The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1916-11-24
Tribute to the
Private Soldier


on the desert airr" is an old but trite
saying, and can very appropriately be
applied to the private soldier of the
army of the Confederates States.
Historians, from the days of Herod-
otus, the father of history, down to
the present time, are lavish in their
praise of commanding generals OF
armies, and admirals of fleets, and
their names have come down from
generation to generation wreathed
with garlands as a token of the es-
TEEN in which they were held by their
country in saving it from being over
run by vandal foe. This is all right
and proper and we would not pluck
one feather from their plume or de-
tract one single iota from their we'll
earned "spurs"-yet, the private SOL
dler, who by his undaunted courage
and answering obedience to his su-
perlors in command, made it possible
for the names of these commanders
to come to us crowned with glory, has
gone unhonored and unsung, with no
monument erected over his grave or
no page in history inscribed to his
memory except in a few instances,
and then for some extraordinary act
of daring or heroism.
No one today can tell the name of
single private of the three hundred
Spartans under Leonidas who fought
In the famous battle of Thermopylae;
In the great naval battle of Salamis
where the Grecian triremes complete
ly destroyed the navy of the Persians
and saved their country from being
wiped off the political may, only the
commanders are mentioned by name
by historians. Who today can call the
name of single private of that in
vincible body of soldiers composing
the 10th Legion of Caesars army?
The same is true of the private SOL
dier who fought under Marel, Peter
the Great, Napoleon and Wellington.
1t may be said, and with some show
OF truth, that the privates of most of
these generals were but hirelings and
IN the army for an occupation-be
that as it may nevertheless, had it
not been for the privates with their
cross bows at Hasting, Anglo-Saxon
civilization might never have been
realized, and today, but for the brav-
cry Of the privates at the battle of
Tours, the hordes Of the great Pro-
phet might be roaming over all South
ern Europe.
But why go back to the old world?
The same is true of our own country
and present time. Historians have
followed the same trail in recording
the battles Of the War of Secession.
The men on the firing line that made
Robt. E. Lee, a Stonewall jackson,
Wade Hampton, and all the galaxy
OF Confederate generals possibility,
are rarely mentioned by name, and the
only preservation Of their individual
ity is and will be traditional. Ger
tanly If ever men fought for a prin-
ciPle that was right or they thought
to De right, and on which they staked
everything, it was the Confederate
private-men Of affluence, and men
OF small means, men with families and
unmarried men, at the first bugle call
to arms, shouldered their muskets,
marched to the front and fought side
by side in many bloody fray. No
caste there cut common cause, the
men of affluence abandoning his life
Of ease, buckling on the accoutrements
Of private soldier went cheerfully
to the front knowing it meant life
Of hardship, privations and probably
death on the battlefield or in some
hospital. The man with small means
or possibly none at all, with like de-
votion to his country, bade his wife
and children goodbye, possibly feeling
it would be forever, and leaving them
without any visible means of support,
as his own pittances of pay would be
only $11.00 month in deprecated
currency, went to the front with de-
termination to do his duty wherever
and whenever called upon. Surely
men like these could not be classed as
hirelings, and fighting for the money
they received as pay. Towards the
latter part Of the war one months
pay was hardly sufficient to buy a
pair of shoes, and most Of their cloth
ing came from home, the handiwork
OF their wives, mothers or sisters,
having spun, woven and tailored these
garments. Rations at times had to be
supplemented from this small pay by
purchasing food. No, it was not mon
ey he was fighting for, but as patriots
in the highest conception Of the term.
His uncomplaining endurance of the
privations and hardships on the march,