Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-06-05
DECORATION DAY.
Honors to the Dead Soldiers Bur
led in Washington Cemetery.


A very large number of the citizens of
Washington and county assembled at
Washington Cemetery on Friday after
noon, to participate in the decoration GER
emonies. The memory of the brave and
gallant men who gave up their lives in
defense of their country, is always green
in the hearts of the patriotic citizens of
Fayette, and the beautiful custom of pay
ing annual tribute to the memory of the
dead soldiers of the Union has always
been observed in an appropriate manner
by the people of this county. The par
tieipation in the exercises at the cemetery
last Friday was more general than for
several years past, and the ceremonies
were of a most impressive character.
The procession formed on Main street,
according to programme previously an
nOunced, headed by the Mt. Sterling
Band, and marched to the cemetery where
a large assemblage had already gathered.
The ceremonies took place at the mound
in the center of the grounds, opening
with prayer by the Rev. Jos. Morris,
chaplain of the 54th O.V. I. Gen. S. B.
Yeoman made a brief but very appropri-
ate address, and was followed by A. r.
Creamer, Esq, who delivered the grafton
ofthe day, the principal portion of which
we give our readers below. Mr.. Creamer
said:
Many tender memories pass in sad re-
view before us when we call to our minds
the war to preserve the American Union
and her gallant aFmy-eighteen years
four of wars mortal carnage and four
teen of the less ruthless hand of time
has equally perhaps divided that army be-
tween the living and the dead, many of
whom now address, have passed through
the perils and privations of that great
struggle and are here to-day representa-
tiYes of the living, eVidencing your es-
TEEN and appreciation for your dead COM
rades. You were permitted to return to
home and the friends and associations of
your earliest years. Your faces were
flushed with victory and you have lived
thus far to enjoy its results, and to behold
on every hand the thrift and pFospe Gritty
of the land you fought to preserve. Sew
en-pine, Stone River, Gettysburgh and
MANY other not less hard fought battle
fields where you faced the cannon and the
musketry, amidst the shrieks of the dying
and the mangled forms of the dead all
these things are sad memories that have
survived the war and will live in your
minds forever.
But many of that grand army of the
Republic are sleeping their last sleep.
Their heroic and manly faces are seen
among you no more. In the loathesome
prison pen, in the quiet gloom of the hos
pital in the roar and tumult of battle they
met the terrors of death. Their decaying
bodies and bleaching bones are to be
found in every leafy valley, and
upon every cheerful hilltop, of this
beautiful land many sleep in un-.
known and uncared for graves,
grassy mound or perchance wooden r
marble slab marks the spot, where many
rest in the quiet bosom of the earth. But
| their lives or deeds. Their glorious tri-
umphs loom up as more sublime and
majestic stature to their names, and when
| time shall have mouldered down the
wooden or marble slab or the storms of
Heaven shall have leveled the grassy
mound into an unknown spot, the mem
| ory of the unknown soldier will not then
| perish. But so long as freedom and libA,
erty shall be cherished by the American
| people, so long will his memory endure
| even though it be to the latest generation
! Those thoughts and affections for race and
country which were SO brightly embodied
| in useful action can not and will not die
| Ancient history says that Rome and
| Greece built lofty monument to their great
| conquerors and to which places in time
| of war the living would resort, believing
| as they did, that they could there obtain
such hints of the future as would enable
their armies to go forth to success and
victory. a
| But if magnificent architectnaI struc-
lures are rewards for pure motives and
| noble sacrifices, no country should have
| so many as ours. The monuments of our
| brave dead are more enduring than STAT
uary. They have been sculptured by the
~,
progress and development of a new con-
| tinent in the annals of freedom and of Q
higher civilization.
And SO how unlike the ancient has been
the plain and unpretending burial of
many OfOur countrymen who have braved
most for the good ofour race and flumani-
ty. The Pilgrim Fathers when they land
ed upon the American shores were strick-
en- with disease; many of them died.
Their comrades after their burial smooth
ed the earth over their graves that the
savage might not learn that their little
band was decreasing, and the graves we
are visiting to-day while they speak mot of
vanity they tell us that the day when the
ancients consulted their oraeles for hints
J of the future is past. That patriotic
people that aspire to a great and grand
destiny bear their constant oracles in their
own high impulse and inspiration which
uphold and sustain q liberal government
in a better and advanced era.
While we strew flowers upon the sacred
dust of those we fondIy hope to honor let
us not by this token of esteem alone eX-
press our gratitude. Our practical duties
to the unfortunate and those dependent
upon them for support did not end with
: the war. Nearly three hundred Thousand
: of Americas sons paid the debt Of nature
by the pestilenee. disease, and in the storm
, of battle. Our land was filled with Grip.
pied and MANNED soldier. Multitudes oil
,1soAl,,
robes of sorrow, and thousands upon
thousands of orphan children-stin hop
ing-almOst believing that papa would
return with his more fortunate comrades
, from the war.
!. Yes, the war left these orphans, widows
and crippled soldiers, many of whom werl
destitute and in want, depending for theil
support and protection upon the charitie
! of grateful people. Their condition an
: pealing to all the higher and nobIer in
$ stincts of humanity. The humane anC
patriotic duty was therefore incumben
upon as of rendering unto those mad
s destitute by the war all needed care AM
o protection. It is true their sorrow and be
y reaYements were beyond the benefactor
of; earth. But to give them all human ali
with patriots everywhere was cheerful
Z duty and the people rushed with out
IS stretched arms to their relief for throug
n the sacrificial blood of a father and hus
,f1 band they had inherited a priceless legac
u that of civil and religious liberty.
le But the people of the nation as mass
through legislation have responded to tn
+ wants of the poor and destitute ofthe wa
with free and generous spirit. Widow
and orphans of fallen soldiers have bee
!, provided with pension. The crippled an
O' manned soldier has also been provide
IN with pensions and often with that whic
l. is far better-office or such employmer
a as their. disabilities will allow them
Sc Pt; P1Litoll;; noa Els nolnes anu s0IdleF
8, | over the land where the crinnla nnd FL