The daily gazette., 1878-06-20
The Valley Forge Centennial.
THIRTY THOUSAND PEOPLE ON THE
FIELD-A GRAND MILITARY DIS
PLAy-DECoRATIoN OF GRAVES
ADDRESSES, ETC.

PLAY-DECORATIoN OF GRAVES
ADDRESSES, ETC.
VALLEY FORGE, PA, June 10. The
centennial anniversary celebration of
the evacuation of this place by the Con-
tinental army was celebrated to-day un-
der circumstances of unusual display
Excursion trains began to arrive at an
early hour, and by ten o'clock at least
10000 people had arrived by this means
and in private conveyances. The various
committees had their headquarters, and
with a well disciplined constabulary
force the best order prevailed. At day
light cannon were fired and bells were
rung throughout the Schuylkill Valley,
ofwhich this place forms part. At sum
rise there was salute of thirteen guns
fired, and at half-past 8o'clock Governor
Hartranft and Adjutant-General Latta,
accompanied by General Winfield S. Han
cock, and other distinguished gentlemen,
arrived and were received at the depot
by delegation of military. An appro-
pirate salute was fired by the Griffin Bat
terry, Of PhGnixville, and they proceeded
to the military headquarters, receiving
loud cheers on their way.
At 9 o'clock there was a memorial SER
vice, in which large numbers took part.
A procession was formed at the military
headquarters, consisting of military
bands of music, civic societies and ladies
dressed in white. The graves of CONT
mental and federal soldiers were decora-
ed, appropriate services were held, and
the procession moved over the entrench-
ments which have remained since the oc
cupation of the place by the Continental
army, and over the historic ground which
strewn with flowers by theladies. A grand
chorus of 800 voices rendered an anthem,
and half-past ten o'clock the review of
the military was held, in which there
were about 1900 soldiers, all the towns
in Schuylkill Valley being represented,
and companies were present from Phila-
delphia and Wilmington, Del. The
troops displayed fine drilling, and were
under command of Gems. Gregg and
Reeder, and were reviewed by Gen.
Hancock and Governor Hartranft.
AT noon salute of thirty-eight guns
was fired, and at one o'clock the services
of the day began in large tent holding
1900 persons.
ADDRESS OF GOV. HARTRANFT.
Gov. Hartranft, the presiding. officer,
was introduced, and was received with
cheers. He spoke in sub
stance as follows:
awe have come to commemorate the
darkest hours Of the revolution, hours
which we've those of triumph to the
American cause, fer it was at Valley
Forge where the brightest honors were
won by the Continental army. 1t was
here in rude tents and amid winter
of the greatest severity that the brightest
record of the war was made. 1t is upon
this spot. hallowed by hunger and cold,
that We meet to commemorate a stead
fastness of cause unprecedented in the
annals of history"
POETRY AND HISTORY.
A poem was then read by Rev. F. G.
Walker, of Philadelphia, and after the
singing of "The American Hymb," Col.
T. w. Bean, of Norristown, read ex-
tracts from an historical paper which he
had prepared for the occasion, and a
poem by Mrs. NJ. L. Thropp Gone was
also read.
The oratorof the day, Henry Armitt
Brown, of Philadelphia, was next intro
duced, and created great enthusiasm by
his eloquent Grafton. He reviewed at
length the history and sufferIngs OF the
Continental army, defining the impor-
tance of the campaign with which the
1F ill 10
and extolling the excellent generalship
and the Unprecedented courage and
steadfastness which crowned our ances-
Tors with victory. He also paid an elo-
quent tribute to the foreign officers in
the American camp-Lafayette, Steuben
and Pulaski. Hisapostrophe to Washing
ton had thrilling effect, the immense
audience rising and enthusiastically ap-
plauding as the orator continued:
"Behold him in yonder cottage, his
lamp burning steadily through half the
winter night, his brain never at rest.
A soldier subordinating the mill
tary to the civil power, dictator as
mindful of the rights of the tories as Of
the wrongs of the wings, a statesman
commanding a revolutionary army, a
patriot forgetful Of nothing but himself
this is he whose extraordinary virtues
only Kept the army from dlSDandlng ana
saved his country's cause. The tide of
battle" he continued, "never ebbed and
flowed upon these banks. These hills
never trembled beneath the tread of
charging squadrons, nor echoed the thun-
ders of contending cannon. The blood
that stained this ground did not rush
forth in the joyous frenzy of the fight;
it fell drop by drop from the heart of a
suffering people. They who once en-
camped here in the snow. fought not for
conquest, not for power, not for glory,
not for their country only, not for them
selves alone. They suffered here for pos
terity, they suffered here for the human
race, they bore here the cross of all the
people, they died here that freedom
might be the heritage ofall.
The time was already come when from
these shores the light of new civiliza-
ton should flash across the sea, and from
this place a voice of triumph make the
old world tremble, when from her chosen
refuge in the west the spirit of liberty
should go forth to meet the rising sun
and set the people Free"
The orators peroration besought the
people of to-day to remember that the
inheritance of liberty and civilization
cannot be kept safe without exertlon,
~ onuntru 80 hanaHtad hu nraat