The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-05-26
THE REUNION At
FREDERICKSBURG
Monument to the Army of
the Potomac.
TUE CORNER cTnNE IAIO
THE CORNER STONE LAID
The President and Noted Federal and
Confederate Leaders Present.
MONUMENT GIFT OF GEN BUTTeRfIELD
Ora'ions by General Sckles and Mr.. Fiizhugh'
Ccmmit'al of Monument 10 Secretary Ct
War by Colonel Hill. Vile Ter
Speaks at The Reunion.
Speaks at The Reunion.
(By the Associated Press.)

Fredericksburg. Va, May 25.-On the
very ground over which the Old Fifth
Corps charged at Fredericksburg. Presi-
dent Mckinley, his Cabinet and General
Miles today witnessed the laying of the
corner stone in shaft which will perpet-
uate in bronze and granite the heroism
of the army of the Potomac. 1t was an
impressive ceremony and rendered the
more so by the fact that among the
hundreds who witnessed the event were
noted leaders of both the Federal and
the Confederate forces The monument
was the personal gift of General Daniel
Butterfeld, to the National Memorial
Association.
The committal of the monument to the
Secretary of War was made by Col
onel Hill, one of the veterans of the Fifth
Corps. The ceremony was with due Ma
sonic rites and at it's completion the
Secretary of War accepted the gift in
the name of the American people. The
visit of the President to Fredericksburg
was primarily in honor of the thirty first
annual reunion of the Army of the Po-
tomac. The town was in gala dress and
turned cut en- masse to receive it's dis
his Cabinet were welcomed at the court
house. which was decorated with the
national colors and the various corps flags
of the Army of the Potomac. Welcom-
ing speeches were made by prominent
veterans from both sides of the Civil
War and afterward the President held
an informal reception at the home of St.
George R. Fitzhugh. where he was well
ann Oh NV hundreds of tho town folk both
white and colored.
The special train, which carried all the
members of the Cabinet except Secretary
Wilson. arrived at 11:10. There also were
in the party General Nelson A. Miles
his chief aid. Colonel Milcher; Generals
Joseph Wheeler. former Adjutant Gener-
al Ruggles, who was Colonel of the Pres
ident's old regiment during the war and
the Marine Band.
The train was met at Quantico by a
reception committee from Fredericks-
burg consisting of Hon. Horace +. Girls
man, Major T. p Morris and Postmaster
John M. Griffin, who accompanied the
Presidential party to Fredericksburg,
where they were turned over to the hos
FATALITIES of the local COMMITTEE. The
procession formed at the depot and
headed by the Marine band moved 1t
once to the court house. where the pub
lie exercises were held and an official
welcome, delivered by st. George K.
Fitzhugh. and the response was made by
General Martin T. E. Mcmahon. The
GRAFTON of the day was then delivered
by General Daniel E. Sickles.
Mr.. Fitzhughs Grafton was a striking
piece of oratorical work. He paid the
highest tribute to the army Of the Poto-
mac and to their Confederate opponents,
saying that to erase the names OF the
Spottsylvania battleields of the history
of the American army would be to rob it
of half its glory. The same blood shed
on the Fredericksburg fields, he said
still flowed in the veins of the American
soldiers. Wherever the American arms
might be in the future, whether those
who bore them were eX-Federals or ex-
Confederates or descendants Of the two,
they would stand shoulder to shoulder
and their record would be one that would
take no lustre from the glory won by the