Aftermath: Destruction, America Transformed, Crimes of War, Enemies of the Republic, Hatred of the American South, Lincoln's Grand Army, Looting the Conquered, Memorials to the Past, Myth of Saving the Union, Targeting Civilians 
Comments Off on Mute Reminders of the Injuries Suffered Mute Reminders of the Injuries Suffered
Mute Reminders of the Injuries Suffered
“Let these blackened ruins remain untouched. We are not an artistic people as the Yankees claim to be, we have neither the taste nor the money for Gettysburg monuments and amphitheatrical cemeteries. Our dead heroes sleep sweetly in the bosom of the old mother, whom they died to defend, and in her poverty the old mother has not decked their resting places with precious stones and miracles of art.
We have monuments enough left by the invader. The Ionian Greeks would not rebuild the temples which their barbaric enemies destroyed; they allowed the ruins to remain as mute reminders of the injuries suffered; as must appeals to heaven for vengeance. Let us in this spirit refuse to efface these memorials of our savage foes. In after-times it will almost a patent of nobility to have a ruin in the family.” Basil L. Gildersleeve