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

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| charge on this spot than did the 60O and yet
we cannot say that they their officers
| blundered. There duty that opened for
| them to perform, and they performed it, Thev
! were ordered and they marched, 1t is true
70 What all must have felt was almost certain
| death; but that death meant as they saw it.
| the salvation of the day to the cause of lib
| erty and they went forward
Ihe forces that were at that time strug-
I CLING for disunion and had for half CEN
tury Deen struggling to make human slavery
perpetual, had swept onward from the South
until they reached the position occupied alone
| by that band Of 262 Minnesota boys. Their
! task was not like that of the 600 at Balaklava.
! but like that of the 300 at Thermopylae only
calling for a higher order of courage and
| patriotism than was exhibited by the Spartans
| so long ago.
Peace, benefcent peace now throws her
| mantle over the scenes of that fearful earn
| age, that wonderful heroism that willing self
! sacrifice of the brave sons of Minnesota ON
that July day thirty-four years ago. The old
| conflict of freedom and slavery is ended and
| this land, thanks to the heroism and devotion
| OF our gallant dead, is again and finally con-
secrated and dedicated to liberty and uni
! versal freedom. We have'met to dedicate this
! monument to the memory of the brave deeds
| OF the sons Of Minnesota on this spot And
yet, as we thus meet to dedicate this monu-
ment l trust that the words of the immortal
Lincoln, uttered on this very field come home
| to all of US He said
In a larger sense we cannot dedicate, We
| cannot consecrate, We cannot halloW this
| ground. The brave men, living and dead
! who struggled here have consecrated it far
|
| world will little note nor long remember
| what we say here but it can never forget
what they did here. 1t is for US. the living
| rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished
! work which they who fought here have thus
| far so nobly advanced"
~, The sixtieth anniversary of the reign Of
| sons and daughters of Great Britain. That
anniversary called a diamond jubilee The
sons sons OF Minnesota in 1868 kept the diamond
jubilee OF the purchase of the soil for their
| homes They kept it on this field The dia-
monds for that festival were the brave deeds
| SET Dy them in the crown of immortal hero
| ism and self-sacrifice for the cause of native
land and liberty. Those diamonds will shine
with increasing lustre long after the monu-
ment men we we mere ne and now dedicate crumbles to
| uust ana is thus mingled with the ashes Of
the men who here lie sleeping in death But
II, IN the words of Lincoln, the people Of
| Minnesota dedicate themselves to The cause
| Tor which those diamonds were here conse
Grated in 1853. the future will see the chill
| uren OF the North Star state on every field OF
4 IN our midst that makes for disunfon or law
! lessness, or against liberty and equality-or
az government We OF the people, for the people
To you, as president of the National Gene
Sely St ASSOCIATION, s now, as governor of the
state OF Minnesota, by virtue of the author.tv
Vesteo IN me, transfer this monument dedi-
cateu 10 the memory Of the sons of Minne-
! sofa, into your keeping.
Following Gov Clough's speech. a
IePresentat1ve of the national cemetery
lew brief remarks
Juuge Lochren, chairman of the Min
Hesota commission, under whose direc-
tlon the monument was erected in brief
ana eloquent words then reviewed the
history of the First Minnesota regi
itieht it from the day of its enlistment to
| ils outmuSter. He spoke of the charge
| IN much the same language used by
! nln IN his we'll known history of the
regiment In concluding his address
Juoge Lochren, speaking of the advent
on the held of the First regiment. in
substance, said:
AS we approached the position to which
tne First had been assigned we were moi
by that drove of coffee cooling towards vJbo
adways haunt the rear of active armies who
represent the floating debris of MANY of tho
regiments whose braver members were at
the front stubbornly contestine the Confad
etaIe et a9Vanee. They came with the same old
STORY OF defeat and disaster which the First
nad heard told by the same cowardly lips
from the Bull Run disaster down through
sWO Wto years OF active service. But the First
minnesota had learned to discount these stor-
les by about SO per cent and Simply moved
forward. taking position as ordered on the
spot where this monument now stands.
After graphically describing the First
Minnesota charge, the judge again re-
turned to his charge upon the coffee
! coolers.
While pension commissioner, 1 discovered
d spot where these stragglers were deter
I've. found a company of them occupvine
prominent places in various veteran organ
1Zations and industriously engaged in gIer-
INA ralds against the treasury of their coun-
try. Comrades of the First, 1 have always
telt 1t incumbent upon me to give such as
slstance as might be in my power 10 the
poor and suffering survivors of the Civil
war. The brave and honest soldiers of the
Union have tried to give such reward for
tner patrlotlsm and their sufferings as might
be partial compensation for the wounds
eney nad received in upholding the laws Of
our country. But | have been and shall
ever continue to be the uncompromising foe OF
al towards and guerillas who would make
the treasury of our country raidng ground
for public plunder
Comrades, the blood spilled here on the
ground where now stand makes this a
hallowed spot. Let here sacredly renew
to the country that we love and to the
flag which floats above 1t our allegiance
| and firmly resolve that we will support it in
the trials of peace, no less honorab;y than
our comrades who sleep here did in those Of
war.
Miss Mabel Marvin, of Winona, read
poem. The opening sentence of Sena-
tor Davis speech gave full promise of
the eloquence of the brief oration
which was to follow. He said:
How lovely peace. girded with golden har-
vests, reigns over this delicious landscape,
where thirty-four years age this day She
fled afrighted from this spot. The fiery
chariots of war were reaping these fields and
garnering a harvest of into that eter-
nifty NIT ,,h where , grain and fruit and flowers and
1t would be impossible to give the
full force of Senator Davis eloquent
grafton, otherwise than by steno-
graphic report, and no stenographer.
was upon the scene.
Thus far the proceedings had been
quiet, but when Judge Lochren intro
duced Col. William Colvill, all that
was left OF the man who led the charge
of the First at Gettysburg. the vet-
Grams and visitors rent the air with
cheers. Col. Colvill made very brief
and entirely characteristic speech, Civ
ing all honor to the enlisted men OF
the Civil war. Maj. Martin Maginnes.
of Helena. Mont, was introduced and
made by far the most effective speech
of the occasion.
How strangely surprised friends. how
gravely startled were foes, to see this First
regiment from an unknown state march in
stalwart energy to the front of the scene.
People had forgotten that OF the first
great men Of any age or cline, George Wash
ington himself had learned lessons OF action
as a frontier surveyor, and won his first
laurels in the rescue of Braddock's beaten
veterans from the complete annihilation of an