The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-05-03
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CONFEDERATE HEROINES.
Suggestion to Woman's NOnu-
ment Commission by DR..
James Mcintosh.
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Newberry, S. c., April "a, 1912.

NeWberry, 5. O., April "a, 1S1z.
Mr. Editor:
The monument to the women OF
Carolina, recently unveiled in Column
bia, in it's silent representation of the
past we'll ever bear impressive testi-
mony in the years to come of the noble
heroines, whose virtue it commem-
crates.
In no period of the worlds history
have the women so proved their devo-
ton to the country, or practiced such
self-denial, as did the women Of the
Confederacy during those trying years
from 1851 to 1865. And with full
appreciation of this fact, did the thou
sands gather to see this first monu-
ment to woman unveiled, to stand for
all ages as a memorial tablet to her
heroism and virtue.
The committee on the monument de-
cided that it was best not to place any
name On the monument, where there
were so many worthy Of remembrance,
but to let it stand as the silent mentor
of the past. Though amid the archives
of the State in the capital building
nearby are memorable reports Of the
labor, the self-sacrifce, the deaths OF
some noble women during those years
of war and carnage. And to recall
those names, and keep them green IN
our memories, seems appropriate at
this time, as we'll as a fitting tribute
to the dead. For a man to die for his
country is the noblest of deeds. For
a woman to die for her country places
her name upon the topmost roll of
fame. And South Carolina had women
in those trying days whose self-denial,
heroism and death at the post of duty
deserves to be recorded with the mob
lest of any age. And that Carolina
may know of her daughters glorious
records ask you to give space to the
following letter:
Newberry, S. c., May 81, 1909.
To the Committee on Woman's Monu-
ment, Columbia, S. c.
Gentlemen: With the building Of a
monument to the women of South
Carolina in commemoration of their
devotion to the cause of the Confed-
eracy, would suggest to your COM
mittee for their consideration the ap-
propriateness of having placed On the
monument the names of those women
who died for the cause, giving up their
lives at the post of duty, with the same
patriotic ardor that led the soldier to
lay down his life on the battlefield.
And among the many worthy of the
honor let me suggest the following
names. Their lives, their heroism,
their deaths, is told thus by one who
worked with them, and who also laid
down his life for the sick, the needy,
the suffering soldier. For in the re-
port of Prof. R. w. Barnwell, made to
the South Carolina legislature in De-
cember, 1862, upon his hospital work
in Virginia, from the First Way-Side
hospital established in 1861, to June,
1852, when he turned over all the
South Carolina hospitals in Virginia
to the Confederate government. We
find in his account Of the Warren
Springs hospital the following:
"The memory of our work at War
ren is alas saddened by the fact that
Mrs. Waites here breathed her last
from an attack of pneumonia, taken in
her devotion. to her duty, and her
priviIege-the care of the sick. She
was as truly martyr as those who
fell in the forge below, eading up to
the heights upon which we hewed her
out grave where Jackson's cohorts
routed the invading columns of the
marauding Banks and Shields. Like
them, too, she died without murmur.
She had gone to Virginia to be near
her son, whom she had given to her
country in the ranks Of the Cover
nor's Guards from Columbia, and with
the persuasion that other kind hands
would do for him what she died in do
ing for others, her pure Christian spir-
it passed to its Joy and rest
And when writing of the work in
Charlottesville, Va, he reports the
work at the Ivy House as follows:
"It was at one of these homes, the
Ivy House, that one of the saddest in
cidents connected with our work oc-
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