Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-30
MEMORIAL DAY ABROAD
MONUMENT TO UNION DEAD IN
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.
Pathetic Story Of Scotch Soldier
Whose Body Lies in Pot
ter's Field.

The beautiful Memorial day customs of
America have reached across the blue wa
ter; and In Edinborotown, Scotland, each
Both of May, the people meet and lay flow
ers upon the graves of the veterans of the
war Of the rebellion who have responded
to taps over there. Great preparations
are being made for the observance of the
day this year.
The story of how the Edinburgh people
became interested in this flower memorial,
which is so eminent1y' American, is most
pathetic A Scottish boy, McEwan by
name. came to the United States Just as
the war began and enlisted. He became
sergeant before the war was over, and
after his muster out went back to Scotland,
married, met with many misfortunes and
finally died in Edinburgh. His wife was
too poor to buy lot and so Sergeant Nc
Evan was buried in the potters field,
where within week another body was
buried in the same grave.
This story came out when the widow
went to Wallace Bruce, then consul at
Edinburgh, to ask his aid in securing the
pension due her because her husband died
OF wounds incurred in the service of the
stars and stripes. The wife of the CONSUL
Mrs. Bruce, became interested in Mrs. Nc
EVAN, and was grieved beyond measure
when the woman told through her tears
that her husband. "a soldier of the Union,
mustered out slept in an unma rked grave
in potters field.
you do in your land she said, because l
can't even tell where his body lies in that
poor spot
Mrs. Bruce repeated the story to her hus-
band and they decided the incident should
not happen again. There must be plot
OF ground set apart in the big city, they
declared. where veterans of the war of the
rebellion could sleep under the stars and
stripes.
The consul Immediately addressed let
ter to Lord Provost Russell of Edinburgh,
personal friend, and to few other men
OF prominence in Edinburgh, asking that
plot of ground be set aside in one of the
city cemeteries for the burial of veterans
OF the American war for the Union.
The Request Granted.
The town council was pleased to grant
the request at once. Then Consul Bruce
decided that the plot in the heart of Edin-
burgh should have a monument. He came
to the United States about that time, and
in an address to the Grand Army at Chau-
tauqua, presided over by the late President
Hayes. he told the story of Sergeant Nc
Evans nameless grave in potter's field
and asked the assistance of the great audi
ence in erecting monument in the soldier
plot dedicated by the town of Edinburgh
to the American soldier
The response was instantaneous and
hearty. The soldier sculptor, Mr.. George
E. Bissel. undertook to put in a bronze he
roic figure of Lincoln freeing the slave"
and thirty friends of Mr.. Bruce promised
$500 each toward the monument.
Within ten months the monument was
completed and ready to be unveiled. 1t is
said to be'a wonderfully fine statue of Lin
coin. real work of art 1t stands fifteen
feet high, upon a pedestal of highly pol
ished red Aberdeen granite, and this is
reached by aid of two steps Inscribed on
the first step are the words, In memory
of Scottsh-American soldiers" On the sec
ond step is the inscription, ITO preserve
the jewel of liberty in the framework Of
decentralization Lincoln
The soldiers plot presented to Consul
Bruce lies in old Cation burying ground,
and has in it many graves of old soldiers.
Sergeant McEwan died in 1889, and the
statue Of Lincoln was unveiled August u,
1893, by Miss Bruce, the consuls daugh-
ter. before an immense audience
Each year Memorial day exercises are
held there, attended by great crowds of
Americans who make it a point to reach
Edinburgh at that time, and by foreigners
who view with interest the beautiful serv-
Ice for the dead. They hear read, too, the
Memorial day order of the commander-n-
chief of the Grand Army of the Republic
and listen to Lincolns Gettysburg address
just as the citizens of the United States
hear them as they gather on Memorial day
about the veteran dead In this country.