The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1911-01-20

of arms was imminent and near. The
States Right Wal of words in con-
gress had waged in bitterness and fury,
and now at last the hour was about
to strike. Senators we're to give their
place to soldiers, and the argument
YVES to be transferred from the halls
of congress to the battlefield Of blood
and carnage One by one the South
ern Commonwealths seeded and st
last came old Virginia the State Of
Lee, and she cast in her lot with the
! Confederacvy of he South. Nobody but
soldier can understand the struggles
of that hour, raging hot and fierce III
the noble heart of Lee. No mere civilian
can understand the soldiers love for
the flag beneath whose folds he has
marched and fought, and prayed and
dreamed and spent his blood. For all
! his life this man had marched beneath
! the Stars and Stripes. AS he pacad the
! broad verandas Of his home at Arling-
| ton, on that memorable 18th Of April,
; 1861, when the offer Of the command
of all the Union forces was rendered
him, these were the questions he had
to settle-shall I turn my sword
against the flag? Shall I turn my back
| upon the army and my comrades of
other days? Shall I put aside the
prize and prestige that will be mine,
| if I espouse th.e cause OF the union
against my Staue? Oh, the gentle soul
is not less strong because SO gentle. 1t
! is written, "The bravest are the ten
der, the loving are the daring.' In two
! days, he couched his resignation in the
terms of courtesy and sent it to the
government In five days he was COM
mander of the forces OF Virginia. Your.
common, worldly, wise, and prudent
man would say 'FLee was fool" Men
said of him he was an idiot for chasing
after the will-o'-the-wisp of Confed-
eracy. I say God give us more of the
idiocy of such nlen-men whose COM
manding voice is conscience, men
whose motto is, when duty calls or
danger, be never wanting there"
Lee resigned his Office in the army
of the union, and consigned his promo
ton to the winds. He chose rather to
suffer affliction with his southern
neighbors, than enjoy the pleasures Of
! Washington fer a season.
Long and bitter was that wal. The
northern papers at the time described
| it as a 'tlittle local insurrection." They
said 1T would only take "a week or
two" to crush the hostile states. They
didn't know the stuff the southern man
was made of! They didn't know the
type of courage that composed our
Southern women! The "Ettle local in
surrection" became bloody ugly war.
The little week or so" of suhjugation
grew to months, and months to years
until it took The mailed fist Of the en-
tire country to beat and break the
matchless courage of the veteran
bands of Lee!
We little realize the blociiness of
that war. In the battles of Spottsyl-
vania and the Wilderness the killed
and wounded of the army of the North,
by the army of the South, was greater
than the aggregate killed and wound
ed in all the battles Of all the wars
fought by the English speaking people
on this continent since the discovery
of America 7 mean if you take the
killed and wounded of all the battles
| Of the Indian wars, take tie
killed and wounded in the war of the
Revolution, take the aggregate killed
and wounded in the war with Mexico,
take the aggregate killed and wounded
in all our Indian wars since the begin
ming the total does not equal the total
killed and wounded in the single army
of Gen. Grant at the two battles at
Spottsylvania and the Wilderness.
have no mind to gloat in the bloody
horrors of any war, but take these am
mails as they stand and they proclaim
the clash of men, real men, men who
fought like men and didn't finch
These battles serve a notice to the
world that there grows up upon this
soil a type of man, a type of woman,
that would thousand times rather die
than yield an inch of principle. That
is the meaning of spottsylvania and
the Wilderness and Charlottesville,
and all the battlefelds on which your
/ fathers fought or bled and died.
Against this bloody background
stands our immortal Lee. Learn today
the record of his martial skill. In