Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-27

MONUMENT TO THE FALLEN SONS OF MARYLAND,
LONDON PARE NAT. GEN., NEAR BALTIMORE
Cemeteries. Treasure has been spent without
stint to make them what they should be and are
the simplest and yet grandest and loyeliest
Gods-acres in the world, lavishly adorned by
nature. perfected by art. and guarded over by
the starry flag. There the sunshine softest. the
grass grows greenest. the flowers bloom bright
est. the trees spread most luxurianty. No
weeds or brambles or thistles are suffered to
enter there. The very atmosphere around
them is sacred. and the sympathetic visitor may
fancy a halo lowering over them; for in them
rest exclusively the heroes who died in the
cause Of freedom
Their administration is in the hands Of a
large force of superintendent. overseers and
gardeners, whose operations are in turn super
vised BY the quartermaster generals Office OF
the War Department, where il is
made the function of a special division of
that office to look after all matters pertaining
to their management, to interments, removals.
improvements, headstones, records and the
like Liberal appropriations supplied by
Congress every year for their support, and
probably no other set of institutions under the
government is conducted with such minL.J
attention to detail or receives such constant,
yatchful care.
NOT APPROACHED By ANY OTHER NATION.
In all this the American republic sets an ex-
ample altogether unapproached by any other
nation under the sum- Great Britain. foremost
among the powers of Europe in humanitarian
instincts, can Law claim to such an achieve
. ment in the interest of humanity. Not in quiet
English meadows are her fallen brave ones laid
% rest, but wherever over the wide world her
:tandard has been pushed in the greed of con-
Auest. there the whitening bones of her war
rIors lie scattered and UNDECIDED or dumped in
bulk in nameless graves-over the continent of
Europe, IN Africa, in India, IN the isles OF the
and in the coral caves of the deep. All
hav IA zen main To int fha
bones OF their military chiefs and high officers
but to the remains of the common soldier thev
have been content to allot only the hastv ditch
or trench The ancient republic of Athens. it
Is true. decreed by law that the obsequies of all
Its citizens who fell in battle should be per-
formed at the public expense. But first of all
modern governments. the United States govern
ment has shown during and since the civil war
that 1t knows how 10 reciprocate the sentiment
OF patriotism by lnterring the remains of all its
soldiers and sailor. and further, unlike any
other government. ancient or modern. bv
securing and watching over those remains ever
afterward, regardless of whether death came in
actual battle or resulted from hardship
wounds. disease or confinement.
THE FIRST ORDER on THE SUBJECT.
This showing was only rendered possible by
the exercise Of wise forethought almost from
the very outset Of the rebellion. In Septem-
Der. 1861. the Secretary of War by a general
order directed that accurate and permanent
records be kept OF deceased soldiers and their
places of burial. To this end the quarter
master generals department, which previously
had charge of burials in a general yay was re-
quired to print aud place in every hospital
blank books and forms. very minute and spe-
citic. for the purpose OF Classifying and pre-
serving these records. and. in order to guard
against their loss or destruction, the hospitals
were required to transmit copies at once to the
,djutant generals office in Washington for i'll
ing. In addition the quartermaster generals
department was charged with the duty of pro-
viding means for registered headboard to be
placed over each soldiers grave for future
Identification These orders were aftervard
embodied in the permanent regulations of the
army. In obedience thereto surgeons of reci-
ments and hospitals Immediately began to take
pride in keeping perfect records.
On the battlehelds where the Union armies
won the interments were so conscientiousiy
made that over 90 per cent OF the dead were
afterward identified Where time permitted
the confederate dead were also religioUslv
buried and their graves marked as carefully as
those of their federal antagonists. On the
fields where the Union armies were defeated
and driven off the enemy cared little for the
fallen except to get them out of the way ard
under ground with the least expenditure of
time and trouble. In most Of the southern
prisons the Union dead were buried and their
graves marked b. their living comrades. often
under the most adverse and irving circum-
stances The result of that admirable system
has been that the mortua-y record OF the Union
armies in the of the rebellion excels in
completeness by long odds all similar records
ever before known.
FIRST CEMETERIES ESTABLISHED.
In the second year of the war the President
was authorized by Congress to purchase ceme-
tery grounds and have them prepared for use
as national cemeteries for soldiers who had
died in defense of the country. The following
wear national cemeteries were established at
chattanooga Stone River and Gettysburg,
President Lincoln himself participating III the
dedication of the latter. The National ceme-
tery at Arlington was established IN lS6i. the
one at Aniietam in 1865. and on many another
harl-fought field of the war beginnings were
made toward the founding of other national
cemeteries. In the latter part of the year
1865 general orders were issued from the
ouartermaster generals department for inform
alton respecting all soldiers graveyards. with
view g. the establishment of the national ceme-
terles on a recognized system. Upon receipt