The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-01-23
Made Appeal for a National
Military Park.
They Desire to Have II LO-
Gated at VickSburg, Miss.
Soldiers Of the North and South are
Behind the Scheme.

4 NMulNdiONf Jan. i0llttlui. -
Grant and Lee appeared before speaker
Reed few days ago TO make arguments
i'm favor of bill 10 create a national mill
itary park az Nicksburg, Miss. They were
Colonel Fred Grant of New York city aud
General stephen ID. Lee Of Mississippi
Colonel Grant was not at Vicksburg 33
years ago last July, but all the world
knows another Grant was there. General
Stephen ID. Lee was at Vicksburg as q
Confederate brigadier. He went through
that long siege and was captured with the
200 Confederate troops who were found
within the city. 1t Is not often that n
Grant and Lee appear before the speaker
Of the house or before any other tribunal
asking something in the name of the sol
diers OF both the north and south.
The Plan Outlined.
II will be almost a pity If the promoters
of this military park cassnot get their bill
through at this session OF congress. They
have an attractive plan. They propose TO
buy l,200 acres of ground, embracing all
the old earthworks, which run from the
river above Vicksburg TO the river again
below the city. The Federal lines were 13
miles long and the Confederate lines seven
miles long. Immediately back of the city
the proposed park will be about IA half
mile wide and mile and half long, TAX
| Ing in both the Union and rebel lines.
| The earthworks of the contending armies
there were thus close together. From Ell
| ther end OF this section of the park two mar
| row strips will run to the river, each strip
| taking in line OF earthworks. Thus the
| whole of the lines of defense and offense
I thrown up during that AZ days siege will
be taken in by the proposed park, the mar
row strips being made boulevards from the
park proper 10 the river.
Most of the earthworks are still In exist
ence. OF course the rains have washed
them down, and underbrush and weeds
have grown over them. But they are for
tho most part still distinguishable 1t
will be easy 10 restore them to their orig
inal condition, just as they were on that
fateful Fourth of July when both Vicks-
burg and Gettysburg fell Nearly all of
the 300 pieces of cannon used by the two
armies in the siege of Vicksburg are still
in existence, lying useless in government
arsenals obsolete, and these can be put in
position just where they were when the
soldiers fought IL out third of a century
ago. The sum asked for by the promoters
of the bill is only S75, 600, and the total
cost of the park will not exceed $3.50, 900.
All the Grand Army and prominent mill
tary organizations in the country has
asked congress to pass this bill. Yet 1t
may never be taken up for consideration.
Two Important Battles.
Vicksburg and Gettysburg, by strange
coincidence, came practically on the same
day. Between them they settled the fate
Of the nation. They marked the downfall
OF the Confederacy. Vicksburg divided
the Confederacy in two parts. Its fall
made communication from west of the
Mississippi TO the east practically impossi
bic. General Lee told me he was ordered
20 times TO bring troops across from the
west side, and, though he tried in every
way he could think of, he was unable 20
do it, The best he could do was to get n
man or two across in a dugout boat. But
az for getting u troop of soldiers across, IL
simply could not be done. Gettysburg has
been made the site of one of the grandest
military parks in the world, and the old
soldiers think ViclSsburg should be sim
ilarly treated
Vicksburg was really the only siege OF
the war-the only Investment of n city that
was closed in on all sides. both by land and
water, with communication through the
lines impossible to the beleaguercd troops.
For AZ days and nights the siege continued.
"For 90 days" General Lee told me, "our
men subsistcd on half rations. The last
ten days we lived on quarter rations. We
were compelled TO stand all the time in the
trenches. The fire was so sharp and ac-
curate that every time man put up his
cap three or four bullets pierced it. There
was not a minute in which l8 inch shells
werc not bursting in the air over our heads
The nervous strain upon us was something
indcscribablc The wonder is we held out
rs long as We did We Confede.ates look
upon Viclsburs as n spot i'm which Amer
lean manhood displayed itself at its best,
md we think il ought TO be commemorate
cd by the erection of n park"
a Fad system.
It has impressed me as an odd sort Of
spectacle for Grant and Ice, with the
soldiers of the north and south behind |
them, 10 be appealing 20 Speaker Reed, to
n single man, for permission to bring up |
their bill for n worthy purpose. No oriti- |
ciSm need bc passed upon MIR Reed as
speaker or as n man, but the system is GER
tainly wrong when single official stands |
md blocks the way to action i'm "a legisla- |
tive body. 10 Is contrary 10 the whole |
spirit OF our institutions. In the executive |
Departments the will OF the president is |
supreme But in tho legislative
branch the supposition is that 357 men,
and not ono man. form the umpire.
In practice however, one man docs con-
troll the whole thing. Tho speaker vir-
tually has the power 20 say which measures
shall como up for consideration and which
shall not Take the case of this military
park bill az an example. Probably there
s no opposition to IL. Members from the
north and from tho south Deuocrgts and
would bc clad to vote for 10,
but they cannot Pct the chance The
speaker docs not permit it TO come up for
consideration. Tlir VIII is law I'm such
matters. Hc could not rass bill which
he house did not want nordclcut one aft
r 10 had been taken up, bat in The power
10 say wnich measures shell have a hear
ing and which shall not he isalmost % SOW
reim.
There will surely be an effort Co reform
his syrtcm at an early dDy 7 hear talk
Dat as soon as flc fousr organized next