Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 26.djvu/78

68 should be in every home in South Carolina, and throughout the South as well.

Light batteries of the highest efficiency helped to defend the long stretch of our exposed territory east of the railroad, and our cavalry did double duty; as cavalry they were rapid in movement, and, dismounting, proved the best of infantry on every occasion.

The battle of Honey Hill was the epitome, in essential particulars, of the whole four years of coast defence"the quick eye, the cool head, the stout heart," were surely there displayed, and with these the skill, courage and endurance nurtured in our four years' school of adversity.* *  *

The month of November, 1864, was relatively quiet, and without special interest on the coast of Carolina; the thin, grey line of soldiers on duty there had been informed of the great six months' struggle in Virginia, and had been thrilled with the details of the continuous victories in the defence of Richmond. General Grant's campaign, which "took all summer," having entirely failed in its only object, the capture of Richmond. They had, too, looked on for months at the unequal conflict in Georgia; had seen the mistake of removing General Joseph E. Johnston from the command of that devoted army of the West, with its "lofty spirit and enduring heart;" followed by the fall of Atlanta; and, finally, had witnessed the only army possibly available for the defence of three States, inexplicably most strangely dispatched in pursuit of a military mirage in Tennessee, where it was practically destroyed.

"All lost! but by the graves Where martyred heroes rest, He wins the most who honor saves- Success is not the test.

All lost! but e'en defeat Hath triumphs of her own, Wrong's pæan hath no note so sweet As trampled Right's proud moan." It is a singular coincidence that the battle of Franklin was fought on the same day as Honey Hill. The people of Carolina and Georgia clearly realized the great disaster impending over their States; they knew the full significance of General Sherman's overwhelming army on its "march to the sea" every outward and visible sign was well calculated to depress, but the record of Honey Hill shows