5/11/2008 12:37 AM   0 comment(s) on this story E-mail this story to a friend

By HALEY HUGHES
Staff writer
The history and heritage of the United States' South was remembered Saturday at the Confederate monument in the center of Park Avenue and Chesterfield Street.
Spectators, members of local Sons of Confederate Veterans, Daughters of Confederate Veterans and re-enactor groups gathered under the shade of trees, with the American flag, Confederate flag and South Carolina state flag, among others, waving in the breeze. It was the 14th annual Aiken County Confederate Memorial Day service.
"They were not fighting for what they thought was right. They were fighting for what was right," said John Cook, past commander of the Bernard E. Bee Camp No. 1575.
Saturday was a day to remember ancestors and the cause they fought for, organizers said.
"If we had to do it again, guess what, we'd do it again," one man said.
South Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans First Lt. Commander Don Gordon delivered the keynote speech, reciting a eulogy written for Calvary Commander James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart from Virginia.
"We must know more than their marches; we must know their motives," Gordon said after he finished reciting the eulogy. "We must know their pure instincts that made them lay down their lives to stop the invasion of this state by the Yankees."
The hymn "Amazing Grace" played as two men carried wreaths of flowers to the area around the Confederate monument and laid them there.
J.W. Osteen, a member of the General Joe Wheeler Camp No. 1245, was bestowed the camp's lifetime achievement award.
"Taps" was played and Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War were honored with a four-gun salute. Many joined others at Aiken First Baptist's cemetery where a brief ceremony was held at the grave of the unknown Confederate soldier.
"It is an honor to have our heritage," Gordon said. "Your presence shows that in South Carolina, we have not forgotten."

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Cooper-Miller

Allison Nicole Miller of Aiken and Chad Marion Cooper of Aiken were married May 17, 2008, in St. Paul United Methodist Church, New Ellenton. The bride was given in marriage by her father. The Rev. B ...
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