Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1911-03-31
ALL WHITE CITIZENS SHOULD BE
INTER ESTED


LNI'ERESTED
The warrior rests upon his bier,
Within his coffin calmly sleeping
HIS requiem the cannon peals,
And heroes of hundred fields
Their last sad watch are round him
keeping"
The Montgomery survivors Of the Con-
federate army propose to erect monument
to their dead comrades. The words quoted
above from in Memoriam Of Lieut.. General
Leonidas Polk" apply today to nearly all
of the considerable number Of native citi-
zens of this county who took part in the
great conflict Of 81 under the Confederate
colors. The citizens of Maryland who vol
unteered their services to the Confederacy
fought solely for consciences sake. Theirs
was no battle of defense, for no intruder's
foot was upon their soil This State was
not in rebellion. and when Massachusetts,
sent her contingent into Maryland en- route
to Washington and the South no hostile
bayonet glinted in the Maryland sunlight
Maryland was no more separated from the
Union in technical sense than was Penn
sylvania. But though the State was tech
nically loyal, the heart Of Southern Maryland
was with the South, and those of her sons
who gave their services to her cause fully
exemplifed the sentiment of that entire
section and of thousands Of men who but
for superior restraints would have gladly
followed their example The few now re-
naming of the Confederate Veterans of
this county, who hold the love-watch over
their sleeping comrades, are the lingering
expressions Of the tensest sentiment of those
stirring times Of war, sentiment which
was so wildly alive that every neiehbor-
hood from Point of Rocks to Leonardtown
vibrated with it, and every woman and
every tender child reflected it unfeignedIy.
Out of this multitude of men and women
indignant at their conception of great
wrong, the two hundred, or whereabouts, of
MOntgomerians who went to the war were
the peoples expression Of their feelings
These men had burnt into their recollec-
tons with the iron sword Of battle, not
only with other men Of equal bravery and
determination, but with want and suffering,
the story of deeper experience, an expe-
Renee immeasurably more lasting and
more affecting than those who did not
actually enlist. With this common and
superior point of communion, no wonder
these men cherish their camps" hold in
fond esteem their departed comrades and
seek to perpetuate their memory in struc-
ture Of bronze or stone.
The monument proposed by the Ridgely
Brown Camp should be an object of interest
to every white citizen of this county, re-
CARELESS OF his sentiments. 1t will be
holy object-lesson to future generations
It will eloquently and constantly proclaim
the beauty Of faithful and altruistic de-
votiOn, unequaled in some respects in his
tory Such a monument will not exalt the
soldier of fortune fighting for glory, nor
the soldier by profession fighting for pay
1t will declare the spirit of the Crusader
fighting for the freedom of the Holy Land.
Let this monument be erected as me-
mortal to brave men but more as a re-
minder to its beholders that there is a
human sentiment which lifts higher than
even home defense or wrongs avenged
Erect it as constant lively proclamation
of that spirit of 1881 which shone with
such superior ray in the sacrifices of the
young men Of that day for pure principle
of political independence, the triumph of
which meant nothing to them from the
standpoint of personal ACKNOWLEDGMENT or
greater freedom.
1t is the duty Of every citizen of this
county to lend hand in the erection of
this proposed monument so those of today
and tomorrow and the next hundred years
may know that in those days there were
men who were living exemplars Of the text,
lit is better to give than to receive"
The SENTINEL will be glad to hear from
any who will contribute to this cause, and
will turn all communications and pledges
of assistance over to the right persons.