The Elbert County tribune., 1908-05-28

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had gone out 900 strong; 1t had been
recruited and re-recruited; 1t had been
veteranized and added to in other
ways; and now 1t was bringing home
less than 300 of all the men who had
gone out from that section of the
country from which 1t had come. The
joy of going home for the 900 was
great, but 1t was a fearful joy the In
slant one thought OF the 500 or more
who could not go home, who never did
go home. who were buried somewhere
in the broad land over which the 300
had marched. and too often with a
headpiece marked Unknown"
After the war I stood in the large
cemetery near Murfreesboro. Tenn.
with Gen. r. B. Hayes (afterward
president) and Mrs. Hayes. l remem-
ber how Mrs. Hayes. who was an ex-
ceedingly handsome woman, looked
up into the faces OF the general and
myself as her large. dark. speaking
eyes were flooded with tears. when she
said: Just look there, that plot OF
ground is covered with headstones
marked Unknown Unknown, un-
known" she repeated, "and yet he
gave his life that his country might
live!"
1t was touching picture. but every
time / think of 1t say to myself:
Really. that unknown soldier, ap-
parently unknown, recorded unknown,
was not really unknown. Somebody
knew him. His comrades knew him.
A mother. sister. wife and children,
If he had them, knew him. There is
a better record somewhere than that
in the soldiers cemetery" Our faith
is SO strong that we all believe in the
resurrection and in the future life and
have great satisfaction in feeling
that no sacrifices and particularly not
that Of life itself for duty, for what
one sincerely believes to be duty, has
ever been or ever will be made in
vain.
The saddest pictures OF all, to my
mind, are those connected with a los
ing battle like that of Fredericksburg,
and still more that of Charlottesville
At Fredericksburg the army of Burn
side went straight forward to its own
destruction. The lines of Lee, half en-
circling Burnsides points of attack,
were complete. 1t was like a trap into
which an animal deliberately puts his
feet. We sprang the trap, and 1t is
a wonder that Lee had not dealt with
Burnside's army as the sturdy Thomas
dealt with Hoods at Nashville. I can
see in my minds eye those immense
plateaus In front of the Marve Heights
and other confederate intrenchments
and barricades covered with the dead
and dying. The plateaus were fairly
blue, as they were dotted with the
wearers of our uniform.
Gen. Couch was standing by my side
close of that battle, where we together
were taking fresh reconnaissance,
when noticed that his voice trembled
as he spoke to me. He said: "Oh, Gen.
Howard. look there! Look therel See
the ground covered with the boys in
blue, and all to no purpose"
After we had returned, all of US
who could return. to the other shore
of the Rappahannock, the depression
of the soldiers was greater than at any
other time during the war. we could
hardly speak to each other. Now, after
years, we can recognize the fact that
our grief was balanced by the Joy of
the confederates over a greas victory,
and yet not a decisive one, gained by
them
At moderate calculation there
were sent into eternity more than a
million of men, who left home In the
prime of health and in strength; more
than million OF souls by the terrible
conflict For one, | am glad, indeed,
that there Is an effort on foot to set
tie difficulties without bloodshed. OF
course, the waste of human life is not
all of 1t. There is in every war waste
of possession, destruction Of proper
ty and degradation of character hard
to avoid at the best. know that there
are some things worse than death. /
know that the union OF our states was
worth all that it cost, and know that,
humanity speaking. it was necessary
that we should be purged as by fire;
but is It not wise now to do all that
we can to hold up to the world the
blessings of great peace; even the
peace that passeth understanding,
which never must exclude any OF the
noblsst qualities of a womanly woman
or q manly man?
soul full of memorial greetings to
all eur sorrowjng comrades Of the civil
war.