The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-20

maSterful day-VictOriOus and Vanuuished
ahke-again meet upon this memorable
field. Alas! The splendid armies whicn
rendezvoused here are now little more
than a procession Of shadows.
J. On Fame's eternal campin g-grOund
Their silent tents are spread,
While glory guards with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.
Our eyes now behold the sublime spec
| taele of honOred survivors of the great
battle coming together upon these nights
! once more, not in deadly conflict bur as
| brothers under one observation-disclosures
under a common cause. All grateful to
God that in the supreme struggle the gov
| ernment of our fathers, our common heri-
| tage-was triumphant, and that to all Of
| the coming generations Of our country
men, it will remain ian indivisible union
\ OF indestructible states"
/ Our dedication to-day is but ceremony.
/ IN the words of the immortal Lincoln at
Getlysburg; But in larger sense we
cannot dedicate. We cannot consecrate.
! We cannot hallow this ground The brave
/ men living and dead, who struggled here
nave conseerated it far above our power
l will detain you no longer from listen
| ing 10 the eloquent words of those who
/ We're participants in the bloody struggle
/ glory.
Prayer was offered by Rt Rev Bishop
tailor OF Tennessee. The first address
was that of Gen. Palmer, who said:
The following are extracts from Gen.
John NJ. Palmer's grafton:
Mr.. President, My Comrades and My
Countrymen: l am profoundly sensible
| OF the honor which the Secretary of War
conlerred by selecting me to represent
! the soldiers of the United States who
| participated in the great military events
| which occurred on this theater in the late
summer and autumn of 1863 When l re-
can the names of the galaxy of distln-
! gulshed men who took part in the drama
! which has made Chickamauga immortal
! IN national history, l feel that many OF
| them would have better honored this oc-
! casion-but, alas-where are they? Rose
Grams, the central figure in the great
campaign for Chattanooga" is now on
| tne GENIAL shore Of the Pacific strug-
! ghng with age and disease, attended by
! loving daughter and the prayers and
! good wishes of all the survivors of the
! hosts he commanded. George H. Thomas
| the earnest, dsnterested patriot the sol
| dier, the Rock of Chickamauga," sleeps
| IN quiet cemetery near one of the beau
! tiful cities of New York Crittenden al
! ways generous, brave and manly; and
! Gordon Granger, who so distinguished
himself on this field on Sept. 20, have
| passed away and McCook, alone, of the
! corps commanders, survives. Death has
! summoned Brannan of the Fourteenth,
! of the Twentieth" Van Cleve of the
! ''Twenty-hrst," and Stedman of the Re-
serve corps. OF the brigade commanders,
! Lytle, the soldier-poet, fell Sept. 20;
/ Harker and Dan McCook in the assault
| on kenesaw in 1864, and others, equally
| distinguished, have since succumbed 10
age and disease, and comparatively few
! survive to this thirty-second anniversary
of the first day of the battle of Chicka-
|
II may be that owe my selection for
| this honorable duty to my seniority in
| rank amongst the survivors of that day,
| but not on account of superior merit, for
| where all did their duty, no soldier can
| be said to be superior to any other. l
| feel honored, too, that on this Interesting
| occasion, l am associated with that dis
| tinguished soldier and orator, Gen. John
| B. Gordon, who, though not a participant
| in the operations here, represented the
| confederate cause gallantly on many other
| battle fields and has described the Last
| Days of the Confederacy" with such force
| and eloquence that l cannot hope to equal
him. Standing in this presence, upon this
! historic ground, l am conscious that
no words of my own will stir and thrill
the survivors of the great military events
which thirty-two years ago transpired in
| these valleys and under the shadow of
these mountains, as will the mention Of
! Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Lookout
Mountain and Missionary Ridge. These
| names are now historically significant
| of great battles, where many thousands of
| brave men of the same race and Ian
| guage contended with each other for vic
| tory. At the mention of them, the eyes
! of veterans, dmmed by age, will kindle
and for the moment they will forget the
| flight of time and the lapse of years, and
| in imagination again plunge into the
| heady fight
| nominated as a candidate for the presi-
dency. For the first time in the history
of the United States, it was seriously as
| serted in certain sections that the cleo
| ton of a particular presidential candl-
date would afford sufficient cause for the
| secession of the states, interested in slav-
| cry, from the union.
Soon after the result of the election of
! 1860 was known South Carolina, in form,
seeded from the union, and was after
wards followed by other states, and the
| seeded states adopted a form of con-
| federate government.
| l spent the month of February, 1861. in
| Washington, and mingled extensively with
| public men from all parts of the United
| States and can now recollect that many
| of them professed to believe that the con-
| troversy between the "adhering and Sc
| cedng states" as they were even then
termed, would be speedily and peacefully
| settled.
Some few men of prominence from the
north, said: The revolution is complete"
and advised that the erring sisters be al
| lowed to ''go in peace" Others, like Mr..
| Douglas, then senator from Illinois. and
| Gov Morehead of Kentucky, said to me:
''The peaceful settlement of our troubles
is impossible; the southern leaders have
gone too far to recede," and Mr.. Doug
| las added Before this controversy is
settled the continent will tremble under
the tread of a million of armed men,
| And Gov. Morehead, VINO agreed with Mr..
! Douglas, said Misrepresentation has
alienated the people of the north and the
| south; they have challenged each other
to war, and in that war slavery will cease
to exist. They will fight to the death and
| after a bloody contest, they will learn to
respect each other, and may live in peace"
The civil war, according to that view,
| was a struggle between the elements of
| American manhood. Political, economic
| and moral considerations may have i'm
| pressed and influenced statesmen and
philanthropists and like considerations
| affected the great body of the people, and
swept them into opposing political par
| ties, and made them the adherents Of rival
| governments
The assault upon Fort Sumter, which
| occurred in April 1861, made any compro-
| mise of the sectional differences, impos-
| sible and fully justified Mr.. Toombs, Sec
| rotary of State of the confederate govern
ment in saying: "The firing upon that
fort will inaugurate. a civil war greater
! than any the world has ever seen."
| Whatever may have been hoped, beliey-
| ed or feared by the lovers OF peace in
| the different sections of the union before
| that time, the attack upon Fort Sumter
| rendered a civil war inevitable After
| that event, Mr.. Lincoln answered the
| challenge for war by a call for 1900
men At that time the whole south was
practically in arms. and the call for 1900
| men was within a month responded to by
| the northern states with an offer of more
| than a quarter of million, and the fame
| of war extended across the continent.
The first days of the year 1868 found
| these two armies in actual collision
around the town of Murfrees-
| boro, which after struggle,
was finally. held by the union