The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-06-24
THE BATTLE MONUMENT.
Dedication of a Portion of the
Grounds at West Point for
the Site of g Memo
rial to the Dead Of
the Present War.
GEN. AsCGLELLAN'S OBLIGATORY
GRAFTON,
NO SEVERANCE---NO SECESSION

The ceremony of defeating the site for the
Battle Monument in commemoration of the
officers and privates of the regular army who
have died in the present war, took place Thurs
day afternoon at West Point, with app Opriate
ceremonies, the principal of which was an ad-
address by Major General GEORGE B. MCCLET-
Ian.
General ANDERSON introduced General Nc
CLE1LAN as the orator of the day, asserting
that he was better known 10 the people than
he General ANDERSON could ever hope to be.
As General MCCLELLAN arose from his seat
lin spite of what Professor FRENCH had said,
and entirely disregarding the Generals signs
of disapproval and attempts to make them
desist-the crowd saluted him with three loud
and prolonged cheers. AS soon as quiet had
been restored General MCCLELLAN, in clear,
calm, yet perfectly audible voice. delivered the
following Grafton:
GIN. M'CLELLAN's GRAFTON.
All natiors have days sacred to the remem
brance of joy and of grief. They have thanks
givings for success HASTINGS and prayers in the
hour of humiliation and defeat; triumphs and
peans to greet the living laurel-crowned victor.
They have Obsequies and eulOgies for the war
rior slain on the field of battle. Such is the
duty we are to perform to-day. The poetry,
the histories, the Orations of antiquity, all re-
sound with the clang of arms; they dwell
rather upon rough deeds of war than the gen.
tie arts of peace. They have preserved to us
the name of heroes and the memory of their
deeds even to this distant day. Our own Old
Testament teens with the variations of the
brave actions and heroic deaths of Jewish pat
riots; while the New Testament Of our meek
and suffering Savior often selects the soldier
and his weapons to typify and illustrate relig-
ious heroism and duty. These stories of the
actions of the dead have frequently survived,
in the lapse of ages, the names of those whose
fall was thus cOmmemOrated centuries ago.
But, although we know not now the names OF
all the brave men who fought and fell upon
the plain of Marathon, in the pass of ThermOp-
yla, and on the hills of Palestine, we have not
lost the memory of their example. As long as
the warm blood courses in the veins of man
rs long as the human heart beats high and
quick at the recital of brave deeds and patriot
ic sacrifices, SO long will the lesson still invite
generous men to emulate the herOiSm of the
past. Among the Greeks it was the custom
that the fathers of the most valiant of the slain
should pronounce the eulogies of the dead.
Sometimes it devolved upon their great ates-
IUeu duu OTdIOTS 10 D6TIOTIll Quly.
Would that new DemOsthenes, or a second
Pericles could rise and take my place to-day,
for he would find q theme worthy of his most
brilliant powers, of his most touching elO-
9uence.
stand here now, not ss an orator, but as
the whilOm commander, and in the place of
the fathers OF the most valiant dead as their
comrade. too, on many hard fought field
against domestic and foreign foes-in early
vO,,th anA m noanhnO6-mOvnd Inv oil ho
love that David felt when he poured forth his
lamentatiOn for the mighty father and son who
fell on Mount GilbOs. God knows that Da-
vid's love for Jonathan was no mo deep than
mine for the tried friends of many long and
eventful years. whose names are to be record
ed upon the structure that is to rise upon this
spot. Would that his more than mortal elO-
quence could grace my lips and do justice to
the theme!
We have met today, my comrades, to do
honor to our own dead-brOthers united to us
by the closest and most dearest ties-who have
freely given their lives for their country in
this war-so just and righteous SO long as its
purpose is to crush rebellion and to save our
nation from the infinite evils of dismember-
ment. Such an occasion as this should call
forth the deepest and nOblest emotions of our
nature-pride, sorrow; and prayer. Pride.
that our country has possessed such sons; sor-
row, that she has lost them; prayer, that she
may have Othels like them; that we and our
successors may adOrn her annals as they have
done; and that when our parting hour arrives,
whenever and however it may be, our souls
may be prepared for the great change.
THE VOLUNTEERS.
We have assembled TO commemorate cenO-
taph which shall remind our cliildren's chill
dren in the distant future of their fathers
struggles in the days of the great rebellion.
This monument is to perpetuatc the memory
of portion only, of those who have fallen for
the nation in this unhappywar: it is dedicated to
the officers and soldiers of the regular army.
Yet this is done in no class or exclusive spirit,
and in the act we remember with reverence and
love our comrades of the volunteers who have
so gloriously fought and fallen by our sides.
Each state will, no doubt, commemorate in
some fitting way the services of its sons who
abandoned the avOcatiOns of peace and shed
their blood in the ranks-will receive some
mementO of u nations love. nations graft
tude. With what herOism they have confront
ed death, have wrested victory FROM stubborn
toe, and have illustrated defeat, it well becomes
me to ray, for it has been my lot to command
them ON many sanguinary field. know that
but echo the feelings of the regulars when
award the high credit they deserve to Cur brave
brothers Of the volunteers.
But we Of the regular army have no states to
look to for the hOnOrs due our dead. We be-
long to the whole country. We can neither
expect nor desire the general government to
make, perhaps, an invidiOus distinction in our
favor. We are few in number, small band OF
comrades, united by peculiar and very binding
ties. For, with many OF us our friendships
were commenced in boyhOod, when we rested
beneath the shadow of the granite bills which
look down upon US where we slanI with 9th
ers the ties Of brotherhood were formed in
more ma ure years-while fighting amid the
rugged mountains al fertile valleys OF Next
co-within hearing Of che eternal waves OF the
faSnc.or In the Il nely grandeur Ut the great
plains VI the Far West. With all our love and
confidence has been cemented by common dam
gers ana sufferings- on the tOilsOme march, in
The dreary bivOuac, and amid the clash OF
arms ana the presence of death on scores of
battle-helds. West Point, with her large heart
adopts Us all-oticers and privates. In her
eyes we are all her children, Jealous of her
fame, eager to sustain her world wide reputa-
tiUn. Generals and private soldiers. men who
have cheerfuliy offered our all for dear cOun-
try. we stand here before this shrine. ever here.
after eacred To our dead, equals and brothers in
thevpreseDce Ut the common death which
awaits US all-perhaps in the same field and at
the same hour. Such are the ties which unite
w the most endearing that exist among men: