The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-05-31

Wade Eampton's Great Speech.
CHICAGO, May 3O.-Finanoially and
socially the Mason and Dixon line has
been obliterated from the map of the
United States, and 1t would seem that
the dead line" laid down over q gen.
GRAFTON ago to mark the territorial
division between our slave and our free
territory, has been thrown down.
With the dedication to-day in this,
one of the staunchest of the Union cities
in the heart Of the country, Of hand-
some monument to the lasting memory
OF men who wore the grey and fought
for the Lost Cause" Confederate
high wster mark" was established far
north OF that set at Gettysburg by force
of arms; this, too, with the ungrudging
consent OF the staunch Unionists among
whom 1t is placed. and with the assist.
ance Of veterans in blue. ioemen in
arms, but friends in peace, doing honor
to an acknowledged valor, which is now
the common heritage of our common
country.
The dedication WAS accompanied by
perhaps the most impressive ceremonies
among the exercises set down for deco
ration day in any part Of the Union. At
Cottage Grove avenue and Thirty-fifth
street, then in the outskirts but now in
the heart OF the city, WAS stockade
during the war named Camp Douglas,
and there many thousands OF Confed~
crate prisoners were confined between
the years 1862 and '65. The men had
spent their lives in the balmy climate
of the Sunny South, and the rigors Of q
Northern winter told upon them
severely. AS a consequence 5000 OF
them were liberated by death and were
buried in lakewood Cemetery, at Cottage
Grove avenue and Sixty-seventh street.
1t was to tho memory Of these 5000
who died in military prison in an
enemy's country that the monument was
dedicated by their comrades and oppo-
nents In arms, on the spot where they
were buried. 1t is the first monument
to Confederate dead erected in the
North and the event was, perhaps,
without parallel in history. This dedi-
cation is the outcome OF movement
started by the Confederate Association
OF Chicago. It undertook to raise the
necessary funds for the erection of the
monument and Gen. Jno. c. Underwood,
q Southern officer in command of the
federate Veterans, was chosen to carry
the work forward. The fund started
with $500 from lecture given in Chi
caRo by General Gordon, of Georgia.
Citizens OF Chicago also subscribed SlO,-
600 and subscriptions by Confederate
veterans and others in the South
brought the fund up to the necessary
amount.
The monument WAS three years under
construction. The largest assemblage
Of distinguished Confederate veterans
ever seen in the North was one OF. the
notable features of the occasion. Those
present included Generals Gordon,
Hampton, Longstreet, Lee, Fitzhugh Lee,
Harry Heth, ). G. French, E. c. Wal.
thall, NJ c. Butler, l.. l. Lomax. Mar
Gus ]. Wright. Frank c. Armstrong,
Jos. o. Shelby, William H. Payne. Fay
cite Hewitt G. A. Evans and Josh
Lewis. Nearly all OF these distinguished
visitors, accompanied by their wives
and families, together with representa-
tives of the Confederate Association, OF
Washington. d. c.; Camp Moultrie vet
Grams from Charleston, S. O.; and reps
resentative delegations from Atlanta
and other points South, arrived yester-
day.
To-day's ceremonies began with the
ringing of the Colum bian liberty BELL
firing of a national salute by battery d. q,
Illinois National Guard, on the lake
front. There a carriage parade of re-
nowned Northern and Southern gen.
erals was formed, and moved under
military escort to the Twelfth street
depot and there took the trains In wait.
ing for lakewood Cemetery, where the
dedication ceremonies took place. The
dedication ceremonies were opened by
prayer by Col. Jos. Desha Pickett,
chaplain OF the kentucky Orphan"
brigade, G. 8. A. Then Gen, Jno. C.
marks. placed in the chair Rev. DR.. w.
Il. Bolton. pastor Of the Centenary
Methodist Church. and past commander
U. 8. Grsnnt Post, No. 2s. G. A. B., Of
Chicago. The dedicatory grafton by
Lieutenant General Wade Hampton, Of
South Carolina, followed.
Gen. Hampton said in part: 1.-THE
scene presented here is one that could
not be witnessed in any country but
ours. few years ago brave men from
the Moth and from the South stood
facing each other in hostile array, and
the beat blood Of the country WAS poured
out like water on many q battlefield.
Thousands, hundreds of thousands OF
our bravest men sleep in bloody graves;
and now North and South standing by
these graves, wherever they may be,
grasp hands across the bloody chasm
and proudly claim Federal and Confed-
crate soldiers as Americans, men who
have given to the world as noble ex-
amples OF courage and devotion to duty
as can be enrolled on the PAGE of
history.