Birmingham age-herald., 1895-09-20
are now little more than procession of shadowsi
 On fame's eternal camping ground
 Their silent tents are spread, While glory guards with solemn round
 The biyOuac of the dead

Their silent tents are spread,
 While glory guards with solemn round
 The bivouac of the dead
 "Our eyes now behold the sublime spec tacle of honored survivors of a great bat tie coming together upon these heights once more. They meet not in deadly con- flict but as brothers, under one flag, fel- low citizens of one common country, all grateful to God that in the supreme struggle the government of our fathers, our common heritage, was triumphant and that to all coming generations of our countrymen it will remain an indiVisible union of indestructible states.
 Tn large sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. Brave men, living or dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our power to add or to detract.
 T will detain you no longer from lis- tening to the eloquent words of those who were participants in that bloody struggle, the sharers alike in it's dangers and it's glory"
 Prayer was offered by Rt. Rev. Bishop Gailor of Tennessee. The first address was that of General Palmer
 Gen. John M. Palmer.
 The following is the peroration of Gen. John M Palmer's address:
 The country is familiar with the clos ing events of the battle of Chckamauga, and with the mistaken, or misunderstood,
 
 General Wood. "Close up on Reynolds and support him." the attempt of Gen eral Wood to execute this order deter mined the result of the battle of Chicka- mauga-it opened our lines to an adven- turous Confederate attack
 l learned within a few minutes, from the progress of the Confederate fire that our lines were broken; very soon after I saw on the mountain slope the advance of the union reserve, led by Granger and l witnessed their heroic efforts to restore the fortunes of the day. I ordered Hagen, With his brigade, to join them, and I heard their volley when they went into the battle.
 Afterwards, under the orders of Gen eral Thomas, I retired from the field.
 With all my comrades on that field, I felt, and l now feel and believe, that but for the unfortunate order given by Ros- ecrans to Wood, or the unfortunate con- struction given by Wood to that order, in regard to which I express now no opin- ion, the union forces would have held the battlefield of Chickamauga. Certainly men never fought more bravely, or even more desperately, than did the men of both the armies on that bloody and well contested field.
 From data which I regard as reliable, but which l have not verified, the Con- federate army which took part in the bat tie of Chickamauga amounted to 60.5S9
 
 11,159; missing, 1880; while the strength of the union army was 57,S40, and it's loss in killed was 1856; wounded, 9749, and missing. 4774. These facts demonstrate the desperate courage of the opposing forces. Two armies of American sol diers, of the aggregate number of 11S, 429, suffered the loss of 3446 killed, 20,907 wounded, without counting the missing; the casualties of the two armies was more than 20 per cent of the whole num- Der engaged.
 We retired from the field defeated, it is true, but we believed our reverse was the result of one of those unavoidable acci- dents against which no courage or skill could provide, and we were ready on the next day to fight again with all the cour- age and confidence that we felt on the 18th and goth of September. We retired to Chattanooga and were pursued and beleaguered by the Confederates until the 18th day of November, when the men who left the field of Chickamauga defeated on the 20th day of September stormed Missionary Ridge and fully recovered the prestige of the national arms.
 I have said that the civil war was caused by the sectional challenge to American manhood, and that challenge was accepted and followed by years of bloody and desolating war In that war the American people learned to properly estimate each other, which is the only foundation for harmonious, national unity. By that war the theory of the right of the states to secede from the union was forever eradicated from our system of national constitutional govern ment. By that war African slavery, which was the root of sectional bitter ness, and was one of the causes or pre- texts for national controversy, was for ever overthrown, and the flag of our country became at once the emblem of @l~xl power. As the result of that war the constitution was maintained and not subverted; and the union of the Ameri- can people made perpetual.
 My comrades, we who survive to this day may we'll be grateful to that Divine Being who guides the destiny of nations, that we are permitted to sec an establish ed union; republic extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the lakes to the gulf, and liberty and law the all-pervading rule of our national life.
 We are here today with malice toward none, and charity for all;' we meet as citizens of a common country, devoted to it's interests, and alike ready to main- tain its honor. wherever or however as- sailed.
 To my comrades, you who were Con- federate soldiers during all the weary struggle of the civil war I beg to say I was proud of your gallantry and cour- age I never allowed myself to forget that you were Americans, freely offering your lives in the defense of what you be- lieved to be your rights and in vindica- tion of your manhood.
 You are now satisfied that the result of the civil war established the unity of the powerful American republic; submitted your controversies with your fellow citi- zens, to the arbitrament of the battle- field. and you accepted the result with sublime fortitude worthy of all praise and your reward is, that peace and order are restored, and ''the south which you loved so well, and for which you fought so bravely. now blossoms with abundant blessings.
 General Gordon's Speech.
 Gen. John B. Gordon of Georgia opened his address by quoting the ilustrious Charles H. Summers proposal in the United States senate to strike from the battle flags of the union all mementoes of our civil war He eulogized the bi ,ad and catholic spirit of patriotism which inspired that proposition, though he said Mir Sumner reasoned as a classical stu dent rather than practical statesman But MT. Sumner, he said, was not the on- ly statesman who then believed that the nf m