The herald., 1894-01-14

! carried atAt5ontrerRs and ChereDuHcos
where Colonel Butler was killed carrying
it. 1t was also the fret flag borne inside
the City of Mexico by the United States
| forces.
Little more than decade passed after
tho Mexican war, during which period
our flag was borne on the waters OF the
Dead sea and lonely Galilee. 1t was
placed on the highest summit OF frozen
Orizaba by adventurous hands; 1t was
borne nearer the north pole than any
other flag, and wac first displayed in
Japan, opening that kingdom to
the world after 200 years of
seclusion. 1t was borne by
the heroic etrsin in his terrible
sufferinSs in the unfortunate Darien ex-
pedition, and when the cloud Of war
burst on our country in 1861, it waved
from the peaks OF vessels on every sea
and ocean, and the carrying trade of
the world was controlled by this repub-
lie, the white sails of whose ships dotted
the vast expense of the watery globe.
We now come to the darkest hour in
the history of our flag, humiliated by the
very people whose fathers would have
died for it, and April came trooping
with shadowy forebodings on the land.
At cannon shot on Fort Sumter, all
the nation, as if it had been trained
army awaiting signal. rose and began
a war which for awfulness now occupies
the front rank of bad eminence. The
front of battle going with the sunlwas
1900 miles, and the depth measured
along meridian was 1000. In this vast
area more than 100000 men, first and
last, have met in skirmish, fight and
battle in more than 1000 conflicts, while
coast and river line not less than 1000
miles in length swarmed with fleets
freighted with artillery.
On Sunday morning, April l4th in sui
try atmosphere and amid frenzie6 shouts,
the bsttle-torn' flag was lowered from
above the battlements OF Sumpter. 1t
was borne away by the gallant COM
mander, with a resolution to raise IL
again over the battered fortress or be
wrapped in it as his winding sheet at
last.
A month later Major Anderson was
honored by the president with his COM
mission of brigadisr general. His suf-
ferings had so prostrated him that he
was compelled to abandon active service.
After the war he removed with his fam
ily to Europe, where he died at Nice,
October, 1871. His remains were con-
veyed home in the steam frigate Guer-
riere, and finally, with the battle flag Of
Sumpter waving over them, reached
their last and appropriate resting place
at West Point on the Hudson.
When the stars and stripes went down
at Sumpter, they went up in every town
and county in the loyal states. Every
city and village suddenly blossomed
with banners. On forts and ships, on
buildings public and private, every
where the old flag was flung out and
everywhere it was received with enthu-
sissm for it's prose became poetry and
there was seen in it sacred value it
never before possessed. All at once the
dear olu flag meant the declaration oil
Independence it meant Lexington; 1t
meant Bunker Hill and Saratoga;
it meant freedom; it meant the
honor and life of the republic, and
great army of splendid banners came
with the spring roses.
The flag of the republic! how dear to
those who we're true to it, they never
knew till then; was raised on that Mon
day morning after Sumter by spontsne-
Gus impulse, and from the lakes to the
Potomac, from the shores of the Atlantic
to tie Golden Gate, the eve could
hardly turn without beholding that
banner the insurgents had banded to
destroy
Then came the transformation Party
lines we're obliterated. We became
citizens of common country. We were
living among heroes in new heroic age.
The limited time win not permit fol-
lowing the flag through the gigantic war.
1t fell and ross throughout the great
struggle, and on the Sd OF April, 1865,
the national ensign waved over the rebel
capitol at Richmond and on the 9th the
surrender OF General Lee and his army
virtually ended the civil war; and few
weeks after what joy and sadness were
intermingled as the tramping legions
turned their faces homewsrd. Joy for
those whose proud step and bronzed
faces once again msde glad the familiar
haunts of former years, and the sorrow
which cannot be spoken for those whom
only the final trumpet could awaken.
In these hours of immunity
from danger and strife, let us
not forget the brave and
noble dead who sleep in obscure but
honorable graves, ana who merit the
need of our profound and honest hon.
age. The memory OF the sacred dead,
who fought to redeem the sacred en-
blem of the great republic, is their no.
blest monument. Thousands of gallant
spirits whose remains strew the banks
of the Potomac. are lyirg in the valley
of the Tennessee and the swamps of the
Carolinas; sleeping beneath the blue
waters of the Atlantic, and whose bones
are bleaching among the sagebrush des-
erts and cafions of the far west. live
with some OF us tonight. They can
never be forgotten while our hearts beat
or the nation lives. We pay them that
Tribute of respect which can only be
truly given by him who has stood side
by side with the departed day after
day, month after month, year after
year; in storm and sunshine, on the
march or in the cloud of battle, in the
bivouac or at the moment of sudden
death. Peace to their ashes May
their memory be ever green and our
thoughts of them be always those of
love and pride
During the month of May. 1865, the
last act in the great and wonderful
drama Of the civil war and OF impor-
tance connected with our flags history
was performed, when the gallant armies
of the Potomac and the west swept
down the avenues of the national capi-
tai in grand review, their hearts and
footsteps keeping time to the throbbing
drumbeats of the union, paid their
marching salute to the chief magistrate
of the nation they had saved and then