Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1863-12-04
- - L. 1000 MUsCATINE, IOWA FRIDAY. DECEMBER A. 1863
ORE spon ndence of the Muscatins Daily Journal
FROM WASHINGTON.

! spondencs of shs MuscAtins Daily Journal
FROM WASlHlNGTON.
The Dedication of the Gettysburg C,metnr,
| -The Vind,cation of Maj. Gen. Curtis =
The Spedkership - Io,cans from Libb,
Prism
WASHINGTON Cry, Nov. %, 1858.
ought to have written you from Gettys
burg, on Thursday night last, but had trav
eled too much, been on my legs too much
and slept too little, to be in trim for CORES
pondence. And since the bulk Of the crowd
from here returned, on Friday, I have been
recuperating. Meanwhile, before tbs shall
reach you, You will have no doubt printed
more or less full accounts of the celebration
or ceremonies, and need not, therefore, gc
into the details in my account. But an 0c-
casion which called forth the most glowing
eloquence OF Everett, the tear-bringing invo.
cation of Stockton, the condensed ratocia
ton of the President, and even an approach
toward the manliness OF his former days from
Seward, is not to be utterly passed by.
Providence ordered glorions day. The
number in attendance from abroad was esti.
mated at not less than fifteen thousand. 1t
was in all respects complete success. Not
the occasion of the funeral ceremonies over
the dead who had fallen IN the Peloponessian
War, when Pericles delivered that grafton
IL: ~ ,I,
than the Par,henon, or the other works by
which he adorned the capital Of his country,
was more effec:ing or more august than was
the dedication Of the National Cemetery at
Gettysburg. The immense concourse Of
strangers seemed to know that they were
standing on holy ground, and if the speeches
Of Montgomery Blair, Gov. Seymour and
John W. Forney, on the evening previous to
the dedication, were in the case of the first
miserable, the second tawdry, and the third
absolutely disgraceful, it is to be considered
they were interlopers, and that their poor es-
says formed no part Of the regular proceed
ings. With these exceptions, the general
beauty Of the ceremonies was marred by no
blotch whatever.
1t was a day which can never be forgotten.
1t will live in the most VIVID recollection of
the present generation, especially among oar
gallant troops, till tho generation shall have
passed away, and it will survive in history
to the latest generations, like the similar oc-
casion on the no more heroic field Of Mara
thon. This would be so because Of Everetts
grafton, if for no other reason. The old man
eloquent here surpassed himself, as your
readers who have read his address (and
hope they all have done it) will agree. But
they can form hence no idea Of the effect it
had upon the vast audience, which listened
in almost breathless silence during the nearly
two hours of it's delivery. Everett does not
look old, though his hair is white as snow
Dressed in elegant taste, graceful in all his
motions, his voice powerful and musical, the
No man has the art of concealing his art so
well as he. Every sentence of this splend d
Grafton had been carefully prepared, not a few
of the opening sentences were almost literal
translations from the history of Thucydides,
yet it was all delivered as though gushing
fresh from the heart, or rolling hot from the
excited mind. No man would have dreamed
that it was not purely extemporaneous. I
think it Will generally be considered his best
effort.
The only representative of Iowa whose
name appeared in the proceedings is Colonel
N. P. Chapman, who was one Of the Mar
shals, on the staff, so to speak, of Chief Mar
shal Ward H. Lamon, of this city, and who,
by the way, exhibited his well known puppy.
ish qualities on this occasion, as he always
does. But he did not treat Chipman with
any disfavor.
Let me allude to but one or two particu-
lars. The President was everywhere re-
ceived with the most hearty enthusiasm.
The people, evidently, do not look upon him
as the "tyrant and despot " our Copper
head penny a>liners would have us suppose.
His dedlcatory remarks, brief though they
were, were three or four times interrupted by
the greatest applause, and he could not stir
about at all without being compelled to shake
hands with crowds Of people. He is the most
popular tyrant the world ever saw.
The following hymn, breathing the soul Of
freedom, was imposed by B. B. French,
ESQ, an old citizen of this city, and sung
with as much of the spirit and the under
standing by Baltimore g!ee club as though
they had come from Boston:
IT'S holy ground
This spot, where in their graves,
We place our Country braves,
Who fell iu Freedom q holy cause, .s
Fighting for Liberty and Laws
Let tears abound
Here let them rest
And Summers heat and Winters cold,
Shall glow and freeze absve this mould
A thousand years shall pass away
Nation still shall mourn this clay,
Which now Is blest.
Here, where they fell,
Oft shall the widows tear 20 shed,
-..' Oft shall fond parents mourn their dead,
phAn haraa hall kno andv
And naidehs. where their lovers sleep,
Their woes shall tell.
Great God in Heaven
Shall all this sacred blood be shed
shall We thus mourn our glorious dead, ISL
Oh, shalt the end be wrath and woe,
The knel of Freedoms overthrow
Country riven2
It will not be
We trust, Oh God Thy gracious Power
p , To aid Us in darkest hour. ~.
This be ou- prayer: 'Oh Father save
peoples Freedom from its grave
All praise to thee 7"
THE yINDICATIoN OF MAJ. GEN. CURTIS,
The following appeared among the special
dispatches from this city in the New York
Tribune Of Saturday: &c. ..-...-...
ut is known that the findings of the Court
of Inquiry, of which General Mcdowell was
President, which had for its object the inves
tigation Of charges of specializing in cotton
by Union officers in the Valley Of the Missis-
sippi, implicated Maj. Gen. Curtis in four
fraudulent transactions. The friends Of that
officer have lately induced the President and
Judge Advocate Gen. Holt, to make special
and thorough Investigation of the case thus