite blocks. Every detail of the topography of the field and of the progress of the battle Is marked.
 The government of the United States did not preserve this field. Patriotic citizens of North Carolina, the state in which the fires of independence burned brightly before the torch was lighted at Lexington or Concord, have pos sesse dand preserved this battle ground out of their own pockets An organiZa tion was formed in Greensboro In 1887 and two years later had raised enough money by soliciting small donations to purchase a portion of the land. From time to time other parcels have been bought, so that the park now contains 100 acres. The site of the old sourt house, of which nothing remains save the foundations is also owned. but .t is detached from the main body of the park.
 Congress appropriated money to build two great memorial arches across the road along which the two armies marched on March 15, 17S1. These have been erected as monuments to General Francis Nash and Genela William Lee Davidson, two soldiers who died In battle for the cause of independence, The Continental Congress decreed that monuments should be erected to their memory. but the states then had no money and 1t was not done. More than a hundred years later, at the solicitation of these North Carolina patriots, Congress revived the old acts and the noble granite arches are the +result.
 The association of men which has built up the park has been trying for several years to have 1t accepted by the federal government as a national park This would assure its preserva- ton and care. Congress will be ap- pealed to again, and Major Joseph M Morehead, president of the Guilfofd Battle Ground company. is hopeful that something will be done to guarantee i the preservation of the work. Senator Aldrich of Rhode Island passed a bill through the Senate providing for the erection of an equestrian monument to General Nathaniel Greene on the Gull i ford battle ground General Greene, who commanded the patriotic army in l that battle, was native of Rhode Island Speaker Cannon would not al- l low tho bill to come up in the House although he was born within few
 miles of Guilford. Last spring he came to his old home at Greensboro l and, of course visited the battle field. He was much impressed by what has been done, and 1t Is believed here that he will relax his opposition to the monument.
 Twenty-seven monuments have been ! erected on tho battle ground. nearly all of them by private means and subscrip- l tions. One of these Is to a woman, tho | only statue of a woman patriot of the rev 1 olution ever erected, and another is the only monumental memorial to a boy hero of the war of independence. The woman thus signally honored was Mrs. Koren- happuch Turner of Maryland. Her son was badly wounded at the battle of Gull | ford Court House. She rode horseback from her home north of the Potomac and | found him almost consumed by the fires of a terrific fever. She bored holes in the bottom of a tub and suspended 1t from the rafters above where he was ly- ing She carried cold water from the spring and put in the tub and allowed 1t to drip down upon his body. This she kept up until the fever was allayed, a
 treatment which anticipated the 'dce pack of the modern hospital nurse, and was equally as efficacious.
 The monument is a pedestal of granite which supports bronze statue. She Is represented as wearing an apron, In one hand is a cup and saucer and in the other a spoon, which things arc more typ ical of the ministering angel than wings.
 By the side of her monument under an
 "A tent shaped block of granite rests the body of her grandson, Capt. James
 NJ. Morehead, who was a North Carolina soldier of the revolution. Such woman
 as Mrs Turner did not live in vain, and she has been honored by her descendants
 in their lives, as she has been by this
 bronze and granite memorial. Two of her
 grandsons became governors of states,
 North Carolina and Kentucky, another
 was a United States senator from Ken
 lucky and another is in charge of the | Guilford battle ground today.
 Not far away is the monument erected | by the boys and girls of a North Carolina
 school to commemorate the heroism or a
 young boy. "Gillies," bugler for Light
 Horse Harry Lee who fell cut to pieces
 under the swords of Tarleton's merciless
 dragons Another monument is-a pile
 of rough and unhewn granite blocks,
 which show no mark of chisel. There
 is no graven legend, but resting nearby
 is A cast iron plate which explains; Ma
 tbaniel Macon decreed that his memorial