Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-02-13
FIELD PARK.
CHARTER OF FREDERICKSBURG
ASSOCIATION SIGNED.
DONE ON LlNCOLNS BIRTHDAY.
Governor Tyler Comments Upon the
Cofncfdent-sIgned With Gold
PEN TO lie Presented to General
King, the First President.

=
the Fredericksburg and Adjacent Ma
tional Battle-Felds' Park Memorial AS
ISOLATION. the object of which Is to make
a park out of the four great battle-fields
Of Fredericksburg. Charlottesville. the
| Wilderness. Spotsylvania Courthouse
and adjacent backgrounds.
The Governor remarked upon the CO.
| incidence that he approved the bill on
the anniversary of the birthday Of Abra-
ham Lincoln. and he expressed the hope
that the association which the charter
incorporates, made up, as ii is, of emf
nent citizens from thirty-eight States Of
the Union. besides the District of Column
bia, and embracing soldiers OF the late
war from Maine TO Florida, and from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, might be sue
cessful in having these battle-fields set
aside as a government park. Those four
great battles were, probably, taken all
together, the four greatest battles of the
civil war, as the two cemeteries of Fred
neutrality-suspicious. and Confederate
will testify the Fredericksburg Ma
tional Cemetery being probably the
largest in the Union, outside of Arlington.
The Governor said that as the North
has park at Gettysburg, and the South
and West one at Chickamauga, it seemed
10 him eminenty fitting that Virginia.
which was the Flanders Of the war, should
have a park, and that nowhere during the
civil war were four such battles fought in
an area of less than twenty miles square.
IN WORTHY HANDS.
The Governor said he was informed
that the acreage to be included in these
parks will not exceed that of the Chick
amauga Park, and that the matter is IN
worthy hands, the resident corporators
being citizens of great worth and integ
rity, and the outside corporators among
the most eminent and reputable OF the
United States, and that the whole pur-
pose of the Incorporation springs from
patriotic motives, and Is not inspired by
land speculation or moneymaking.
Governor Tyler signed the charter with
a gold pen supplied by Delegate Embrey
of Fredericksburg, which is to be pre-
sented by the latter to General Horatio
King, who is to preside over the first
meeting of the corporators.
THE JOINT RESOLUTION.
The following is the joint resolution
adopted by the Legislature memoralizing
Congress to establish a national battle
fields park at and near Fredericksburg:
Whereas, a movement has been put on
foot that has aroused great interest
throughout the United States TO estao-
fish a national battle-feids memorial
park at and near Fredericksburg, Va,
embracing the territory upon which the
great battles of Fredericksburg, Chancel-
louisville, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania
Courthouse, and the adjacent battles
were fought; and,
Whereas, this section OF Northern Vir-
ginia was the scene of four of the most
important encounters between the con-
tending armies in the civil war that have
been known in any area of the same size |
in the world, and that on these historic |
fields more men were killed in battle |
than England has lost in killed in all |
her wars for the past 100 years; ard.
Whereas, the soldiers who fought on |
these fields came from all parts of this
country, and, therefore, every State |
should be interested in the preservation
of these consecrated grounds; AMI,
Whereas, the splendid courage md |
dauntlesS vaior of the men who were
engaged on both sides in these dread
conflicts should be perpetuated and made
more glorious by keeping forever sacred
the soil upon which they sacrificed their
lives; thus, too, enabling the citizens Of
the Union to better realize the compre-
hensive truth uttered by The distinguish
ed martyred President of the United
States on the field Of Gettysburg, when
he said: That we here highly resolve
that these dead shall not have died in
vain; that the Union under God have a
new birth of freedom and that govern
ment Of the people, by the people, and
for the people shall not perish from the
earth: and.
Whereas, If soldiers ever deserved the
honor and memorial of a battle-felds
park, where their deeds of valor and
luty can be forever studied and under
stood, the immortal territory, upon which
history has placed its everlasting and
sndearing hand should be owned by the
Union, and kept sacred for its own fake
md for the sake Of its young men, whose
honor and courage are its mighty bull
yarks against danger and wrong; there
lore, be ii
Resolved by the House of Delegates
the Senate concurring), That the Gene
al Assembly of Virginia earnestly me-
noralize the Senators and Representa-
ives from every State in the Union in
ablish the proposed battle-helds park
It and near Fredericksburg, Va. in
luding the aforesaid battle-fields, and
them by proper drive-ways. and
hus preserve and safeguard the great
Lrena upon which these memorable bat
les were fought with a courage and
delity on both sides unsurpassed in the
,fcto of he