Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1899-05-26
VAL0R'S LAST SLEEP.
GREAT Array BURIED ~ NATIONAL
CEMETERIES.

Historic Arlington. on the Bnnk of
the Potomac-OriEIn OF the Custom
of strewinI Flowers on the Graves
sf the blue and Gray.
On flames eternal camping ground
Their silent tents SPREAD.
And glory guards with solemn round
The biyOusc 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 il
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. II was this touching Incl.
dent that suggested TO Francis Miles
Finch the fine poem entitled THE Blue
and the Gray. the last stanza of which
is:
No more shall the warcry sever
Or the winding river be red;
They banish our anger forever
When they laurel the graves Of our dead \
Under the sol and the dew,
Waiting the Judgment day;
Love and tears for the blue
Tears and love for the gray.
The custom gradually spread through
out the south-April % being the date
selected for its observance. General
John A. 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 1868 he appointed May
80 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 ont Of service. The custom Of
til 1882. Each year there are fewer old
soldiers to join in these professions, and
each year there are new graves 10 re-
ceive the loving tributes of flowers and
tears from the living.
There ase - national cemeteries scat
tered throughout some 2S states of the
Union and in them lie the remains Of
$50, 600 soldiers Virginia has l6 in
which are buried -. 0OO men; Tennessee
comes next with :. in which are 81, PAS
| dead; Mississippi has 3, with %, +97 ;
Georgia ,, with 90, 500 Louisiana 4,
with 30. s61; North Carolina 4. with
Is. .935: Missouri 3. with I4,l51. 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 in government grounds. In
the cemeteries Of no other single state
are there above 10. 900 soldiers buried.
| The smallest number of men 43) are in
the battle-ground cemetery, District Of
| Columbia and the largest number g., =
| 93S) are in Arlington cemetery, Virgin
! la. Sixteen thousand six hundred and tif-
ty-six are buried at NicksbuIg, Miss. ;
IL, 55S at Nashville, Tenn, and 10. 25S
at Fredericksburg, Va.
The cemetery of Arlington, which is
inst across the Potomac river from
Washington. was established May 1S,
1864. The property belonged to General
Robert E. 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 a single stone
less than four yards long and about two
wide ''lie the remains of 2,lll soldiers
collected from the battlefield of Bull
Run and the route of the Rappahannock
after the war.
Arlington is indeed place for tender
memories. for thanksgivings and for
prayers, but il is no place for pride and
vainglory. Standing among those grass
| grown graves and looking at that desc
| lated home. one understands-beN Ner
| perhaps than ever before-what war
means and what victory costs-early
/ deaths, ruined MONIES anu crushed
hearts. One has only to stand within
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 we'll as of the
blue whose graves that day would be
flower strewn and tear moistened we
felt that no sermons could plead more
eloquently for peace and charity than
did those lowly mounds.
These men have left us priceless
heritage; let us see that we are worthy
of it. General John B. Gordon puts it
well. Let US remember that those who
wore the blue and those who wore the
gray are brothers now in the t-uest
sense and that both will stand together
in defense of the Union and see to it
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.
| Garlands For All.
| Prt while wa honor tho soldier LOT n {