Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1901-06-04
MEMORIAL DAY IN WAUSAU.

/ and one-half million of people. Yet
this small community was the nucleus
from which finally a Government for
the United States has developed. To-
day, not quite 125 years thereafter, the
people of 46 Independent States and
several Territories, in all a population
of about so millions, acknowledge by
word and deed allegiance to the Consti-
tuition and Government of the United
States. Can history show like ex-
ample?
Who is able to calculate what result
the progress and achievements of the
American people have had upcn the
audience, that is, the World at large
| We kLOw for certainty that the drama
that has been in progress for these five
quarter centuries and in which Ameri-
cans have been the actors has promot-
ed revolutions, turned over thrones,
changed the course of empires and has
a tendency to uplift people in distant
lands to a higher civilization and the
enjoyment of greater personal and
political rights; and in our own COun-
try it has removed that blemish or spot
from our otherwise untarnished shield,
that anomaly between the Declaration
of Independence and the practice of its
charter of liberty, and which blemiSh
on our shield of honor was not only
sought to be perpetuated but to be en-
| larged so as to cover almost the whole
J field and because the liberty peo-
pie of America would not allow their
shield to be further befouled the advO-
Gates of slavery tried to Secede from
the Union and form a government of
their own, where they would perpetuate
slavery, and they began actual hOstili
ties by firing on Fort Sumter on the
18th day of April, 1861.
1t is useless for me to speak about the
war that followed, for you and |, my
Comrades, have seen enough of it our
9th day of September, 1862, Abraham
Lincoln, our martyred President,
| (blessed be his memory issued his
Declaration of Emancipation, setting
| free and removing from bondage mill
ions of human beings and thereafter
| Americans had no more occasion to
| blush about their Declaration of lnde-
| pendence and the way and manner in
which they practiced its principles.
The war that followed the commence
ment of hOstilitieS by the Confederates
| lasted about four years, but when fin
| ally the bloody strife ended and the
| Confederates surrendered at AppOmat-
| tOX it was not only cessation of hos
| tilities between the Federals and Con
| federates, the close of the war between
| the North and the South, the end OF the
Rebellion, nay, it was the ultimate vic
! tory of the aspirations of mankind,
realization of struggles and Of hopes for
centuries it was the crOwning of those
principles which lead to the Declara-
2 5 II
of that great doctrine of equal rights
and equal opportunities to all as taught
| by him who two thousand years ago
preached to mankind, Peace on Earth,
| Good Will to Men"
But what sacrifices were made to ac-
cOmplish these results! When at the
commencement of the Rebellion or War
of Secession Il call of arms was made
the youth of the Country rs well as the
middle aged, forsook peaceful pursuits
and did fOrego the comforts and safeties
of home to take up their Country's cause;
and did assume the privatiOns and dan
gers incident to q soldiers life; they
answered the call to arms for the prin-
cipal of one Country and one Flag to
save the perpetuity and indivisibility of
this Country knowing it to be the only
hope of future constitutional liberty.
Yes, they went, thousands, yea millions
went and a great many went never to
return. Many died in battle, many
periShed from wounds, exposures and
sickness; many were starved in Rebel
prisons; many became manned and
| crippled for life; many came home to
die; many were buried by their loved
ones on family burial lots; many were
| buried by loving comrades in southern
soil and their graves tenderly marked
and identified and annually, when
nature in the Springtime sends forth
its foliage and flowers, the graves of
those of our comrades who were identi-
fled at the time of burial, are reverently
decorated with the incest flowers that
the season affords and we, with the
assistance of our friends and these
young ladies, will proceed from here to
the Cemetery to attend to that sacred
duty.
My Comrades, you undoubtedly have
been witnesses and recOlleCt that many
of our comrades who fell where the
battle was thickest, were put under
ground in prOmiSciouS ways, sometimes
single, other times in trenches by great
numbers, aud you also know and recol-
lect that the immediate comrades of
those so fallen had neither time nor
opportunity for the Identification or
proper interment of their slain com
rades; in this way although comrades,
parents, brothers, sisters or sweetheartS,
ever after tried hard to find the last
resting place of their loved one, they
rest unknown in southern soil, unknolUn
but not forgotten. 1t is in honor of these
unknown but not forgotten comrades
of ours that we are assembled at this
monument and it is in memory of the
sacred cause for which they fought and
/ periShed that now on behalf of Cutler
Post 81, &, A. R, ask these young