Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-05-25

GREAT ARMY BURIED M NATIONAL
CEMETERIES.

GREAT ARMY BURIED M NATIONAL
CEMETERIES.
Historic Arlington. On tEc Bank of
the Potounc-Ori.sin og the Custom
of Streuiuas Flowers on the Graves
of the Blue and Gray.
On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round
Tho biyouac Of the dead.
To the women OF Columbus, Miss,
is attributed the honor Of being among
the first To decorate with flowers the
graves Of soldiers and sailors who fell
in the civil war. To their praise be it
said, they scattered their beautiful
offerings with impartial hands alike
over the graves Of those who had fought
for the south and those who had died
for the north. 1t was this touching Incl
dent that suggested TO Francis Miles
Finch the fine poem entitled The Blue
and the Gray. 4" the last stanza Of which
Is:
No more shall the warcry sever
or the winding river Dc rod
They bauish our anger forever
when they laurel the graves Of our dead.
Under the sod and the dow,
Waiting the Judgment day;
Love and tears for the blue,
Tears and love for the gray.
The custom gradually spread through
ont the south-April - being the date
selected for its observance. General
John \. Logan when commander in
chief Of the Grand Army Of the Repub-
lie received, it is said, letter from a
German residing in Cincinnati in
which the statement was made that it
was a springtime custom of the people
in the German fatherland to decorate
with flowers the graves of their soldiers
The writer suggested that the custom
be adopted in the United States. The
idea met with the approval Of General
Logan, and in 1sGS he appointed May
30 as the date of its observance.
1t is said that the date, May 80 was
selected not only because Of the abun-
dance Of flowers at that season Of the
year. but also because on that day the
last soldier Of the civil war was mus
tered out of service The custom of
having parades was not introduced un
til 1882 Each year there are fewer old
soldiers to Join in these professions, and
each year there are new graves to re-
ceive the loving tributes of flowers and
tears from the living.
There are ) national cemeteries scat
tered throughout some 2S states of the
Union and in them lie the remains of
$50, 600 soldiers. Virginia has 16, in
which are buried 10, 600 men; Tennessee
comes next with Z, in which are 81, PAS
dead; Mississippi has 3, with 20, 497
Georgia ,, with 23, 500; Louisiana 4.
with 20, sci; North Carolina 4, with
Is, 035; Missouri 3, with ii, 151. 1t
will be seen that these seven states CON
tain within their borders more than
half of all the national cemeteries and
that in them are buried above two
thirds of the entire number of soldiers
who sleep i'll government grounds. In
the cemeteries of no other single state
are there above 10, 900 soldiers buried.
The smallest number of men (48) are in
the battle-ground cemetery, District of
Columbia. and the largest number 49,
93S) are in Arlington cemetery, Virgin
in. Sixteen thousand six hundred and fif-
ty-six are buried at VicksbuIg, Miss.
16, 55S at Nashville, Tenn, and 15,25o
at Fredericksburg, Va.
The cemetery of Arlington, which is
Just across the Potomac river from
Washington, was established May l3,
1864. The property belonged to General
Robert T.. Lee and before the war was
one of the finest homes in the south.
About 4, 900 of the dead buried there
are unknown. Beneath single stone
less than four yards long and about two
wide 'lie the remains of ALI soldiers
collected from the battlefield of Bull
Run and the route of the Rappahannock
after the war -
Arlington is indeed place for tender
memories, fol- thanksgivings and for
prayers, but it is no place for pride and
vainglory Standing among those grass
grown graves and looking at that desc
lated home, one understands-be
perhaps than ever before-what war
means and what victory costs-early
deaths, ruined homes and crushed
IiCdI u. Olt mas OAAll w
the shade of Arlington TO learn that
war means all this and more, and when,
with sympathy born of common sor-
row, we remembered that there Were
soldiers of the gray as well rs Of the
blue whose graves that day would be
flower strewn and tear moistened we
felt that no sermons could plead moro
eloquently for peace and charity than
did those lowly mounds.
These men have left us IA priceless
heritage; let us see that we are worthy
of it. General John b. Gordon puts 1t
well, Let us remember that those who
wore the blue and those who wore the
gray are brothers now in the truest
sense and that both will stand together
in defense of the Union and SEQ To 1t
that law and liberty shall live and
that this republic of ours shall move
onward and upward forever in its be
nign mission to humanity. Forward.