The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1864-07-13
GEN. GEORGE B. MeCLEL
LANsS
w est Point Ora
ton.

ton.
The following is Gen. GEORGE B. Nc
, CLELLAN's Grafton on the occasion q
the dedication OF the site of the Battl
NJ Monument at West Point, on Wednesday
June 18th, 1864:
THE GRAFTON
All nations have days sacred to the re
membrance of Joy and of grief. The.
have thanksgiving for success; fasting
! and prayers in the hour of humiliation
and defeat triumphs and peans to gree
the living, laurel crowned victor. They
have obsequies and eulogies for the war
rior slain ON the field of battle. Such il
the duty we are to perform to oday. The
poetry, the histories, the orations of an
tiquity, all resound with the clang oi
arms; they dwell rather upon rough deeds
Of war than the gentle arts of Peace
They have preserved to use the names 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 patriots; while the New Testa-
ment of our meek and suffering Saviour
often selects the soldier and his weapons
to typify and illustrate religious heroism
and duty These stories of the actions of
the dead have frequently survived, 10 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 Marathone, in
the pass of Thermopyle, and on the hills
of Palestine, we have not lost the memo
ry Of their examples. As long as the
warm blood courses in the veins of man;
as long as the human heart beats high
and quick at the recital Of brave deeds
and patriotic sacrifices, so long will the
lesson still invite generous men to emu
late the heroism of the past. Among
the Greeks it was the custom that the
fathers of the NEST valiant of the slain
should pronounce the eulogies of the
dead. Sometimes it devolved upon their
great statesmen and orators to perform
this mournful duty. Would that new
Demosthenes. or second Pericles could
rise and take my place to-day, fer he
would find theme worthy of his most
touching eloquence.
/ stand here now, not as 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 a
hard fought field against domestic and
foreign foes-in early youth and mature
manhood-moyed by all the Love that
David felt when he poured forth his la
mentation for the mighty father and son
who fell OH Mount Gilboa. God knows
that David's love for Jonathan was no
more deep than mine for the tried friends
of many long and eventiul years, whose
names are to be recorded upon the struc-
ture thatis to rise upon this sspot. Would
that his more than mortal eloquence could
grace my lips and do justice to the theme!
We have met to-day, my comrades, to
do honor to our own dead-brothers uni
ted to us by the closest and dearest ties
who have freely given their lives for their
country in this war-so just and righte-
Gus so long as its purpose is to crush re
bellien and to save our. nation from the
infinite evils of dismemberment Such
an occasion should call forth the deepest
and noblest emotions of our nature, pride,
sorrow and prayer Pride, that our coun-
try has possessed such sons; sorrow, that
she has lost them; prayer, that she may
have others like them; that we and our
successors may adors 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.