The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-05-30
BITTERNESS FORGOT.
Confederate and Union Veterans
Mingle at Chicago.
Both Sides Join in Defeating
Confederate Shaft.
A REMARKABLE SCENE.
SOutherners Decorate theGraves
of Northern Dead.
NOrtherners Help to Honor
Brave COnfederates.
HAMPTON'S SPEECH.
Praises the Magnanimity OF
Grant and Lincoln.
Now is a Good Time to Forget
the Past.

C4AO Il CkO tS
CHICAGO, May 30.-Financially and
socially the historic 'Mason and Dixon's
line' has been obliterated from the map
of the United States. and in the leading
feature of the Decoration Day GER
emonies here today, it would seem that
politically. as we'll, the dead line" laid
down over a generation ago, to mark the
territorial division between our slave
and our free territory, has been wiped
out.
With the dedication today in this, one
of the staunchest of the union cities, in
the heart of the country whence came
the blue coated warriors who marched
from Atlanta to the sea, of handsome
monument to the lasting memory of mon
who wore the gray and fought for tho
lost cause, under the stars and bars,
confederate high water mark was es-
tablished far north OF that set
at Gettysburg by force of arms;
this, too, with the ungrudging
consent of the staunch unionists among
whom it is placed, and with the counte-
nance and assistance of veterans in blue
foes in arms but friends in peace,
which is now the common heritage of
our common people.
The dedication was accompanied by
perhaps the most impressive and impos-
ing ceremonies among the exercises set
down for Decoration day in any part of
the union.
Six Thousand Confederate Prisoners.
at Cottage Grove avenue and Thirty
fifth street, then in the outskirts but now
in the heart of this city, stockade was
81
Camp Douglas and there many thousands
of confederate prisoners were confined,
between the years of 1862-5.
The men held there under the re-
straints which befalI captives of war,
had spent their lives in the
balmy climate of the sunny
south and the rigors of
a northern winter told upon them severe
ly. AS consequence 5000 of them were
liberated by death and were buried in
Oakwood cemetery, at Cottage Grove
avenue and Sixty-seventh street.
1t was to the memory OF these 5000
who died in military prison in an
enemy's country that the monument was
dedicated by their comrades and op-
ponents in arms. On the spot
where they lie buried. It is
the first monument to confederate dead
erected in the north and the event was
perhaps without parallel in history.
An Unparalleled Proceeding.
1t does not appear that anywhere else
on the face of our round globe, within
period of thirty years after the close of
a bitterly fought war, the vanquished
have ever before erected monument to
the memory sof their comrades
in arms in the heart of the
victor's territory. Especially has
inh Oovar booO
of the vlctors heartily joining the van
quished in doing honor TO the valor of
the vanquished dead.
This dedication is the outcome of a
movement inaugurated by the Confeder-
ates' association of Chicago. 1t under
took to raise the necessary funds for the
erection of the monument and General
John c. Underwood, southern officer in
command of the northern divisions of
the United Confederate Veterans, was
chosen to carry'the work forward.
The fund started with $500 from
lecture given in Chicago by Gen. Cor
don, of Georgia. Citizens of Chicago
also subscribed $4,000, 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.
Distinguished Confederates.
The largest assemblage of distinguish
ed confederate veterans ever seen IN the
north was one of the notable features of
the occasion. Those present included
Generals John B. Gordon, Wade Hamp-
ton, James Longstreet, Stephen D. Lee,
| Fitzhugh Lee, Harry Heth, s. g. French,
E. c. Walthall, NJ. c. Butler, l. L. Lo-
mox. Marcus J. Wright. Frpnk c. Arm
strong, Eppa Hunton. Joseph o. Shelby,
| William II. Payne, Fayette Hewitt, G. A.
Evans, Joseph II. Lewis.
Nearly all these distinguished Wis
itors, accompanied by their wives
and families, together with repre-
sentatives of the Confederate as
sociation of Washington, D. c., Camp
Moultrie, Sons of Veterans, of Charles
ton, S. c., and representative delega-
tions from Atlanta and other points
south, arrived yesterday.
They were met at the depots by COM
rades in arms, who preceded them. and
| by the local reception committee, COM
| posed of Federal and Confederate vete-
rams, and the leading professional and
business men of the city, with suitable
escort, and driven to their hotel
Later they attended matinee per-
! formance at the the theatre. In. the
evening they were welcomed to the city
| by Mayor Swift, General Cowdan re.