Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1864-07-09
d Il D | 6 A T | 0 N
OF THE SITE FOR THE
BATTLE MONUMENT
W0sf Point
West Point.
SPEECH OF GEN. MCCLELLAN

The dedication of the site of "Battle-
Monument" to be erected at West Point.
in memory Of the slain of the regular ar.
my OF the United Stntes, was dedicated on
wednesday last. There were over three
thousand civil military and present. There
we're number of distinguished citizens,
including Gov, Seymour and others
Maj. Gen George B. Mcclellan delivered
the address, as ioows--
| All nations have days sacred to the re.
membrancc of joy aud of grief They
have thaDksgiv,ugs for success; fastinss
and prayers III the hour oI humiliation and
defeat; trumphs and paeons to greet the
| living laurel el-crowucd victor. They have
obscques and culogiCs for the warrior
slain on the Geld ol battle. Such is the
duty we are to pciorm to-day. The poe
try, the histories, the orations of antiquity.
all resound with the clang of arms; they
dwell rather upon the rough deeds of war
than the gentle arts Of peace. They have
preserved to US the names Of heroes and
the memory Of their deeds even 10 this
distant day. Our own Old Testament
teens with the narratons of the brave ac.
tlons and heroic deaths of Jewish pstri.
OTIS; while the New Testament of our
meek and suffering Savior often selects the
soldier and his weapons to typiiy and H.
lustratc religious hsroism and duty. These
stories Of the actions Ot the dead have fro.
queDtly survived, in the lapse of ages the
names .! those whose fan WAS thus com
memorated centuries ago. But, although
VIC know not now tho names Of all the
brave men who fought and fell upon the
plains OF Marathon, in the pass of Their
mopyla, and on hills of Palestine, We
have not less the memory of their exam.
pes. AS long as the warm blood courpse
in the veins Of man as long as the hu.
man heart beats high and quick at the re.
cital of brave deeds and patriotic sacrii
ces, so long will the lesson still invite gen
erous men 10 emulate the heroism Of the
: past. Among the Greeks it was the Gus
ton that the fathers of the most valiant o
slain should pronounce the eulogies of tn,
dead. Sometimes it devolved upon the
great statesmen and orators to perform
this mournful duty Would that De-
mostheues, or a second PcricIcs could rise
and take my place to-lay, for he woult
tisd theme worthy Of his most brlllian
powers, Of his most touching eIoquence.
| stand here now, not as an orator ,bu
as the whilom commander, aud IN the
fathers Of the most valiant dead as theil
comrade, too, Oh Hany hard fought iielC
against domestic and foreign foes in ear
ly youth and mature manhood-moved By
all the love that David felt when he pour
ed forth bis lamentatlOn for the mighty
father and sou who fell on Glboa. God
knows that David's love tor Jonathan wa.
no more deep than mine for the triet
friends of many long and eventful years
whose names are to be recorded upon th
tlucture that is to rise upon this spot
Would that his more than mortal elo
qucuce could grace my lips, and do jus
tice 10 the same
We have met today, my comrades, tt
do honor to our own dead-brothers un /
ted to Us by the closest and dearest ties
who have freely given their lives for thti
COuuJi y III thlS NdI-sO just anu IlS utCOu
SO long as its purpose is to crush rebellion
aud to save our nation from the infnit
evils of di>membermcnt. Such an occa
sion as this should call forth the deepos
and noblest emotions ol our nature-pride
sorrow, and prayer. Pride, that ou
country has possessed such sons; sorrow
that she has lost them; prayer that she ma,
J have others like them; that we and ou
/ successors may adorn her annals as the
have done; and that whom our parting
hour arrives, whenever however it may be
our souls may be prepared for the grea
change,
THE VOLUNTEERS.
We have a'senbIcd to commemorate
cenotaph which shall remind our childreu'
children in The distant future o their faith
= ers' struggles in the days of the great re
belion. This monument is to perpetual
the memory of a portion only of those VIII
have fallen for the nation IN this unhapp
war it is dedicated to the officers an