The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-03
Special 20 the Globe.

GETTYSBURG, Pa, July 2.-On the
field Of Gettysburg, where thirty-four
years ago the regiment won imm ortal
fame, the survivors of the First Min
nesota today dedicated the monument
to their fallen comrades The monu-
ment is one Of the handsomest on the
field and was erected at a cost of $20,-
GOO. The dedication was attended by
large number of the survivors of the
regiment the Minnesota delegation in
congress, Gov. Clough and staff and
visitors from the North Star state to
the number of 300 or 400.
The platform was filled with prom
inent Minnesota people, among them
being Senator and Mrs. c. K Davis.
George A. Bracket and William S.
King, of Minneapolis; Martin McGin-
mis-, of Helena, Mont; Judge John P.
Rea, of Minneapolis; ex-Gov A. E.
Rice, of Willmar; Mayor Doran and
Capt Castle, of st. Paul; Messrs.
Dobbyn and Hicks Minneapolis, and
many of the Minnesota delegation in
congress. Senator Nelson and Joel p.
Heatwole, Of the Third district, were
unavoidably detained in Washington.
The womans contingent included
Mrs. Judge Lochren, Mrs. Heffelfinger
and three daughters; Mrs. Messick,
widow of Capt. Messick, who was COM
manding the First at Pickett's charge
on the third of July, '63; Mrs. Capt.
Black, wife of the commander of Com
pany L of the First; Mrs. Holland, Of
Winona, and a large number of wives
and daughters of veterans who ac-
companied the excursion. The staff of
Gov. Clough in full uniform and COM
pletely adorned for the occasion, oc-
cupied seats in front of the platform
AS the time approached for the cere-
monies the field in the vicinity Of the
monument became densely packed with
spectators, the bronze figure sur
mounting the monument, draped with
the national colors, forming the center
toward which all faces were turned
Promptly at 10 o'clock, after music
by the Gettysburg band, Dr. Nc
Knight, president of Pennsylvania col
lege, offered prayer, and Gov. Clough
was introduced to the audience. The
governor said:
In the year 1857 the convention that framed
the constitution of the United States held it's
deliberations in the city of BrotherIy Love
In the same year the old continental congress-
in session in New York, adopted the ordinance
for the government of the Northwest territory
an ordinance prohibiting slavery forever from
gaining footho!d in that territory The
framing of the constitution and the passage of
this ordinance for the government of the
Northwest territory were, after the establish
ment of independence from the mother coun-
try, the first important steps taken in the
building of this nation, the first of its kind
in human history, a nation with freedom for
its corner stone.
eli tlIti IA fran nd ard
adopted, Washington was elected president
and inaugurated in 17S9 Later Thomas JET
ferson was elected as chief executive of this
nation. Jefferson in 1776 had given expression
in that immortal Declaration of Independence,
to the voice of freedom asserting its right of
sovereignty over mankind. In 1903, or four
teen years after the Inauguration of Washing
ton, and sixteen years after the framing of
the constitution and the passage of the North
west ordinance, Jefferson, as president, con-
summated the Louisiana purchase. BY that
transaction the whole Mississippi valley was
build into our national structure and dedi
Gated to the cause of universal liberty and
equality, and its vast area of fertile fields
made forever subservient to the interests of
the loWly and their advancement in q hopeful
and improving progress.
By this louisiana purchase of 1903 the terri
tory now included in the State of Minnesota,
became a part of a nation conceived in a
spirit of liberty and dedicated in numberless
ways to the sovereign sway Of equal rights
and opportunities for all. That purchase near
area thus secured the power of the United
States would have been circumscribed and
the sphere of its influence confined within
narrow limits. With the possession of that
territory, the destiny Of the Union as nation
was forever assured. The land Of Minnesota
is thus itself monument marking the north
ern limit of that early and fateful extension of
the national area consecrated to liberty and
the welfare of man.
Nominally devoted to liberty, large part Of
the original thirteen states and some of the
to tkxy6 dow NiT1of tod hxy
slavery In the course Of time an inevitable
conflict arose. that, in the words OF the i'm
mortal Lincoln was to decide by it's issue
whether this vast domain was to be wholly
slave or free 1t was to decide whether the
words of Jefferson in the Declaration of In
dependence, asserting that all men were
created free and equal: was an idle dream or
most portentouS reality.
AS the peaceful phases of that conflict were
deepening into the fierce and bloody clash OF
arms, Minnesota, purchased in 1903, to broad
room for the expansion of free institutions
was in 1858 formally admitted into the Union
as one among the galaxy Of states. Her con-
stitution framed in 1857 or seventy years
after the framing of the national constitution
and the adoption Of the Northwest ordinance
like the latter instrument, was a formal
charter of liberty and equal rights for all its
citizens. It's admission increased the forces
in the land arrayed on the side Of freedom
and equal opportunities for ALL That adnls-
sion like its purchase in 1903, gave encourage
IuenL anu HOpe u ali III IliiS DTodu WHO
loved liberty and desired to see its borders
enlarged.
Five years only had passed after the ad-
mission of Minnesota into the sisterhood of
states and band of her sons were gathered
in arms upon this ground where we now
stand, 600 miles from their homes in the
North Star state. For two years that band
had faced death on many battlefield to give
this land wholly to freedom. Sixty years had
passed since the land they called home had by
purchase been added to the domain of free
dom. On that fateful July day, 1863, that saw
this regiment of Minnesota boys gathered on
this spot they were engaged in a great bat
tie the most momentous in that gigantic civil
war that was to decide whether the vast do
main builded into this national structure of
freedom would Withstand the shock of war
and remain the shelter of the oppressed and
the home of the free, or be overthrown and
topple into ruin.
On that July day Minnesota was one of the
smallest states in the Union, and that state,
on this field of conflict, with it's embattled
thousands. was represented by only a small
band of 262 men. In ancient story we read
how 300 faithful Spartans in the narrow de-
file of Thermopylae stayed for a time the
onward march Of the hosts of Persia. This
smaller band of the sons of Minnesota was
in this spot ordered to stay, and it did
stay for all needed time the onward impetus
of an army corps sweeping In victorious
march across this vast field of carnage. When
a few years before that July day that famous
600 at Balaklava rode into the jaws of DEATH
full slaughter of brave men, and the poet
voiced the universal judgment in declaring
that some one had blundered. Those 262 sons