Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1896 — THEY ARE BROTHERS NOW. [ARTICLE]

THEY ARE BROTHERS NOW.

The Spirit that Exists Between Veterans of Both Sides. Although the horrors of war are the more conspicuous where the conflict is between brothers and the struggle is a long and desperate one, the evidences are numerous that, underneath the passion and bitterness oi our civil war, .there were counter currents of kindly feeling, a spirit of genuine friendliness pervading, the opposing camps. This friendliness was something deeper than the- expression of mere human instinct; the combatants felt that they were-indeed brothers. Acts of kindness to wounded enemies began to be noted at Bull Run, while in every campaign useless picket firing was almost uniformly discountenanced, and the men shook hands at the outposts and talked confidingly of their private affairs and their trials and hardships in the army. This feeling, confined perhaps, to men on the very front line culminated at Appomattox, where the victors shared rations with their late antagonists and generously offered them help in repairing the wastes of battle. When the Union veteran returned to the North he did not disguise his faith in the good intentions of the Southern fighting man. The spirit that moved Lincoln to say in his last inaugural, “With malice toward none,” has continued its holy influence. That which must appear to the world at large a startling anomaly, is in truth the simple principle of good-will, unfolding itself under favorable conditions. The war, that is, the actual encounter on the field, taught the participants the dignity of American character.