The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-05-31
BY Southern A ssooiatai Press.

Of yesterday mad given place to q
GOODNESS and the sky was slightly over
cast. whom the distinguished eificers of
Ihe late war assenb bled at the Palmer
Slouss this morning awaiting the for
nation Of tho procession which was to
escort them to the station of the Iii.
Rois Central Railroad. Tho time set
FOR ths parade to moye was s O'Clock,
Sut it was near 8 when all the arrange
ments were completed aud tho veterans
OF the great atruggls took their places
an carriages.
Accompanied by martial music the
escort was formed Oh Suite street. Iu
the throng were men whose names
were historical. There were Long.
street aud Fitzhugh Lee, John Q.
Black mud Gen. John NJ. Palmer, Mar
Gus j. Wright, of Tennessee. anu Gen.
Joseph Stockton, of Illinois; Al. c.
Butler, Eppa Huuton, Gen. John G.
underwood, the protector Of the mon
Qment, aud Wade Hampton. orator of
the day, besides hundreds of lesser
officers on either side, who had come
together to do honor to the memory OF
she men 10 grey who slept the sleep
that knows no waking in the beautiful
cemetery 10y the shores of Lake Michi
gan.
Veterans were there who had fol.
lowed the fortunes of Lee and Jackson,
and more than ouce tiuug their squad
rone against the hosts of Grant aud
Meade. There were commanders who
bad carried the stars uud stripes of
Sherman from Atlanta to thp eea. md
old aoldiers. the mention of whose
pames evoke memories of Shiloh,
lookout Mountain, Vickshure, the
Wilderness, Gettysburg and Antietam
all had gathered to honor brave
Americans, not ex- x-Uonfaderntes, but
soldiers of O common country.
The march to the cemetery then be
gan. The Black Hussars, Capt. I. S.
Quincy, acted rs guard of honor, and
detnchments from the Illinois military,
Grand Army Posts and Camps of Con.
federate veterans made up the rest Of
the procession. The route to the Gem
eiery was covered within few minutes
and at was l0;45 o'clock when the mon
nent was reached. There great
crowd had assembled, stretching ont in
dense masses from every side of the
speakers stand.
The police and military had con-
siderable difficulty in clearing a way
for the carriages, and it was cousidera.
bly, after II O'clock, the hour set for
the distinguished visitors we're ssated
on the platform aud the military band
began the opening selection.
AS the last notes died away Col.
5oseph Desha Pickett, chaplain of the
Kentucky "Orphan Brigade" arose
and advanced to the front of the stand
invoked the divine blessing on the rs
semSage.
After an anthem by double quar-.
settle the orator of the day, Gen. Wade
Hampton, was introduced and spoke q
In part es follows:
"The scene presented here to dav
Is one that could not be witnessed IN
any country but our own, and for
this reason, it no other, it POSSESSES
significance worthy Of the Eravest
consideration. A few years ago
brave men from the North and from
che South stood facing each other in
hostile array, and the best blood of
Che country was poured out like water
ON many n battlefield. Thousands, hun.
dreds of thousands, of our bravest
sleep in bloody graves-men who gave
their lives to prove the faith OF their
convictions; and now North and South.
standing by these graves, wherever
ebey may be. grasp hands across the
bloody chasm, and proudly clam Fed.
eral and Confederate soldiers as
Americans-mon, who have given to
the world as noble examples OF courage
end devotion to duty as can be enrolled
on the page Of history.
"Of the G,00O Confoderates buried
here not one was Ell officer; all yero
privates, in no way responsible for the
hnhappy war which brought an Iliad of
woes upon our country, And vet
shese humble private soldiers, any one
of whom could have gained freedom by
taking the oath of allegiance to the
Federal government, preferred death
60 the sacrifice of their principles.
Can any dshonor attach to these
bravo men of Chicago because they are
willing to recognize tho courage and
Che devotion to duty of these dead
Confederntes?
We, Of the South, measure our dead
comrades buried here by the standard
applied to men after death, and you of
Chicago have measured them by tho
same standard-the only standard by
which We can measure man-and by
applying this you have shown that you
have come to the highest standard
vouchsafed to men and on this North
and South can stand with honor alike