The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-05-31

something should be said by which solemnIy anu
reverenty, we hold this spot sacred to the design
and purposes The time is past for very many 10
claim burial at our hands. STILL some weary
soldier may tarry in the city sick unto deaIh
and claim his comrades as his dearest 1flends:
We Will then kindly minister to his wants ana
give him Christian burial We nope al q
time not far distant to erect monument so
that this place shall be known hereafter as the
central spot where our heroes are buried and
may especially serve token or remeih-
brance OF those whose last resting places are
unknown, but whose remains lie scattered over
Southern fields in spots unmarked ny any
sign and known only to the Divine rather VINO
| shall call them forth at the resurrection. L
have to thank he city for so literally inter-
| preting the feelings of the people and prom
Use for the Post that will preserve their git
and keep it with the tenderest care now lay
| this wreath in dedication on this spot in mem
DRY of our comrades who are buried on South
ern battlefield
son James eternal camping ground
Their silent tents spread
Aud glory guards with solemn round
The burial of the dead'
prayer was then offered and the comrades,
at its conclusion, laid the remainder of their
wreaths tenderly upon the sod while the Band
played most exquisitely Pleyers Hymn.
The memorial exercises were then continued
on the Chapel lot, where settees had been
erected tor the accommodation Of the invited
guests. After the rendering of Wieprecht's
Funeral March by the Band, prayer was offer
ed by Chaplain Root, at the conclusion of
which Prot Homer b. Sprague of Cornell Uni
versity, n Y, delivered most eloquent ora
ton of which the following is an abstract.
Fello,c Soldiers, Ladies and Gentlemen: The
last four years have witnessed in our country
,1sss rprth NJ a rrNtv
so simple, so beautiful and so appropriate, that
les observance seems likely to become univer-
sal and perpetual. Already on this Memorial
Day from the icy springs of the Mississippi to
Its warm delta; from the shores first kissed by
the morning sunlight, to the golden gates of
parting day, our patriot citizens and soldiers,
our best men and noblest women, have gath
cred to do honor to the immortal dead, fallen
in the last struggle for American civilization.
LII expressive simplicity and far-searching
significance, as well as in the grandeur of the
deeds that in commentaries, perhaps no ma
tlonal anniversary can compare with this,
The day when the Hebrew families came
thronging to Jerusalem, e-.ch bringing his JOY
Gus Offering for sin; the Grecan jubilee, when
the masses filled the Stradium and applauded
victorious athletes; the triumphal days of the
martial Romans, when captive princes with
the spoils of mighty empires were marched
IN magnificent procession through the streets
OF the Eternal City, up the hill of Capitol; even
the booming of cannon,-can offer no COMPARE
son. The gentle and loving hands, and deli
cate graces of the fairest the noblest and
purest daughters, have selected the choicest
flowers, and mingled with leaves and grasses,
have formed shapes of beauty; and then in SOL
emn procession and with mournful music the
surviving comrades lay them upon the last
resting place of the brave. Was there ever
seen any national lribute SO touching? Fairer
than the fairest of these flowers; sweeter than
p,r hal on1 4l,Hn
cries of the loved and the lost. We stand this
day beside the holy dust of those who died that
the nation might live.
What recollectiOns thronG upon us! what
scenes of the last few years pass in solemn pro-
cession! Ten years ago all the political heav-
ems were growing black-the beginning of the
matter. Nine years star after star of our
majestic system had shot madly from its
sphere. The eyes OF the world in April, 1861,
were placed upon the old fortress in Charles
ton harbor, surrounded by nineteen frowning
batteries, and anxiously awaiting the result.
. On the 18th of April the cannonading com
menced All day and night for two days the
gigantic game of battledore and shuttlecock
went on, and our flag went down in glory and
grandeur.
Then the call for IS 900 men. Massachusetts,,
foremost of the States, sprung full armed into
the contest like Minerva from the brain of
Jove. And if her fair daughter, Maine, and
her other sister States were little slower, it
w
sharper and wet their swords to a keener edge
Then the picnic campaign of Mcdowell aud
Patterson in Virginia; then the Bull Run de-
feat; then the call for 100000; then the long,
long tide, the ebbing and flowing of victory
and defeat as our banner sank and rose year
after year, until the emblem of Liberty aud
Union and Glory was planted upon every
stronghold OF rebellion-until treason in arms
was ground to powder beneath the iron heel of
war.
In all that long struggle this Eastern State
nobly did her duty. She furnished II ,55S men
three regiments of cavalry, one of heavy ar
tillery, and 81 regiments of infantry.-more
than one-tenth of her whole population; more
than one-ffth of hermale population, men and
boys. Seven years ago, we'll do recollect the
day when the 26th Maine displayed heroic
courage at the battle of Irish Bend, on the
14th of April, 1868. On the 9th of May saw
them again, and the 18th Maine at Port Hud-
son. They charged against the moat and up
the enemy,s parapet, and on that day your IL
.userious ueh; LOW was "ounded' on tnat DAY
1 H aGIon,piIsnee gentietnan anu brave soidler'
O9i' Gnuopar1; stlue 70 Uen. eHAeI, was khi-
Gu On .ne i1tn Vi ouue, a. Ihe nlsastrous DaI
Sih vi Ior ~, nuuson, were .ne aau any Ao.l
oaJ ne ~ ano ,oea VI Ine n ine
anu MS ieg,nehS, tne oyVn Maihe II recollecl
a" ~ IN ii', .no 10y WIZ .n.'s hiau
1,, t 1ue t,tu nae' ~.
or;y;nad 1ror15s +bn Ensoon5nr .uo
Sit 81 eli l, oiJ 10y L. .u, W." w.,
49, "th NJ, 1oct III r,S 0uGnaty. ~ lug
80 S .,n 'lay' i s:i, W1S wi1ness W CuaC
Iont Taaa1 SILL az iu ni'u Mnefe
Mo;.' ooo a ai.si "aius p1 Danek, ~
o ,o,'oJ H. Gu I'm $500 o. ti Will
%ae PunounoGu Wy uem' ~ or.er .ne srea I:
torv MS don, ona5 al p .ne 49, ~ :;
Ny. ,oc, mn, 49,, se.eu o,.el lonoiaus III
~ way ,1 ioot Ine MaIne soiaers were UNIFORM
y galiant, IN the lmpassaoe morass, IN Inc
e e9 .ni9he q, ahu tansitu raVine cney were
G tEunu' Gnu tne ~, 9c!eS are on the Nortnern
nus. one iosv offo ,u oao''e, OF NY uisease, or
ny sIarva,ion III oouehern PRISONS ui0rlous'
Eet !nourhl1i ~ oest IS death On the oattlene,d.
t Losins nahos nave tenuer'y Drought nome tne
oou,oe Vi soiie vi ~ WIN snot ANU sneil, anu
we nave decora1ed tnelf graves to-day. Honor
W 1hein, eternal nohor 10 their names.
DuI iet US MOI lor9e6 those VINO steep IN un-
hhowh graves, OF are buried where Iney 1eil,
or VINO hiouiderea inquired, perhaps tneir very
ndihes iorSotteh; Inc Iruese heroiSm Is not
Always that WhIch biazes brightest NO record
SHOWS now they lived or where they died, but
God ana nature nave not forgotten them, Tor
the grass grows greener there ana the wild
mower oiooms fairer Each patriot name TOR
Solten mere llveth forever more. More died
from disease than by battle. The deaths in
confederate prisons are not to be forgotten;
death by starvation, and deliberate choice OF
aeatn rather than take the oath OF allegiance to
lne southern Confederacy Not strange that
some Deiieying that our government mad
aoandoned them accepted at last the terms the
Iepeis constantly heid out. Inc majority chose
w u,e. IL was comparatively easy to iace death
III paItie with good chance OF lie, swept
along win crowd, possessed with the stern
10y vi lhe warrior VINO represents great ma
.,on .! noplest Oh an, reefs hlmseif coworker
a nu tloeSerehe vi uou possessed WIN pre-
lernaiurai INSPIRATION no feels that 1t is sweet
n J Me,t as oeau,.u, aaace et oecor" 10 SILK