Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-01-15
Should Be Marked.

one of the most meritorious works in
which the people Of the south can en-
gage at this time, according to our view
of the situation, is the marking OF eV-
ery unmarked grave Of Confederate
soldier to be found in all this broad
land.
The Federal government has taken
up this matter in what, we think, Is
rather limited way, our understanding
being that it is marking only the graves
Of soldiers who were buried In natlonal
cemeteries, and these include only an
infinitesimally small per cent of the
graves that have not already been
marked.
At a venture. based on more or less
persistent effort to get at the facts, we
estimate that there are no less than
fifteen hundred Confederate graves In
York county. Of these, we are doubt
full as to whether as many as five num-
dred are marked. and although The
ENQUIRER has record of more than one
thousand in all, the location of the re-
naming five hundred is a matter OF IN
creasing difficulty that will soon be an
impossibility.
There has never yet been anything
like a general agreement OF opinion as
TO the real cause of the war. There
are some of our own people who hold
that it was negro slavery and others
who say that it was secession, and oth-
ers hold to still other views. The peo-
ple of the north, too, hold to different
opinions in regard to the matter many
of them insisting that they fought for
the abolition of slavery, while others
claim that they had no other interest
than the preservation Of the Union.
Our own belief Is that the great CIV
il war was the result Of conflict or
civilizations. AS we see it, the north
was built up along lines Of CONNER
cial and industrial development and the
south along lines of agricultural devel-
opment. The people of the south, the
sooner reached the point where they
we're able to ascend into the higher
and more ennobling fields of art,
science, literature and craftsmanship,
The cause of the war is to be found in
the intellectual domination Of southern
ers In these fields and especially in the
national government. That intellec-
tural superiority excited envy and ma
tired that finally took the form OF armed
aggression on the part of the north'
which was met in self-defense on the
part Of the south. Although the south
ern people made the most heroic strug-
gle, of which history has any record,
they were overpowered and besides
that but little else was ever proven In
The result.
We believe that the time will come
when both sides will recognize that
the great civil war was little else than
a conflict between two civilizations,
that the superior civilization temporarily
went down before superior numbers and
greater force-was overpowered-and
that the higher civilization Of the south
will be re- established as the standard
of this whole country And when that
time comes future generations will find
more honor and inspiration In being
able to trace their ancestry back to
Confederate soldiers than they are now
able to find even in direct descent from
Revolutionary patriots.
It is the duty Of the present genera
ton to take thought Of these things.
We owe 1t 10 the soldiers who fought and
died in the discharge of sacred duty,
and we owe it no less to the coming
generations, who will be glad to honor
themselves by doing them honor.
The descendants of the Confederate
veterans are not to be expected to
mark these graves. There were thou
sands and thousands of them, who left
no descendants. They gave their lives
in defense of their country's civiliZa-
ton even before they had homes of
their own. There are other thousands
and thousands who, for various rea-
sons, lie in unmarked graves. 1t Is In
cumbent upon all who appreciate the
things for which these men stood, to
at least put up over their graves mark
ers that will tell who they were in
life. This work could be done by leg"
islative appropriation. Possibly that is
the proper way to do 1t; but really 1t
would not be much for each commu-
nity TO take the matter in hand, and
by subscriptions Of money, labor and
love, discharge this great obligations
that rests so heavily upon us all.