The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1868-06-10
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STATES, AND FELLOW CITIZENs .sisis i
While any effort of the body,or of the in
tellect may attract to itself admiration and
applause, every effort of the mind or body
RECEIVES its character from the nature of the
effort itself. If the act be meritorlnus in its
purposes and in its results, then it should
gather to itself all the commentator of a
deed Inherently good. But if the act be
wrongly purposed, and evil in results. it
ought to receive merely the natural tribute
bestowed upon muscular exertion or intel
lectual power This language is, indeed,
automatic, and to utter it is but to itcrate
trtiislns; hat these distinctions are too often
forgotten in thellOnors which men pay to
the living and to the dead. Therefore it is,
that in the opening sentences to he uttered
over these green mounds, / think it proper
to indicate this distinction between the
deeds of men, so that, in respecting the nat
ural ties of humanity, we may bow at the,
shrine of patriotism ~ that we may recall,
not merely the brave soldier whose martial
figure strobe over the battle field, and fell
in the combat, but that we may bring here,
with these fresh wreaths, the full volume of
homage. to the sacredness Of law, Of liberty,
and Of justice. 'A''' q ''D p '- 'l' ~
Honor, then, to the fallen heroes of the
nation Gatheredfrorn distant States, fol-
lowing the fortunes of great armies, Tlthey
sleep,here at last peacefully within this con-
secrated enclosure ], Distant from homes
where their memories are still fresh in sad
dened hearts, the paternal hand of the.
nation has gathered them to this last repose,
beneath theever-waying folds of the nations
emblem, Ye, who fell on Fishers flaming
ramparts Ye, who moistened yonder for
ests with your blood Ye, who from the
accursed pens of Andersonville were borne
hither, haggard with famine, but to die!
Brethren with us in arms Companions in
great struggle for the preservation of a
nation Soldiers of theyet invincibe Re-
public !-Prouder than the sepulchres of
kings are the graves in which We sleep !ng1aI
To-day under that military escort which
the exigencies of war had not permitted, to
the slow measure OF, the dirge we have per
formed these funeral ceremonies. By solemn
PRAYER and the volies of musketry we have
committed these dead anew TO the earth,
and they now sleep in soldiers graves.
In the winter and spring of 1865 the bodies
now deposited in thiscemetery began to col
lect in this vicinity The first expedition
against the Notifications at the mouth OF the
Cape Fear left hut afew. The second eXpedir
ton, which was the last and successful one,
| furnished, probably, nearly thousand from
Terry's Tenth Corps alone. 81 Snon after the
fall of Fisher, ard, in consequence. all the
other Notifications at the entrance to this
port, the Twenty-thirt~ Corps under Scho
field arrived. which also furnished its quota
for this phalanx of the dead On the morn
ing of the 22nd of February Terrys column
entered the city of Wilmington, while Cox
had already appeared on the Brunswick
side of the river. Early in March Sherman's
army struck the Cape Fear at Fayetteville,
and sending to this place his sick and
wounded, passed on rapidly to the bloody
fields of Bentonville aud Averasboro', and
thence to Goldsboro' and Raleigh, from
which places the sick and wounded also
reached this city. Previous to this, how
ever, nearly ten thousand Federal prisoners
had been exchanged at this point, who had
been collected from various Confederate
prisons, manyof them in. the last stages of
starvation and disease, and more than
thousand of whom were unable to walk.
The military hospitals were filled to over
flowing. Pestilence, and disease, and death
held high carnival, hooking alike at the
skill of surgeons or the care of nurses. Five
of the medical corps fell before the deadly
pestilence. Meantime the scenes at Amelia
Court House and Durham's Station trans
pired, and the dissolving armies of Lee and
Johnston scattered homewards. The strug-
gle was ended. Its victories and its defeats
were behind US, and the stern visage, of war
relaxed. But the pestilence still kept its
sway, and the dead cart still bore constant
ly tn the common grave those who, having
escaped the battlefield, had famished in
prisons until they were ripe for disease.
q Thus it was that there were at that time
conferred at this then Military Post, officers
and soldiers from nearly every army of the
United States. There were those who, in
spired by the first enthusiasm, had mingled
in the anticipations and disasters of the first
Bull RIM There were those who had adj.
vanced with Mcclellan, on the Peninsula,
and told stories of Seven Pines and Mall
vern Hill and the Chickahominy Old sol
dicrs who had fought with doe Hooker. and
Sumner, and whOimarched with Meade to
the Nictoriousheight of Gettysburg, recoun7
ted adventures with those who charged in
the fearful assault at Wagner. Also, there
were the bold and daring Westerners who
remembered the early days in Missouri, who
boosted of Shiloh, and Vicksburg, and
Chickamauga, mingled with those who
coursed through the valley of Shenandoah
with Sheridan, and afterwards encircled
Richmond and Petersburg. q with Grant.
Many of these soldiers of the Republic, after
an experience which we cannot now, definite
ly know, were scattered, some on the sands
of Federal Point some in the pine woods on
either side Of the Cape Fear, near where each
might have fallen, while others were colIec-
ted in the long trench within the limits Of
Oakdale. The government, with tender
regard for those who served it, has prepared
this last resting place, and within it, has
collected all the remains (which could be
| found. This the government has done, not
so much in care for the perishable earth
which they have become, as in recognition
of theiservices rendered by these menO to
their country, and as a testimony, which
shall beimperishable, to fidelity and loyalty.
To-day wededicate to this sacred purpose,
this National Cemetery. These hallowed
precincts shall ever, hereafter, be protected
by the national flag and the national power
Sacred to heroism and to patriotism, no sac.
religious foot shall tread these paths, OIL
breathe this, air. but it shall remain, like. a
national altar, which each patriot may in all
future time find unpolluted. And in some
long distant day, when posterity shall read
OF, those bitter times as we now read OF
Kings Mountains, and shall recall the name
of Sherman as we nowirecall that of Greene
or Sullivan, when this slender shrubhery
may have become an oyer=arching shade, o.
majestic trees, and these slopes peopled, may
be, with statuary which shall image tls
diialc t,f IL haraafh tho tllrf