Carnton Heroes

Last Saturday was the anniversary of the Battle of Franklin. Several years back, I walked the graveyard at Carnton Plantation. It is a peaceful and hollowed place, well cared for over time.

Reading the stones of heroes mostly forgotten, the emotion of the moment engaged me. It is most common among gentle Southern men. These were men protecting their homes, families, and way of life. None would choose to be there, if not for the circumstances and the providence that guided them to such a place. And, last weekend that same providence guided me.

As the day proceeded and the dark was soon coming, I came across the dead from South Carolina. I had read through the names, hoping for perhaps a distant relation among the brave – from Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, etc., until finally I found the regiment from South Carolina.

There it was, not just a name, but my name. In the grief of the event, the sadness that such a connection begat, I penned this short poem, this pledge. I am on way way to honor that pledge, and I pray all those who wish for a better country remember those that gave all in pursuit of one.

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I found you there not all alone
But with your friends today

Fallen swayed, from beautiful home Resting there, so, so far away

Impassioned in an honored call Defenders from invaders rage

In stone garden found reposed. Numbered, letters marked in a page

I found you there my valiant kin Forgotten, I take my blame

Barely seen through weathered days Mourned and cared for just the same

Now the time, to remember, recall To kin and country and to reclaim

To never again forget the cost
By the man whom bears your name.

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Deo Vindice God Save The South

-By Father Dabney