The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1895-06-07
DEDICATED.
The Monument to Confederate
Dead at Chicago.
Unique and Interesting Ceremonies Of
Spiking and Monumenting the Guns
Surrounding the Memo
rial Shaft.
1N oAKwoops cEMErrRY.

1
| stones, which mark the last resting
| places of 5000 men who, in the days
between 81 and '65, wore the confed-
crate gray, and who, far from their
homes and friends, sealed with their
| lives their devotion to the lost cause.
| To-day there stands above these lowly
| stones of white tall and beautiful
monument, erected partly by the sons
of the southland and partly by men OF
the north, to testify, the one their love
! for gallant comrades fallen in the fight,
and the other the respect which heroic
| endurance and brilliant courage must
| always evoke, when it is based, as was
| the endurance and courage of the men
| who sleep in Oakwoods, upon firm
conviction of justice of the cause for
which they strove.
To-day, above these grass-grown
mounds, the grizZled veterans of the
Grand Army of the Republic and the
white-haired warriors of the south
| clasped hands and realized that the
war is over. The roses of the north
fell in profusion upon the graves of
confederate dead, and over the resting
places of many of those who wore the
blue were scattered the magnolia bios
SONS of the south, and by the hands of
men who had fiercely sought.in battle
the lives of the silent sleepers who lay
below.
The dedication of the confederate
monument to-day marked such blend
ing, or rather such an eradication of
the line between the great sections as
the nation has rarely seen before.
Side by side, with the man who sent
Pickett's brave Virginians against Glib
bons' wall of steel on Cemetery Ridge,
stood the man who stoutly hurled
back Hoods mad charges at Franklin
Longstreet and Schofeld. Elbow to
elbow stood the men who led the best
blood of the south behind the guidons
of Stuart, and he who was the cavalier
par excellence of Sheridan's famous
cavalry-Fitzhugh Lee, Hampton and
Wesley Merritt.
THE DAYS CEREMONIES.
To-day's ceremonies began with the
ringing of the Columbian Liberty Bell
and the firing of national salute by
Battery D, Illinois national guard, on
the lake ,front. Then a carriage pa
rade of northern and southern gen
erals was formed and moved, under
military escort, to the Twelfth Street
depot and took trains for Oakwoods
cemetery, where the dedication cere-
monies occurred. The military escort
consisted of the well-known First reg
iment, Illinois national guard, under
command of Col. Henry L. Turner, as
well as the Chicago hussars, a mount
ed military organization of seventy
five men, under command of Capt.
Quincy.
The dedication ceremonies were
opened with prayer by Col. Joseph
Desha Pickett, chaplain of the Ken
tuclxy Orphan brigade, c. S. A. Then
Gen. John c. Underwood, in few in
troductory remarks, placed in the
chair Rev. J. H. Bolton, pastor Of the
Centenary Methodist church and past
commander of U. S. Grant post, No.
%, G. A. R., of Chicago, who delivered
brief address on assuming his duties.
The dedicatory grafton by Lieut.. Gen.
Wade Hampton of South Carolina fol-
lowed.
A memorial poem by Maj. Henry T.
Stanton, of Kentucky, was next, and
the literary portion of the dedication
was closed with an address by Right
Rev. Samuel Fallows, bishop of the
Reformed Episcopal church. Chicago.
CoNsECRATING THE GUNS.
Then came the beautiful and inn
pressive ceremony of ''consecrating the
guns" At each corner of the monu-
ment stood field piece, presented to
the association by the United States
Tho ic lynnxun
as "monumenting the guns" and con-
sists in making the ordnance part of
the monument to the dead.
The monumenting corps consisted
of the following: For cannon No. 1,
Col. r. H. Stewart and Miss Lucy Lee
Hill; for cannon No. 2, Col. Samuel J.
Sullivan a1d Mrs. Albert Akers; for
cannon No. 3, Lieut.-Col. George h.
Forester and Miss Laura L. MITCHELL;
for cannon No. 4, Lieut.-Col. John w.
White and Miss Belle Armstrong.
Spiking party; Lieut.-Col. K. Lee
France and Comrade Theodore Noel.
This party formed in a procession
and. the gentlemen escorting the
ladies, passed through the lines of the
veterans to the first gun, and when
they stood beside it, Gen. Underwood
gave the command:
"Consecrate the gunsp'
SPIKED THE GUNS.
Col. Stewart advanced to the piece,
and with him went Lieut.. Col. France,
carrying a triangular bolt of steel,
and Mr.. Noel, who bore heavy ham,
mer. Col. Stewart spoke the first
ords of the ceremony:
This gun, having fred its last shot
on the field of battle, will now be
silenced forever"
Lieut.-Col France placed the spike
in the vent of the gun.
Spike the gun!" commanded Gen.
Underwood.
Down came Mr.. NoePs sledge on the
head of the spike, driving it home and
rendering that cannon forever harm
less.
Col Stewart then escorted Miss Lucy
Lee Hill to the pedestal beside the
spiked cannon, and Miss Hill said:
This cannon, with its glorious record
on the field of battle, having been
silenced forever, do consecrate to the
memory of the valorous soldiery we
now monument, as a military decora-
tion for their bravery and honor unto
death"
The ceremony was repeated at the
other guns by the other members of
the consecrating party, with slight