Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-06-09
What is the True Meaning of Decoration
Day to the Youth of 1908?
address delivered by A. w. Lee, be-
fore the Ottumwa high school, May 30,

~S~<See~e>ers.~seerS>-A~
address delivered by A. w. Lee, be-
fore the Ottumwa high school, May 30,
1903.)
Tomorrow throughout the length and
breadth of this land, loving hands will
decorate with flowers the graves Of the
Union soldiers who fell on the field of
battle and those who have since died.
To the men who participated in that
great struggle, this occasion has a
depth Of meaning that no words can ade-
quately express. Memories of dead
comrades of hardships endured and
sacrifices made, combine with patriot,
ic sentiment to make the day and Its
ceremonies among the most sacred and
hallowed anniversaries of the year.
But this splendid audience of young
men and young women whom l have
the pleasure of addressing this morn
ing comprise generation who were
born long after the close Of the war
which ended 38 years ago on the
9th of APRIL 1868, with the surrender
of Lees army to Grant at Appomat-
tox. You only know Of the war from
reading the history of that momentous
struggle, or from the experiences re-
lated to you by your fathers and rela-
tives who were engaged In it. I was
myself less than three years of age
when the first gun of the war was
fired at Fort Sumpter on the 18th day
of April 1861, and about my only per-
sonal recollections in connection with
this great struggle in which over a
million lives were sacrificed was the
news of the death of President Lin
coin and the Homecoming of the bat
tle-scarred veterans in 1868. My faith
err was not an enlisted soldier because
of physical disability, but my uncle,
whose name I bear, gave UP his life
on the altar of his country.
You will soon go out from these
halls to take up the active affairs of
life. You will in few years be the
men and women upon whom the re-
sponsibilities of our government, our
business and professional life and our
homes will rest Long before you have
resigned this responsibility to the
generation that will follow you, the
last old veteran of the civil war will
have passed away. What then Is the
true lesson, the real meaning Of Dec
grafton day services to you and to me?
Why this strewing of flowers
on million graves tomorrow?
For what did these men toll and strug-
gle? For what did they make such
sacrifices of health, home and business
as the present generation knows moth
ing about? For what did they fight and
die?
We are living today in this United
States in the golden age of human hap
piness. The rece of man at no place or
time, ever enjoyed such liberties, such
a beneficient form of government such
opportunities for business and educa-
ton, such freedom from tyranny and
wars desolation, such. comfort and
such Injuries as we do today in these
United States, under the constitution
and by the protection of the stars and
stripes. All this is ours because this is
today the United States and not the d.
#vided states All this Is ours because
our fathers fought and died to pre-
serve the union of states inviolate to
their children and their children's
children.
The battle of Gettysburg was the
turning point in the civil war. Up to
that time the south had been in the
main successful. From that time the
cause of secession and the confederacy
steadily declined. The battle Of Get
tysburg comprised three days Of awful
carnage, the LIST, End and Bird of July,
1868. The struggle was terrific and the
casualties were almost 10000 men,
killed, wounded and missing. There Is
a beautiful poem entitled High Tide
at Gettysburg" descriptive of the i'm
mortal charge made by the confed--
crates under Pickett on the afternoon
of July 8.
Never was flercer contest waged
between men. The southern hosts
marched steadily forward under a
whitening fire of shot and shell and
then broke into charge, determined
to penetrate and hurl back the Union
lines. The impact was simply awful
and the plains and hillsides were
covered with the slain, but there is a
limit to human effort and endurance.
Never did men fight with more BRAY
cry or determination, either to carry
an assault or repel 1t. The confederate
hosts were hurled back in confusion,
and the greatest battle Of the civil war
was over. The closing vlo4es of the
poem to which 1 have referred, bring
out point which l want to emphasize
and impress upon your minds.