The age-herald., 1900-05-26
BLUE AND GRAY COMM|NCLED On the Ground Once Rent
 With Strife. GREAT SHAFT TO BE UPL|FTED Mckinley and Cabinet Witness the Ceremonies of Corner Stone Ley
 ing to Perpetuate in Memory
 Bravery at Fredericksburg
GREAT SHAFT TO BE UPL|FTED

charged at Fredericksburg, President Me- Kinley his cabinet and General Miles to- day witnessed the laying of a cornerstone in a shaft which will perpetuate in bronze and granite the herosm of the Army of the Potomac It was an impressive cere- mony, and rendered the more so by the fact that among the hundreds who wit messed the event were noted leaders of both the federal and confederate forces.
 The monument was the personal gift of General Dan Butterfield to the National Memorial association. General Butterfield was present, but owing to i'll health, the committal of the monument to the secre- tary of war was made by Colonel Hill, one of the veterans of the corps. The visit of the president to Fredericksburg was pr- marily in honor of the annual reunion of the Army of the Potomac. The town was . in gala dress, and turned out en masse to receive its distinguished visitors.
 The president and his cabinet were wei comed at the court house, which was deco rated with the national co1ors and the va rious corps flags of the Army of the Poto- mac. Welcoming speeches were made by prominent veterans from both sides of the civil war after which the president had an informal reception at the home of St. George K. Fitzhugh, where he was wei comed by hundreds of the town folk, both white and colored.
 The special train carried all the members of the cabinet except Secretary Wilson There was also in the party General Miles, his chief aide Colonel Muchler, General Joseph Wheeler, former AdJutant General Ruggles, who was colonel of the presidents old regiment during the war, and the ma rine band.
 Met by Reception Committee
 The train was met at Quantico by a re- ception committee from Fredericksburg consisting of Hon. Horace F. CriSman, Major T P Morris and Postmaster John M Griffin, who accompanied the presiden- tial party to Fredericksburg, where they were turned over to the Inequalities of the local committee.
 headed by the Marine band moved at once to the court house. where the public exer- cises were held and an official welcome ten dered to the Society of the Potomac
 The address of welcome was delivered by St. George R. Fitzhugh, and the sponse was made by General Martin T. E. McMahon.. The oration of the day was then delivered by General Daniel E. Sickles.
 MT. Fjtzhugh's address of welcome was a striking piece of oratorical work. He paid the highest tribute to the Army of the Potomac and to their Confederate oppo- nents, saying that to erase the names of the Spottsylvania battlefields from the his tory of the American army would be to rob it of half its glory The same blood shed on the Fredericksburg fields, he said, stillfowed 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 standing should CT to shoulder and and their records would ha bo pyauI1 take 1uSter from the glory won by the Stars and Stripes on the bloody battlefields of Virginia. President Mckinley and his cabinet officers applaud ed this sentiment heartily and the speeches were Justify cheered by the large audience
 At National Cemetery
 After the reception at the Fitzhugh residence the presidential party drove to the national cemetery where the founda- ton of tn fifth corps monument had been laid. Suspended from a scaffold hung the corner stone of the monument. General Butterfield occupied bench next to the president, and opposite them were ranged the members of the Masonic lodge, under whose auspices the stone was to be laid. This was Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4, of which George Washington was a member Behind the Masons was the marine band. The ceremonies were opened by the band with Nearer My God to Thee," in which all the audience joined. The stone was
 
 ed into place, after which Colonel Hill in a brief speech committed the monument to the care of the national government.
 Secretary Root in replying said:
 "On behalf of the government of the United States I accept this memorial. I receive it into the tender and reverened care which the people of the United States have dcreed by their laws to be forever maintained over the sacred remains and immemorial of the men who died that our nation might forever live undivided''
 He continued with touching reference to the heroism and sacrifice of both the federals and confederates who contested the field of Fredericksburg, and conclud- ing, said:
 May God grant that in the ever widen ing and benefcient mission of our country each coming year through the efforts of your successors may lay fresh crown of laurels upon the grave of the men of that greatest struggle, in which was builded the firm and everlasting fabric of Ameri- can character and American patriotism."
 At the close of the ceremonies the presi- dential party returned to Washington, but the reunion exercises of the Society of the Potomac were continued at night in the opera house, where addresses were made by a number of veterans including Gen. eral Joe Wheeler.
 
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