Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 23.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

When William, the Norman, had destroyed the English nation at Hastings, so the inscription read, he erected a grand memorial in the sight of the thickest fray, and placed the high altar of the Abbey over the very spot where Harold fell. This memorial he called Battle-Abbey. He dedicated it to the Norman, St. Peter, and placed it in charge of an order of Norman monks. The banner and the shields of those who died on that stricken field were hung up in the chapel, and the roll of their names and dignities inscribed on its record. Here for four centuries daily prayers were offered for the repose of their souls, and matins and even-song celebrated their devotion and their death. But the Abbey of Battle has long ago passed to profane uses, and the flags of the conqueror and his knights have faded into dust. It cannot be so with the memorial of the Confederacy. The Battle-Abbey commemorated a ruthless raid of robbers, who took by the strong hand and lived with disregard of blood. There was not a principle of honor, of chivalry, of justice, or right in that attack upon a nation and in that overthrow of a race. With the power that established it, Battle-Abbey fell and disintegrated.